Products

GAZ Camber Adjuster Plates for BMW E21 3 Series

The camber angle of the front struts on the classic BMW E21 3 Series is fixed as standard.

For racing purposes a more negative camber would be desirable, so to enable this leading suspension specialist GAZ has developed an adjustable camber plate to allow the angle to be altered.

The plates are made from anodised aluminium billet and come with a top bearing incorporated into the centre.

The adjustable camber plates are recommended for competition only as they would be too harsh / noisy for general road use. In order to obtain the maximum adjustment GAZ can supply a specially shortened coilover unit for use with these plates.

GAZ BMW E21 front camber adjusters with two piece sliding mounts retail at £165.38 plus VAT per pair.

For further details visit the GAZ website: www.gazshocks.com

M-Style GTS Metal Bonnet for F8x M3/M4

M-Style is now offering the GTS Metal Bonnet for BMW F80 M3 and F82 / F83 M4 to both enhance the looks and reduce the weight of these cars.

The GTS bonnet is made from lightweight aluminium and includes a power bulge and functioning air scoop.

The GTS bonnet is listed at £1,095.00, but as an introductory offer it is currently on sale at just £995.00 including VAT.

M-Style offers a painting and fitting service for the bonnet

for an additional £550.00 inc. VAT.

For further details e-mail info@mstyle.co.uk or call 0208 598 9115

Sticker Trickery

John Paulding shows how to renovate the engine bay stickers and VIN plate on a classic 2002

Having repainted the engine bay on my 2002 during lockdown the next step was to finish it off with some new engine bay stickers and VIN plate. These are all available from the aftermarket, but since I had done all the work myself I wanted to tackle this item too and it turned out to be quite simple.

Taking the stickers first I scanned the old stickers and downloaded images of the ones that were missing from the internet. Then I imported the scans into a desktop publishing program and checked the images for size against the actual stickers. I used Quark 2020, a professional publishing program that I use for my business, but others are available and if you only intend to use the program to make these stickers there are some that you can download for free for

a month’s trial. That will give you time to learn how to use it and print the stickers. I then used the desktop publishing program to work over the scanned sticker on a new layer and make up new artwork, typing new words over the original and adjusting the size and spacing to get it as close to the scanned example as possible. New white lines were added over the old and finally the scanned layer was deleted and a plain black background dropped in. The black and white stickers use a Helvetica Bold font which most computers will have already. The blue ATE sticker uses what I would say is DIN Condensed Bold and DIN 1451 Engschrift. If you don’t have the right fonts on your computer you can download them, either for a small fee or free. Technically there is copyright on fonts so you should be paying a fee to download them, but I found a website that offered downloads for a donation or for free if you gave them a nice mention on your social media page. Sounds like a deal to me, so we’ll give them a plug here too. Check out https://fontshub.pro. While I was making up the artworks I took the opportunity to modify a couple to match the modifications I made to my car. I changed the tyre sizes on the

tyre pressure sticker from 165x13 to 185x13 and omitted the Automatic Choke and Electric Fuel Pump from the fuse sticker because I don’t have an automatic choke and my fuel pumps have Independent fuses.

My ‘custom’ fuse sticker with the Automatic Choke and Fuel Pumps line removed from Fuse 11.

To print them out I used white decal paper in my laser printer, although you could use an inkjet printer. A pack of five sheets of A4 white laser decal paper cost just £7.99 from Mr Decal Paper. (www. mrdecalpaper.com)

I gave the decals a few coats of matt fixative, just to make sure the print didn’t run when the decals were soaked in water. This step will be essential if you use an inkjet printer and advisable if you use a laser.

White decal sheets were used for the stickers and clear was used for the VIN plate. They usually come in packs of five.

White decal sheets were used for the stickers and clear was used for the VIN plate. They usually come in packs of five.

The decals were cut out, soaked in warm water and applied to the car. The first attempt didn’t go too well as the car is Verona red and the white decal paper allowed the strong red to show through on the white lines and lettering giving it a pink tinge. This was remedied by applying the decal to a blank sheet of white decal paper and then, when dry, cutting round and applying the two together. The white was now dense enough to prevent the red from showing through. This also made the decals thicker and more like the vinyl stickers used originally.

