Photography: BMW M3 E30 by Webb Bland

We thought somehow that it would be nice to bring you some photo sessions of BMW E30 cars, just to remind our readers to one of the legendery cars. Based on the 1986 model year E30 3-Series, the first M3 was introduced with a 2.3 L I4 S14B23 engine (or S14 in shorthand). The engine design was based on various BMW genealogy; basic block layout from the M10 4 cylinder (found in the 2002 and 320 series) overbored and reinforced to similar specifications of the BMW M88 inline-6. The valve train and head architecture from BMWs M1 and later M6 inline-6 cylinder was adopted for aggressive breathing, resulting in outstanding performance for the day.

The most notable characteristic of the E30 M3 (relative to later M3 iterations) is its racing pedigree. It was campaigned by BMW as well as other racing teams including Prodrive and AC Schnitzer competing in many forms of racing including but not limited to Rally, DTM, Australian touring car and other series.

One of the main reasons for production of the road car was to homologate the M3 for Group A Touring Car racing. One of the reasons often cited for its creation was that it was to compete with the “2.3-16V”-model of the Mercedes-Benz W201 190E which was introduced in 1983, although this was only speculative. When the E30 M3 was in its final years of top level competition, the 2.5 liter S14 engine in full race trim was capable of 340 hp (250 kW) plus, naturally aspirated.

The first road-going version produced 195 bhp (145 kW; 198 PS) (catalyzed model). Evolution models (not sold in North America) continued with 2.3 liters but adopted revised exhaust-cam timing, increased compression along with the lack of a catalyst producing approximately 215 hp (160 kW). Later the Sport Evolution model production run of 600 (sometimes referred as Evolution III) increased engine displacement to 2.5 L and produced 238 hp (175 kW). With 786 cabriolets were also produced, all by hand in BMW’s Garching plant; at the time the 215 hp (160 kW) example was the world’s fastest four-seat convertible.

This car is considered by many the most successful road going racing car to ever hit the market, with many races the drivers have won with it. Some of the wins include Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, European Touring Car Championship and even the one-off World Touring Car Championship title in 1987. The E30 M3 is also a multiple winner of Guia Race, 24 Hours Nürburgring and Spa 24 Hours.

Now lets get back to the Webb Bland’s photos, of the nice black BMW M3 E30 which truly show the ideas behind the cars design. The amazingly captured lines of the car show it’s racing pedigree, the usually low ride adds to handling abilities, and the color which is by many the number one choice for BMW cars. We usually feature only quality photographs here, and this is no exception! We thank Webb Bland for letting us show these amazing photographs, so be sure to check his online portfolio, and check out the rest of his work. We must also inform you that all of his work (including the one featured here) can be purchased as photography printout on his website, so it’s a must for every petrolhead out there.

* Information collected from Wikipedia.org which we thankfully have for such a great source of information. The photographs are copyrighted by Webb Bland and may not be republished without prior permission from the author. Please do not direct link to the images, link to the article instead, our bandwith is not endless.

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