It might look like a fully fledged race car, but this BMW M3 from the E30 era is still road legal. Modified over the years to faithfully replicate the Group A-spec E30 race car from the late 1980s, the high-performance sedan was filmed in action during the Adria Raceway Track Day. We can admire the amped-up M3 being put through its paces on the 2.3-mile circuit located in northern Italy.
We can all agree it sounds absolutely glorious, partially thanks to an enlarged engine as the displacement was bumped from the original 2.3 liters to 2.5 liters. It’s unclear how much extra punch the S14 delivers, but you can rest assured it’s considerably more than the 200-hp output of the first-generation M3.
There’s more to the track-focused machine than that as it’s also been stripped down to the bare essentials to remove as much weight as possible. In case you haven’t figured out by now, that’s certainly not the standard exhaust system, and we also know for a fact the E30 has a carbon airbox along with many other aftermarket upgrades.
Courtesy of microphones installed in the engine bay and the exhaust, the soundtrack is faithfully captured while the purpose-built M3 goes through the corners of the WTCR track. Speaking of which, the circuit’s layout was changed last year and now it’s longer than before to host races in the World Touring Car Cup.
We can see the hardcore M3 E30 sharing the track with several other cars, including a rare Renault Clio RS Gordini and a Lotus Elise/Exige, not to mention a newer M3 E92. With the four-pot’s music playing in the background and GoPro cameras mounted on both front and rear bumpers, this video gives us the impression of an ultra-realistic video game. It might be only a four-cylinder engine, but when it sounds this good and shoots up flames every now and then, do you really need more?
[Source: MattyB727 – Car Videos]
