I've wanted one for ages, a road going version before I really understood what they were about, but for the past couple of years only a race car would do.

I sold my Caterham race car a while ago with the intention of building a new one to my own, not particularly original, but full-on specification.

That didn't happen, the Production BMW race car I bought to keep me busy whilst the Caterham was being built turned out to be more fun than expected, I lost focus and it didn't happen.

That very basic spec 320i is now a higher spec 325i and is OK but it's not really doing it for me.

A couple of months back, a fellow racer's rather silly 540i came up for sale and I came very close to buying it before having a proper think about things and what I really wanted rather than what just happened to be about at the time. I do still want another Caterham but that can wait, I'm unwillingly becoming a BMW fanboy and they make so much sense when it comes to racing.

E30 M3 then!

The plan was to sell up my existing E30s, the van, the trailer and start all over again over the course of next year and wait for the right, already built car, or suitable donar to show up.

I was on holiday in France a few weeks ago and got an excited voicemail from my brother asking me to call him urgently. Until I spoke to him I thought something bad had happened at home, it wasn't that, it was this:



It's a 1991 E30 M3, no engine, gearbox, diff, very little interior, just out of the body shop.

Perfect basis for a race car expect maybe the paint should go on at the end.

I've got a good idea of the spec it'll be built to, no particular budget or timescale but it will hopefully be out on track for 2014. It all depends on work really.

I'm quite excited

 

Do you think it'll be more fun than a caterham?

Put the v8 in it from an m5/e9x

Will you enter a race series in it?

 

Nice. Keep us updated on progress - with lots of pics too.

I've always wanted an E30 M3, but I'm worried it'd be a "don't meet your heroes" experience....

 

Aren't the engine, gearbox and diff the important bits?

 

I believe it's harder to source a genuine E30 shell than the oily bits.

Tempted to stick an S54 in there graham?

 

In a different way, yes.

They're obviously not quite as nimble but you can drive them on the throttle in much the same way. Apparently you need at least 250bhp to make them proper fun but I'll be aiming for 280-300 bhp, so no problem there.

No engine swaps as it'll limit the series I can enter it in and sort of misses the point of the car.

 

I think a standard road car would disappoint. I've had a ride in an almost standard one and other than the balance, it wasn't that impressive.

They were built to be modified into race cars and that's when they come into their own. The worship of shiny low mileage garage queens makes no sense to me at all but it should net be a few quid when I start replacing metal with fibre glass

 

Chilled is right, the engines aren't exactly ten a penny but the chap I bought it off had about six sitting in his workshop so it's not really an issue.

The dogleg ZF gearbox was used in quite a few homologation specials from that period (Chevette HS, Lotus Sunbeam etc.) so are easy to get hold of. There's a company in eastern europe somewhere manufacturing the 6 speed H pattern box as used in the later touring cars but they are about £5k so I might have to pass on that for now

The diff, I believe, is nothing special either and can be found on other beemers.

 

Nice!

Which series, Graham?

Could always Fred Flinstone it for a while until you find an engine

 

My mate has a few 6 cylinder e30 engines around if its any good. Including an alpina one i believe though i doubt you want the 6.