Description:

To be offered by Silverstone Auctions on Friday 13th November. 

You can now book a one-to-one appointment (up to one hour) to view this lot at our central location of Stoneleigh Park (CV8 2LG) Monday to Friday, between Thursday 29th October – 12th November. Please contact Nick Whale on 01926691141/ nick@silverstoneauctions.com to secure your appointment or to discuss the car in more detail. The health & safety of both our customers and team remain the utmost priority, we are therefore operating to strict COVID-19 guidelines and full instructions for arrival and inspection protocols will be given when making your appointment.

Estimate: £175,000 - £195,000

(Buyers Premium 12.5% + VAT)

• Chassis number M3 1165 is one of only 55 period Motorsport factory Group A race cars
• Sold new to BMW dealer, Godfrey Hall, who campaigned the car in the 1989 BTCC (Class B)
• Bought by Nick Whale and campaigned in the new 2.0-litre BTCC format in 1990/91
• Subsequently used in lower formulas (see website) until repurchased by Nick in 2013
• Amspeed of Brackley was employed to completely strip, restore and rebuild it to current FIA Group A regulations for Historic Touring Cars. Returned to original BTCC colour scheme
• Current FIA HTP papers for class CT44 period J2-1986-1990 valid until 31/12/2027
• Much recent success (2015-19) with Nick and son, Harry (see website)
• Looked after by Mike Jordan since 2017. New Ohlins dampers, rebuilt box and diff
• The engine has been built, maintained and developed by JC Motorsport and is one of their very best FIA 2.5 engines. Only 3 races since last being rebuilt. Good spares package
• This is a remarkable opportunity. 
• This lot is to be sold as part of a collection (see lot 208). If the collection is not sold this vehicle will be offered as a separate lot

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, BMW Motorsport supplied various Works teams, such as Schnitzer in Germany and Prodrive in the UK with race-ready Group A body shells that were prepared for racing by Matter in Germany. They were built to FIA Group A Touring Car regulations and all cars had to be homologated with a minimum production run of 500 road units which meant cars like the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS 500 and Mercedes Benz 190E Cosworth Evolution and the BMW M3 Evolution were produced and sold in batches of just 500 cars. These iconic cars were raced in domestic national touring car series throughout Europe and the M3 was extremely successful in its class, winning the German Touring Car Championship, the British Touring Car Championship and Italian Touring Car Championship as well as the European and World Touring Car Championship of the period.

One of only 55 period Motorsport factory Group A race cars, chassis number M3 1165 was sold new to BMW dealer, Godfrey Hall, who campaigned the car in the 1989 British Touring Car Championship (Class B) before selling it to fellow BMW dealer, Nick Whale, who campaigned the car in the new 2.0-litre format of the British Touring Car Championship in both 1990 (with Pyramid Motorsport) and 1991 (with Techspeed Motorsport).

Backing came from Midland Autotrader Magazine (today Autotrader.com) and the enthusiastic David Owen-Smith and his staff who supported the car with corporate hospitality at all rounds and in fact went on to sponsor the overall series outright, maintaining their involvement in British Touring Cars for over a decade. It was a very competitive time for the series and the manufacturers all had 'Works' deals with the major tyre suppliers, so privateers - such as Nick - raced predominantly against each other rather than the Works teams, as they could not access the same tyre compound.
Nevertheless, at Donington in May 1990, Nick and Dutch Works driver, Gerrit Van Kouwen, notched up a 3rd place which was the highest place of any privateer in that 2.0-litre era of the BTCC.

After Nick's two great BTCC seasons with the car, it was sold to Geoff Finlay for a couple of seasons racing in lower formulas, who then sold it to Nigel Moseley late in 1994. Transferring all the running gear to a new Works Group A 'Matter' shell (with the original being used as a replacement for the Prodrive Group A Loctite rally car) it was then sold to Denis Compton who painted the car in Hillside Garage colours, modified it and raced it in the Northern saloon car series. He also fitted a faster and more powerful 2.5 Group A ex-DTM engine, before finally selling it to Mark Astall who returned the car to original Group A spec and campaigned it on track days and in races predominantly based at Cadwell Park. He chose the famous Watsons watercolour scheme and there is an article and track test of the car in the history file by 'BMW Car' magazine written in September 2013, just before Nick repurchased it.

On finding the car again late in 2013, Nick was keen to race it with his son, Harry, who had been a child of just 2 or 3 years old when the car was originally raced and both held fond memories of it. So Amspeed of Brackley was employed to completely strip, restore and rebuild it to current FIA Group A regulations for Historic Touring Cars. The car holds current FIA HTP papers for class 'CT44 period J2 - 1986-1990' valid until 31-12-2027. They also returned the car to its original colour scheme as raced in the BTCC. There is another article in the history file by BMW Car magazine from October 2015 when they tested the car as raced by Nick and Harry.

Success on track came straight away with Nick and Harry becoming a formidable partnership in historic touring car racing and many class wins and overall wins have followed ~ including twice outright at the Silverstone Classic, as well as Donington Park, Brands Hatch and Oulton Park. Last time out the car won it’s class and the Touring Car race outright at Spa, with the Motor Racing Legends Historic Touring car series in September 2019.

Since then, Mike Jordan of Jordan Sport, who took over the running of the car in 2017, have fitted new Ohlins dampers all round and rebuilt both the gearbox and limited-slip diff during the Covid period whilst no racing has been going on. The car was then shaken down at the BRDC track day last month and the diff and gearbox were run in, and are now operating perfectly. It is 100% race-ready and ready to win again. All assistance will be given to the extremely lucky purchaser and Nick will pay for Jordan Sport to run the car at a test day/track day and help with all the right settings and tips based on 35 years of involvement racing BMW E30 M3s and this one in particular.

The engine has been built, maintained and developed by JC Motorsport and is one of their very best FIA 2.5 engines. It is refreshed every 5 races with compression and valve clearance checks after every outing and currently has only completed 3 races since last being rebuilt. It is ready to use, all other components such as brakes, driveshafts, prop shaft joints have all recently been replaced and the gearbox and differential have brand new internals.

This car is often invited by BMW GB to appear on their stand at major events and was invited to Goodwood when the Group A era was celebrated with demonstration laps at their Revival Meeting. It is a well-known car, run by a highly respected team on a no expense spared basis, with known provenance and period history and guided at a very realistic price, especially when factory race-winning cars are changing hands at £350-400k. An amazing opportunity.

Spares include 8 x 18-inch wheels ~ so 12 in total, 2 complete spare differential units with different ratios, used gearbox internals, new discs and a whole host of components too numerous to list. Please call for details.