The Goodwood Festival of Speed is one of the best events you can possibly attend if you’re a true gearhead. It’s one of those rare occasions where you don’t just get to see some of the best cars ever made in a paddock, but also watch them run up the famous Goodwood hill-climb, driven to the absolute limit. Furthermore, Goodwood is also a good occasion to check out the latest cars on sale, as it has that unique blend of new and old mixed together that you won’t find anywhere else.

Therefore, this list of the eleven best BMW M cars the organizers put together recently definitely deserves some attention. Put together to celebrate the sub-brand’s 50th anniversary, this list includes the absolute best cars to come out of Munich’s Motorsport division over these 5 decades, according to the Goodwood people. Of course, some of us might have a different opinion and you’re more than welcome to share your thoughts in the comments.

The list is not meant to be a top eleven but rather a simple enumeration of the models that seemed to have the biggest impact and were the best driving models out there. As usual, it kicks off with the original, the BMW M1, a car that needs no more introduction. Since it’s considered the only BMW supercar ever made, it automatically made the list. We then jump to the E28 M5, the original M sedan that came with 286 horsepower and a weight of just 1.4 tons, being a splash of color in the automotive spectrum of those days.

The BMW E30 M3 couldn’t be left out, of course, as well as the E39 M5 and E46 M3, cars from the Golden Age of BMW, if you will. The E36 M3 is missing from this list though and that’s bound to raise some eyebrows. However, the E92 M3 CRT is included here, not the GTS or the standard M3, as well as the M5 Touring (E61) and the BMW 1M Coupe. Surprisingly, the last three to make the cut were the M2 CS, M5 CS and the current M3 Competition with xDrive.

[Source: Goodwood]