Performance BMW - November 2015

AWESOME E46Perfectly modified M3

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SLAMMED M3Stunning Stateside E36

WILD E30Stripped,bagged, superb

AIR-RIDE F80Seriously smart newM3 delivers the goods

Devilishly good580whp twin-turbo E24‘666CSi’

OFC 001 PBMW 1115 18/09/2015 10:12

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002 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 13:51

SUB EDITORS: Christian Shelton, Rachael HarperSENIOR DESIGNER: Aaron BatsonDESIGNERS: Dave Powney, Alex Sowa, Tom Claydon-SmithPRODUCTION MANAGER: Jo Claydon-SmithREPRO CONTROLLER: Tom JacksonSENIOR RETOUCHER: Laurence GreenFINANCE DIRECTOR: Helen LawsonCONTRIBUTORS: Steve Hall, Dan Crosley, Richard Le, Louise Woodhams, Kevin Raekelboom, Daniel Bevis, Hjalmar van Hoek,Mike Kuhn, Patrik Karlsson, Rick Di Corpo, Darren Teagles, James Foard, Sam Preston, John Thorne, Sam Ratcliffe, Paul Cowland

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Digital edition from:

We all have bad days in the office, everysingle one of us, even if we do jobs we love,like this one. For me, the bad days are whenI’m trying to juggle emails and social mediamessages from readers and potential featurecar owners whilst also trying to put amagazine out on time and keep my ad teamhappy and my design team from losing theirminds while I ask for the 57th minor tweak tothe cover.

I do love this job, though, and it’s filled witha monthly cycle of highs and lows; as onemagazine disappears out the door, there’s alull while I plan the next one and then we starthurtling towards the next deadline while Ichase owners for information, snappers forimages and writers for copy. But whenever I’mhaving a bad day I just look at some of theamazing cars that you’ve been building and it’sguaranteed to put a smile on my face.

Just the other day I was going through a listof some upcoming features and making someslightly inappropriate noises because they areso good and I am genuinely excited aboutgetting them in the magazine and out there forall of you to enjoy. We’ve got some absolutelyawesome cars waiting their turn and I can tellyou now that I’m confident you’re going toenjoy what’s heading your way in the comingmonths and, looking ahead, in 2016.

There’s no need to wait, though, becausewe’ve packed some pretty exceptional carsinto this issue (like we do every month) that Ihope you will enjoy. When our cover cardropped into my email inbox I knew there wasonly one place for it to go, because whensomeone builds a 580whp twin-turbo E24 youcan’t help but take notice. Elsewhere, we’vegot a double-dose of E30 goodness (both carsare bagged, beautifully built and decidedly

different), a slice of old-school-cool courtesy ofa seriously sexy static 2002, and no less thanthree generations of M3 to enjoy: aspectacular Stateside E36; a stunning UK E46;and an air-ride F80. So, please go and enjoythe magazine while the rest of the team and Iget down to the task of making another one ofthese for you. Until next month…

Elizabeth de Latour, Editor

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: DAN CROSLEYISSUE: November 2015

EDITOR: Elizabeth de [email protected]: Alex [email protected]: 01732 445325

NOVEMBER 2015 3

FIRST WORDS

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IF YOUR NEWSAGENT DOESN’T STOCK PBMW ASK

THEM TO ORDER IT IN FOR YOU

003-005 PBMW 1115 Contents 18/09/2015 11:00

4 PERFORMANCE BMW

CONTENTS

REGULARS

32

26

58

06 FEATURE MY CAR Want your car featured? It’s as simple

as emailing us with a few details.

14 NEWS The latest BMW news and products.

53 POSTER Pop this double-sided dose of BMW

goodness on your wall!

70 EVENTS Enjoy our show reports from Gaydon,

Fueled Society, Bimmerfest Europe,BimmerFlex, plus round three of theCompact Cup.

88 PBMW MERCHANDISE Get your stickers and keyrings here.

92 COMPETITION Win a fantastic Renown steering wheel.

94 SUBSCRIPTIONS PBMW delivered at a discount!

96 OUR CARS Catch up with the PBMW fleet.

104 READERS’ CARS This month’s selection of

reader submissions.

106 NEXT MONTH A stunning bagged 8 Series.

1764

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SUBSCRIBEAND SAVE 20%Subscribe to PBMW magazine and save 20%. Go towww.performancebmwmag.com or call 01732 748084

p94

003-005 PBMW 1115 Contents 18/09/2015 10:22

NOVEMBER 2015 5

ISSUE 194 NOVEMBER 2015

08 THE GREY Building an E46 M3 that stands out from the crowd is no

mean feat, and this UK example is one of the best around.

17 ONE STEP BEYOND Built over 13 years, this twin-turbo, M106-engined, 580whp

E24 635 is a seriously incredible machine.

26 CALIFORNIA DREAMING Not many people would buy a brand-spanking new F80 M3

and then bag it, but here’s what happens when you do.

32 HERE COMES THE ‘BOOM No stranger to seriously modified BMWs, photographer Kevin

Raekelboom’s latest creation may be his wildest yet.

38 FIVE SERIES DEATH PUNCH This unassuming E28 hides 655whp of pure turbocharged fury beneath its classic styling.

44 STAR OF CCTV All eyes are on this stunning, slammed Stateside E36 M3

which ticks all the boxes when it comes to visual impact.

58 TEMPTING FATE What started out as a restoration project on a 2002 somehow

turned into an incredibly low, static, classic build instead.

64 PEER PRESSURE This slick air-ride E30, finished in Sakhir orange, boasts a 2.8-

swap and delivers the perfect blend of show and go.

FEATURES

Win

worth up to £150A Renown

p92steering wheel

003-005 PBMW 1115 Contents 18/09/2015 11:58

Car?Featureyour

Wantus to

Email: [email protected]

006 PBMW 1115 FMC 08/09/2015 11:59

AIR RIDE KITSBMW

E30 E36 E46 E90/91/92/93 & 1 Series Including ‘M’ Models

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007 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 13:55

Fully fettled, fast and ferocious, thispredatory M3 is hungry like the wolf…

Words: Elizabeth de Latour Photos: Steve Hall

008-012 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 12:40

The E46 M3 is an awesome car. It’ssupremely affordable, fast, a joyto drive, practical and can evenbe considered economical. It isarguably one of the greatest

performance bargains of our time.Unfortunately, as is often the case, when acar is good and affordable it becomespopular and when a car is popular itbecomes rather difficult to make it stand outfrom the crowd. People will often end updoing the same sorts of mods, not becausethey are sheep but because those are thebest mods to do. Creating somethingdifferent can be quite difficult, somethingthat affects all popular 3 Series models inparticular, but James Barrett has faced thatchallenge head-on and emerged victorious.

Those in the UK modified BMW scenemay well recognise that name because forquite some time James was the go-to guy atM Style for customers looking to spice up

their BMs. You may well recognise the car,too, because it is a show regular and hasenjoyed more than its fair share of internetfame and with good reason: it’s a stunner!As you may expect from someone who hasbeen at the heart of the modified BMWscene for so long, James has a car historyfilled with BMWs, and it’s a surprisinglyvaried mix of BM machinery at that. There’sbeen an E65, an E60, an E46 and an E36before James purchased this E46 M3 justover two years ago. It was a car he’d alwayswanted and so the mods began in earnest.As is often the case, the modifyingavalanche was triggered by one simple act:fitting some carbon grilles. “It all went fromthere,” chuckles James. “I had intended toleave the car in its original Titan silver afterdoing the carbon grilles but one of the wingswas slightly off in colour; I wanted to get ittaken care of but didn’t want to end upchasing it round the car to try and get it to

008-012 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 12:40

10 PERFORMANCE BMW

seem like an unlikely colour choice for theroll-cage but it was all part of James’ plan. “Iwanted a colour that would complement thegrey,” he explains. “The grey looks lighterwhen the sun hits it and so does the Merlinpurple. I think that they work really welltogether. I had initially considered candy redfor the cage and wheels but then I figuredthat it would have taken away from thestealthy look of the car.” Merlin purple is(whisper it) an Audi colour but it’s a darngood-looking one and quite a subtle hue,adding a flash of colour in the black andgrey interior.

Speaking of wheels, the E46 M3 is a carwith which it is hard to go wrong when itcomes to choosing wheels. Get the rightcombination and everything from dish toconcave can look absolutely killer. The onlyhard part is making an original choice – somany aftermarket wheels have been done todeath already by the modifying masses.Fortunately James has nailed it with his

current choice. “I had CSL wheelsoriginally,” he says, “but silver wheels on agrey car looked odd. Plus, everyone has CSLwheels on M3s. I wanted somethingdifferent and when I saw the gunmetalQuantum44 S1s I knew they were perfect.”Quantum44 has produced some extremelygood looking wheels but it isn’t a brand thatyou’re likely to see on every show cararound, making this concave ten-spokewheel a distinctive design. The dark colourcoordinates with the overall look of the car,and the interior theme is echoed in thecallipers which are finished in Merlin purple.10mm spacers up front and 20mm items atthe rear get the fitment spot-on and the 19sfill the arches perfectly thanks to theaggressive drop that James has dialled-in onhis D2 Racing coilovers.

Elsewhere you may have spotted the CSLbootlid, with its smoothed badge and lock. Itwas fitted when the car was still silver,along with the smoked indicators, matt

match perfectly so I decided to do a fullcolour change. I wanted something thathadn’t been done before, but that was subtleat the same time.” The colour James settledon was Lamborghini Grigio Telesto, aspectacular solid grey, making his the firstE46 M3 to sport this look. Considering howunexciting grey is as a colour, it actuallymakes a big impact because it’s so unusualand definitely makes the car stand out.

Before the respray James had managed tocatch his splitter on a kerb, damaging thebumper in the process. This seemed like agood excuse to fit a CSL front bumper,always a good idea, and he also smoothedthe intake hole for a cleaner look.

The interior of this particular M3 has alsogone through something of a transformation.It was originally black, before Jamesswapped in a red leather interior. However,when he decided to fit a purple roll-cage hewent back to black as the red and purplesimply wouldn’t work together. Purple might

I decided to do a full colour change.

that hadn’t been done beforeI wanted something

008-012 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 15:36

NOVEMBER 2015 11

black roof, CSL diffuser and ACS roofspoiler. These have since been joined by awhole host of subtle but effective exteriortweaks including a full-width carbon splitter,tinted front lights with smoked inner bowlsand Umnitza angel eyes, all-red LED rearsand plenty of carbon touches, like the wingvents and carbon washer jet panel.

Being an M3 you’d be disappointed ifthere wasn’t a little bit of performanceboost, so you’ll be pleased to hear thatJames has fitted a K&N induction kit withcarbon intake, a Mosselman remap and a setof 100-cell sport cats while the SMG hasbeen treated to a CSL software update forfaster shifts.

At this point the car was looking prettyawesome all-round but James still wasn’tfinished and he now turned his attention tothe interior to really finish it off. The dashand doors have been flocked, the latteroffering a fantastic contrast against the glossgrey of the body-coloured door panels, and

Cobra Monaco seatsup front with flocked

dash and StormMotorwerks goodies

Rear seats have been ditched and the space is now occupied by two 12” subs and a Merlin purple roll-cage

008-012 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 12:41

12 PERFORMANCE BMW

the standard seats have beenunceremoniously removed and replaced witha pair of extremely sexy Cobra Monaco seatscomplete with Sparco three-point harnesses.The dash trims and gear lever surround havebeen finished in matching Lambo grey andJames has also fitted a Storm Motorwerkstitanium gear knob and ring plus a set ofextended Rogue Engineering paddles. Therear seats have been ditched and back thereyou will now find a pair of 12” JL Audio subsalong with a JL amp.

In just over two years James has done alot of work and all his effort shines throughas the end result is stunning. The attentionto detail here is really impressive and he’spaid attention to every element of the car:

DA

TA

FIL

E

ENGINE & TRANSMISSION3.2-litre straight-six S54B32, carbon engine cover,K&N induction kit with carbon intake, 100-cellsport cats, Mosselman remap, Sprint Booster, Euro-style exhaust tips. Six-speed SMG gearbox, CSLsoftware update

CHASSIS8.5x19” (front) and 9.5x19” (rear) Quantum44 S1matt gunmetal wheels with 225/35 (front) and255/30 (rear) Falken tyres, 15mm (front) and 20mm(rear) TPI spacers, D2 Racing coilovers, TurnerMotorsport subframe reinforcement kit, fullPowerflex bush kit, Rogue Engineering top mounts

EXTERIORFull respray in Lamborghini Grigio Telesto, CSL frontbumper with smoothed intake hole, full width carbonsplitter, Lamin-x subtle tint front lights with smokedinner bowl, Umnitza Angel eyes, 8000K xenonupgrade, smoothed bonnet, CSL bootlid withsmoothed badge and lock, carbon CSL diffuser,carbon wing vents, carbon kidney grilles, matt blackroof, red/smoked LED rear lights, light smokewindow tints, AC Schnitzer roof spoiler, carbonwasher jet panel, Audi Merlin purple calipers

INTERIORBody coloured CSL doorcard inserts, body coloureddash trims and gear surround, flocked dash, flockeddoor cards, Weichers Type B half-cage painted AudiMerlin purple, Storm Motorwerks titanium SMG ringand gear knob, AC Schnitzer pedals and footrest,Rogue Engineering extended paddles, Cobra Monacoseats, Sparco three-point harnesses, rear seatdelete, 2x JL audio 12” subs, JL audio amp

THANKSPaul and the boys at MStyle for the majority of thework, Abe at Low Expectations clothing, Ad atStrictly Static, Ollie at Absolute Detailing, Ray atAbsoflockinlutely, and most of all my better halfDee Barwick for putting up with my paintwork OCDand patience with me when things didn’t quite goto plan!

E46 M3the aesthetics (both inside and out); thehandling; and the performance. No part ofthe car has gone untouched and everymodification has been planned and executedwith purpose and planning.

“I’m very happy with how the car hasturned out,” grins James, “it’s exactly how Ipictured it would be. I spent ages goingthrough the various options I had at everystage, trying to visualise how it would all tietogether as I really wanted to get it right.”Well, he has succeeded there then, althoughpossible plans for the future include a BBK,Quantum’s new curved-spoke S5D wheelsand, if funds allow, a supercharger.Whatever the future holds, one thing is forcertain: this grey M3 won’t be dull! ●

Gunmetal Quantum44 19s arethe perfect match for the paint;purple and carbon details addthe finishing touches

008-012 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 12:42

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14 PERFORMANCE BMW

NEWS

ULTIMATE STANCE 2015Ultimate Stance is back for 2015 and is to be held on Sunday 1 November 2015. The organisers tell us it will bring together over250 of the very best stanced show cars from the UK and Europe underone roof, along with another 350 outdoor show and club standvehicles, at the Telford Indoor International Centre.

Ultimate Stance 2015 will also feature The Wheel Whores Showcasewhich will bring together even more great vehicles, attractions andplenty of entertainment.