Decals cut out and ready to apply

Any bubbles caught under the decals were smoothed out with a soft cloth before the decal dried. The decals were left until the next day to dry completely and then the stickers were masked off and a coat of matt clear varnish was sprayed over to protect the print from everything it is likely to encounter under a bonnet. (According to ‘02 guru, Richard Stern, the correct finish is matt and not a gloss finish seen on some of the aftermarket stickers. Now you know!)

Revitalizing the VIN

Renovating the VIN plate was a similar process, but this time clear decal paper was used. First the print on the original VIN plate was removed by sanding with a fine wet and dry and then the plate was polished to a bright finish leaving only the embossed VIN number showing. The artwork was made up making sure the print and spaces matched the original as perfectly as possible. Then the decal was printed, sprayed with fixative and the panel for the VIN number was cut out. The decal was applied to the original plate leaving the stamped number showing through the cut out. Finally the plate was given a coat of clear varnish and riveted back into its proper position on the offside wing.

The renovated VIN plate

What goes where?

The positions for all the stickers can be found on-line, but they did seem to vary somewhat according to year of manufacture and the intended market. There was even some variation within those parameters depending on where the worker was standing to put the original stickers on, so some variation is permissible. Since my car already has quite a few modifications I went for an ‘interesting’ engine bay rather than a strictly accurate one so it has the orange “Achtung use original BMW parts” sticker, which didn’t actually appear until the year after my car was made and a blue ATE sticker on the servos although in reality they were only used on the Turbos. They add a splash of colour and confuse the ‘experts’!

If you want to brighten up your engine bay but are unsure about the artwork part you can download my artwork from www. johnpaulding.com/Stickers.jpg and the VIN plate artwork from www.johnpaulding.com/ VIN.jpg

Because of the changes I’ve made and the ‘best guess’ on the fonts these aren’t perfectly accurate reproductions of the originals to satisfy the purist, but they are better than the torn and faded stickers they replaced and hopefully they’ll brighten up

The original VIN plate

your engine bay too.

The E sticker went on the inner wing on the offside

..and the fuse sticker went on the nearside.

On my car the tyre sticker was under the bonnet on the right, but the original position did seem to depend on where the worker was standing at the time!

LIFE THE BANDIT

Editorial by Steve Carter Photographs by Dean Grossmith Road Test: BMW M2 CS £73,385 (£81,115 as tested)

TV and film have given us endless iconic motor cars over the years, and perhaps never more so than back in the 1970s and 80s. As a car obsessed young lad growing up in those days, my world was full of the wonderful and exotic cars that flickered across my four channel television; James Bond’s white Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me, the Dukes of Hazzard’s bright red forever jumping Dodge Charger, the Fall Guy’s brown and gold GMC non-stop skidding truck, right through to Knight Riders talking solid black Pontiac Trans Am called K.I.T.T.

But there was another Trans Am that I thought was particularly awesome back in those days, and that was the one Burt Reynolds drove in the 1977 film, Smokey and the Bandit. With its black paint, contrasting gold cross spoke alloy wheels, sunken headlights (so that was where McLaren’s inspiration on the P1 came from, I knew it!), and gold eagle adorned across the bonnet, I thought it was height of American muscle car coolness; my toy Matchbox version of it was a favourite at the time and had the scars to prove it. Of course, little did I know the 1977 Trans Am “muscle car” only squeezed a paltry 200bhp from its vast 6.6-litre V8 engine due to brutal US Government fuel economy and emission regulations. Nevertheless, that colour combination was in my young mind the height of cool.

Forty odd years later and I’m suddenly transported back to those heady days. Parked up in front of me is BMW’s latest M car, the M2 CS. Painted in sparkling Sapphire black paint and shod as it is with stunning and contrasting gold wheels, it looks epic. Shy and retiring this M2 CS’s colour scheme is certainly not! But frankly, neither is the rest of it. Lightweight carbon fibre is lavished over the (very low – more of that later) chin spoiler, roof top, M wing mirror caps and rear Gurney spoiler, all adding to the already muscular and slightly cartoonish shape that is the M2. But all this carbon fibre doesn’t mean the M2 CS weighs less than the Competition model. “They weigh about the same, all things considered, unless you equip the M2 CS with the carbon ceramic brakes which saves about 25 kilograms (55 lbs),” BMW M CEO Markus Flasch told bmwblog. “The reason for being the same weight as the M2 Competition, is the additional things we put in.” i.e. Adaptive M Suspension.

