Articles

Which is the best two-seater sports car out of the BMW Z4, Jaguar F-TYPE and Porsche Boxster 718? Simon Jackson, editor of BMW Car, our own Paul Walton and 911 27 Porsche World's Matt Bell argue the case for each before judge Ben Barry gives the final verdict.

Recently selling at auction for a record-breaking sum, this fully restored 190SL confirms that many still hold dear the Pagoda’s predecessor.

In the Sixties a boatbuilder developed the dormant Ogle GT for racing. We drive the sole Fletcher GT survivor

Despite its suburban lines, this BMW E3 Kombi is the lone survivor of three built by BMW Motorsport, designed to keep up with speeding rally cars

This is where modern motor sport-bred BMWs began – on the road in the 3.0CSL in its earliest, purest form.

Porsche and carburettor fan Ajmal Mahmood has always lusted after an early 911. Today we let him loose in a pre-impact bumper, fuel-injected Targa

This unusual Bentley MkVI was commissioned by a man with particularly rigid views on the way his cars should be. Was he onto something?

This racing 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL E/R1 was the very first car to emerge from the new BMW Motorsport workshop. Now restored, we drive it on track

Bill Smith, known to his friends as ‘Barnsley Bill’, likes unusual American cars and he’s certainly got one with this 1954 Kaiser Darrin… When faced with a rare car such as this one, I’m always intrigued to hear why the owner decided to buy it.

The 3.0 CSL and its contemporary, the 2002 Turbo, laid the foundations for BMW’s ‘ultimate driving machine’ adventure. Along with their less powerful but still charming siblings, they pointed the way to BMW’s modern car-making template: mixing the excitement and drama of the better Italian sports saloons and coupes with the reliability and quality of a German car. It’s been paying dividends ever since.

The truth is reliably stranger than fiction, and with the near-mythical motor BMW M built for Gordon Murray’s extraordinarily neat BT52 Formula 1 racer there’s almost as much strange fact and fiction as there was boost. (And there was a lot of boost.)

In many ways the M Coupe is the odd one out in this group of BMW icons. It has no motorsport pedigree, production was short-lived and objectively it was neither a commercial nor even critical success. So, why is it here? Because above all, this car is a brilliant demonstration of the M division’s vision and craft, transforming unpromising base materials into something arresting, unique and – as time goes on – highly sought after.

Let’s be clear about what E28 M5 didn’t do first. The world’s first super saloon? A Dodge Coronet 426, Mk2 Jag 3.8 and many others would line up to set you straight on that point. BMW M’s first four-door? You could probably argue that the South African 530 MLE homologation special of 1976 nabbed that honour. Neither the MLE nor the German-built 1980 E12 M535i that came later had the M1’s 24-valve straight-six, mind, but the M635 CSi coupe did, and it was unveiled almost 18 months before the E28 M5.

Step One of raising your profile as a car brand: build a supercar. And since you’re BMW Motorsport GmbH (the snappy one-letter nickname isn’t official until 1991), best make one that’s a racing car as well as a road car.

Since Enzo’s passing, in 1988, the prancing horse had struggled to get out of the gate. Despite top-tier Drivers — including Mansell and Prost — Maranello was a different shade of red. Having not won a driver’s title since 1979, the Ferrari 642 went embarrassingly winless in 1991 — with Prost acrimoniously sacked. Then, both Mansell and Prost would claim the 1992 and 1993 drivers titles, respectively — for rival, Williams.