The venue is located just off the M54 motorway, just a few miles tothe west of Birmingham, making it easily accessible. Advanced ticketsare also now on sale and can be bought online, saving you £2.50 andletting you beat the queues on the day.Web: www.ultimate-stance.co.uk

AWE TUNING S-FLOCARBON INTAKES AWE has expanded its BMW performance catalogue with the release if its S-Flocarbon intake line, available for the F8x M3 and M4, F3x 335i, 435i, 328i, 428i,and F22 M235i, with applications in development for the F1x M5 and M6. The S-Flo range of intakes are fully enclosed, made from 100% carbon fibre andspecifically designed for each application. The filters offer anincrease in surface area and deliver what AWE describes asimpressive power gains as well as being washable andreusable. The S-Flo intakes integrate perfectly with thestock ducting for a perfect fit and uses bondedaluminium fittings. Finally a UV stabilised resin andclear coat prevents yellowing from heat.Price: From $995-$1595 depending on modelWeb: www.awe-tuning.com

COBRA SPORT 420d DUAL EXHAUSTNew from Cobra Sport this month comes a dual exit exhaust for the 420d, givingit that 435i look. This stainless steel rear silencer fits both 2WD and xDrive modelsand offers a sportier appearance. Available separately is a rear bumper panel thatfits perfectly around the exhaust tips making it look like a factory system. Price: £544.38Web: www.cobrasport.comTel: 0114 244 7123

SUSPENSION CONCEPTSADJUSTABLE STRUT MOUNTS AS Performance is now distributing Suspension Concepts adjustablecamber and caster strut mounts. Designed, manufactured andassembled in Australia, these mounts offer 20mm negative and 10mmpositive camber and 10mm positive and 10mm negative casteradjustment. The Suspension Concepts strut plates can be easilyadjusted by simply loosening thenuts which attach them to thestrut tower. They also boast arobust high tensile sphericalbearing and common shockmounting collets. Price: From £200 per pairTel: 0191 410 3770Email: [email protected]

EIBACH 1 AND 2 SERIES CHASSIS UPGRADESOwners of 1 and 2 Series models looking for sharper handling will be pleased about Eibach’s latest releases. For those looking to lower their ride height alittle and reduce body roll, the Pro-Kit uprated springs are perfect. Available for both 2WD and xDrive models, they lower the car by 25mm up front (all-roundon the xDrive) and 30mm at the rear. The Sportline spring kit offers a more aggressive drop of 40mm all-round and a firmer ride for even sharper handling. Ifyou want to reduce body-roll without reducing comfort, the uprated anti-roll bar kit is well worth checking out. A two bar kit, the front bar features a hollowconstruction, offering a 40% weight saving over the competition, while two levels of adjustment allow you to fine-tune your car’s handling. The kit evenincludes uprated bushes. Both spring kits come with a five-year warranty while the anti-roll bars come with a two-year warranty.Price: Pro-Kit springs £189.12, Sportline springs £182.40, Anti-roll bar kit £372Web: www.eibach.comTel: 01455 285851

014 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 14:23

015 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 12:23

016 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 12:11

NOVEMBER 2015 17

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18 PERFORMANCE BMW

would lead him on the journey to buildingthis 6 Series was ignited when, in 1977, hesaw an advert in a car magazine for the633CSi: “It was a two-page side view of thecar at speed. The caption read: ‘Cruise allday at 125 miles per hour.’ I was in love.Long story short, in October of 1986 I tookpossession of a one-year-old Euro-spec635CSi in Diamond Schwartz with colour-matching centre Style 5s that I importedfrom Germany. It had a five-speed ‘box, M-Tech side skirts, headlight wipers and E9-style BMW emblems on the C-pillars. It wasbreathtaking! The drive home was magical.It was a unique and rare car in this area atthe time. A phenomenal highway cruiser andno slouch with 218hp. I drove, loved andcherished it for 17 years. In 2002 [interestingnumber coincidence], I began to think aboutincreasing its power as a project with myson Justin who had come of driving age.”

Rob looked into various options –including an S88 swap – but the costsinvolved were prohibitive so he decided togo down the forced-induction route instead.“There was nothing off-the-shelf at the time:some companies were installingsuperchargers on E36s and some werecasting log exhaust manifolds for turboapplications. I chose to go with a turbo forefficiency and because BMW had done sowith the 745i however, in a twist of fate, thefactory casting the turbo manifolds burnedto the ground so I was stymied.

“Some weeks later my son and I wereroaming a local junkyard looking for BMWparts and he came upon a 745i with acracked head. It had large iridescent red Ss

Here at PBMW we are mostdefinitely not into makingassumptions but even we mustadmit that we did not expectthis utterly insane twin-turbo

580whp E24 635 to be owned by a 68-year-old psychiatrist. Pretty much every numberin that sentence is eyebrow-raising but allwe can say is that we hope when we get tothat age we’re driving something asspectacular as this.

So, 580whp – that’s a lot, especially in acar as devoid of weight and bulk as the E24and using twin-turbos to achieve thatmonstrous figure is just wholly unnecessaryand utterly wonderful in equal measure. Thiscar is nothing short of an engineeringmasterpiece; a car owned and built by a manwho is as big a petrolhead as they come; acar built without compromise or theconstraints of practicality or budget. It’s the6 Series you’d build if you could.

While we’re sure Rob Behrends would haveloved to invite us to lie down on a couch andask us about our mother and why we’rescared of bread, this time it was our turn todelve into the mind of the man who made thismonster and see just what makes him tick…

“I’ve been interested in cars for as long asI can remember,” says Rob. “I collectedautomobile cards and brochures as a kid,and had several large picture bookcompilations of European and exotic cars.”His personal car ownership took the form ofa varied array of American muscle that youmight expect a young motor-mad mangrowing up in the ‘60s to drive, with V8sacross the board, but the first spark that

017-024 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 10:47

NOVEMBER 2015 19

017-024 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 10:47

20 PERFORMANCE BMW

A lot of time, effort, creativity, passion

been invested in this carand money has

017-024 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 10:47

NOVEMBER 2015 21

sprayed all over it, indicating ‘save’ by theyard, knowing this was something not to becrushed. My dream was suddenly alive again.”

Rob rescued the 745i for $500 andbrought it to My Garage, which specialisesin Euro cars. The precious engine wasremoved, along with numerous necessarysupporting components, and the process ofrebuilding it began. At the same time, theM30 was removed from the 635 and sold,and the six went off to Sports CarRestoration (SCR), which specialises in2002s, for some serious custom work. “I hadworked with SCR for small rust repairs andpaint projects on the Six in the past. InitiallyI wanted bodywork, paint, sport seats, a rearvalence and a lower front spoiler. I hadbought an Alpina spoiler, a Fittipaldisteering wheel (at a swap meet), Sparcoseats, a titanium gear knob, and mounts forthe six-way power seats,” says Rob. “A keyissue for the metal body fabrication was tyresize. The motor was going to be fitted with aGarret T5, so there would be a lot of power.I had already purchased Fikse FM-10s; 9.5”with 265s for the back, 8.5” with 235s for thefront. That was as big as I could go, evenwith the max offset to the inside so I had tomake an executive decision to extend theflares! I was then able to widen the wheelsand tyres by another inch. At that point I

was like a kid in a candy shop. Anything waspossible. My sense of practicality and futureresponsibility were gone. Roll-cage? Sure!Metal fab side sills to replace the M-Techs? Why not? We needed two frontarches anyway…”

With the bodywork complete it was timefor the engine to be re-inserted and tuned.After a lot of work and some delays, Robpicked up his completed car in July of2005. He badged it ‘666 CSi’ and hisnumberplate reads ‘MENTAL’.

For a while all was well but unfortunatelynot for long. The ceramic-coated cast logexhaust manifold cracked and the manifoldthat Rob purchased to replace it alsocracked, taking the turbo with it, as hefound out when the setup was dismantled bySteve Sarafini at Fab U This (FUT), whomthe garage doing the engine work had usedfor exhaust work on the car. One optionwould have been to simply opt for a new,stronger manifold and a fresh turbo but,having come so far with this build, Robdecided to take things that little bit further.“At that point I engaged Sarafini in whatturned out to be a three-year-plus project ofcompletely redesigning the engine bay (andmore) based largely on my making thedecision to have two turbos.” The car wasdropped off with FUT and work began on

the massive new stage in the project inJanuary of 2010. “He’s a one-man-shop. Healso had his bread and butter work to do.This was a complex, close tolerance projectof epic proportions. It came togetherbeautifully but slowly, over about threeyears, essentially redesigning the entire airflow from filters to exhaust tips andproperly aligning and securing the engine,transmission and driveshaft.

“The last stage, when the 666 came hometo me, was another frontier. I had no ideawhat was required for it to run. I looked tomy son for direction, and one of his friends,Brian Hoehne of New DirectionsPerformance, stepped up. He picked up onmy passion to forge ahead and jumped on-board. He knew people where he had grownup a few towns away and brought togetherSteve Cohen, Brian Hall, my son, and JamesMoran of Backfire Fab. Brian organised andscheduled the guys and researched andsourced materials and parts. Steve Cohen,with my son Justin’s help, rewired the entirecar over several months. Everything originaland everything new worked. I was amazed!James (Bopper as he is affectionatelyknown), is a true custom car wizard. Ofcourse, there were numerous hurdles and hehad a huge amount of work to do. Heplumbed the turbos, installed sensors for the

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22 PERFORMANCE BMW

ECU, connected the wastegates and blow-off valve, designed a cam position sensor,tightened and marked every bolt and nut,found and eliminated leaks (oil, water, air),revamped the breather tubing, installed theGround Control coilovers, problem-solvedthe turbos, fuel pump, and ECU, tuned theengine, and much, much more… but it wasall worth it.”

Building the 666CSi has been a biggerproject than Rob could ever have envisagedwhen he first start looking at options formore power 13 years ago. Few of us haveever even owned car for that long, let alonespent that sort of time building a project. Ina world dominated by people chasing show-ready build deadlines and hopping fromproject car to project car, it’s prettyincredible to come across someone who hasspent this long reaching his personal versionof motoring nirvana.

As for the car itself, well, this 6 Seriesdoesn’t disappoint. From top to bottom,inside and out, on every level Rob hasaddressed every aspect of the car andcreated an incredible build. The car hasundergone a lot of body work but thechanges have all been subtle and don’t spoil

the irresistible E24 styling. The extensivemetal fabrication for the widened arches,side skirts and rear valence is blink-and-you’ll-miss-it subtle and elsewhere Rob hashad the fuel filler flap, antenna hole, rearbumper spacer and second wiper holeshaved, as well as having the arch and panelseams welded and filled. An Alpina frontspoiler has been grafted on up front andthere’s also an unpainted carbon bonnet andcustom carbon fibre spoiler intake surround,while at the back a Racing Dynamics spoilerperches on the bootlid. It all works so well,and we have to give Rob’s choice of wheelsa huge thumbs-up too. We’re going to go outon a limb here and say that most of youprobably haven’t come across Fikse wheelsbefore, but this American firm has beenproducing some extremely stylish designsfor a long time now and the forged 18”cross-spoke FM-10s that have been fittedhere, their 9.5” and 10.5” widths the reasonbehind the arch widening, look fantastic.They have a classic design that really suitsthe shape of the Six – nothing toooutrageous and with a healthy dose of dish.

Inside, it’s a blend of the familiar andextremely alien: classic E24 elements sitting

next to necessary additions for a carpushing out this much power. There’s nomissing the three-quarter roll-cage, which isattached to the frame rails at the firewalland rear shock towers, or the extremelysexy Sparco Milano seats with six-wayelectric adjustment and custom Pearl beigeleather trim to match the rest of the interior.The Fittipaldi steering wheel has beencombined with a set of AC Schnitzer pedalsand handbrake lever, while there’s also aweighted titanium gear knob attached to amuch-needed short-shift kit. Finally, there’sa custom instrument pod that houses anarray of essential fuel meter gauges.

So, we should probably talk about theengine because it’s a little bit special. As youmight expect from a project spanning 13years, an insane amount of work has beencarried out on this M106 and it looks likesome kind of thermonuclear device ratherthan a mere six-cylinder engine. It has beenblueprinted and balanced and built withRoss forged pistons, Pauter billet rods, TotalSeal rings, race bearings, and a MetricMechanic dual profile asymmetrical sportcam. The head has been milled, pocket andchamber ported and sodium-filled over-sized

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NOVEMBER 2015 23

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ENGINE 3.5-litre straight-six M106, solid mounted, blueprintedand balanced, stock crank, Ross forged pistons, Pauterbillet rods, Total Seal rings, race bearings, compression7.7:1, Metric Mechanic dual profile asymmetrical sportcam, milled, pocket and chamber ported head, sodiumfilled over-sized valves, new guides, titanium retainers,F1-1000lb springs, steel head gasket, stud kit, InjectorDynamics ID1300 injectors, twin Comp CT3B ceramicball-bearing turbos, twin-Turbosmart 40mmwastegates with custom stainless steel lines,Turbosmart 50mm blow-off valve, ATL fuel cell, dualpumps, lines, custom fuel rail, custom cam sensor,custom wheel speed sensors for rear axle for tractioncontrol, AEM infinity 10 ECU, custom software elementsfor adjustable boost per gear, no-lift shift, six dial-intunes, valet mode and kill switch, Halon fireextinguisher, Snow Performance water/methanolinjection system (including custom stainless tank),custom rewiring of engine and complete car, twinceramic-coated exhaust manifolds, full customstainless exhaust with twin 2.5” tailpipes, upratedradiator with twin electric radiator fans, custom air boxin right frame rail, ceramic-coated intake piping to air-to-air intercooler and radiator, custom aluminiumplenum and runners, custom aluminium coolant

expansion, hydraulic fluid and condensation tanks,custom aluminium valve cover with hidden plug wires,oil cooler with puller fan in left frame rail, customaluminium water tubes at water pump jacket, OptimaRed Top battery. 580whp and 540lb ft rear wheeltorque at 1.5bar with water/meth injection (22-23psi)and MS109

TRANSMISSIONGetrag S6S 420G six-speed gearbox from Euro E34M5, solid mounted, SPEC Stage 5 clutch, differentialreinforced by a ¼” steel C-shaped bolted bracketwelded to a ¼” steel plate on the boot floor and boltedto crossmembers which go to the rear shocktowers/roll-cage, custom stainless rear strut brace

CHASSIS9.5x18” (front) and 10.5x18” (rear) Fikse FM-10wheels with 265/35ZR18 (front) and 295/35ZR18 (rear)Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, Ground Controlcoilovers, front suspension fully polybushed, rearsuspension solid mounted and polybushed, customaluminium front strut brace, custom UUC BBKcomprising four-pot calipers with 355mm two-piecegrooved discs (front) and four-pot calipers with 350mm

grooved disc (rear), 22mm anti-roll bars, line lock onfront brakes

EXTERIORCustom metal fabrication by Sports Car Restorationincluding flared arches, side sills and rear valance withexhaust scallops, shaved fuel filler door, antenna hole,rear bumper spacer, second wiper hole, welded/filledarch and panel seams, Alpina (lower) front spoiler, PIAAthree-way running lights, custom carbon fibre bonnetand spoiler intake surround, Racing Dynamics rear wing

INTERIORCustom instrument pod, fuel gauges, short-shift kit,titanium (weighted) gear knob, AC Schnitzer pedals andhandbrake lever, six-way power Sparco Milano seatscustom covered in Pearl beige, Fittipaldi steering wheel,new tool kit, three-quarter roll-cage attached to theframe rails at firewall and rear shock towers, EscortPassport Max radar detector, Directed SmartStart System

THANKSMy son Justin, My Garage, Sports Car Restoration, FabU This, Backfire Fab, New Directions Performance, andEuropean Performance Labs

TURBO E28

017-024 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 11:15

24 PERFORMANCE BMW

valves have been fitted along with newguides, titanium retainers and F1-1000lbsprings, along with a steel head gasket andstud kit, with the compression ratio reducedto 7.7:1. Somewhere deep within the bowelsof the bay sit the turbos: a pair of CompCT3B ceramic ball bearing items mountedon twin ceramic-coated manifolds, mated totwin Turbosmart 40mm wastegates withcustom stainless steel lines and Turbosmart50mm blow-off valve. The fuel systemneeded some serious upgrading and is nowrunning Injector Dynamics ID1300 injectorswith fuel by Marren Injection Systems, ATLfuel cell, dual pumps, lines and a customfuel rail. There’s also a Snow Performancewater/methanol injection system with acustom stainless steel tank. A custom airbox has been fabbed in the right frame railand there’s aluminium intake piping to theair-to-air intercooler and radiator withcustom aluminium plenum and runners.Look further and you’ll find a customaluminium coolant expansion tank, ahydraulic fluid tank and a condensationtank. A custom aluminium valve cover withhidden plug wires is a nice touch, whilethere’s also an oil cooler with a puller fan inthe left frame rail and custom aluminiumwater tubes at the water pump jacket.

The icing on the cake is the AEM Infinity10 ECU with an awesome array of functionsincluding traction control, adjustable boost

per gear, no-lift shift, and six dial-in tunes.This incredible list of engine mods all play

their part in helping the car make thataforementioned figure of 580whp along with540lb ft of torque at the rear wheels at 1.5baron MS109 fuel with the water/meth running.All that power makes its way to the Tarmacvia a Getrag S6S 420G six-speed gearboxfrom a Euro E34 M5, SPEC Stage 5 clutchand a pair of 295 Michelin Pilot Super Sports.Due to the vast amount of power and torquethat the E24 now has to deal with the chassishas undergone some serious strengtheningto help it cope. The diff is reinforced by a1/4” steel, C-shaped bolted bracket welded toa 1/4” steel plate on the boot floor and boltedto cross members which go to the rear shocktowers/roll-cage. There’s a custom rear strutbrace, the engine and transmission are solidmounted along with most of the rearsuspension, with some components mountedon polybushes, and the whole front has alsobeen fully polybushed. Ground Controlcoilovers offer a gentle drop and a massiveimprovement in handling while the standardbrakes are long gone, replaced by a customUUC BBK with four-pot calipers front andrear and 355mm two-piece grooved discs upfront with 350mm items out back. There arealso thicker anti-roll bars and a line lock kithas been fitted on the front brakes, makingthose all important burnouts a breeze.