If that wasn’t enough, there is a large vent in the bonnet to help cooling and huge carbon ceramic brakes (£6,250) fill those wonderful forged 763M gold alloys (£500), shod with Michelin Pilot

Cup 2 tyres. And the vast front calipers, a different shade of gold again to the alloys, but somehow this all works together to provide an extremely aggressive, and it has to be said, very purposeful, looking motor car. Not sure I’d have been brave enough to tick the “gold wheels” option if I was spec’ing the car, but having seen them in real life it’s a definite thumbs up from me.

This M2 CS represents the last hurrah for the F22 M2. Originally released back in 2015, the M2 has continued to evolve over time and perhaps more so than in other M car models of its generation. The Competition version, a now familiar M car iteration, was released only two years ago and that version saw a significantly reworked car, the biggest change being the inclusion of the BMW M-built S55 engine fitted from the F80 M3/F82 M4, albeit in a detuned stated, replacing the ageing N55 motor.

And it’s this S55 3-litre straight-six twin-turbocharged engine that is one of the major highlights of this CS version. The Competition version before it was tuned to produce 404bhp, whilst in this CS that has been increased by a further 10% to 444bhp and a peak torque of 550Nm – that’s 30Nm more than the 5.0-litre V10 in the E60 M5 for those of you who like me crave an irrelevant, I mean relevant, data point. And from another and perhaps more relevant perspective, that’s 85bhp more than the not unsubstantial 375bhp in the original 2015 M2. What this translates to in the real world is a face mangling 0 to 62mph time of 4.0 seconds (DCT, 4.2 seconds in Manual) and a top speed restricted to a pretty interesting 174mph (Car Magazine reported 186mph with revs to go) – a near 200mph 2 series, who would have predicted that?

Of course, having all this power and torque is one thing, but keeping the CS attached to the road surface and being able to reign that speed in quickly is equally, if not more important. Fortunately then, those clever folks at BMW’s M division have fitted as standard some pretty trick Adaptive M suspension designed with motor racing know-how; after all this is a car that is intended to be able to perform everyday driving and then rock up and tear round your local motor racing track at the weekend. As such, the damper settings can be adjusted between Comfort, Sport and Sport+, the latter delivering the firmest chassis setup that minimises body movement and maximises dynamic performance.

As far as stopping goes, M Sport brakes are fitted as standard and benefit from the motor racing experience

of BMW M GmbH. Compared with the M compound brakes featured on the BMW M2 Competition, the brake discs are larger (front: diameter 400mm, rear: diameter 380mm) and the brake callipers – painted in a bold red colour – have also been upgraded (front: six-piston fixed callipers, rear: four-piston fixed callipers). The BMW M2 CS however, is also available with the option of M carbon ceramic brakes, as fitted to our test car, with six-piston callipers at the front and four-piston units at the rear, with the callipers painted in gold.Electric Power Steering with M-specific characteristics controls power assistance electronically according to the car’s speed and the Drivelogic settings

selected. It allows the driver to adapt the level of power assistance to suit their personal preferences and is also adjusted in line with the three suspension modes and the three throttle mapping modes. So, there are set-up options, but compared to some of the more grownup M cars they are fairly straight forward: Three settings for Steering, Throttle Mapping and Damper setting. Of course, on top of this, the Dynamic Stability Control can be switched to M Dynamic mode, which allows for added rear end playfulness, or if you have the driving skills and belief of Lewis Hamilton, you can turn everything off.

To make sure you keep the car on the black stuff and yet still be competitive

around the weekend race track, BMW have fitted the front wheels with 245/35 ZR 19 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres and 265/35 ZR 19 tyres at the rear. BMW will allow customers intending to use their M2 CS mainly for everyday driving to select the no-cost option of Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, which of course generate more grip on wet roads than the Cup 2 tyres. Most surprising is an option that is not offered, and that is the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. Without doubt, and I know I speak for several friends too, these are by far the best for fast road driving on the UK’s roads, having really impressive handling in both wet and lower temperature conditions than either the Super Sport or Cup 2’s, as well as excelling in the dry.

