BMW E30 325I Racing history

[Mike Sheraton]

hi guys, i was just wondering whether there was ever a BMW 325i e30 racing in the late 80s, either in production saloons or touring cars.
I am going to be racing one next year and would just like to see whether the car itself has any racing heritage, i may even use one for a livery etc.
photos, info, or anything would be great thanks.

Mike

[DAVID PATERSON]

Hi Mike, The JPS BMW team ran an E30 325i in selected rounds of the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship. It looked fabulous in the JPS black & gold colours. An E30 323i was run in selected rounds of the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship, in BMW Motorsport colours.

[KA]

They were fairly widely raced in Europe as well- probably the most successful were the works-backed(?) Linder cars, though a number of private teams in Europe ran them as well, such as Auto Budde. The odd thing is, that although it was one of the most competitive cars in the 2.5 litre class in 1985/6, it was a car that never appeared in the BTCC, where Alfas and the Escort RS Turbo seemed to be the preferred weapon (though when the 2-litre regs came in, an E30 318i did appear periodically in 1990/1 run by Techspeed (90) and R&D Motorsport (91)http://www.supertouring.co.uk/galler...ntrants_2.html .)

There was also a prodsaloon 325i around 1985/6- as I remember, Richard Hinton, who I think posts on here, was one of the drivers involved with that

A few pics:

Linder:
http://www.racingsportscars.com/chas...inder1%23.html
http://www.racingsportscars.com/chas...986-45%23.html

Auto Budde
http://www.racingsportscars.com/chas...986-71%23.html



If you're looking for inspiration for a paintjob though, I'd be tempted to go with the JPS look- I've never seen a race car of any kind that those colours didn't suit ...
http://www.speedshots.com.au/gallery..._1156.jpg.html

[chunterer]

KA makes a very good point about the lack of cars in the BTCC when in all likelihood, even in earlier 2.3 litre form, it might well have made a useful weapon?

There were rumours in the early 80's of a TWR entry after Walkinshaw ran the County Championship who at the time also had entered the heavy the 5 series and there had also been a mooted 635 in G1. I think Sytner toyed with the idea of building a car too?

However it wasn't until the M3 arrived that we had regular 3-series entries in the perier tin top series over here.

The '86 ETC entires were I think kind of 'dummy runs' for the M3?

I remember the Richard Hinton 323/325's in the Uniroyals, one race he must've destroyed his tyres as i'm sure it came past me in shrouds of tyre smoke?!!

[Mike Sheraton]

thanks guys this is great
i never knew that these cars were actualy raced in period.
keep the pics and info coming!!!

[Frank de Jong]

Check the 1986 ETCC and pictures section on www.touringcarracing.net; you may find the Rene Lezard sponsored car of Danner which was quite competitive.

[davyboy]

I remember Christian Danner's car very well and it was very competitive in the ETCC during the mid 1980s. Why didn't they appear in the BTCC around then ? A very good question indeed. Possibly the fact that the BMWs were an extremely expensive platform to run in touring cars and these would have been in Class B rather than the top flight Class A, a class that at the time was pretty poorly supported in the BTCC with only Jon Dooley and Rob Kirby being the main stalwarts in the Alfas. In contrast, Class B in the ETCC had much better support.

The E30 325i was a fabulous car though and when the same [well pretty similar] platform was used for the M3, it went on to clean up.

[GTRMagic]

There is one for sale, in JPS BMW colours Here with a few pics

[Mike Sheraton]

such a nice car!
ours is white, and we are not sure whether just to do a white based livery, or to spend more and go for the full black.

its realy nice to hear that there is some racing history behind the 325i aswell and it would be nice to get cockpit pictures for inspiration as we are currently on that stage of development

[Mike Sheraton]

any more information that can be provided?

also we are definitely heading for the bastos colours.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Mike Sheraton

any more information that can be provided?

also we are definitely heading for the bastos colours.

Bastos colours, how come?

[graham bahr]

Markus oestreich apparently did the 1986 european touring car championship with an alpina powered 325

[PETER THORBY]

check out these posts
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...BMW+325+photos

[Mike Sheraton]

Hello,
I was just wondering as to whether there was any history behind the BMW E30 325I in group A or N racing in the 1980s. Any information and pictures of any racing that occured with these machines would be great!