The story of Rob’s 635 is one of highs and

lows and while there were moments whenthe end seemed like it would never be insight, 13 years on from that great decision toget some more power from his Six, here westand with one of the most incredible buildswe’ve ever come across. “It has been a longand winding road; not easy at times,” musesRob. “Overall, I’m relieved and happy it’stogether and working. A lot of time, effort,creativity, passion and money has beeninvested in this car. I’m still totally crazy[mental?] about it.” Looking at thatnumberplate, whoever said Americans don’tget irony? And as for the moniker on theback of the car, well, we’ll let Rob explain:“666CSi has a double meaning. With the745i, and, of course, the newer models,BMW has taken a liberty with thedisplacement representation related toforced induction, and 6.6-litres isn’t thatoutlandish, I thought.”

This devilish 6 Series, then, is no longerthat comfortable, refined GT that it wasback in 1985 but we wager that Rob too is avery different man from the one thatstarted out on this journey 30 years ago.This car, much like its owner, defiesconvention and expectations and while tothe outside observer it might seem plaincrazy to have spent so much time andmoney creating this car, in our world ofmodified cars where we’re all a little bitcrazy he fits right in ●

At that point I was like a

Anything was possible…kid in a candy shop.

017-024 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 10:48

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025 PBMW 1115 18/09/2015 09:14

At the age of 29, Tracy Arnetthasn’t done too badly – as wellas this stunning M3 he alsoowns a 2013 335i M Sport and a2014 i3. And unlike some of our

US feature cars, he has built this project onthe back of his own financial success.Shortly after graduating from San FranciscoState University he put his business degreeto good use. You see, after being a victim offraud he hired a law firm to get his credit

on track. However, after six months, he stillwasn’t seeing the results that he wasexpecting, so he took matters into his ownhands. Whilst working two jobs withlimited free time, he managed toaccomplish far more than the so-calledexperts that he previously called upon. Itwas then that he realised he had a knackfor credit repair, and Sacramento InquiryRemoval (SIR) was born.

“It was the best decision I’ve ever made,”

stated Tracy. Like any new start-up it wastough in the beginning with Tracy having todo all of the work himself and handling hisclient’s disputes and record-keepingmanually. “I was writing every letter by handand it took forever. It was a pain trying toorganise all of the client files, and as a resultI was working 16-hour days.” He knew thatsomething needed to change if he wanted togrow his business, and two years ago hediscovered Credit Repair Cloud. After

CALIFORNIADREAMINGHaving finally acquired his dream car, Californian residentTracy Arnett got to work on making the best even better.Words: Louise Woodhams Photos: Richard Le

026-030 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 14:21

transferring his business to the cloud, hislong days of endlessly processing client fileswere over. With the new client portal hecould scale the business as he wanted. Now,just four years after SIR was established, hehas three people on his team and is lookingto recruit more. “I now only work a fewhours a day. I’m very happy; as well aswatching my business grow I’m also tospend more time with my family andmodifying cars.

“I have been interested in BMWs for aslong as I can remember. I first got one in2007 when one of my clients – the owner ofa BMW dealership – told me if I bought onefrom him he would give me an amazingdeal. It was a 2007 328i sedan and sincethen I’ve never driven anything else. Thereis never a moment when I’m not happydriving a BMW.”

To date, Tracy has owned over 60 carsand pretty much all of them have been

modified in one way or another. “I had anInfiniti G35 that was heavily tuned andwas a lot of fun but it just wasn’t a BMW,”he confessed.

When he got word that the new M3 wouldbe coming out he went straight to his localdealer last year and placed an order: “I’vealways wanted an M3 and as I was in a goodposition to afford one I decided to pull thetrigger.” As he had already bagged the 335ion HRE wheels, complete with a raft of

026-030 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 14:21

ENGINE & TRANSMISSION3.0-litre twin-turbo straight-six S55B30, Magnaflowexhaust, Evolution Racing downpipes and JB4 map,six-speed manual gearbox

CHASSIS10x20” (front) and 11x20” (rear) brushed titaniumRohana RC1 deep concave wheels with 255/35(front) and 275/30 (rear) Toyo tyres, AirREX DigitalAir suspension

EXTERIORImperial Works Matte red wrap, RFsplitters916custom-made front, rear and side splitters, roof,aerial, kidney and side grilles, mirrors, bootlip, M3badge and window surrounds painted/wrappedgloss black, tinted windows

INTERIORSuede trimmed boot enclosure with Lightning Audioamp and Rockford Fosgate P2 12” subs

THANKSAirREX, Imperial Works, Rohana Wheels, Magnaflow,RFsplitters916, Autosport209, Rey Felipe and ZachFelipe for helping me install all of the parts andputting up with my craziness

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NOVEMBER 2015 29

M Performance parts, he decided to makethe M3 its twin. With the desire for thedelivery of his brand-new car to be a trulymagical experience, he asked for thedealership to deliver it complete with theplastic shipping wraps so he could have itdetailed himself. As a car care enthusiast thevehicle presentation standards in the motortrade can often fall short of expectationsand while we are almost certain that a BMWhandover would go smoothly, Tracy didn’twant to risk any fresh swirl marks or finescratches. Fair enough.

Now the modifying could begin. First upwere H&R Super Sport springs to get thedrop that he was looking for. After the 2014SEMA show, however, Tracy decided toswap out the suspension for a full AirREXDigital Air system offering threeprogrammable ride height presets. It wasspec’d with wireless digital remoteoperation, as Tracy likes the convenience ofbeing able to have his car ultra-low atshows. Not surprisingly it’s his favouritemod. “As AirREX is built to perform, itdoesn’t compromise the handling at all; infact, it’s a blast to drive – completelydifferent to the 335i,” revealed Tracy.

As there wasn’t much available for the carwhen he took delivery of it he hadRFsplitters916 custom-make front, rear andside splitters. “You’d struggle to find betterwork elsewhere. The company’scraftsmanship is excellent and complements

the M3’s bodywork perfectly,” states Tracy.With the bags installed, all it needed nowwas a colour change; originally Alpine whitethe new hue would need to make the carstand out but not distract from the boldlines. Tracy eventually decided on matt red,with the team at Imperial Works helping himto decide which parts to wrap or paint in acontrasting colour. As such you’ll find thatthe car’s roof and aerial, kidney and sidegrilles, mirrors, bootlip, M3 badge andwindow surrounds are all gloss back.Together with tinted windows, the endresult is nothing short of stunning, and aswell as complimenting the Sakhir orange

interior the vinyl also protects the front ofthe car from stone chips – a godsend for astickler like Tracy.

The finishing touch was a set of brushedtitanium Rohana RC1 wheels, as theyoffered the size and level of concave thatTracy was after. Measuring an impressive10x20” up front and 11x20” out back,wrapped in Toyo 255/35 and 275/30 rubberrespectively, with the car at maximum dropthe wheels really set off the M3’s tough look.

If there’s one thing that enthusiastscomplain about with the new M3 and M4, itis the exhaust. A lot of people miss that V8sound, including Tracy. Of course, factors

11x20” concave Rohana wheelsdo an awesome job of filling theM3’s swollen rear arches

026-030 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 14:25

30 PERFORMANCE BMW

There is never a moment when

driving a BMWI’m not happy

such as turbocharging and a differentconfiguration under the body alsocontributed to a new, different sound. BMWtried to remedy the inline-six exhaust notewith Active Sound Design (ASD), a devicethat was widely criticised. No truepetrolhead appreciates a fake engine soundbeing pumped into the cockpit, and Tracy’ssolution was a Magnaflow exhaust withEvolution Racing downpipes.

He also opted for a JB4 map offering upan additional 160hp. The JB4 installation iscompletely removable with no splicing orcutting of factory wires and allows you to go

from factory stock to full race mode (andeverywhere in between) at the push of abutton on your steering wheel. The JB4 iseasy to install (or remove, if required) andincludes many unique features includinguser-adjustable first and second gear boostlimiting, map switching in the dash,electronic wastegate control, ethanol fuelsupport, and built-in advanced CANbus-based diagnostic tools.

Of course, money no object, Tracy tellsus he would have opted for bigger turbos ora V8 engine swap but for now, he’s veryhappy with what he’s achieved over just a

few months. He has a few other plans for itin the pipeline, including a BMWPerformance diffuser, a BMS Performanceintake, a set of 19” Art In Motion wheels,Bride seats and a half cage, as he’d like totrack the car.

He’s now looking to buy a new M5 or anM6 (as well as an Audi R8) and he plans tomodify both cars as much as he can – so weguess his credit rating must be well on tracknow! Just make sure you come back Tracyand show us the finished results, and thatwhatever Bavarian choice of weapon you gofor, it’s a four-ring beater! ●

026-030 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 14:25

031 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 12:12

032-036 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 15:04

Words: Elizabeth de LatourPhotos: Kevin Raekelboom

If you like your E30s to be jaw-droppingly spectacular,

you’re going to enjoy this one .

Not only is Belgium resident KevinRaekelboom a talentedphotographer with one of thebest names in the business, healso has a talent for building

utterly spectacular project cars. His last effortwas a bagged E21 that we featured back inJune ’13 and over the past year and a bit he’sbeen at it again, building the E30 you seebefore you here. Kevve’s approach when itcomes to builds is most definitely of the ‘all-out’ variety and it’s certainly working for him.

His E21 had been a mix of classic exteriorelegance contrasting with an adventurouscarbon and Kevlar interior mix, which createda striking juxtaposition. For his next project,Kevve decided to push the boat out just thatlittle bit further… Step one was choosing acar. Here he decided to keep it 3 Series; it hadserved him well before, after all, and he hadthe perfect project car starting point in thefamily: an unassuming 1983 six-cylinder 320imanual that surely had no idea what wasabout to happen to it. “I bought it from mybrother who didn’t have the time for it,”explains Kevve. “He bought it two years agoto restore it but then he bought a house anddid a lot of construction on it and had nomore time for the car. It was in pretty goodcondition but needed some attention.”

The engine here has been left completelystock, as this is very much a visual exercise,though Kevve has had a straight-throughcustom exhaust made, which handily meant

032-036 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 15:04

34 PERFORMANCE BMW

that there was no need to worry about anysort of audio upgrades: “There’s no need formusic with an engine sound like this!” So,with all efforts and energy channelled intothe aesthetics, it’s no surprise that thefinished article is so utterly spectacular.

Having bagged his previous build, Kevveknew that his next project would also be onair-ride but with an E30 that’s no simpletask. “There was nothing standard availablefor the car off-the-shelf at the time,” heexplains, “so I had to go with a custom airsuspension setup. Thanks must go to KeanSuspensions for helping and supplying theparts for this. I don’t know how much lowerit is than standard but it touches the floorwith the engine, front lip and exhaust line,so can’t go any lower.”

There are numerous exterior modifications,some obvious, others less so. For example,the inner wheel arches have been widenedboth front and back and you may or may notnotice that the passenger-side mirror has beenremoved. The front-end is a very clever mixor elements – Kevve has opted for a face-lifted front but matched to a pre-faceliftbumper onto which he’s grafted a DTM front

lip – giving the car a face that spans twoincarnations of the E30 and then spears off ona motorsport tilt, further reinforced by theaddition of the Speedhunters towing strap.The finishing touch is the set of four originalOE Hella yellow headlights which not onlyadd a flash of retro charm but also offer afantastic contrast to the all-grey exterior.

Ah yes, that paint. For such a special

project a special hue was needed and after abit of searching, the decision was made to gofor Lamborghini Grigio Telesto (the same asthe E46 M3 on p8). “I saw it on aLamborghini Gallardo in Las Vegas and fell inlove,” says Kevve. This is an awesome shadeof solid grey with incredible impact yet it’ssurprisingly rich and light enough to allow

the light to pick up on the details in thebodywork. It looks fantastic on the classicE30 shape and really makes it stand out.

Of course, choose the wrong wheels andnothing else will matter, regardless of howmuch effort you’ve put into making yourcar look amazing, so making the rightchoice was incredibly important for thisproject. There was never any doubt in ourminds that Kevve would do anything otherthan blow us all away with his wheelselection and he’s done exactly that withthese utterly gorgeous VIP ModularVXS210s. “I’ve always loved these VIPModular wheels,” says Kevve, “and I wantedsomething else other than the BBS RSwheels. Don’t get me wrong, I had them onthe E21 but I wanted to step up the gameand try something different.”

When it comes to wheel selection onE30s, size matters; but it’s a case of goingtoo big that can often be the problem, sothese VIPs measure a modest 17” across anda very reasonable 8”-wide up front and 9” atthe rear. Their finish is utterlymesmerising – a gloss copper that looksincredible in the sunlight, rich and warm.

“It touches the floor withthe engine, front lip and

exhaust line, so can’t go any lower”

Dashboard, doors and transmission tunnel have beencovered in beautiful caramel-coloured leather

Interior has been stripped of all audio, carpetsand rear seats, with cage and Kirkey seats added

032-036 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 15:05

NOVEMBER 2015 35

032-036 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 15:06

from Belgium for the Players Classic show,so that tells you a lot. The deep-dish sportsteering wheel is the perfect partner for theno-frills, no-nonsense seats but the vastexpanse of caramel leather offers a deliciousluxury contrast. The entire dashboard,doorcards and mid-tunnel are lovinglycoated in the buttery soft and beautifulleather. It’s quite literally like the fondanttopping on an already amazing cake andgives the incredible interior one more layer,one more tasty treat to enjoy.

Kevve’s E30 is an astonishing machinebuilt to an incredible standard but, based onhis tenure with the E21, we had the feelingthat the E30 wasn’t going to be hangingaround long for him to enjoy… and that’sexactly what happened. Despite the vastamount of time, effort and, of course, moneyKevve’s spent on this car, after just a merefew months of pleasure with it, he’s nowsold it to an enthusiast right here in the UK.Fortunately, Kevve’s pretty pragmatic aboutthe whole situation: “I only drove the E30once a month and I really needed space inmy garage so it had to go.

“I don’t know what’s next. I’m focussingon my business at the moment but I’llprobably build something for Wörthersee.”Whatever that ends up being, you canguarantee it’s going to be awesome. Wecan’t wait… ●

Matching centre caps and the step lips helpto further catch the light and add an extravisual dimension to the wheels. Going for asingle colour across the entire wheel is abrave, bold move that can look incrediblewith the right colour and it’s definitelyworking here. As a final subtle touch, thebolts are finished in gold, adding a littlesomething extra that only the most eagle-eyed observer will be able to spot. Thecontrast against the expanse of greybodywork is incredible and the overall effectis stunning.

