Some cars have had a bright future ever since they landed on sales floors. While most simply take you from point A to point B, others make it their primary goal in life to keep their owners happy. For this BMW E30 M3, the combination of legendary German and Italian motoring, along with the owner and its caretaker, ensured it has warmed everyone’s hearts since 1992. To an extent, both the car and the livery mark the return of the 80s in a big way.
This BMW E30 M3 is one of the first 200 cars produced, owning its existence to the need of creating a vehicle that will battle in DTM, the World Rally Championship, World Touring Car Championship, British Touring Car Championship, Italian Touring Car Championship, French Touring Car Championship and the Australian Touring Car Championship. While the list of racing series this car did partake in is long, the list of all the aftermarket additions to this particular E30 M3 is even longer.
The car belongs to Luis Costa who’s been an appropriate caretaker for the last 17 years. The car is driven, cleaned, maintained and loved now by Fabryce Kutyba, a Polish race car driver with extensive background in BMW tuning, as well as having 20+ years of experience in racing series’ ranging from World Challenge to American LeMans Series.
Since Kutyba is a sales director for MOMO USA, you can hardly expect for such a car to be left stock.
Consequently, the red BMW E30 M3 seen here is adorned with a bevy of aftermarket parts and additions, all making it a real beast on the street and on the racetrack. While purists will have their hair standing up at the mere idea of modding such a vehicle, the end result might change their mind. Additionally, it’s faster than the OEM version, while all the safety upgrades make it a much, much more user friendly car overall.
The body was the first thing that received a bevvy of modifications. Namely, the M3’s fenders were massaged and widened to accept the more aggressive offset wheels. These wheels are 15mm wider in the rear and 10mm wider in the front. This small and subtle change adds a nice widened look, somewhere in between the BMW M3 and the BMW M3 EVO II look. Additionally, to fully recover its outer shine, the M3 was repainted in a two-stage base and clear. The factory paint finish was only single stage.
Even though work like this may be expensive, it’s needed to return the allure of such a vehicle to its former glory. Some will argue that the original paint finish is supposed to be kept – for collector’s value – but this M3 goes beyond just preserving the original vehicle. By a long shot. After this part was done, it was time to upgrade the M3’s chassis.
First, the BMW Motorsport E30 M3 EVO 3 factory rear wing with a carbon rear flap was installed, yielding improved dowforce in the rear. Next, a BMW Motorsport EVO II front splitter was installed, helping to funnel the air in the front of the car and keep the vehicle solid planted on the ground, improving overall cornering performance. As far as safety and anti-roll situation goes, the vehicle received a Gruppe N FIA approved roll cage.
While the number one goal of such a part addition is safety, the additional rigidity is added to the car’s structure, reducing body roll and improving cornering performance. Furthermore, Gruppe A carbon fiber mirrors add that nice racing look to the car’s exterior, perfectly combined with the carbon fiber splitter and rear wing.
The suspension of this BMW M3 was also upgraded, yielding better driving dynamics. The owner decided to install a set of Eibach Springs and sway bars, followed by the custom valved Bilstein Gruppe N dampers and Gruppe A – with revised suspension geometry – helping the vehicle’s stability, driving dynamics and cornering performance. Next in line were the brakes; a set of Brembo rotors was added together with Race Tech race pads. Even the brake lines were replaced with steel braided brake lines that now hold the Brembo brake fluid, allowing for less brake fade in intense driving conditions.
Additionally, the front and rear of the vehicle now feature brake cooling ducts as well. Overall, it’s a great upgrade which allows the lightweight BMW E30 M3 to stop quicker and afford the driver with the choice of later braking times.
As for the wheels, the setup is the most 1980s thing of all. These wheels are forged and lightweight, built with the technology of today, yielding a light and strong wheel setup. This E30 M3 showcases a set of MOMO Heritage Race 6 monoblocks wheels, sized in 17×9 rear and 17×8.5 front, respectively. Even though the sizes might be a bit odd at first, they actually represent a great trade-off between 16″ and 18″ wheel sizes. This allows for an utmost perfect fitment, lightweight and gorgeous exterior looks.
Next in line was engine performance. The modding bug that bit the owner resulted in some nifty engine tuning. The BMW E30 M3’s stock S14 2.3 liter engine now comes with improved engine cooling, thanks to a CSF high performance aluminum radiator with dual bypass technology. Furthermore, the OEM engine and gearbox mounting were replaced with a high-tech BMW Motorsport Gruppe A reinforced mounts. These allow the vehicle to easily absorb the extra power delivered, specially under more rigid race track circumstances.
Impressive noise, improved performance and better throttle response come courtesy of a Borla race exhaust system. This system is paired with a Gruppe A 200 cell race catalytic converter, allowing for a much improved exhaust gas flow and better engine power delivery as well. Additionally, the engine is mated to a Sachs Racing Clutch, which in combination with a short shift kit, complete with a MOMO shift knob, allow for quicker and smoother gear changes.
Finally, the interior got to see its day at the shop as well. If you like MOMO, then you’re in for a nice treat. The Italian based aftermarket accessory company has been out there for decades delivering premium racing products fit for everyday usage. This E30 M3 comes with a bevvy of MOMO additions: first, a pair of MOMO Super Cup rascing seats was installed, complete with a MOMO five-point racing harness, for added safety in racetrack conditions. This is followed by MOMO sliders, MOMO side mounts and the MOMO low profile CNC seat bases for E30 chassis, ensuring the seats are properly fitted to the vehicle’s chassis here.
Even the steering wheel was replaced with a MOMO race steering wheel, together with a MOMO hub adapter, topping the build perfectly. The build was done by GT Technik who handled the parts installation, engine tuning and all the necessary workload for this project. You can check the entire detailed build gallery of this red BMW E30 M3 right below.
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