Bmw M3 Gtr

pplater · 31 Jan 2004, 06:00 (Ref:857217)

From Today's (Saturday January 31st) Newcastle Herald.

"Hunter buisnessman David Searle (#301 SAE Racing, B24)wants to be a major player in this year's Procar nations cup series but right now is playing a nerve-wracking waiting game.
Searle wants to run a 5.0 litre BMW M3 GTR in the championship, but there are only two in existence on the planet, one in Australia and the other in the United States.
He has a couple of "Interested parties" waiting with cheque books poised but they want to know how much TV time they can get for their buck. Series organiser Procar wants to extend its TV grab from the current 60 Minutes on Saturday afternoons to 90 minutes but can't give searle a definite answer on TV time until it gets the information from the 7 network.

Searle, meanwhile, has the US car on hold until Monday.

He has looked at the car in Melbourne and belives the American car is a better deal..."

-Brent Davison-

(No, pplater is not Brent, he wrote it

)

**GTRMagic** · 31 Jan 2004, 06:13 (Ref:857222)

The american car is a better deal because it didnt get fenced at Bathurst rather heavily, and comes with a significant spares package, whereas the local car doesnt have much beyond the car and some wheels...

It would be nice for a second car to join the series, however having the PHR thing sit in the garage for the year makes no sense either. At least it is here.

And pplater we know you arent Mr Davison, altho on occassion he is known to post here

pplater · 31 Jan 2004, 06:41 (Ref:857230)

I didn't know that BeDeMe had revealed his identity

or hasn't he

Yeah, The PHR car is broken (fixable?) and maybe Monsiour Algadri would rather not bother, but after a 500k AUD spend on the car, it would seem silly to leave it in a shed until B24'04...

On the spares front, considering that there are only half a dozen GTRs in circulation, (one less?) parts would have to be more than an issue than say, a 911 GT3.

mountainstar · 31 Jan 2004, 06:48 (Ref:857233)

That's a good question. Can the PHR BMW be put back together to run competitively?

pplater · 31 Jan 2004, 06:53 (Ref:857237)

YES.

The front-end parts can be scuppered and put in the Searle car!

Seriously, I think that it can be, but i do not know if PHR have the parts to do it with.

Also a Believer · 31 Jan 2004, 07:00 (Ref:857243)

As a friend of the mentioned purchaser I can tell you that he is like a cat on a hot tin roof at present, We all have our fingers crossed for David about now. And Brent not a bad story all the same, written with your usual gusto.

pplater · 31 Jan 2004, 07:05 (Ref:857245)

I have been itching to talk about David's plans to take over the world for a while. There has also been talk of the 320 STW (Seen at B24'03) having a run at nations cup group 2, under special invitation. (which, to my knowledge has not been granted) A 2- car assault on the 24hr would be awesome, and I would love to hook up with the team again.

Also a Believer · 31 Jan 2004, 07:07 (Ref:857247)

critiism of someones dream is a pretty low blow, I dont think he wants to take over the world just race cars.

pplater · 31 Jan 2004, 07:17 (Ref:857254)

Criticism of (David's Dream)

NO NO NO!

David invited me to join the team for a journalist school assignment for last years 24hr. In no way, shape or form would i attempt to criticise him, the team or his ambition.

Please understand me when i say that i support wholeheatedly the efforts of David Searle and Newcastle Performance Centre/ SAE racing.

jetsetter · 31 Jan 2004, 07:41 (Ref:857274)

I hope Searle's dream comes to fruition as the PHR BMW that ran at Bathurst is one of the most beautiful cars i've ever seen & to see one of them have a go at the entire series would be fantastic.

Aircon · 31 Jan 2004, 08:05 (Ref:857289)

The PHR M3 GTR is on the way back from the panel shop. As far as NC cars goes, it's probably got more potential (especially for th enduro's) than most.

If the Searle's get a hold of it, I'll have to show themwhat that tricky blue box on the passenger floor can do.

Mark Webber · 31 Jan 2004, 08:32 (Ref:857304)

there r more than 2 M3GTR's on the planet

Mark Webber · 31 Jan 2004, 08:51 (Ref:857320)

he is a link to see other GTR's in action

http://www.7extrememotorsports.com/l...-m3-gt-e46.htm

**GTRMagic** · 31 Jan 2004, 09:01 (Ref:857330)

For sale in Japan....

http://www.closeratio.com/asp/defaul...etails&id=1657

Chucky · 31 Jan 2004, 09:22 (Ref:857339)

I thought there were six in total built by PTG in the States (not the 4L Euro ones).

I'll have to check up on that.

**GTRMagic** · 31 Jan 2004, 09:29 (Ref:857342)

I thought there were only 6 also, however there are 2 spankers around that were built for teh Spa 24hr, and failed miserably

TSR · 31 Jan 2004, 09:36 (Ref:857344)

Least they are proper spec cars
unlike the Monaro

Aircon · 31 Jan 2004, 09:48 (Ref:857350)

I think you'll find these cars created as much controversy in ALMS as the Monaro's created here.

Mark Webber · 31 Jan 2004, 09:53 (Ref:857352)

I think the 4lt unit is more powerful than the 5lt unit but I'm not sure but the 01 ALMS cars which where the 4lt units where almost unstopperable

KA · 31 Jan 2004, 10:03 (Ref:857358)

Quote:

Originally posted by GTRMagic
I thought there were only 6 also, however there are 2 spankers around that were built for teh Spa 24hr, and failed miserably

Think it was the Nurburgring 24 hours not Spa, although they're expected to run at Spa this year- 'miserable failure' at the 24 hours or not, if you could get BMW to sell you one (probably fairly unlikely...) it would be worth having, as these are the full-on 4-litre factory cars that were so successful with Schnitzer and PTG (and as Aircon said, hugely controversial...)in the ALMS a couple of years back, and are probably quicker than the 5-litre versions which were (I think) built by PTG as customer cars

Chucky · 31 Jan 2004, 10:10 (Ref:857366)

The 5L was used for added durability. Silghtly less power but a bigger torque band and much less stress. The 4L had a few "development" problems along the way (it was a bomb waiting to go off at the beginning) and the 5L could go for much longer between rebuilds, hence why they were attractive to customers.

Not much in outright performance between the two, although the 5L is apparently easier to drive over very long distances.

KA · 31 Jan 2004, 10:18 (Ref:857370)

Quote:

Originally posted by Mark Webber
I think the 4lt unit is more powerful than the 5lt unit but I'm not sure but the 01 ALMS cars which where the 4lt units where almost unstopperable

I think the 5-litre is a development of the engine used in the M3, and as Chucky said, is more drivable and reliable- whereas the 4-litre was designed specifically for the M3GTR racer, and probably not easily available to customers anyway- from memory much of the reason for the controversy around the car in ALMS revolved around the availability (or not...) of a street version of the car....

champcarman · 31 Jan 2004, 10:39 (Ref:857381)

I believe it is basically the same eligibility for anything as the Bathurst Monaro. The BMW factory have entered two M3GTR V8s to be run by Schnitzer in the 2004 Spa 24 hrs in the Invitational class in which the Monaro would also be eligible to apply for entry if Holden wanted to legitimise the car by doing so. I believe there are a few more than 2 in the world but the spec may vary.

The Tool Man · 31 Jan 2004, 10:41 (Ref:857384)

Quote:

Originally posted by Mark Webber
there r more than 2 M3GTR's on the planet

Are there ???:confused:

pplater · 31 Jan 2004, 11:13 (Ref:857421)

I wouldn't know for sure, the info I got was from the newspaper...