Interior wise, it’s generally a standard M2 affair, only without a central armrest (weight saving?), an abundance of Alcantara and carbon fibre and a seemingly thicker than normal Alcantara wrapped steering wheel with a perforated top dead centre marking.

Driving

What I’ve always loved about the M2 throughout its iterations, is how approachable the car is from a driver confidence perspective. Familiarity of course breeds confidence and the compact size really helps that when you push on. But before I get a chance to let it loose on the open roads, we pop up to the roof of BMW UK’s Farnborough car park to allow Dean to grab a few images as the late August sun starts to gently fall towards the horizon. Twenty minutes later and at last we’re all done and I can head out onto the public highway, but not until I have first negotiated 10 floors of car park.

I’d like to think I’m able to keep my cool when driving cars of this rarity and value, but I have to admit to questioning whether I required a new pair of underpants after a God-awful scraping noise came from that beautiful carbon fibre chin spoiler on the first down ramp. Luckily no damage done, but my god that front end is super low to the ground,

just see the pictures if you don’t believe me. Needless to say, every other down ramp was approached crab style and for the following week I avoided all speed bumps and kerbs, no easy task let me tell you.

And then finally we’re out on the roads. It’s 7:30pm and is still daylight, the temperature is 22°C, the roads are bone dry and the engine oil is nicely warmed. Dean has plotted an awesome route for us as we head home down to the South Coast and finally Brighton. As we leave the city limits of Farnborough, we head south along the A285 before joining the A272 towards Petworth and heading east before reaching the A281. If you know these roads, then you will know what a wonderful playground they can be for the keen driver, a perfect place to explore what this M2 CS is capable of.

Within a very short time I’m deliberately provoking the throttle hard to see where the initial traction limits off, it’s quickly apparent the grip levels with these Cup 2s is a step above what I’m used to, but also confidence inspiring when the limit of adhesion is reached, letting go in a very predictable manner.

On these twisty but flowing roads the M2 CS is superlative, carrying huge speeds through the corners. I quickly switch the car’s traction control system to M Dynamic Mode, this allows the rear axle to dance through and out of the corners. I leave the dampers in comfort initially, and although the body roll is extremely well-checked, the car feels more natural in its middle Sport setting. With Dean in the passenger seat screaming encouragement, the fun levels are amazingly high as we nail some of these familiar corners on the button, this car is hugely rewarding to drive. And that engine. The S55 is by far my favourite petrol turbo M engine of the modern era, it’s just so characterful both in the way it pulls, and in the way it sounds. Even how loud it is; it’s an absolute aural joy and yet never becomes too boisterous or shouty.

The engine itself doesn’t pull hard until just before 3,000rpm when the whole 550Nm of Torque comes in fully, and from there all the way to the redline somewhere north of 7,500rpm it pulls strongly. In many respects it is normally aspirated in character and in the way the engine gains speed as it races towards the redline, and hunting that redline is totally addictive. However, to do so is also unnecessary as the mid-range torque is just so ferocious, more like a S54 engine on those go-faster 90s drugs. It’s brilliant and is made even more so by the sweet shifting six-speed manual gearbox fitted to our car; it’s such a joy to change gear.

Better still, this gearbox has rev matching enabled and it’s the best application of it I’ve tried in a BMW or MINI to date. It takes very little time to get used to and means that when you’re grabbing that next gear, or shifting down during your braking, the engine is exactly where you want it, every time, and then you’re straight back on the power with no interruptions. What Dean and I both found though is that from a throttle mapping perspective, putting in its calmest mode, known as Efficiency, offers a lot more controllability around these fast British and bumpy A roads. Leave it in ‘Sport’ and an enthusiastic push of throttle on corner exit leads to the Torque briefly overwhelm the rear Cup 2s which spoils the experience as the power is briefly cut to compensate.

