BMW M3 E30 - Group A/DTM 1987-92

[ian beckett]

Hi Thomas,the latest installment follows!! Did you find the Macau site?Thanks for adding the photos,they were very interesting.Here is some more info'which may be of interest.Your car when it raced in the '89 Italian series was in the usual white with diagonal 'BMW' stripes.It was sponsored by Agip(the Italian state fuel company)/Concessionari BMW(Italian importers)/Serpi Star(Italian car alarms)/BMW Italia/RCM Motoscope.The cars ran Yokohamas and were then in non-Evo'spec'.Johnny Cecotto did the whole series and won the championship with 130 points.he had either #1 or#99 as his race number.A second car was shared between BMW's contracted drivers,Roberto Ravaglia#3 did 4 races,Emanuele Pirro#3 did 3 races,Dieter Quester and Fabien Giroix both#2 did 1 and 2 races respectively.At the final race the team ran three cars.I have the results for all of these races. I will now send this so i do not lose the text due to time restrictions which apply on some forums.Ian

[ian beckett]

Next part!!I have tried to give you all the entries I have in my notes for Kevin Wong.The first entry I have is for'88 where he was 9th at Macau in a white car with green lettering and backing from Autohaus.This car had its two fuel fillers in the boot(trunk) lid not where they are usually found where the number plate would go! He may have bought a car from a team who ran two cars in the '87 race,(Hartge/RSI) who had raced them three times in Europe but there is some confusion as to whether that was the case.As alredy stated he then bought your car,chassis 126 in October '89 and raced it for the first time at Macau in that year,coming 10th the car still in its Schnitzer colours.Other results from Macau are:1990 7th,white with blue/green diagonal stripes and red lettering,backing from Mandarin Duck;1992 6th white with black/red stripes and panels;1993 6th still white plus red/black detailing; You may like to look at www.hlj.com which is an English language Japanese based model company.Fill BMW M3 into the search box and thenscroll down to the Autotech M3,this will show you the only pure yellow car I know of that raced in the Far East,then click on Passenger M3 kits and go to the one called Sogo Keibi,this is the car which Wong drove at some Macau race as well as in a few Japanese events(more details to follow).I have recently bought this model and it is awful,being simply a road car with a basic rollcage added plus the decals.It has the wrong wheels and no other racing trim.I have had to buy the Studio 27 trans-kit which is designed to fit it to get a correct model! End of part two! Ian

[ian beckett]

These are the results I have when Mr Wong raced outside of Macau....1990 Fuji Intertec,Wong/Shimada 14th,race#10 entered by Team Take One(this team is the constant thread throughout Wong's M3 career,because be always drove for them,although they were later called Team Take One Overtake!Kwan/Mak were 20th at this race in a sister car.1991 Intertec #9 Kwan/Nakagawa and #10 Wong/Mak/Tajima drove,no results known. In 1992 the team ran two cars in the Japanese series,both white with red/black stripes and panels.In one of them Wong/Mak were 20th in #62 at the Intertec.In 1993 Kwan/Mak/Wong were 15th in the Intertec. Your photos showing the yellow spray and overspray under the bonnet(hood) have really confused me as there has probably only been the Autotech car in yellow in all the Asian races.They have raced an M3 for the whole of its race history in this region from '87 to'93 and could have sold an older car to the Wong/Kwan/Mak set up or even spares but other than those explanations I am baffled! I hope this has helped and that it triggers off others with further information.All the best Ian.

[Revmaster T]

Hi Ian, WOW this is fantastic news, thank you very much. If I ever can help you out with anything please let me know, I feel that I owe you big
I don't think Mr. Wong was driving my car in 88 that must have been a different M3 I guess that confirms that he had more then one M3. I would love to talk to him about the yellow paint to see what the actual story is behind all that.
So you think there is a possibility that Johnny Cecotto, Roberto Ravaglia or Emanuele Pirro drove my car ? I wonder how you could find out for sure, are there any records from the FIA you can go and do a research ?
Ian you wouldn't happen to have any pictures of the cars that been raced in Italy ? I hope you don't mind me asking you all these questions but I have no ides on how the FIA kept there records.

Thank you again !

Thomas

[ian beckett]

Hello Thomas,I sent you an email yesterday using 10/10ths facility.Has it reached you?Ian.

[Revmaster T]

Hi Ian, sorry no I didn't get an email from you. Let me go ahead and PM you my email address.

Thomas

[ian beckett]

Hello Thomas,a belated Happy New Year to you.Go to www.florentmoulin.com and you will find under cars for sale that he has an M3 for sale in the colours your car raced under in the Italian series.I hope you are well and things are progressing? Ian.

[ravaglia]

Originally Posted by Revmaster T

Hello, my name is Thomas and live in Tampa Florida.

I just purchased a gr. A M3 chassis # M3 11260 I have been told that makes it the 126th car.
The car was raced in Macao, owned and driven by Kevin Wong and Charles Kwan in 89,90 not sure about 91. The car is painted white now but used to be yellow.
Team name was something like Tech one or Auto Tech the guy I bought the car from has a hard time remembering the details.