So, the outside delivers a big visual hitthanks to some amazing details in anotherwise clean and simple style but theinterior certainly holds its own. It’s actuallydifficult to know where to start here, there’sso much work that has gone intotransforming the cabin. The carpets aregone, there’s not a single strand of fibre leftacross the entire interior, and everythingthat would have once been carpeted hasnow been painted matt black. The rear seatshave been removed and in their place sits aWiechers roll-cage, while the front seatshave been replaced with a pair of the mostalien sport seats out there – all-metalKirkeys, which look utterly mental. Theyalso look incredibly uncomfortable but areactually meant to be pretty gentle on yourbutt; Kevve drove this car over to the UK

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ENGINE & TRANSMISSION2.0-litre straight-six M20B20, custom straight-throughexhaust, five-speed manual gearbox

CHASSIS8x17” (front) and 9x17” (rear) VIP Modular VXS210copper coloured wheels with gold bolts with 185/30(front) and 195/40 (rear) Nankang NS20 tyres,custom air suspension built from scratch withAccuAir management, Viair compressors, refurbishedbrakes throughout

EXTERIORCustom respray in Lamborghini Grigio Telesto,widened inner wheel arches (front and back), newface-lift front with pre-face-lift bumper, DTM front lip,all towing hooks removed, Speedhunters towing strap,windscreen wipers removed, original OEM Hella yellowheadlights, deleted right hand mirror

INTERIORCarpets removed, floor surfaces painted matt black,rear seats removed, Wiechers roll-cage, Kirkey racingseats, leather-trimmed dashboard, doorcards andmid-tunnel, built-in air gauges, deep-dish sportsteering wheel

THANKSA massive thanks must go to my brother who helpedme with loads of things on the car, even during thelong nights working hard to get it ready, my girlfriendfor the many, many hours together in the garageworking on the car and helping me find parts on theinternet, my sister for picking up parts for meeverywhere, my brother-in-law for helping me withbuilding the seat rails, John for painting the car, KeanSuspensions for supplying the air suspension parts,Christophe from Sexy Wheels for getting the VIPModular Wheels

E30 320i

“I wanted to step up the game and try

something different”

This E30 is about as low as you can goand looks absolutely incredible aired out

032-036 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 14:12

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037 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 14:02

Words: Elizabeth de Latour Photos: Hjalmar van Hoek

F I V ESERIES DEATH

PUNCHWith massive turbocharged power wrapped up

in unassuming E28 looks, this 5 Series is one deadly road warrior.

thundering around the Swedish countrysidein this beast of an E28. It’s his first projecton this scale, his previous cars having allbeen modified but none beyond somelowering springs, bigger wheels and anexhaust, so he’s really done an awesome job.He has owned the car for ten years now,purchasing it as a “poor student” (his words)at the tender age of 21. “The performancefor the price was unbeatable,” he says, “andit was a great combination of handling,power, convenience, luxury and comfort – itreally is the ultimate driving machine.”

Purchased with no plans other thansimply enjoying the driving and ownershipexperience, all that changed when Gunaystumbled upon an M106. That makes this thesecond car in this issue running that engine

Turbo E28s are like buses: youwait ages for one to come alongand then three awesome featurecars turn up in the same year. Butas fans of all things E28 (and

turbocharged) we’re most definitely notcomplaining. It probably won’t surprise youto learn that this E28 hails from Sweden, asthere seems to be something in theScandinavian water that makes BMW fansshut themselves away over the long wintersand emerge blinking into the springsunshine having crafted some form of forcedinduction beast over the preceding months.Works for us.

By day, Gunay Selmanovski is busyrepairing Volvos but by night, and possiblyalso on weekends, he can be found

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038-042 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 12:31

40 PERFORMANCE BMW

(the other is 666CSi on p18) and the thirdthis year – clearly, it’s the current go-tochoice for a big-power straight-six.

Gunay has been working on the car since2005, starting out in a rented garage beforeit was moved to his dad’s garage in 2010,and this E28 has come a long way from therusty and rather sorry state that hepurchased it in all those years ago.

The M106 in particular has undergonequite a transformation, with one year beingspent on it alone, and while it is an excellentstarting point for a turbo project, thanks toits force-induced foundations, seriousupgrades are required if you’re hunting forserious power. The bottom end hasremained stock, as have the internals, andGunay has focussed all his attention on the

head, porting it before adding a coppergasket with an ARP stud kit, fitting an M7300/300 camshaft, HD rocker arms and Stage2 valve springs. For the turbo, Gunay haschosen the beefy Precision 6265, more thanenough to produce the kind of power figureshe was gunning for, which has been fittedwith a 60mm wastegate and 2.5” screamerpipe, along with a 50mm blow-off valve. A600x300x76mm intercooler sits up front,feeding air into a rebuilt M5 S38 plenum,and is joined by an uprated Griffinaluminium radiator with a 385mm Spalelectric fan and a 30-line oil cooler. On thefuel front, a pair of Bosch 044 pumps feed1260cc Precision injectors. Gunay’s hardwork under the bonnet means a spectacular655whp and 629lb ft of torque at the wheels,

monstrous figures considering how light theE28 is. The transmission has been seriouslybeefed-up to cope with all that grunt, withthe old five-speed gearbox having beenreplaced with a rebuilt Getrag 420G gearboxtaken from an E46 M3 and mated to a Sachssix-puck sintered clutch and 765 pressureplate. The propshaft is from an E34 540,rebuilt with a bigger joint and 94mm CVjoint, and it’s connected to a refurbished 21040% locking LSD in a reinforced housing ona reinforced E28 M5 diff mount withstronger driveshafts.

Aesthetically, Gunay’s E28 is most pleasing– there’s just something so right about theway it sits and looks. There’s a purpose andmuscularity to its stance and appearancethat we like. When he bought it, the car was

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NOVEMBER 2015 41

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ENGINE3.4-litre straight-six M106, stock bottom end, copperring head gasket, ARP studs, ported M106 head, M7300/300 camshaft, HD rocker arms, Stage 2 valvesprings, Precision 6265 turbo, 60mm wastegate with2.5” screamer pipe, 50mm blow-off valve, 600x300x76mm intercooler, E34 M5 3.8 throttle bodies, rebuiltE34 M5 3.8 plenum, Innovate MTX-l widebandlambda, 1260cc Precision fuel injectors, NukeBlackline fuel rail, Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator,Nuke fuel filter, Griffin aluminium radiator, 30-line oilcooler, Allstar crankcase ventilation, 65ºC thermostat,385mm Spal electric fan, 2x Bosch 044 fuel pumps,in-tank Deutchwerk DW301, 1.5-litre catch tank, steelbraided fuel hoses, Autronic SMC, Autronic boostcontrol, MSD Digital 4 ignition amplifier, 3 AccelIgnition waste-spark coils, MSD 8.5mm silicon ignitioncables, 3.5” stainless steel downpipe from turbo withtitanium exhaust wrap, 3” exhaust system, Ferritasilencer, titanium turbo blanket, 655whp @ 6200rpm,629lb ft at the wheels @ 4400rpm

TRANSMISSIONGetrag 420G six-speed manual gearbox from E46 M3,Sachs six-puck unsprung sintered clutch disc, Sachs765 pressure plate, rebuilt propshaft from E34 540iwith bigger joint and bigger 94mm CV-joint, refurbished210mm 40% locking LSD diff, reinforced diff housing,reinforced E28 M5 diff mount, stronger driveshafts

CHASSIS9x18” (front) and 10x18” (rear) OZ Futura wheelswith 215/35 (front) and 225/35 (rear) tyres, D2Racing Sport modified coilovers, Powerflex front andrear bushes, E28 M5 25mm anti-roll bar(front) and 18mm anti-roll bar (rear) with Powerflexbushes, E32 750 brake master cylinder, E32 750four-piston calipers with 324x30mm ventilated discs(front) and E34 540 calipers with300x20mm ventilated discs (rear), steel braidedbrake hoses all-round

EXTERIOROriginal BMW M Tech body kit, M rear spoiler, E12-style chrome trim on the grille

INTERIORPearl beige leather Sport seats, refurbished M Tech 1 steering wheel, illuminated six-speed M gear knob, M5 E28 door sills, Alpina dashboard,Innovate boost gauge, oil pressure and oil temperature gauges

THANKSI would like to thank my parents for letting me workon my car at their garage, thanks for all of my friendsthat helped me and supported me with the tech andother stuff, and thanks for my beautiful wife for puttingup with my hobbies

TURBO E28

“I always wanted thesewheels and had them in

17”. However, when Icame across a set of

refurbished 18s I bought them straight away”

wearing the BMW side skirts but wasmissing the front and rear bumper additions,so they’ve now been added. So too has a rearspoiler and, while most people are busygetting rid of their chrome trim, Gunay hasnot only kept the shiny window surroundsbut has also added an E12-style front grillechrome trim. It all combines to give the car aclassic, period look.

On the suspension front, Gunay wanted aset of D2 Street coilovers but at the timethere was nothing available off-the-shelf, sohe bought an E34 set and modified thedampers to fit the E28. His ride-height isperfect, as is his choice of wheels in theshape of a set of OZ Futuras. “I alwayswanted these wheels,” he says, “and hadthem in 17”. However, when I came across a

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42 PERFORMANCE BMW

set of refurbished 18s I bought them straightaway.” Measuring 9”-wide up front and 10”at the rear, they fill the E28’s archesperfectly, though considering how muchpower he’s running, Gunay has not beenafraid to go for some stretch, with 215 and225 rear tyres. Underneath the car has beenfully polybushed while thicker E28 M5 anti-roll bars have also been fitted, front andrear. The uprated brakes have been sourcedfrom within the BMW family: an E32 750brake master cylinder has been fitted withE32 750 four-piston front calipers and324mm discs, while at the back are a pair ofE34 540i brakes. Braided steel hoses havebeen fitted all-round.

Finally, for the interior, Gunay has keptthings simple and original with minium

modifications. The Pearl beige interior withits Sport seats has been untouched, there’s aperiod refurbished M Tech 1 steering wheel,E28 M5 door sills, an Alpina dashboard, anilluminated six-speed M gear knob and thefinishing touch is a trio of gauges.

What Gunay has built is a magnificentsleeper. There really is nothing here to givethe game away, beyond the noise perhaps,and he relishes showing modernperformance machinery a clean pair ofheels, much to their owners’ consternation.“I have embarrassed an E60 M5, a MercedesE55 AMG and an E90 M3 on the motorway,and the look on the owner’s faces waspriceless,” he grins. It’s been a long build forthis E28 but Gunay’s skills as a mechanichave shone through and he’s over the moon

with the machine he’s created. Beyond theperformance, unsurprisingly his favouritepart of the whole, it’s an incredibly cleanE28 and that in itself is something of a rarityand definitely worth celebrating as the vastmajority of these have now succumb toterminal tin worm that very few owners,other than enthusiasts, will be willing tospend money removing. “When I took thecar to its first show everyone said they hadnever seen an E28 in that condition and withsuch a clean engine,” says Gunay. Mostimportantly, this car is now finished:everything that needed to be done has beendone and now comes the very serious taskof getting out there and enjoying the hell outof it – something else that Gunay isextremely good at ●

038-042 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 12:32

043 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 15:01

Josh Berger’s E36 M3 is a luxurious show-stopper in a post-apocalyptic frenzy of eyes and ears. That it’s also

hilarious fun to drive seems to be merely a fringe benefit…Words: Daniel Bevis Photos: Mike Kuhn

044-048 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 14:50

Orwellian thing and toe the line, neverputting a foot wrong for fear of reprisals;you rebel, throwing authority’s diktat backin its face, and screw the consequences; oryou follow the example of Josh Berger, thegentleman in the driving seat of this E36 M3,and just get on with things. Make yourselfhappy. The world is watching, so what’s thepoint in not being yourself?

Josh has always found himself underscrutiny and observation, it doesn’t botherhim any. “I grew up heavily influenced byextreme sports and motorsports,” heexplains. “I raced dirt bikes, ATVs,snowmobiles, and pretty much anythingwith an engine.” All of which sets himsquarely in the searchlight – these are noisy,

George Orwell had a paradoxicaleye on this car back in 1949.When his frighteningly prescientdystopian novel NineteenEighty-Four hit the shelves, the

idea of an all-pervading culture ofauthoritarian surveillance shocked anddisturbed, seeming inconceivable to a post-war society of scarcity and simplicity. And yetit’s pretty much come true: every facet of yourmodern existence is performed before a lens.It’s never a surprise to learn that any act,movement or indiscretion has been backed upon a hard-drive somewhere. We barely noticethose yellow triangular signs any more, wejust assume we’re being watched. And thereare three ways to react to this: you do the

visible sports, the sort of thing that doesn’teasily blend you into the white noise ofeveryday society. And it was only naturalthat this exuberance would lead him into thecolourful world of modified BMWownership, right? We’re all somewhere alongthat path, after all. We know the score.“I got my first BMW at the age of 17,” hesays, “which was a nice little E30 ’Vert that Ilightly modified before moving onto an E34.E36s were always one of my favourites,though, and a few of my family membershad some really nice M3s which is what gotme hooked. At age 19 I bought my firstE36… and it was a total sh*tbox! It hadprimer, bondo, scrapes, the interior wastrashed, all of that stuff. After four years of

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46 PERFORMANCE BMW

Lotus Evora diffuser has beenmodified to fit the rear bumper

interior was half-gutted. It was perfect!”A quick test-drive was all that it took to

convince the guys that this was the ideal basefor their project, warts-and-all, and atruckload of extra parts sweetened the deal,along with comprehensive service infodocumenting the car’s entire history. The planin embryo was to spin the thing up into abudget track car for weekend use, althoughlife got in the way, as it’s so compelled to do,and Josh found himself yearning for a changeof pace. “After a few months of it just sittingthere after the birth of my daughter, I decidedto slow things down a little bit and enjoysome time with my friends doing the ‘low andslow’ thing,” he says. “And so it began…”

Everyday life for Josh involves running anexotic and luxury car dealership by the nameof GAS Motorcars, just outside Atlanta,Georgia. A mosey through the company’sstock list reveals such swanky trinkets as 356Speedsters, Merc 600 Grossers, modernFerraris and classic ’50s Chevys. When you’re

work to get it up to scratch, and about $25k,the car was completely resculpted to myliking – before a drunk-driver decided toslam into it while it was parked and totalledit. So it began again. I bought anotherchassis, swapped all the parts over to it, gotit a fresh coat of paint and I had anothernice E36 for a while. After a year or so I soldit and went in and out of several other cars,experimenting with new ideas, as you do.”

It was around this time that Josh startedworking at Atlanta Motorsports Park as adriving instructor, and soon enough had theurge for another E36 M3. Again, he’s in apretty visible position in a role like that, andhe’s not showing any wallflower tendencies,is he? “I told myself that this time was goingto be different,” he recalls. “At this point I hadjust got married, and my wife was expecting ababy girl, too. But that didn’t stop my dad andI from trying to find a great little track car…lo and behold, we found this little gem online.It belonged to another father/son duo whoused it for HPDE (High Performance DriverEducation) and track days. The car waspretty rough, showing all its years on thetrack, with thousands of stone chipspeppering the whole front of the car; the

surrounded by this sort of metal, you clearlyget a keen sense of quality, finish andfinesse. And it’s this environment thatdictated the logical direction of the forlornM3. It also helped the car’s character that itwas specced with the Luxury Package (asopposed to the Sport Package which was, er,sportier); while the engine, transmission andsuspension were the same, the Lux camefrom the dealer with unique wood triminside, different non-twisty sideskirts,alternative doorcards and seat leatherwithout M-stripes, and a raft of style changesto accentuate the premium accent. So, aconcours-standard build to luxurious spec itwas, then. Decision made.

As the myriad CCTV cameras refocusedon the transmuting M3, Josh started to drawup a plan of action. And sorting thesuspension had to be the first thing on thelist. He was eager to get the thing nice andlow but also retain a decent level of ridequality – essential if you have a tiny person

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ENGINE & TRANSMISSION3.0-litre straight-six S50B30US, AFE MagnaforceStage 2 air intake, polished head with five-anglevalves, Turner Motorsports chip, full 3” straight-through decat exhaust, five-speed manual gearbox,UUC M5 clutch

CHASSIS9.5x17” ET4 (front) and 10.5x17” ET9 (rear) CCWLM5T wheels with brushed faces with satin clearand polished lips (3.5” front; 4.5” rear), 215/40(front) and 235/40 (rear) Nexen tyres, polished ARPbolts, Broadway Static 500 Series coilovers with 16-18k spring rates, Driftworks front camber shimkit, Megan Racing rear camber arms (-8 degrees ofcamber at rear, -6 degrees at front), factory-sizedStopTech grooved discs, Hawk Performance pads,steel braided lines, carbon-fibre brake duct withcarbon-fibre backing plate

EXTERIORBody resto and respray in Arctic silver, all four archespulled 1”, all new weatherstripping, new glass, lightlysmoked corner lenses and rear lights by Depo, OEMheadlights running 6000K HIDs, AC SchnitzerDuraflex front lip, ’95 M3 Sport centre grille, OEMpaint-matched fog blanks and black kidney grilles,custom modified Lotus Evora rear diffuser

INTERIORBlack Vader seats, ZHP gear knob, OEM centreconsole with armrest delete, OEM radio-cassette

THANKSThanks to my wife and family for all their support inthis project. Also huge thanks to everyone whomade this build possible: my BEAST COBB Squad,Tim at TL Collision for the paint, Dan Ho for the helpon bodywork/suspension/fitment, Geordie at ButlerTire, John at Fastlane for his continued mechanicalsupport, John at Global Imports BMW for the OEMparts hookup, and all my friends who have turnedwrenches on this thing with me. Much love!