[KA]

Hi Mike

Not so much in the UK (although I remember Richard Hinton running one in Prodsaloons, I was always surprised no-one tried the 323/325 for the BTCC- though you can say the same about the Merc 190, another 2500cc class car successful in Europe, but virtually unknown here other than in prodsaloons), but plenty in Europe, where they were a very popular choice, first in 323i form, then the 325i in 1986.
In particular, the Linder team with Winni Vogt and Christian Danner amongst others, having plenty of success in both DTM and ETCC

http://www.irmler-motorsport.de/irml...older_85_1.jpg

http://www.racingsportscars.com/driv...ni-Vogt-D.html

http://www.racingsportscars.com/type...25i.html?cat=4

Frank Gardner's JPS team used them on occasion in Australia as well. Won't swear to this, but I think we might have a 325i thread somewhere?

[David Towe]

Hi Mike, yes Gardner's JPS Team BMW did use the E30 in OZ. The first one was a 323i that was used as a development car and was only used in certain rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the Sydney centered AMSCAR Series. It was in BMW Motorsport colours as they donated the car to Gardner for development puposes. I owned the car for 5 years and it was a delight to run, reliable and relatively cheap to maintain. The car is now in New Zealand.

The next 2 cars were 325i's and were in the JPS livery as Gardner paid for these out of his tobacco money. They were never an outright contender in the ATCC but were quite successful on the smaller tracks and a good indication of the potential of the impending M3's. Both are still available for sale and I've attached a link for the one in NZ which is in quite nice condition.

http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/...5/Default.aspx

The other one is here in Sydney and is available for about AUD $100k.

http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/...8/Default.aspx

The 3rd of these 325 shells was converted to M3 specification before the 325 build was completed. I own it and it has been a great car to race. The mainstay of Gardner's challenge in the ATCC was the aging 635 which was proving to be past it's use by date in 1986 and the M3 was introduced in 1987. Richards quaified the first of them on pole for the first round in March. They went on to win the championship and finish 4th outright at Bathurst that year.

[Amaroo Park]

I still maintain that the Gardner JPS cars were the best looking race cars ever to grace Australian race circuits. He took the presentation of race cars to a whole new level

[Les Dalton]

Hi Mike,
Les Dalton here in sunny France.
You might have already looked at the BMWRDC Uk for info, but when I raced in the championship in the late 90s, there were loads of well prepared, and very fast 325is competing.
Have a look at their website, and you may get some relevent information to help with your project car.
Kind Regards,
Les Dalton.


http://www.bmwrdc.com/#

[Mark-e21]

I'd certainly be intrigued to see which livery you go with Mike?

e21 are my usual choice of old BMW but I've just finished putting an e30 325 together myself. I only do a few speed events and track days but the e30 has been pretty well catered for over the years and there's certainly plenty of set-up info available.

Were I to do it again, I would opt for a LHD shell and search out a non-sunroof example. Mind you, given my tiny budget, I am quite happy with how my car has turned out. It might only have 170bhp but it only weighs 1 010 kgs so it's still good fun.

[E36ST]

Originally Posted by David Towe

Hi Mike, yes Gardner's JPS Team BMW did use the E30 in OZ. The first one was a 323i that was used as a development car and was only used in certain rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the Sydney centered AMSCAR Series. It was in BMW Motorsport colours as they donated the car to Gardner for development puposes. I owned the car for 5 years and it was a delight to run, reliable and relatively cheap to maintain. The car is now in New Zealand.

And for sale here:

http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/...4/Default.aspx

[David Towe]

My old car, it was such a great, fun car to race. My whole team miss it.

[PETER THORBY]

This is all prbably a bit late.
I own the BMW JPS 323i Grp A car bthat raced in Australia in 1985.
Built by Frank Gardner, BMW Motorsport livery, as JPS did not want to use sponsorship money on a development car.
later that year, a black JPS 323 car was built for the enduros. In 1986, this was converted to a 325, and 2 other 325s were built. AS i understand it, the last of these was converted into an M3, being the first of the JPS M3's that Richards ran.

[jan bot]

sorry, had to drop this here..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7oVn1N2unc
The description says that the engine is an ex-linder group A.
Short gearbox, more revs, and look how it overtakes the M3's..

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by PETER THORBY

This is all prbably a bit late.
I own the BMW JPS 323i Grp A car bthat raced in Australia in 1985.
Built by Frank Gardner, BMW Motorsport livery, as JPS did not want to use sponsorship money on a development car.
later that year, a black JPS 323 car was built for the enduros. In 1986, this was converted to a 325, and 2 other 325s were built. AS i understand it, the last of these was converted into an M3, being the first of the JPS M3's that Richards ran.

Hi Peter thanks for posting, great to hear one of these cars is alive and well, keep us all posted!

[DAVID PATERSON]

Thanks for posting Peter. I remember watching your car race in 1985 and I'm glad to see it is still alive & well.