The carbon ceramic brakes themselves are also earning their keep on these fast roads. It’s not the stopping power which really impresses, although I swear, they could make our planet slow its rotation a little if asked. No, it’s their precise modulation that really stands out. I can only imagine that these would really come into their own on the race track, but I’d happily option them even if I was fast road driving only, they really are a seriously good piece of kit.

Over the next several days the M2 CS switches between fast road car, daily driver, teenagers’ taxi and motorway cruiser. The warm August days that we experienced at the start of our time together give way almost overnight to colder temperatures and torrential rain. But that is the luxury of having the car for this amount of time, it allows a more rounded impression to be gained, as much to enjoy its virtues as to discover its flaws, of which it has a few; and there’s nothing wrong with that.

The electric steering rack and oversized wheel deserve some criticism in my eyes. The rim is a great size but it is thicker than it needs to be, and I think it loses some steering delicacy because of it. The feedback on the steering is good enough to inspire huge confidence when pushing on, but feels quite numb in normal driving even in Comfort mode, even to the extent that when the car tracks along tarmac undulations or poor broken road surfaces there is a tugging against the wheel which feels quite artificial. This was highlighted to me never more than when I jumped back in my own E90 M3 after dropping off the CS. I seriously thought the steering in my M3 was broken and I actually stopped the car in the BMW car park to get out and give everything a shake and a wiggle. Only then did I realise there was just a huge amount of information coming into my hands that I’d not experienced over the past week in the M2 CS. On a positive note, the dead ahead feel is vastly better than earlier BMW electric steering racks; Mrs Carter’s M140i is particularly guilty of this deadness.

Suspension wise I think the damping and the three set-ups are superb and brilliantly well judged, specifically in

Comfort and Sport for road driving. And whilst the initial damping is a serious step up from the original M2, there is a stiffness that some may find a little too much for everyday use. Personally, I found the car very comfortable even over the two long four-hour motorway journeys that I made in the final days with it.

And those Cup 2 tyres. Whilst they are absolutely sublime and offer monstrous grip in the dry, they are near heart-attack inducing when the roads are wet or damp. This was illustrated while gently accelerating over a narrow water run off on an otherwise dry road in Ashdown Forest, the car rotating in a flash, only the full DSC saving what I would expect would have been a clenched-tooth inducing low speed 360-degree spin. I can only imagine that more than one M2 CS will find its muscular rear end inserted bluntly into a Hawthorn bush / dry stone wall / roadside barrier (select as applicable) during the winter months. As I mentioned earlier, I’d be asking BMW to swap those Cup 2s for a new set of Pilot Sport 4S before delivery.

And then finally there is the price. At £81,115 as tested, this little 2 Series is serious money. A quick search online reveals a whole range of high-end performance machinery for around that price. A new Porsche Cayman GT4 is under £75,000, a brand-new Lotus Evora under £80,000 and a 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 with 15,000 miles is yours for under £90,000 - really, and from Porsche themselves. Alternatively, I’ve had numerous healthy discussions with everyone from our Straight Six editor Jeff, to my TurnAndClipIt driving buddies, about how easy it is to make an M140/ M240 or M2 Comp go faster and drive round corners better for far less money than a new M2 CS. Everyone has a view on this it seems.

Verdict

So, this M2 CS has its faults and it is expensive, but frankly I find it all the more endearing because of it. And whilst the colour scheme of our loan car was a modern and very German reincarnation of the Bandit’s Trans Am (Golden Eagle bonnet decal the exception), and it’s certainly a bit of Bandit when it comes to

relieving you of pound notes from your wallet, it still is a very special car in my opinion.

I also hear from my contacts in the BMW dealer network that a bunch of orders were cancelled during these recent lockdown months, and that if you want to spec a factory car, you can. So, combine that with the fact that those Cup 2s will lighten the production numbers versus on the road survivors in a few years’ time, and I think there is a chance for this M2 CS to be quite a rare and special car. This little Bandit of an M Car is ‘the’ M Car of its generation, and quite possibly the long awaited spiritual successor to the 1M. It’s that good a drive.