E36 M3

044-048 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 14:51

I was going for a quality build…

just good, solid workno shortcuts

NOVEMBER 2015 47

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48 PERFORMANCE BMW

to ferry about – and that’s where the expertsat Broadway Statics came into play, their500 Series coilovers fitting the bill perfectly.“I was going for a quality build this time – noshortcuts, just good, solid work,” Josh sayswith a deservedly heightened level of pride.“I purchased all new lights and got thewindows tinted, and it started to clean uppretty well. And then it was time to thinkabout the wheels.”

With the stance sorted and a vision for aquality finish in mind, choosing the rightrims for the project was no easy task. Aftermuch headscratching and mocking up, Joshpicked up a set of CCW LM5Ts from a friendwho had them fitted to an E46 Saloon.“Then I had to find a way to make them fit!”he laughs. “This was the time to shine forTim and Dan at TL Collision. Together westripped down the entire car – glass,weatherstripping, all the panels – and thenwe pulled, rolled, hammered until we got thearches pushed out well enough. Aftersmoothing the wings and recreating thefactory body contours we wanted to keep,the car went in for paint.”

Oh, and what paint it is. Resplendent in afresh and mile-deep slathering of BMW’sown Arctic silver, the colour is perfect torepresent the class and quality that Josh wasshooting for from the off – understated andsubtle yet utterly beguiling in conjunctionwith the other modifications. It’s ashimmering masterstroke. “On the car’sreturn we put it back together with all newweatherstripping, new clips and grommets,and new glass all-round. I then decided tohave a bit of fun in building a fully customdiffuser for the rear; it began its life as anOEM Lotus Evora diffuser, and it provided alot of amusement for me creating this rearsection, which was my first shot atmetalwork and sculpting.”

With the body looking tip-top and the waythe M3 sat being pretty much bang-on, Joshhad his buddy Geordie at Butler Tire wrap

the freshened-up CCWs in lo-pro rubberbefore bolting the whole shebang backtogether. From thereon in, it was simply acase of throwing a set of black Vader seatsinside and enjoying the show season!

“I took it out to the Import Alliance show,Southern Wörthersee, Offset Kings,Southrnfresh and a few other shows thisyear and people’s reactions have been great,”he smiles. “People here in Atlanta have agood understanding and appreciation of thehard work involved in building a propershow car.” There’s also a lot of entertainmentto be gleaned from the dropped-jawbystanders who inevitably ask the samequestions of a car like this: ‘how on earth doyou actually drive it that low and with thatcamber?’ “It just makes me laugh really,”says Josh. Well, yeah – he’s built this car forhim; people will either get it or they won’t.

He called it a show car there but that reallydoesn’t do justice to the holistic view Joshhas taken with putting this E36 together andpulling it back from the ignominy of being atired, thrashed track car. The refreshed S50straight-six has enjoyed a lot of bespokeheadwork which, along with the custom

exhaust (straight-through, no cats, reallyquite noisy) and the Stage 2 air intake, reallygets the 3.0 singing from the motorsportsong-sheet. It’s not just a show car, it’s a trackcar and a daily driver, too, and the focus onquality means it’s truly a car for all seasons.He’s really kept a focus on having a usablemachine as well: “It’s all genuine OEM insidewith an armrest delete, stock radio, nice andsimple, just the way I like it. No CD upgradeeither, it’s still got the original radio-cassette!”

It’s this attention-to-detail in terms offollowing a personal agenda thatdemonstrates just how Josh has built a carto be used, and used hard. Sure, he self-effacingly refers to it as a show car – and it’sa bona fide show winner – but it’s a proper,everyday performance BMW, too. And whilethe CCTV cameras squeak on their pivots asthey strain to keep track of him, he’s alwayskeeping one step ahead of the game. Yeah,everybody’s watching, and he knows it…and that’s all the impetus he needs to keep itfresh. But it is, first and foremost, fun todrive, and that’s all an M3 needs to be. Alleyes on Josh – but he’s having too much funto care. In your face, Orwel ●

044-048 PBMW 1115 16/09/2015 14:52

049 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 12:18

050-051 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 14:55

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057 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 13:05

In 1873, the western United States ofAmerica experienced somethingunprecedented and terrifying: the arrivalof the Rocky Mountain locust. Or, morespecifically, rather a lot of Rocky

Mountain locusts. The swarms weremassive; as they flew overhead they blottedout the sun. Anything they landed on waspretty much devastated; they stripped cropclean, ate laundry from lines and wool fromthe backs of sheep, gnawed through woodenbuildings – it was an event as close to theapocalypse as anyone had ever experienced,making an ear-shattering cacophony as theybuzzed by. One swarm was estimated to be1800 miles long and 110 miles wide, taking a

full five days to pass. Just have a thinkabout that for a moment. That’s a hell of alot of insects, and each one capable of – nay,seemingly intent upon – the absolutedestruction of everything in its path.

It was the largest recorded gathering ofliving things that the world had ever seen,with one estimate putting the total numberof locusts at twelve trillion. People wereswatting at them with spades, dousing themwith insecticide, blasting them withincendiary devices – nothing made anydifference. They were unstoppable.At a time of enormous migration of farmersto the western US and Canada, the entirearea was reliant on crop yields, with every

farmer indebted to brand-new mortgagesand shiny fleets of machinery. The locustsdestroyed countless lives. And yet at the endof the summer, they all just disappeared.

Why are we talking about locusts? Fearnot, it’ll become clear. But it’s in no way asuggestion that the glorious 2002 you’refeasting your hungry eyes upon here hasany of the properties of a parasiticswarming grasshopper; far from it, in fact –it’s a beautifully original retro survivorwith a sprinkling of modernembellishments to earn it a place in theaffections of today’s dropped-to-the-floorBavarian motor enthusiast.

“It was always inevitable that I’d end up

TEMPTINGFATE

When he started tearing apart this 2002, it was only ever Simon Fried’sintention to restore it to standard spec but fate had other plans… Words: Daniel Bevis Photos: Ronald Veth

058-062 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 10:33

with a BMW,” explains owner Simon Fried.“They were always around when I wasgrowing up – my uncle is an engineer atBMW, and my dad was a 2002 fanatic in hisyounger years.” Fait accompli then, right?Surely Simon was rocking an ’02 just assoon as he was legally able to? Well, no, notquite. “I started out in a couple of Mk2Golfs,” he says, although without any greatsense of pride or excitement. Means to anend, most likely, before dipping a toe in thewater of the old Beemer scene. That’s justthe way it has to pan out sometimes.

“When the time was right to buy a morefun car, the decision was obvious,” Simonshrugs nonchalantly. “Of course it had to be

a BMW, because I love BMW. But whichone…?” It wasn’t too much of a head-scratcher, naturally, with a couple of 2002shells lying around at home along withoodles of spares, thanks to his father’sextensive Neue Klasse hoarding. “There arethree of them at home now,” he grins. “Thisone, an Alpina – which will be my nextproject – and a Baur targa. There are manyspare parts kicking around from my dad’syouth, which does save a bit of effort andexpense in tracking things down.”

So, Simon was set on which model he wasafter, and it was at this point that fateintervened again. “I found this car online,and it was only about ten kilometres from

where I live, which was pretty useful,”Simon recalls. “The condition wasn’t sogreat, with a fair amount of rust holes thatneeded welding up, but I was in the garageday and night to build my dream car and,having finally perfected the shell, it wastreated to a new coat of paint in its originalFjordblau – a timeless, wonderful colour.”

The fact that Simon’s opted for a refreshof the car’s original colour speaks of a largerissue at play – a keenness for keeping thingsas they were from the factory. We’re nottalking concours – the rims and the stanceknock that on the head for obvious reasons– but simply a desire to maintain the spiritof the ’02. “Originality is very important to

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60 PERFORMANCE BMW

me,” says Simon. “The car still has itsoriginal 2.0-litre engine with its Solexcarburettor; the brakes are stock; theautomatic gearbox is stock – in fact, for thefirst four years of ownership I kept thewhole car totally stock. But then I got ataste for tuning…”

Ah yes, ‘tuning’ – that catch-all Europeanbuzzword for making a car one’s own. Let’sjourney back to 19th century America todraw a parallel, shall we?

Scores of folk had suffered greatly fromthe Rocky Mountain locust crisis of 1873,but it seemed to be just an inexplicable,unfortunate and random one-off. Peoplestarted to rebuild their farms, communitiesand lives. And then it happened the nextyear, with even larger numbers of locusts.And for the following two years, withnumbers larger still. It was an entirelyhelpless situation, with so much investmenthaving been poured into an area that wasevidently inhospitable to human life forlarge periods of the year. Families moved tothe Midwest in droves.

Fast-forward to 21st century Germany, andour friend Simon Fried was experiencing aseismic and life-changing shift of his own.“My initial plan was simply to restore anoriginal ‘oldie’,” he explains, “but ultimatelyI couldn’t resist taking a few influences fromthe modern tuning scene. I don’t regret asingle thing I’ve done to it either, I love thecar even more!”

What’s most noticeable, naturally, is theway the thing sits and what’s going on underthe arches. You’ll have spotted that the ’02 ison much better terms with the Tarmac thanany factory example would be. This isthanks to a custom KW Variant 3 coiloversetup courtesy of the stance experts atgepfeffert.com. “They’re a short-bodyversion of the competition units, coupledwith adjustable camber plates,” says Simon.“Andy Pfeffer was very helpful, and verypatient with me in getting the specs justright for how I wanted the car to look.” Anda precision stance is nothing without theright wheels, so after much considerationSimon opted for the timeless choice of BBS

Below: 16” BBSs lookperfect on the ’02

Right: Ultra-rare rearwindow louvre

Gorgeous interior has been leftstock, bar the addition of an Auxinput for the original radio and awood and chrome steering wheel

058-062 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 15:56

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ENGINE & TRANSMISSION2.0-litre four-cylinder M10, Solex carburettor,automatic transmission

CHASSIS6.5x16” (front and rear) BBS RS098 wheels with165/40 Nankang NS-20 tyres, KW Variant 3coilovers, adjustable camber plates

EXTERIORRear window louvre, period Italian turn signals, Mk1Golf headlights, polished chrome bumpers

INTERIOR2002 Luxury Edition black velour interior, original radiowith retrofit Aux input, wood/chrome steering wheel

THANKSMy friends Sunny and Phil, who helped me wherethey could, Andy Pfeffer of gepfeffert.com for theperfect cooperation and patience with me!

2002

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RSs. “They’re RS098s, which were originally7x16” and ET35, but I’ve rebuilt them with asmaller inner rim, so now they’re 6.5x16”and ET43,” Simon says. These are neatlyadorned with amusingly skinny 165/40s,which give just the right amount of stretchto perfect the look. And, hey, contact patchis overrated when you’re only playing with100hp-odd and an auto ’box – a minimalistapproach to grip is presumably the gatewayto a little entertainment.

Simon’s eye for originality extends to aneager hunger for hunting down period-correct accessories and alternative parts,some of which lurk within his father’s partsstore but, more often than not, haverequired him to cast a wide digital net tohunt down the appropriate bits to fulfil hisvision. Take a look at the rear window, forexample – that screw-on louvre makes hen’steeth seem lavishly abundant. “It’s a very,very rare piece,” he enthuses, “and I waslucky enough to find it in as-new condition. Ialso managed to source some very rareoriginal Italian turn signals.” These are thecorner indicators at the front, usually all-orange, and something of a badge of honourfor 2002 nerds. The interior was a personaltriumph for Simon, too: “It’s not the car’soriginal interior but it is from the same

model! Specifically, it’s from the LuxuryEdition, all in black velour.” Funny what fatecan drop into your lap, isn’t it?

That was very much the feeling amongthose beleaguered locust victims. After afew years of flying insect terror, it all juststopped; in 1877, the swarms were smallerand seemed knackered and sluggish – afterthat, it never happened again. It turned out,in the end, that it was increased farming inthe affected areas that was killing the locustpupae in the ground, although that wasn’tfigured out until decades later. Farmers hadaccidentally solved the problem withouteven realising, simply by tenaciouslysticking with what they were doing. That’sthe odd thing about life. Sometimes, stuffjust happens. It doesn’t always pay to

overthink it, just get on with it.While Simon’s put a huge amount of effort

into his 2002, fate has played more than asmall hand in its construction. And it’s allworking out rather well for him. “People’sreactions are beautiful,” he smiles. “Theyalways want to get inside it; it was their firstcar, or their parents had one, or they learnedto drive in one… an elderly lady happily toldme that she’d had her ‘first time’ in one,which made us both laugh a lot.” And that’sjust what we build these things for, isn’t it?Not specifically to elicit eroticreminiscences from pensioners, of course,but to create stories and experiences andevoke emotions. You can’t plan these thingsin any great detail, you’ve just got to rollwith fate and see which way it goes ●

Engine has been left stock,making this 2002 all aboutbeing (very) low and slow

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You sometimes find yourself doing things simply because that’s what all your mates are doing. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re blindly following the herd – sometimes you’ll end up creating something that serves as an inspiration to the group…

Words: Daniel Bevis Photos: Rick Di Corpo

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the body that was presenting a few hurdles –the established E30 flashpoints of rottenrear wheel wells and battery tray, along withvarious bumps and scrapes to the paintworkthat had lost its lustre. It was bloodied butunbowed, and Luca had the impetus tomake the thing shine again. But he didn’tforesee quite how carried away he’d get!

The 318iS was duly despatched to StrasseAutowerks, a respected and revered outfitthat just so happens to be owned by a greatfriend of Luca, who was only too happy tooffer endless advice and expertise. “Iapproached him with the idea of rebuildingthe car with a budget,” says Luca. “Westarted talking about what I envisaged forthe car, and I ended up telling him thebudget was out the window! Whatever itwould cost to get it done right, so be it.”

And so the strip down began, the E30being torn back to first principles, with thedash and a few wires the only things

“Acouple of my buddies ownE30s,” says Luca Colaneri.“Back in 2010 they weretaking part in a BMWdriving school event at

Circuit Mont-Tremblant which I attended forthe weekend. After seeing them fly around thetrack, the monster with four headlights keptgrowing on me, the purr of the exhaust notewith each pass got me holding my breath… assoon as I got back home and I startedscrolling through forums to gather up asmuch information as I possibly could. I soonlearnt that so much can be done with thismodel of car, it was fascinating. After a drivein one of my friends’ E30s, I was in love.”

Sometimes it really is that simple. Thereare a lot of cars out there, and it’s notalways obvious which path you’ll end upfollowing in your fledgling years ofmotoring, but with influences like this youdon’t really have to give the decision-makingprocess a lot of consideration. Yes, peerpressure led Luca into E30 ownership, butpeer pressure gets a bad rap. There’snothing wrong with sharing a commoninterest with your mates, is there?

“Following my research, I was looking forthis specific model – a 318iS,” Luca recalls.“The black shadow mouldings it came withwere just like the M3’s! So I kept searchingonline, and after visiting maybe four or fivedifferent vehicles, I stumbled upon this gemand wasted no time in purchasing it. In amatter of 24 hours, the seller and I weretrading signatures and the car was mine.”

The fact that this particular car didn’t havea sunroof removed an element of concernfor Luca, while he was also attracted by thenotion of the M42 motor having timingchains rather than the fragility of a cambelt –not that the M42 would end up having muchof a look in… but we’ll come to that.

“When I first purchased the car, I knew itwas going to be a rebuilding process,” headmits. “I figured I was going to dump it onthe ground, as low as possible, slap on somereplica wheels and call it a day. The car ranperfectly, there wasn’t any urgent work todo on it, so I stored it for the winter ready tobring out in the springtime.” But when thesepia majesty of spring arrived, Luca hadchanged his mind. Pulling together somefunds, he arrived at the conclusion that ifany modifications were going to happen, itwas going to be all or nothing. Go big or gohome. “I knew that after all was said anddone, this would be unrivalled andincomparable with all the other E30s inMontreal,” he remembers. And he’s not donebadly in chasing that dream, has he?

