While it may seem a minor nit to pick, the first competitive outing for the glorious E30 M3 was in the divine black and gold JPS Team BMW livery, so splendidly displayed in your April spread on Pip Barker’s car, at Calder Park, Melbourne Australia on 28th February 1987. Jim Richards finished fifth before going on to win the championship – not the Monza WTCC round on 22nd March 1987 as stated in 50 Years of M – Part 2. Just to continue the theme, when the ex-JPS Team BMW cars sold to Peter Brock’s Mobil 05 team and then to Peter Doulman, they had 2-litre engines developed in Australia for the local Australian Super Touring championship. Their success saw BMW M obtaining the development work as the basis for the ETCC and WTCC cars.
I really enjoyed your feature on the ex-Top Gear 8 Series, I remember the episode that the car appeared in vividly, in fact it switched me on to the wonders of the 8 Series and a few years later I bought one for myself! That car has long since been sold to a new owner but I’m sure I wouldn’t have owned it if it weren’t for that episode of the show. It is great to see that the car lives on today.
While it may seem a minor nit to pick, the first competitive outing for the glorious E30 M3 was in the divine black and gold JPS Team BMW livery, so splendidly displayed in your April spread on Pip Barker’s car, at Calder Park, Melbourne Australia on 28th February 1987. Jim Richards finished fifth before going on to win the championship – not the Monza WTCC round on 22nd March 1987 as stated in 50 Years of M – Part 2. Just to continue the theme, when the ex-JPS Team BMW cars sold to Peter Brock’s Mobil 05 team and then to Peter Doulman, they had 2-litre engines developed in Australia for the local Australian Super Touring championship. Their success saw BMW M obtaining the development work as the basis for the ETCC and WTCC cars.
I really enjoyed your feature on the ex-Top Gear 8 Series, I remember the episode that the car appeared in vividly, in fact it switched me on to the wonders of the 8 Series and a few years later I bought one for myself! That car has long since been sold to a new owner but I’m sure I wouldn’t have owned it if it weren’t for that episode of the show. It is great to see that the car lives on today.