If anyone has any information about this car I would greatly appreciate it.
Some pictures would be fantastic form the early days I would love to see what the car looked like back in the day.

Thanks Thomas

Thomas, I guess the name of the team should be TEAM TAKE ONE right??

[GTRMagic]

For sale... ex-JPS BMW built late 1986/early 1987 for Mr Richards to achieve the early championship lead in the 1987 ATCC.... car replaced with newer variations as the year progressed...

[brown dog]

another car which has not been mentioned yet, is the CiBiEmme car from 1987, in which Cecotto/Patrese won that first controversial round at Monza, where they were later DQed. It was white with blue stripes, and carried "Rudy Project" sponsorship. Mark Petch bought the car in 1987, and it raced here and in Australia.I believe it carries motorsport chassis #1, which makes it a significant car in the scheme of things. Part way through a full restoration, I was told it has just changed hands, but remains in NZ.

[Revmaster T]

GOOD NEWS, I finally found some time to sit down and write an email to Schnitzer. They responded very quick and had good things to say about the history of the car.

Here is a copy of the email >>

Dear Mr. Boylan,



Thanks for the email you sent to Ingo Lehbrink which he has forwarded to us.



You are inquiring the history of BMW M3 E30 Chassis number M3/1-126 and this is what we can tell you:



* We can confirm that BMW M3/1-126 has been built by Schnitzer Motorsport in February / March 1989.

* In 1989 Team Schnitzer participated in DTM, but also in CIVT (Campionato Italiano Vetture Turismo). Our drivers have been Roberto Ravaglia, Fabien Giroix and Johnny Cecotto in DTM and Johnny Cecotto, Roberto Ravaglia and Emanuele Pirro in CIVT.
Roberto Ravaglias main program was DTM. Whenever the program allowed Roberto raced in CIVT and BMW M3/1-126 was his dedicated CIVT Race Car.

* Furthermore BMW M3/1-126 was raced in the 24h Nürburgring Nordschleife 1989 were we won overall, drivers Roberto Ravaglia, Emanuele Pirro and Fabien Giroix and 24h Spa Francorchamps 1989 were we finished 2nd overall, drivers Roberto Ravaglia, Fabien Giroix and Altfrid Heger.

* In October 1989 we sold BMW M3/1-126 to Kevin Wong in Hongkong.



This is all the information we have from this particular BMW M3 and we hope it is helpful for you.



Best Regards

Patricia Badura

Team Assistant
Schnitzer Motorsport GmbH
Görlitzer Str. 2 a
D-83395 Freilassing / Germany

VAT No. DE 131 562 894
St.-No. 163/115/30686
Tel. +49 / 8654 / 495-110
Fax +49 / 8654 / 66318
<http://www.schnitzer.de/> http://www.schnitzer.de
<mailtoatricia.badura@schnitzer.de> mailtoatricia.badura@schnitzer.de

Schnitzer Motorsport GmbH
Geschäftsführer: Herbert Schnitzer, Karl Lamm
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung
Handelsregister: Amtsgericht Traunstein HRB 5864
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Freilassing

End <<

Cheers Thomas

PS I am searching for anything relating to 1989 races. If you have something please let me know greatly appreciated

[DAVID PATERSON]

Here's another one for sale.

http://www.my105.com/classified.asp?id=10664&feature=1

[Revmaster T]

Originally Posted by DAVID PATERSON

Here's another one for sale.

http://www.my105.com/classified.asp?id=10664&feature=1

This is the sister car to my gr.A car. These 2 cars where built around the same time in the same shop quite amazing.

Thomas

[Badgerness27]

Very interesting and useful thread.

I'm researching the M3's raced in the 1988 ETCC season. I believe the numbers will be around the #102-112 range for this year, in particular the Spa 24hrs winner driven by Ravaglia etc. (which I believe was #106).

Was wondering if anyone had any more info regarding these cars or had any idea to further contacts I could try?

[ALong]

The following is information on a Prodrive car owned by a fellow BMW Club Racer in the USA.

"Mine is Chassis 068, delivered to Prodrive in 1987.
Built in their old workshop (that is now their heritage center).
Thats when they used to build everything in one workshop (rally and race teams).
Mine was active for them during the 1988, 89, possibly the 90 campaigns, probably became a spare car in 1991, then sold to a privateer team for 1992 season
We believe the car went to Roy Kennedy Racing for the 1992 season driven by Ian Flux for a few races, then retired to Spain in 1993.
The car then changed hands twice in Spain while it was being used in Hillclimbs in Europe.

Info from back then is hard to collect, it predates the internet (for normal folk),,, and everything that happened back then had to be scanned and uploaded by someone,,, and Prodrive has literally no records from that period.

I even visted Prodrive while working in the UK,,, and they simply do not hold on to nostalgia. Its all considered old, useless info, so when their BMW racing days were over, all the BMW race car info, went into the dumpster.

After its competitive days in the UK friend of mine bought the car from its owner in Spain completely unkown of its Prodrive past (as did I).
His intention was to restore it, which never happened for a number of reasons, it then sat in his warehouse for a few years until he offered it to me if I promised to restore it and drive it.

