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Going to the track is like any other addiction; it has its highs and lows. You may start going with a stock car, but soon you’ll feel the need to modify the suspension, beef up with wheels and tires, throw on some racing brakes, strip the interior and all of that heavy stuff that slows you down like air conditioning, sound deadening, and seats. Then you drop a cage in and hit the track; all smiles, no doubt, but it’s been an expensive journey and your track weapon is really only good at fast laps for a small percentage of its existence; the rest of the time, it just sits or is exceptionally uncomfortable and inconvenient as a daily driver. Plus, modern cars have gotten so expensive and complicated, with enough computer aids that they can nearly lap themselves. What is an enthusiast to do, then? Well, you can look towards some perennial favorites that helped to establish the reputation of BMW; the M3. In this case, I have two examples that are set up to hit the track – a racer E30 and a street-drivable but track-biased E46. Which is your flavor?
Homologation for motorsport is nothing new, but it’s uncommon that a vehicle will make the transition into multiple race series. Mercedes-Benz had intentions of rally competition with the 190E when it was introduced in the early 1980s, but, as they say, life is timing. With the Audi Quattro lighting up the World Rally scene, Mercedes became a bit gun shy of the proposition. Instead, they decided to go racing in the newly devised Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (German Touring Car) race series. The first years of this series were legendary, with Mercedes going head to head with E30 BMW M3s on the track in some epic battles.
The two competition 190Es we’ll take a look at today were intended for two very different race series. The first 190E we’ll take a look at is for sale in Holland and was intended for the rally circuit.
There are precious few times that you’ll see something like we have to feature today; while there are plenty of clones of the factory Audi…
Okay, okay, you’re right – last week we featured BBS wheels too. But let’s just say I have a thing for BBS wheels and I’m…
Here’s an easy recipe for fun: take a small light-weight rear-wheel-drive car, strip out the interior, toss on some wider and stickier tires, and go…