It certainly helped that he’d started with asolid base for the project. Sure, he waslooking at a bit of work whatever happened,but the 318iS had a mint interior – nocracked dash or worn bolsters here – withan intact headlining and rear seats thatlooked as if they’d never been sat on. It was

remaining in situ. The floors were cut outand replaced, the wheels wells repaired, andevery single iota of rust eradicated andreplaced with fresh metal. While all this wasgoing on, the engine bay was shaved toimpeccable smoothness and, with the bodyshop in control of the metalwork, Lucafocused on rebuilding the M52.

Yes, you read that right. While the car’soriginal M42 engine had initially been aselling point, the lure of a bigger bangproved too strong to resist. “I bought an M52out of an E36 328i Convertible,” he smiles.“After reading up on forums, I was sold onconverting it into an ODB1 motor, so I wentout and found myself everything I needed. Ialso found a great deal on some S52 cams, soI thought I might as well…” Luca’s intentionwas to build the motor for longevity, so hereplaced the timing chains and guide rails,along with the water pump, injectors andseals, gaskets, the works, as well as

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DA

TA

FIL

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ENGINE & TRANSMISSION2.8-litre straight-six M52B28 from E36, M50 intakemanifold, sensors, fuel rail and throttle body, OBD1,S52 cams, 3.5” 740iL MAF, Bimmerworld siliconeintake, TRM Tuning ODB1 tune, 21.5lb/hr injectors,2.5” custom stainless steel downpipes and exhaustwith Vibrant high-flow cat and silencer, E36 M3Sachs clutch and pressure plate, E36 M3 F1 Racing14lb lightweight flywheel, E36 M3 ZF manualgearbox, Z3M differential, UUC DSSR and stainlesssteel clutch line, E36 328 propshaft, Z3 short-shifter

CHASSIS8.5x16” (front) and 10x16” (rear) ET-12Compomotive TH601 with custom powdercoat andgold spiked bolts, 195/40 Federal 595 Evo (front) and215/40 Toyo T1R (rear) tyres, new front and rearOEM calipers with Brembo discs and EBC Green Stuffpads, universal Air Lift struts (front) and Universal AirAirhouse 2 bags over Bilstein Sport struts (rear), AKGbushes for rear subframe, trailing arms, diff mounts,front control arms and transmission, AKG enginemounts and steering rack spacers, ST anti-roll bars,E36 M3 steering rack and tie rods

EXTERIORBMW Sakhir orange, Euro-spec bumper trims, 318iSfront lip and bootlip, Euro-spec blackout kidneygrilles, Euro smiley headlights, Euro numberplatefiller, MHW taillights, smoked front fogs

INTERIOROEM black Sport seats and black doorcards, M Tech2 steering wheel, M Power leather gearstick andhandbrake gaiters, Pioneer radio, speakers and 12”sub, custom boot build for audio and air tank

THANKSI want to thank my parents for not giving me hell forspending all those hours and cash on a car. I want tothank everyone who was involved in this project ofmine and enduring long conversations about this car.Also, all my closest friends who helped me nevergive up. Vitali, from Strasse Autowerks for allowingme to spend very long hours and months using histools and shop. The support of my boys, Jamie,Flavio, Dave, Anatoli and the rest of 2LO CREW! I alsowant to thank everyone who’s approached me inperson, or on forums and social media, giving meprops on the great work that has been done on thecar. Of course, PBMW for giving me the chance andopportunity to get my story out and show people whohave inspiring goals, that anything can beaccomplished when having the right mindset. Yes,money does help too! Lastly, my beautiful fiancée,Amanda. Through anything and everything, especiallythis build, she is my supporter, my rock

E30 2.8

“When they see a slammedE30 laying frame, that’s

when they fall in love”

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68 PERFORMANCE BMW

skimming the head. “I wasn’t looking for abeast of a powerplant under the hood. I justwanted to drive the car for hours at a time,one hand out the window, cruising with areliable motor.” To be fair, the M52B28 offersa fairly healthy horsepower hike over theE30’s original unit, so this solution offerspower and reliability without compromise.

Back in the bodyshop, the subframe,trailing arms and crossmember had allreturned from being sandblasted andpowdercoated, and once everything wasbolted back together and ready to get backon the lift it was time to set about piecingtogether the jigsaw of all-new AKGpolybushes, fuel and brake lines, fuel tank,brakes, air-ride, anti-roll bars… the list justkept going, with everything underneath theskin being either rebuilt or brand-new.

With one eye always on subtlety, Luca waskeen to keep the aesthetics relatively stock,and the plan was always to keep the bodypanels as factory as possible. A few choiceEuro-spec conversions make all thedifference here – smiley headlights, kidneygrilles, the different-shaped numberplaterecess – while it’s the colour that reallyspeaks volumes. “The paint is my favouritemodification to the car,” he explains. “Thiscolour caught my eye and it stuck. I wassearching and searching when I finally heardnews that the new M6 would have thisvibrant, bright orange; when I finally saw thecolour in person at the Montreal Auto Show, itwas the one of the most exciting times aboutthis build. At that time, my painter told me thepaint suppliers weren’t able to create thecolour because the car hadn’t been releasedon the market here in North America, butafter convincing them, they somehowcontacted BMW in Germany to get theformula.” The shade is called Sakhir orange,and the photos really can’t do justice to howthis paint pops and crackles like Rice Krispiesin fresh milk. It’s borderline effervescent.

“The decision to put the car on air-ridewas simply because most of my friends hadit, and were pretty convincing about itsusefulness,” Luca concedes. See, we’re backto that notion of peer pressure again. But ifsuch pressures lead you to bagging your ride,

that’s not something you can really complainabout. You’re not a sheep, you’re a wily fox.“There are mixed feelings out there abouthow cars handle on air, but to be honest itwas the best decision I made. It’scomfortable and very practical. When peoplesee a lowered E30, most of the time they justglance at it; when they see a slammed E30laying frame, that’s when they fall in love!”

And if you think the paint and the stanceare a killer combo, just get a load of thewheels. There’s some next-levelawesomeness going on under those fourcorners, in the form of a set of CompomotiveTH601s. “The way they’re simultaneouslyconvex and concave blows my mind,” Lucalaughs. “I wanted something rare and wild – aset of wheels that would grab people’sattention and have them ask me, ‘yo, whatwheels are those?’ When I saw these ones, Iwas certain they were going to end upcosting as much as (or maybe even morethan) a new set of wheels, but on the otherhand I’d never seen another set of wheels likeit before. Being the type of person who lovesrare and unique things, I had to have them.”

The Compomotives fit with the planperfectly, complementing the idea of keepingthe lines stock and studding the silhouettewith gorgeous detail. Simple, classy andsporty were Luca’s watchwords, and it’s safeto say that he’s pulled it off with alacrity. Thecrowds at Eurokracy (aka ‘Canada’s FinestEuropean Automotive Event’) certainlythought so. “I’d been updating my buildthreads daily and the online reaction wasbuzzing in the run-up to the show,” Luca tellsus. “It was a gorgeous day and the sun wasshining, so the paint was looking on point.Hood off, laying frame, parked at the StrasseAutowerks booth beside all my buds, Icouldn’t have asked for anything better.” Andthat just about brings us full circle. This is atale of one man’s automotive proclivitiesbeing influenced by those of his friends, whothen helped him to bring into being a visionthat they could enjoy together. Bringinghome Eurokracy’s ‘Best BMW’ trophy wasmerely the cherry on the cake, but the realmessage here is that Luca bowed to peerpressure in the best possible way. And we’revery glad he did ●

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Photos: Darren Teagles, BMW Car Club GBWords: Elizabeth de Latour

BMWF E S T I V A L

When it comes to BMW-only shows in the UK,the annual BMW Festival at Gaydon

takes some beating

2015

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The BMW Festival holds a specialplace in my heart because I havebeen going to this show for tenyears now – almost the entireduration of my career here at

Unity writing about BMWs and it’sinteresting to look back and see how theshow has changed over the past decade.

In some ways it has mellowed out over theyears – you certainly won’t find the hordes ofICE machines pumping out bass all day anymore – and so too have the cars, to a degree.As the scene has evolved and changed thecars attending have gone from wild to refinedand while there are still plenty of

opposites of the UK BMW scene, doesn’tresult in tutting and shaking of heads fromthe old guard, though. Instead, owners moreused to enjoying the classic comfort of anE9 will peer at air-ride installs with pursedlips and quizzical eyebrows or aficionadoswill come and chat about colours andwheels. It’s one big BMW love-in.

It would probably be easier to pick outcars we didn’t like from the ones we did buthighlights included the absolutelymagnificent Taiga green E9 CSL, RossBradley’s monster twin-turbo Chevy V8-powered E30 which, carbon bonnet restinggracefully against a nearby wheelie bin,

extraordinary machines on show, these daysthe chances of coming across something thatoffends your eyes are slim to none.

More so than probably any other BMWshow, Gaydon is also home to just about themost eclectic mix of Bavarian machineryyou’re likely to see at any show. Bagged BMssit next to untouched 2002s polished towithin an inch of their lives. V8-swappedmonsters and engine bays bristling withturbos share show space with Isettas andelegant Alpinas. ICE installs vie for attentionwith coco mats and ultra-rare periodsteering wheels and trim. This culture clash,the coming together of the two polar

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Hartge Classics with red centres. The F cars were out in force and there

was no missing the white F10 M5 of Imranfrom Evolve Automotive, boasting 750hpand sitting on red 21” BC Forged NL30s,flanked by a pair of F82 M4s – the whiteexample sitting on Vossens and running520hp while the black car was developing550hp from its Evolve Stage 2 tune. Theentire trio will be featured in a future issueof PBMW. Projex had also brought along astunning-looking pair of F8xs, one M3 andM4, and while the new M cars don’t soundanywhere near as good as the E9x M3 withits S65 V8, it doesn’t take much to get them

drew a massive crowd all day long. MarselTheodhori and his mental turbo E28 werepresent, with Marsel gleefully demonstratinghis new straight-through exhaust and side-exit screamer pipe while the polished bayrequired sunglasses for safe viewing. I’donce again joined the Custom Cars standwith the E39 and shared stand space withanother E39 friend, Sumil Pancholi, whoserecently completed bagged example lookedincredible. Dips had blended an E92 M3power bulge onto the bonnet and a carbonfibre E46 M3 front lip into the Sport bumper,along with adding a CSL bootlid and thewhole lot was finished off with custom-built

looking fantastic. ING Sport had broughtalong a couple of stunning racers, with itsS65-powered Z4 making a hell of a noisewhenever the guys fired it up for a rev(which was quite often!). Numerous BMWCar Club regional stands were dotted aboutthe place along with the Total M Cars boys,lining the main arterial road, as well as theE39 Club UK and numerous other forumsand groups. To top it all off there were tradestands galore from the likes of ThorneyMotorsport, M Style, Dodo Juice, Meguiar’s.Along with the good food and stunningsunshine the BMW Festival had theingredients for the perfect show ●

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Exclusively distributed in the UK by Euro Car Parts

075 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 12:17

GAZ SHOCKS BMWCOMPACT CUP ROUND 3CROFTThe Compact Cup competitors headed north for round three. Croft Circuit was new to many so therewas an opportunity for new faces to challenge at the front of the grid. Our man James Foard gives usthe lowdown from both track side and behind the wheel…

With 40 cars on track, gettingspace in qualifying wasimportant for everyone andimmediately it was clearthat the advantage lay with

those that had been able to push. However,yet again, it was the RAW Motorsport drivers

Ben Pearson were on row three, followed byJames Gornall and David Drinkwater on rowfour. The top ten was rounded out byanother RAW driver Ian Jones, followed bySimon Roche. The grid once again promisedsome very close racing, with the top 17 carscovered by just 1.5 seconds.

to the fore, with pole going to Mike Tovey,closely followed by his team-mate andchampionship leader Steve Roberts. Bothdrivers set blistering lap times below 1:43.30.Next up were Jonathon Davis and PaulHinson, who actually set identical times just0.1 seconds off Roberts. Richard Miles and

QUALIFYING

Photos: James Foard and BMW Race Days

1 Steve Roberts2 David Drinkwater3 Mike ToveyFastest Lap: David Drinkwater (1:43.31)

RACE ONE

Roberts made the best start and led into turnone, with pole man Tovey relegated tosecond. In third it was Hinson, closelyfollowed by Davis, Miles and Drinkwater.Owen Hunter made a great start from 11th tobe next up, with James Gornall and BenPearson losing ground with slow getaways(Gornall’s caused by a missed shift from firstto second gear). Further down the order therewas carnage as Neil Roche was pushed into aspin and blocked the chicane, so carsscattered left and right to avoid the strickencar. The drama continued on lap one as Jim

Gornall was now on the back of this groupbehind Davis but he hit the tyre stack at thechicane and went way off track, actuallymaking it onto the rallycross circuit!Amazingly he kept his foot buried andmanaged to rejoin only losing two places toJones and Pearson. The main mover over thenext few laps was Jonathon Davis. First hepassed Miles into Sunny In corner with anuncompromising manoeuvre that sent Mileswide and then tried a move on Hunter andDrinkwater into Tower bend, but overshot hisbraking and ran wide. On lap five Paul

Benson and Pearson made contact into Towerbend, which put Benson out of control on thegrass. As he rejoined they were both held up,so Gornall gratefully took back two of theplaces he’d lost off the start line. Drinkwaterthen passed Miles into Sunny In and Davisinto the hairpin. This pushed Davis wide andso Hunter and Miles followed him past Davisas they crossed the line to complete lap one.Benson also had further misfortune when hewas spun round by Ian Jones.

Entering lap two, Tovey and Roberts hadopened up a gap to the chasing pack behind.

76 PERFORMANCE BMW

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Hinson unfortunately had to retire due to amechanical issue, which released Drinkwaterto try and chase down the top two. Momentslater Davis made it past Hunter with anothercommitted pass into Sunny In. However onelap later Davis was out of the race and in thefarmer’s field after putting a wheel on thegrass exiting Sunny Out corner which senthim spinning across the track.

By this point Tovey had been caught byDrinkwater and their battling allowed Hunterto close, so soon they were all nose to tail.First Drinkwater and Tovey went side by side,

which Hunter used to his advantage as hesqueezed past Drinkwater into third at Towerbut Drinkwater re-took the position a fewcorners later. Drama followed on the next lapas Hunter went for a gap on the inside ofDrinkwater going into Tower. However thegap was quickly closed which put Hunter onthe grass in the braking zone. ConsequentlyHunter couldn’t stop the car and shot offacross the track in front of Tovey and ontothe grass on the outside of the bend. Hunterrejoined to finish 12th. On the final lapDrinkwater undertook a thorough

NOVEMBER 2015 77

examination of Tovey’s rear bumper,culminating in a large hit going into Sunny In.Tovey caught the slide and managed to keepthe place but they still ran side by side intothe final hairpin, tyre smoke filling the air asboth locked up. On the run to the lineDrinkwater just managed to snatch theadvantage from the irate Tovey and tooksecond place by just 0.05 seconds! Out front ithad been a supreme drive by Roberts to winthe race, 8 seconds clear of the intense battlesbehind. Richard Miles claimed fourth, IanJones fifth and James Gornall took sixth.

“It was my first race since my 2014 Production BMW Championship campaign. It was a completely new challenge for me, however, as it wasmy first time driving this 318ti and also my first time racing at Croft Circuit. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do any testing due to budgetconstraints so I knew it would be challenging to be competitive. Fortunately being with the RAW Motorsport team meant that I had access toRobin’s wealth of knowledge and the other drivers’ on-boards from the test day to learn from.”

“For qualifying, my excitement and nervousness both increased by equal measures! Straight out the pit lane and immediately there was bothtraffic to get past and faster cars coming through. After a few laps I settled into a rhythm and tried to learn the car, the circuit and how hardto push to set a fast time, with my 318ti feeling well balanced. My best lap time was around 2.8 seconds off pole, which over Croft’s long lapwas not too bad; however the competitiveness of the championship meant that I would start in 29th for race one and 28th for race two out ofthe 40 cars. Not exactly ideal but hopefully progress could be made, especially with new brake pads being put in for the races!”

