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Category: Motorsports Monday

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Motorsports Monday: 1991 BMW M3 BTCC ex-Tim Harvey

Motorsports Monday: 1991 BMW M3 BTCC ex-Tim Harvey

Published December 21, 2015 by Carter

I’ve given the E30 crowd a fair amount of shtick over the years, mostly because the chassis seems to be the broadest of the bandwagons that enthusiasts jump on to. But the reality is that I’ve always admired the M3 long before I fully appreciated the breadth of its impact on Motorsport. In many ways, the M3 paved the way for an entire generation of homologation specials that now line the walls of automotive Valhalla, and for that alone we as a community should be thankful. To say that the M3 is iconic is a huge cliche, but just as with the other boxflared wonders from Germany – the Quattro and 944 Turbo – the M3 was (and still is) a staple at the race tracks around the world, cementing its reputation as the defacto street-worthy race car. Much of that reputation was built on decidedly un-streetworthy Touring Car races, though, and while the early 90s were the swan song for the S14-engined E30 as regulations and chassis change to the E36 removed it from active competition, there’s no denying that the outgoing race car still had a tremendous amount of appeal as the sun set on its active competition career:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1991 BMW M3 BTCC on Race Cars Direct

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Motorsports Monday: 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S

Motorsports Monday: 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S

Published December 14, 2015 by Carter

For those that haven’t had the pleasure of driving a 944 Turbo S, allow me to describe the sensation. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be the stone in a sling shot, it’s a pretty good analogy. My first drive in a S saw me pull up to a merge onto a secondary highway. The slightest gap opened in traffic, and since I was in a Porsche I naturally thought that half a car length with the closing traffic at 65 m.p.h. seemed doable. Clutch out, foot on the floor, and….nothing. I thought I stalled the car. I had just enough time to look down in disbelief, feel the blood draining from my head and look into the mirror, uttering “Oh…shi” when BAM – the car came on boost. Like the intro to Star Trek – The Next Generation, the front of the car stretched towards the sky and elongated as I rocketed forwards. How that manifests itself on track leads towards a very odd driving style. At my favorite track, Lime Rock Park, for example, in the Turbo S you need to be on throttle when you should be off throttle. Otherwise, if you wait for the car to be where you would normally hit the throttle, you’re halfway down the straight. The best example of where this odd throttle usage comes into play is in “Big Bend”. A decreasing radius corner, if you nail the throttle after the first apex, normally you’d spear straight off the road. The last thing you want to do when those front tires need to bite in a car with 250 horsepower is lift the nose up. But when you nail the throttle in the 944 Turbo, it doesn’t have 250 horsepower. It has 10. Maybe 12. So, you plant the throttle, turn in and as you’re about to hit the apex BAM, the boost comes on, helping to rotate the rear end and you can throttle out of the corner. Perhaps it was Porsche’s way of imparting 911 “don’t lift” DNA into the front engine turbocharged wonder! Regardless of how you drive it, though, these 944 Turbos make great friends for track adventures:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S on eBay

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Motorsports Monday: 1992 Audi 80 quattro Supertourisme

Motorsports Monday: 1992 Audi 80 quattro Supertourisme

Published December 7, 2015 by Carter

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Audi seemed a bit lost in terms of direction of its motorsports programs. With the death of Group B following the development of the monster S1 E2 Quattro, Audi turned to the 200 to lead its racing brigade from Group A rally to the crazy Trans-Am effort. That would continue with the introduction of the V8 quattro, campaigned in the DTM in 1991 and 1992 before being banned. But focus would return to the smaller chassis cars in the early 1990s, with Audi introducing a line of Super Touring 80s and the most memorable of the bunch, the flame spitting Audi 90 IMSA GTO racers. Though few remember the 80 STW, it was run extensively in the DTM and Italian Super Touring series and paved the way for the later A4 STW that would dominate many international touring classes in 1996. But there was a lesser known development, that of the ROC engineered 80 quattro Supertourisme. Built by ROC in 1991 on behalf of Audi Sport for the French Super Touring class, it was unlike any of the super touring cars Audi produced:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1992 Audi 80 quattro Superturisme at Jean Lain Vintage

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Motorsports Monday: 2004 BMW M3

Motorsports Monday: 2004 BMW M3

Published November 30, 2015 by Carter

Part of my logic for wanting an E46 M3 has been to have a dual-purpose car; one that I can drive in comfort 9.5 out of 10 days, but can take to the track on an occasional weekend and have fun approaching the limit. Few cars achieve the balance of both comfortable road car and formidable track weapon quite as well out of the box as the M3 does, and for some time it was the defacto track-addict car. Truth told, since the early 2000s many more track-focused cars have emerged and even eclipsed the M3 in both purpose and execution. But the M3 remains at the forefront of most enthusiast’s minds as a capable platform, and the E46 has channeled the last of the analogue platforms into a package that many want to upgrade. The result, if you’re willing to put in some time and money, can be a Porsche killing coupe on a more reasonable budget.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2004 BMW M3 on eBay

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Motorsports Monday: 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo

Motorsports Monday: 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo

Published November 23, 2015 by Carter

While there are faster cars, cheaper cars, flashier cars and cars that are easier to drive at the limit, few manage to be quite the combination of speed for dollar input as the 944 Turbo. Naturally almost perfectly balanced and with seemingly endless amounts of tunability and tweaking, the 944 Turbo is effectively now a 35 year old design that somehow still seems fresh. Every time I see a new 944 Turbo build I smile, as each time they just seem so naturally suited to the track-biased modifications. Today’s example is no exception and comes from a group who recently have been doing many of the best looking track builds, Motor Werks Racing. They’ve turned up these 944s and then dressed them in period livery that makes for one heck of a great looking package:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo on Racer Connect

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