I then did the dilligence on it, researching its chassis number. I found out which car it was and then over the past 8 years I have been trying to make it as accurate as possible as it was in 1988.
Thats the year I have the most photos of it, and it was its first year in competition, so thats the livery I went with.

Keep in mind I had no idea what car it was when I bought it,,,, it was just a plain white Grp A car.
The fact that it turned out to be an ex werks BTCC car was a huge bonus, but I would have loved it just as much had it been a lowly back marker privateer car.
I am just an E30 M3 guy (I have 3).

So you can throw mine in the mix.
Chassis M31 068, ex Prodrive BTCC car is resting safely in Pennsylvania USA and restored to close to its former glory,,, well its an ongoing project...

There are pics of it somewhere online.
In my gallery on S14.net sitting in my garage...
[http://www.s14.net/photopost/showgal...00&ppuser=138]

At Watkins Glen this past year:
[http://photos.bimmerforums.com/data/..._OPT_1951.jpg]

Hope this helps.
I'll look into joining that discussion.
Sounds fun.
Cheers
jimmy p"

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by collector

In the Spezial-Tourenwagen-Trophy we had:

This season Michi Besler races the ex-orange Mario Ketterer M3. He bought the the car in 2005 from Kurt Distler.

I have found information of Mario racing a Udo Wagenhäuser/Jägermeister M3 in the Avus and Mainz-Finthen 1988 DTM season, which must be the car in your picture.

Jesper

[Zmann42087]

Just wanted to clarify on some false speculation in here. It's a couple years old and you guys might have figured it out, but I can say with relative certainty that despite having been yellow, Revmaster T's Group-A car is not the AutoTech E30 M3 that raced in the JTCC (All-Japan Touring Car Championship) in the late 80's / early 90's. AutoTech never campaigned more than one E30 M3 and that particular car still resides in Japan. Furthermore, the AutoTech E30 M3 saw its first JTCC season in 1988. However, according to the information you received from Schnitzer, your car wasn't sold until 1989.

Now all that said, I might have some information about your car you might find interesting. It looks like your car did infact participate in the JTCC under the ownership of Kevin Wong. He raced in the 1991 JTCC season (maybe more) with team "OVER TAKE". Here is a link to some race results and his car and name come up. 18th place finish, but he is there! 1991 JTCC Results - InterTEC Race at Fuji Speedway

[ian beckett]

Hi ZMANN,welcome to this thread.In fact the Autotech did have and race two identical cars,both in yellow in the Japanese series.Ian.

[Zmann42087]

Can you provide any proof of this?

[ian beckett]

I am at present looking at a full colour double page from a Japanese race programme that shows the two cars parked side by side in the pits.They are identical apart from race numbers and the drivers names.I have done a lot of work on these cars as I have a 1/25th scale model of the car to build and I wanted to decide which version to build.Ian.

[Zmann42087]

Originally Posted by ian beckett

I am at present looking at a full colour double page from a Japanese race programme that shows the two cars parked side by side in the pits.They are identical apart from race numbers and the drivers names.I have done a lot of work on these cars as I have a 1/25th scale model of the car to build and I wanted to decide which version to build.Ian.

That's awesome. Would you mind scanning and posting it up?

I'm not doubting you anymore, I just would very much like to see it. I'm a pretty big fan of E30 M3's and have actually done a lot of web searching and reading on that particular car (the AutoTech JTCC E30 M3).

[ian beckett]

At this moment,I do not have the facilities(or the ability!!) to scan,sorry! Ian.

[Zmann42087]

Aww man.. that's no fun.

Maybe if I share some of my pics/info/history on the car, it will be an incentive for you to do the same. I show you mine, you show me yours type of thing.

Alright, let's get started...

The AutoTech E30 M3 was campaigned in the All-Japan Touring Car Championship (JTCC) from 1988 to 1993. It saw its best finish in its inaugural season, taking second place overall in the 1988 JTCC. The drivers that year were Japan's Haruhito Yanagida and Great Britain's Will Hoy. Will Hoy, of course, would go on to win the 1991 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in a similarly prepared BMW. Hoy's '91 BTCC title was the last major touring car championship won by an E30 M3.


Here are some pics from its early JTCC racing days...






AutoTech Umbrella Girl...


The AutoTech pit crew..


Here is a picture of my Minichamps/Kyosho 1/43 AutoTech M3 model...



Best of all, here is a video of the AutoTech E30 M3 racing at the 2008 Time Machine Festival at Fuji Speedway in Japan. Enjoy!!


These are some recent pics of the car.. they were taken at TMF '05...

[Alex E]

Some years ago I bought an ex Japan M3 in Hong Kong in exactly the same yellow colour. It was the car used in the Jackie Chan film called Thunderdrivers or something. Probably the `other` Auto Tech car ?
Alex

[Zmann42087]

Originally Posted by Alex E

Some years ago I bought an ex Japan M3 in Hong Kong in exactly the same yellow colour. It was the car used in the Jackie Chan film called Thunderdrivers or something. Probably the `other` Auto Tech car ?
Alex

maybe.. do you have any pics of your car?