“I was almost caught out at the start as being so much further back on the grid than I’m used to meant that the wait for the red lights was muchshorter than I’d been expecting! Nevertheless, I got a good launch, but was soon boxed in and by the first corner any advantage had been lost.There was then carnage as cars span and touched just ahead of me. I took the escape road and cut the chicane to avoid someone facingbackwards! The rest of lap one passed without incident as I tried to get a feel for the pace. However, going into turn one on lap two I could feelthe brake pedal getting slightly long and at Tower bend the pedal went nearly to the floor! I ran wide, only just keeping the car off the grass –not ideal! A pit stop was needed and it transpired that the bias was too much to the front which had overheated the brake fluid. With the biasmoved more to the rear brakes I was back out on track, but was now a lap down and the rest of the race was treated as a test session.”

DRIVER’S PERSPECTIVE

QUALIFYING

RACE ONE

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78 PERFORMANCE BMW

Next RoundThe championship stays in the northfor round four which will be held atOulton Park. Steve Roberts will surelybe looking to extend his winning runbut, as ever, there is likely to be a longlist of challengers who will take thefight to him! ●

The race two grid was set from each driver’ssecond fastest lap time in qualifying. Thismeant that race one pole man Mike Toveyhad to start from seventh on the grid, withplenty of work to do. It was Jonathon Davison pole, with Roberts alongside, followed byMiles and Gornall on row two. Ben Pearsonwas alone on row three with Paul Hinson anon-starter due to his problems in race one.David Drinkwater would also not start due tomechanical issues.

As in race one, it was Steve Roberts whomade the best start and led away. Davisslotted into second, with Gornall in third,

Miles in fourth, Tovey in fifth and Pearson insixth. Starting lap two both Tovey andPearson made it past Miles and as they wentside by side Tovey was forced to cut thechicane, but rejoined still ahead of Pearson.For second place there was a change, too, asGornall slipped past Davis. On lap six Pearsondived to the inside of Tovey into turn one. Themove ended in disaster as Pearson mountedthe curb and grass on the inside and launchedinto the side of Tovey spinning him round afull 360 degrees. Unbelievably both driverscontinued with Pearson not losing a place andTovey only dropping to seventh behind his

RAW Motorsport team-mate Ian Jones. Toveythen re-passed Jones quickly and set offchasing Richard Miles. Owen Hunter alsomade it past Jones on lap seven andchallenged Tovey for fifth to the chequeredflag, but could not get past. Roberts againwon the race to make it a double for theweekend, but James Gornall had kept himhonest all the way to the finish. JonathonDavis had a quiet race but was delighted witha podium in third. Miles crossed the line infourth but would later be excluded for beingslightly underweight which promoted Pearsonto fourth, Tovey to fifth and Hunter to sixth.

1 Steve Roberts2 James Gornall3 Jonathon DavisFastest Lap: James Gornall (1:43.40)

RACE TWO

“For race two the brake fluid had beenchanged and with the bias now correct I hadfull confidence on the brakes. I made anotherdecent start and made up a couple of spotsfrom 28th. Fortunately there was lesscarnage than in race one. For most of therace I followed Craig Jamieson closely as weboth had good pace and picked up severalplaces over the first few laps. The carbalance was fantastic and I was revelling inthe feel of my RAW 318ti, which felt livelier

than the E30 that I’d raced previously. On lapseven I passed Craig into the hairpin with asmall lock up and bit of opposite lock, butthe move was completed! Next I caught DeanBlackburn who I passed around the outsideinto the complex – finally I was getting thefeel for this racing lark again! On the final lapI was right behind Nick De Jesus but couldn’tfind a way past. Still it was a really fun race,as I finished 18th, a big improvement from28th on the grid in just nine racing laps.”

DRIVER’S PERSPECTIVE – RACE TWO

076-078 PMBW 1115 17/09/2015 10:42

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079 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 13:52

The Tetley, an attractive industrialbuilding which is the former home ofthe famous tea brewer of the samename near Leeds, has recently becomea ‘centre for contemporary art and

learning’ (not to mention a fantastic gastropub andbar!). This means it’s the ideal location for one ofthe classiest car shows in the UK: Fueled Society.The event is now in its fourth year and keepsthings different by promising to show off modifiedcars as works of art in a notably swanky setting.As you can imagine, then, the standard of carsattending was impressively high, with some of theUK’s freshest and most distinctive builds lookingeven more spectacular under the stylish backdrop.

The Fueled Society weekend started on theSaturday, where guests were invited to The Tetleyfor food, drinks, films and a proper chill-out withvery little cars involved, before partying the nightaway in the bar. Sunday was the day where thecars flooded onto the site, with a huge variety ofmachinery filling the area.

The cars on display were a real mixed bag, witha strong Japanese contingent punctuated bypockets of German machinery (and a Volvo) andthere were a couple of extremely tasty BMWs inthe mix. We were loving the bagged red 1 Serieshatch on all-black Hamann PG1s, the stunning E92of Joe Addison on three-piece Style 32s (coming toan issue of PBMW soon!) and there were a coupleof jaw-droppingly gorgeous E28s as well, mixing itup with Hartge and BBS rims.

Organiser Jim Novak gave us all we needed toknow about Fueled Society in a nutshell: “Theevent has been running since 2012 from NostellPriory, West Yorkshire, initially as a campingweekend. This is the first year we have been atThe Tetley which was a totally different directionfor us but was also a very successful one. Ouraim is to bring everything awesome from everycar genre to one venue. It’s just a chance to graba beer and admire what is cool about somethingyou potentially aren’t into. We do have an awardsystem but this event isn’t about standing byyour cars all day. We’re in the process oforganising another camping event to runalongside The Tetley one as we know ouraudience loves the atmosphere on the Saturdaynight only we create!” ●

FUELEDSOCIETY2015The fourth annual Fueled Societyevent was bigger and better than ever.

Words: Sam Preston Photos: Gordon Irvine

080-081 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 12:14

080-081 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 12:14

82 PERFORMANCE BMW

If you like your BMW shows bigand European, BimmerfestEurope ticks both those boxes in a big way.

The annual Bimmerfest Europeevent is as much ‘bimmerfeast’ or‘bimmerbeast’ as anything else;it’s vast and amazing. Each yearVenlo in The Netherlands

becomes home to one of the largest andmost spectacular BMW shows anywhere inthe world and the 2015 gathering pushed theboat all the way out and over the horizon.

This was the third Bimmerfest Europe andsome 2100 BMWs attended, a new record,with some 6000 people admiring them. Infact, the organisers had to double the size ofthe showground in order to fit everyone in.

For this year’s show, Bimmerfest broughtback the M Arena and the Alpina Paddock,but with the Buchloe BMW mastercelebrating its 50th anniversary in 2015, thelatter section was given some specialattention and hosted a huge number ofstunning and incredibly exclusive Alpinas.

Another anniversary being celebrated was40 years of the 3 Series and an areadedicated to the E21 was created to give theoriginal 3 Series some well deserved time inthe spotlight. There was also an ’02 area forthe much-loved classic and an E36 worldrecord attempt, which saw a veritable horde

Words: Elizabeth de LatourPhotos: Katjana Vrösch, Mathijs Bertens,Maikel van den Wildenberg, MartijnKoedijk, Rowan van den Bragt

082-084 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 17:42

NOVEMBER 2015 83

It was great to see acouple of UK carsmaking the trip, likeAchu Chandrakumar’sfierce E93

Above: Very tidy-looking E36 M3 –red and gold go so well togetherLeft: You can’t go wrong with asupercharged E92 M3, and we love the custom headlights

082-084 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 17:42

84 PERFORMANCE BMW

of excited E36 enthusiasts looking to bringtogether the largest number of E36s in oneplace ever.

Aside from the numerous special areas andstatic displays, Bimmerfest Europe hadplenty to offer those looking for something alittle more moving. The Bilstein handlingcourse has been a show staple since theinaugural event and again gave visitors thechance to put their BMWs through theirpaces. The Guerilla Exhaust KickdownCompetition was a new event and offered updrag racing with a twist – you had toaccelerate as hard and fast as possible up the

strip but you then had to bring you car to acomplete stop within a square box in order towin. Finally there was the Toyo Tires WetTrack Experience, offering participants thechance to see how their BMWs behaved on aslippery track, which was not only a lot offun but also an excellent learning experience.

With a static display of epic proportionsand plenty of activities to keep visitors of allages entertained it’s no wonder BimmerfestEurope just keeps getting bigger and biggeryear on year. And with Venlo only being afew hours drive from Calais, it’s a show thatUK BMW enthusiasts should check out ●

It wasn’t just aboutstatic displays, plentyof driving action kepteveryone entertained

The crowdswere massiveand theselection ofcars amazing

082-084 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 17:44

NOVEMBER 2015 85

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085 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 14:59

1st Pat (Chevy truck)2nd Luke (E30 M3)3rd Kevin Wanstall (E46 Alpina B3)Matt Roberts (E30 Convertible)Harry (E30 Touring)Paul (Ford Escort van)James (Ford Cortina Mk3)Dee Barwick (123d Coupé)George (E24 635CSi )Ben Young (E92 335d)

86 PERFORMANCE BMW

TOP 10WINNERS

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Above: James Barrett’s E46 M3; Left: Harry from HTS’s air-ride E30 Touring

Tallis Godfrey’sbagged E36 M3

Dee Barwick’s top ten-placed Austin yellow 123d

086-087 PBMW 1115 Bimmerflex 18/09/2015 09:19

After returning to the BMW eventscalendar last year following ahiatus, BimmerFlex was backagain for 2015, with main manRichard Flex at the helm. The

venue was once again the Fairmile Armspub in Cobham and you couldn’t really askfor more from a venue, with plenty of spacefor attendees and a pub on hand for drinksand grub.

This year Richard opened the event up tonon-BMWs, which enticed a few othermarques along for a splash of variety. Theweather was disappointing but it did brightenup as the day progressed and numbers wereup on last year’s event, so hopefully the onlyway is up for BimmerFlex. As always it wasnice to catch up with familiar faces of theBMW show scene and with some top tentreats for the best cars of the day, it wasmost definitely a grand day out ●

NOVEMBER 2015 87

Richard Flex wanted to thank the management andstaff at The Fairmile Arms, PBMW magazine, DJJimmy for the music and PA system, Nev and Robfor judging the show and field management, Carlaand Mark for helping with the running of the event,and Angie. The 2015 BimmerFlex show wasdedicated to Nev, Rob and PBMW magazine.

THANKS

FLEX 2015BimmerFlex is back on the map and this year’s gathering coaxeda fine mix of cars out into the Surrey surroundings.

Words: Elizabeth de Latour Photos: Richard Flex

Nev D’mello’s E61 M5 Touring on Alpinas

086-087 PBMW 1115 Bimmerflex 18/09/2015 09:20

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For your chance to win this month’s prize simply answer the following question:

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Send your answer with your name, address, contact number to: [email protected]

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Terms & Conditions: All entries must be submitted by 5 November 2015. One entry per person. The winner will be picked at random by us and ourdecision is final. There will be one winner. The winner will be contacted personally and the prize sent out. You must be over 17 years old to win and be a resident of the UK, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands. Employees of Renown USA, Unity Media and associated companies are ineligible to enter.

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92 PERFORMANCE BMW

This month we’ve teamed up withthe guys at Renown USA to offeryou the chance to, quite literally,get your hands on a brand-newRenown steering wheel for your

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the Renown range that will not only lookfantastic in your car but will make driving iteven more of a joy. And with prices startingfrom just £125, a Renown steering wheelwon’t break the bank and fitting is easy andpainless, with full instructions available onthe website.

For our competition, Renown is lettingour winner choose any steering wheeldesign, with free shipping to anywhere inthe world. The only thing you need to add isa hub adapter designed for your car with thesame 70mm PCD six-bolt pattern in order tofit the wheel.

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Photos: Francisco Hernandez, Christine Yang

092 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 11:48

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093 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 14:05

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094-095 PBMW 1115 Subs 18/09/2015 10:27

Stripping out the sound deadening of any car’sinterior is never fun, it’s ever so boring, repetitiveand never-ending. Just the kind of job youwished you’d never started, but once it’s doneit’s done.

My goal was to make the stripped interiorlook as tidy as possible. Just because it’s a

96 PERFORMANCE BMW

SAM’S E46 M3

OUR CARS

Elizabeth’s E39 540i

gutted track car doesn’t mean it can get awaywith looking tatty, not with me anyway.

As audio was never going to be reinstalled Ipermanently removed the wiring and all theradio and GPS aerials, along with the C-pillarlighting and parking sensor wiring, meaning Icould thin down both the looms that ran down

Paul’s E36328i

Sam’sE46M3

p96

PBMW’s FLEET

THANKS AND CONTACTRoyal Steering Wheelswww.royalsteeringwheels.com

Grant Ross and Bob Sykes

New Recaro Pro Racer XLseat is a better fit for Sam

James’E36 328i:

p98

p100

p102

p102

ThorneyMotorsport’sM4

096-102 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 12:48

NOVEMBER 2015 97

either side of the car and tidy them up,completely wrapping them in loom tape.

Another distant luxury that will never see thiscar again are the rear seats, making the mountingbrackets pointless, so I took an angle grinder tothe rear seat mount, thus permanently removingthem. The point of no return passed long ago.

Carrying on with the weight saving, I removedthe front factory seat belts and tensioner, alongwith all the airbags as these safety featureswere pretty pointless with the bucket seatsrunning six-point harnesses.

Once I was happy with everything that hadbeen gutted I then painted the interior in theareas that had been missed from factory and themany areas from where the sound deadeningwas removed.

With a freshly painted interior I just had to fitsome more goodies. As my audio blank wasstaying I upgraded from the matt black allycomposite sheet to a carbon fibre panel. Weight

saving for this was minimal but carbon fibre isso much cooler!

Round two with the parts upgrades meant adifferent driver seat; there’s pros and cons tobeing 6’4”. The biggest con is that I’m too tall forthe shoulder harness slots on a Recaro PolePostion, making it unsafe for me. The other halfof Team BFF, Grant Ross, lent me one of hisRecaro Pro Racer XL seats, which is perfect forme and probably one of the best seats on themarket. I liked it so much I managed to scoremyself one that had just gone out of FIA date.

Last but not least was a steering wheelfreshen up. The suede on my Sparco wheel hadseen better days so I sent it over to RoyalSteering wheels for a retrim. I opted for blackAlcantara with white stitching. I know whitestitching was a bold move but being a massiveSenna fan I just had to go down that route.While my wheel was away being trimmed BobSykes lent me a really nice MOMO Model 78

wheel which I got on well with aroundGoodwood circuit on a track day. The followingweek I got my wheel back from Royal. The trimwas totally amazing but sadly I had been spoiltby the MOMO Bob had lent me and as good asmine looked I preferred the drive from theloaner, so I think down the line one of those maybe purchased.

Sparco steering wheeltreated to a retrim byRoyal Steering Wheelsand looks like new

With all the sounddeadening and

unnecessary bitsremoved, interior was

given a lick of paint

096-102 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 12:48

98 PERFORMANCE BMW

OUR CARS

THORNEY MOTORSPORT’S F82 M4I’m not really a fan of aesthetic changes tobodywork. On the one hand I look at it from anaerodynamic view and expect BMW to have justa little bit more skill in getting their cars’ aeroright than I can but also visuals are very much apersonal thing so you might end up developingsomething that you might like and no one elsedoes, so it’s full of pitfalls.

That said, the M4 does appear to have a fewgaps in its styling that most people who see thecar immediately comment on. The main thingbeing the front bumper. It just looks like theyforgot to add a bit to the bottom or that it’sbroken off somehow so we knew that the frontend needed a splitter of some kind. The rear ofthe car is less of an issue visually: the widestance and swept bootlid look pretty good anddon’t need any changes, I think. However, aswell as the visual side, the addition of wings andsplitters can make a difference to how the carhandles so we looked at the rear with thatforemost in our minds. Even after the changes tosprings we fitted the general feel is that the M4is still a bit of a handful. Our car runs over 500hpnow in development form and it’s still not thenatural handler we want it to be, so we decidedto look at the aero side to see how we canimprove it.

The subject of aerodynamics on cars is hugeand certainly too big to give any kind of credence

to in a short article like this but in simplified formthe idea is to increase downforce and minimisedrag – not an easy task as one tends to causethe other. The M4 suffers a little from understeerwhen off the power and from oversteer when onthe power, mainly brought about by its powerdelivery rather than aero but it will have an effectin this regard as well. So the plan was to comeup with visual and aero upgrades to the front andrear of the vehicle with the emphasis on qualityand fitment. It’s a £60k car after all, so thebodywork has got to look right.

First up was the front splitter. Usually thebigger the better on race cars, as a splitter canhave a dramatic effect on counteractingundersteer, however our first try was just too big.Not only could we not get it off the ramp but onthe first road drive it clattered it against a kerb,so that failed. The second version was better butthe fit still wasn’t right. It went on but themoulds weren’t quite right on the underside ofthe bumper so we went back to the drawingboard (it’s still there now!). Running out of timefor the BMW Car Club show where we wantedthe car complete for our stand we decided to trythe BMW M Performance version. We’d seen afew of course and were impressed by the qualitybut less so the price: £800-odd is a lot for acouple of small pieces of carbon fibre and someinjection moulded plastic, but with no time to

finish our own version we decided to fit one. The front end effect is pretty good; ideally

we’d like the same but 30mm longer with extrabrake ducts (as ours has) but the fit is good andit sets off the car nicely, especially when weadded the black grills to replace the chintzychrome ones. We will still look to complete thefront carbon splitter but for the meantime the MPerformance one looks pretty good.

For the rear we worked with one of ourGerman race team partners to fit a nice simple,small wing. By keeping the pitch relatively flatwe have reduced drag and with an inbuilt gurneyflap (a small vertical lip on the upper surface ofthe wing) we’ve added a decent amount ofdownforce at high speed – enough so you canfeel it on the car. The wing is mounted as farback as possible to maximise this effect.

Next up was the bonnet: the standard M4bonnet actually weighs a hefty 12.4kg – which isa lot – so we wanted to lose some weight fromthis (especially high up on the car where it sits)although the main reason was to get some heatout. The force-induced nature of the M4 is suchthat heat is always going to be an issue and theM4 gets hot. Whilst we develop oil coolers andradiators etc the simplest way to get heat out isto vent the bonnet so, again, by working withsome of our German partners we came up witha vented bonnet in carbon fibre. At the momentthis is still a work in progress; we’ve gone a bittoo far on the weight loss so that the bonnet hastoo much movement, especially at high speed.This is not acceptable for a road car so we areworking on that. However it looks good and theunder-bonnet temperatures have dropped 50%as a result of its fitting, which is great news.

The overall look we think is pretty good. Thefront end looks more purposeful and whilst theM Performance splitter doesn’t do an awful lot itdoesn’t hit much either. The bonnet works wellfor what we need it for, although it needs furtherengineering to work as a road car item. And therear wing is subtle and functional without beingtoo over-the-top. Of course, we might be wrong;beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so if youthink differently then please do let us know…

M Performancesplitter looks thepart but is only a

stopgap untilThorney’s own

item is ready

CONTACTThorney

Motorsportwww.thorney.ms

01280 850102

096-102 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 12:49

099 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 14:01

100 PERFORMANCE BMW

OUR CARS

When it comes to making a car look right Ireckon the two most important things are rideheight and wheels. Slam a car on crap wheelsand it won’t do it any favours; stick someamazing wheels on a car that’s riding like a 4x4and they won’t look anywhere near as good asthey could and should. And so, with brakes,studs and nuts in place I decided it was time tostep up my wheel game after a year with theCades (which had served me well). Initially Iapproached the situation with a small budget,though as you will read in a future issue (andmay already have seen in some pictures) I didn’tmanage to stick to that plan for long.

I got onto eBay and started scouring the adswith a rough idea of what I wanted but open tobeing persuaded by a particularly attractive setof wheels if something interesting came along.My main criteria was they had be something justa little bit different. I wasn’t hunting for anythingwildly obscure and painfully rare, just not thesame old wheels that you see everyone runningat every show and meet. Every BMW model hasthat one wheel that everyone goes for, usuallybecause it’s a good-looking wheel. For the E39it’s arguably the 18” M Parallel – a handsomewheel that really looks good on the 5 Series andthat’s why it’s so popular. That’s also why I knewI wouldn’t be buying any of those. In the end Iactually ended up going into the BMW wheelstable, but I managed to get hold of somethingthat you tend not to see around so much.

During one eBay search I happened upon aset of 18” BBS-made Style 42s, which caughtmy eye because there were six of them (four 8sand two 9s) but also because I really like thedesign and they were optional on the E39 whennew. The 18s are relatively rare, with most setson sale being the 17s and, as a fan of cross-spokes, they appealed to me. They might not beone of BBS’s classic designs, the unloved BBSwheel perhaps, but you can’t really argue withtwo-piece splits from a company as iconic asthis. The price was right and the wheels wereonly 20 minutes up the road from me so I

ELIZABETH’S E39 540ipopped over one day after work to grab them.They weren’t in awful condition but neededsome TLC to make them presentable and alsoneeded tyres but I was happy with my purchase.

I didn’t want to go as dark on the wheels as Ihad with my Cades and after looking aroundonline for some inspiration for the refurb Idecided that I wanted metallic grey centres withpolished lips – a solid combo. When it came todoing the work I wanted to use Dips Amin,proprietor of The Custom Cars in Hayes. Be itbodywork, engine mods or wheel refurbs Dipsreally knows what he’s doing and is a familiarface on the scene, as well as being a familiarface in PBMW with numerous feature cars. I toldDips what I wanted and left him to work hismagic as I went on the hunt for tyres.

Previously I’d been running standard E39sizes and rubbing something terrible when low,so I wanted to run a bit of stretch this timearound. I turned to Falken for the rubber, havingrun Falken tyres before and being impressedwith their performance. Plus, the Falkens arewell-known for stretching well so they seemedlike the perfect choice for my plans with thesewheels. I opted for the Falken Ziex ZE914Ecorun, a mid-range performance tyre, thecompany’s first-ever low rolling resistance model

and one developed with comfort in mind. Ofcourse, that doesn’t mean that performance iscompromised in any way and the Ziex ZE914offers excellent grip and handling in both wetand dry conditions, with an asymmetrical designand four longitudinal grooves to improve waterclearance as well as wet braking while the stifftread blocks enhance directional stability andimprove cornering performance. They’reextremely reasonably priced, too, and ticked allthe boxes for me and the E39. For the 8” and 9”wheels I opted for 215/45s and 225/40s, offeringa bit of stretch but nothing too mental, justenough to tuck the sidewalls in past the archeswhen running low.

I got the call from Dips that the wheels wereready and when I popped over to collect them Idefinitely wasn’t disappointed. The metallic greycentres were perfect, just the right shade, andthey looked fantastic with the polished lips. Dipshad delivered and I couldn’t wait to fit them. TheStyle 42s are a standard E39 fitment which putsthe offsets at 20 and 24 respectively – pretty lowcompared to some other BMWs but on an E39that means serious tuck, and with the tyres nowno longer likely to rub I wanted to push thewheels further out. After spending some time onwilltheyfit.com and doing plenty of 5 Seriesforum-based research I calculated that 20mmspacers would get the wheels sitting just right,giving me offsets of 0 and 4, front and rearrespectively. When it comes to spacers, Eibach’sPro-Spacers are the business. They’re made fromhigh-tensile strength aluminium which meansthey are extremely light and strong, so that’s whatI opted for. At this width the spacers are designedto bolt to your hub and you then bolt your wheelsto the spacer, which is for a far stronger and safermounting method than simply using longer bolts.With my stud kit I didn’t need to worry about that,though, and just slipped the spacers over thestuds before mounting the wheels in place withthe nuts. The fitment was now perfect in my eyes,giving the 540i a much more purposeful stance,allowing me to drop the car with no rubbing and

Style 42s lookedpretty ropey tostart with…

Falken Ziex tyres are fantastic all-rounders;Eibach’s 20mm Pro-Spacers fitted front and rear

096-102 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 12:49

NOVEMBER 2015 101

Finished Style 42s look fantastic, with metallic grey centres, polished lips and just a bit of stretch

Stripping the wheelsrevealed more than a bit of TLC was required

when aired-out there was a hair’s breadthbetween the lips and the arches. Perfect.

For the finishing touch I decided to get someBBS centre caps and valve caps. Now, beingBMW wheels, the Style 42s were designed toaccept the standard size BMW centre caps,which differ in size from all of BBS’s aftermarketcentre caps offerings. That meant browsing eBayfor some knock-off caps in the correct size,likewise with the valve caps which BBS nevermade, but as the wheels are genuine BBSs I feltmy decision was justified and certainly a milliontimes better than putting BBS centre caps onRS-alike fake splits…

The verdict? Well, I am absolutely over themoon with the wheels, the refurb and how theysit on the car. They’ve just made it look so muchbetter. They look bigger and with the spacersthey fill the arches out so much better.

THANKS AND CONTACTFalkenwww.falkentyres-uk.com01962 794801

The Custom Carswww.thecustomcars.com07958 432167

Eibachwww.eibach.com

Spacers havehelped massively

on the stance front

096-102 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 12:49

102 PERFORMANCE BMW

It has been a few months since my last report,which is all due to real life getting in the way ofany further progress with the 328 – sorry!

Anyway, it’s been getting plenty of use, whichhas highlighted a few issues. The first being thata vibration was beginning to make itself knownwhen braking from high speed, despite theexcellent bite from the new Brembo discs andFerodo pads. I have had vibrations sinceswapping to the 330i front brake setup nomatter what pads or discs are used but havenever been able to pin-point the exact reason.However, after much head-scratching, abreakthrough was made once again by the guysat Autobahn. The idea was to measure thealignment of the flanges to see whether amisalignment was causing the discs to wearunevenly and give this vibration. Slightlysurprisingly the measurements showed only a0.5mm misalignment on the front right, whichsurely seemed too small to be causing theproblems encountered. After a short discussion itwas decided that the whole assembly should bechanged just in case – but would it be enough??

Further measurements were taken after thenew hub assembly fitted, which confirmed thatthe alignment was now bang-on. After a fewdays it became apparent that the vibrations weresubsiding and currently, several weeks later, thevibrations have completely disappeared now thediscs have worn evenly again.

The Motorsport Hardware wheel studs haveproven to be very helpful when changing wheelsand I am now waiting on some 12mm spacersfrom Hack Engineering to complete the stance ofthe Schnitzers.

There are some exciting developments instore for the near future as well, so stay tuned.

OUR CARS

JAMES’ E36 328i

THANKS AND CONTACTAutobahn Servicingwww.autobahnservicing.co.uk 0121 585 9146

Hack Engineering www.hackengineering.co.uk

Certain jobs in life shouldn’t be left. It’s alwaysbest to sort that nagging toothache before itcomes a filling. Definitely a smart move to getyour hair cut before you resemble a homelessWomble. And when it comes to your BMW’sbrakes, it’s a smart move to make sure thingsare fully A1 before you hear the unwelcomesound of metal on metal.

That’s where things had got to with my carrecently. I had spent so long sorting out theaesthetics and driving her as hard as she shouldbe, I had somewhat neglected the rather moreimportant business of keeping on top of thesafety items. Hence ‘exhibit A’ – a car that reallydoesn’t want to stop all that well at the moment.

Fear not, though, as I am about to elevate theold tub from the realms of ‘average’ right up tothe status of ‘amazing’ simply by enlisting thehelp of a couple of stellar brands. Uprating thediscs and pads will be a simple affair, as thecalipers seem to be in good nick, and it’s onlyreally the friction material that’s looking a littlesorry for itself. As I have been using Tarox discsand pads for the last five seasons on my Golf GTIrace car, I’ve gone for the same again for theBMW. And by the time you read this they shouldbe with me and in the process of being fitted up.Not only will the hand-finished Italian goodnessof the discs and pads looks rather nicer throughthe Calibre rims than the rather crusty OEMofferings but they will doubtless stop a lot morequickly, too! Although the 328 doesn’t ever goout on track, it’s always nice to have plenty ofstopping power under the pedal, isn’t it?

PAUL’S E36 328iOn that note, I was also keen to improve the

pedal feel and efficiency, too. When you stop andthink about it, the lines on this car are now aworrying 17 years old. And no matter how wellyour motor has been looked after, the lines areknown to deteriorate over time, which must meanthat my existing brake lines are well overdue areplacement. Keen to fit the best possible (buyingthe cheapest option is never a clever move whenit comes to brakes) I opted for a set of Goodridgelines. As the OEM supplier to the world’s greatestprestige and supercar builders, as well as thebrand beneath most of the quickest teams inmotorsport, Goodridge’s popular Phantom lineoffers superior resistance to abrasion andcorrosion, unrivalled braking efficiency throughgreater reliability, and a complete absence ofsponginess through the brake pedal, irrespectiveof how hard the brake fluid is worked. What’smore, with a choice of ten different colours, youcan go a bit crazy with the look of your under-arch area – although I went for boring black. Well,you can’t argue that it’s not a classic hue.

Having been to the Goodridge factory inExeter, I can tell you that every single brake linethat goes through the manufacturing is pressuretested after assembly to give both manufacturerand driver absolute confidence. And, seeing asevery ounce of effort put in at the pedal end isgoing to be transmitted through to my new padswhen they arrive, the Three will have never hadit so good when it comes to the brakes. Littlewonder that every Goodridge brake line is TÜV,DOT, ADR and ISO approved, really!

THANKS AND CONTACT

www.goodridge.comwww.tarox.co.uk

096-102 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 12:49

NOVEMBER 2015 103

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NOW ANYTIME CAN BE GO-TIME. K&N® high-flow air filters are designed to increasehorsepower with up to 50% more airflow.And with five-minute installation, better performancedoesn’t get much easier. Order yours online today.

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103 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 14:04

This is one shiny E46 and that’s probably because Tim is a self-confessed clean-freak; it sounds like he gets just as much pleasure out of cleaning the car as hedoes driving it. His Clubsport has a purposeful stance courtesy of a set of FKcoilovers which drop it and nice and low over the staggered 18” Cades Tyruswheels he’s fitted, which really suit the car and look great with that deep-dish atthe rear. A Pipercross air filter, performance exhaust with the silencer removedand remap mean 245hp and a fantastic soundtrack from that superb straight-six. With just 58k on the clock it’s still nice and fresh and looks like it could havedriven out of the showroom just yesterday.

104 PERFORMANCE BMW

JAMES MURPHY F32 428i

READERS’ CARS

We’re starting to see more and more modified F modelsappearing now and James here has been busy on his F32.While the 428i might not have the big power and six-cylinder sexiness of its bigger brother, it’s plenty quick andnot bad on fuel, making it a fine four-pot choice. James’example has been treated to the full selection of MPerformance parts along with an aFe Stage 2 intake and 4”cat-less downpipe and Milltek cat-back exhaust systemwith a JB4 tune on the cards for the very near future, whichshould net him 310hp, making for a seriously rapid andgood-looking 4 Series.

Our ‘Car of the Month’ wins a$99 UUC prize voucher thatcan be redeemed against anyof the company’s gear knobs.There’s a fine selection ofdifferent styles available and

regardless how mild or wildyour interior is, you’re sure to find

one that will suit.Get on to: www.uucmotorwerks.com

CAR OF THE MONTH

NICK HIGGINS E36 325i CABBy his own admission, Nick may not have spent a fortune on his E36 Cab but he’sgot himself a fine soft-top. During his time with the car he’s treated it to a new roofand fresh bodywork to get it looking its best and it’s been lowered a healthyamount on JOM Blue Line coilovers over E46 wheels that really suit the older car’slines. The finishing touch is a set of angel eyes and the end result is a clean andsmart E36.

Want to show off your BMW? Send some hi-res photos, a spec list and the story of you and your car to [email protected]

TIM SLATER E46 330Ci CLUBSPORT

104 PBMW 1115 17/09/2015 17:38

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105 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 13:01

December issue onsale 05 November

Available to download from 2 November

If you can’t always find a copy of thismagazine, help is at hand! Complete thisform, hand it in at your local store, andthey will arrange for a copy of each issueto be reserved for you. Some storesmay even be able to arrange for it to bedelivered to your home. Just ask!*

Love Performance BMW magazine? To ensure you never miss an issue again

*Subject to availability

Please reserve/deliver my copy of PBMW magazine on a regular basis, starting with issue:

Title First nameSurnameAddress

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Plus: • Incredible supercharged E46 M3 • V8-swapped E30 • Super-slick E28

(Contents subject to us not freaking out that it’s already October…)

All the lows with this awesome 8 Series

NEXT MONTH

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107 PBMW 1115 15/09/2015 12:14

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Performance BMW - November 2015

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