When I initially told people I planned on flying from London to California, picking up a 1984 E30 and using it to explore America over three months and 10,000 miles, everyone doubted me. They said the car wouldn’t make it, and that I should just get a rental or buy something newer. But that’s not me, that’s not what this trip is about. This trip had been something I dreamt of for years and years and I figured if my fiancé and I didn’t do this soon, then we never would. In fact, this trip was actually our honeymoon…

The car in question was purchased from a member on the BMW Car Club forum, a 1984 325e coupe in manual. Alpine White, black leather interior, odometer stopped working but guesstimated at 280,000-miles on the clock. A lot of people would have, and did think, that this car would never complete this trip,

ACROSS THE USA... IN AN E30

PART ONE

Words and photographs: Ben Walsh

Every road trip plan must come with an overview of the route.

even the original owner was sceptical. But I figured why not! Let’s just give it a try and see how it goes.

I ended up getting the car for the bargain price of $1,000, around £700. I had my friend Steve, who lives local to the car in Northern California, go collect it for me and have it ready for my arrival. He collected it for me on July 1st, 2018, and I had planned to land on September 5th, so we had a few months to figure out if anything needed to be done to the car.

The car had a tonne of maintenance recently done to it which was good! New tyres, timing belt and water pump, a complete new cooling system and so on.

The other side of the car had a Bronzit-coloured door and front wing. These had to be replaced, so I managed to find a white door and a pair of white wings which we could fit onto the car. I had them collected, and the door was fitted prior to my arrival. The fenders were located down closer to LA, so we fitted these at around week three of my trip.

My friend Chris, who collected the fenders for me, was able to give them a clean up to see what we were working with. Unfortunately the passenger side fender (which was the main one we needed) was quite badly damaged by years of being in the sun. Regardless, it wasn’t Bronzit so I wasn’t too bothered.

This was the only photo I could see of the car from the California advert.

We flew from London to Oakland airport, and Steve picked us up and took us back to his place near Sacramento.

First impressions of the car

My first impression? It looked much cleaner in the photos! But I had an idea of what I was getting into, although my fiancé was not so happy with the purchase. Thankfully she got on board with the car and fell in love with it soon enough!

Our first full day in California was over 30-degrees, and this English idiot decided to wear all black...

We spent the day in the small town of Vacaville sorting out the paperwork to insure and register the car. I went to AAA rather than the DMV, and it was actually much easier to insure it than anticipated; I managed to get insurance, break down cover and register the car within about 40 minutes! They didn’t ask too many questions.

I got used to driving a manual car on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car much quicker than expected. We spent the day with my friend Steve, and afterwards headed to our hotel for the night. The next day we were heading to San Francisco!

San Fran: Wow, stressful! Our first day consisted of driving the car and getting used to everything. Old car, manual, everything was on the opposite side to how I’ve been driving for the past

Still trying to get used to the size of some of the vehicles in America.

10 years. All the images I have seen of the SF hills and streets do not do justice to just how crazy steep they are! But we did manage to go down Lombard Street a couple of times before it became overrun with tourists.

We then struggled to find somewhere to park. I refused to pay the extreme amounts that people wanted for parking in SF so we found some street parking, got some food, and explored the pier and other parts of San Fran. It had been a stressful day so we headed for the coast.

At this point we went a little bit backwards and drove from the top of the Pacific Coast Highway across to Sonora, where we would then make our trip to Yosemite and Mammoth lakes.

It was at this point I really felt that I had made it, I felt like this trip was really happening. The trip I had dreamt of doing for years. We were finally out in America, exploring and hitting the open road. Only a few cars passed us and we pulled over to take it all in. It was crazy, it almost felt as if I were having an out of body experience whilst parked up on the side of this amazing road looking out over the forest. We hopped back in the car and

Sonora and the Sonora Pass was absolutely beautiful.

drove the bends and cruised until the car got hot. We pulled over again and whilst letting the car cool down, we went for a walk in the surrounding area. We didn’t let the overheating car bother us, I would look at it when we returned to civilisation.

It ended up just being a little low on oil and I also topped up the water (later on we discovered the thermostat was put in backwards). We then hit up Yosemite; what a beautiful part of the world!

After spending a couple of days in Yosemite, we did the long, long drive to Santa Cruz where we would start the descent down towards Los Angeles, along the Pacific Coast Highway. From there we drove along Big Sur, explored the national park and enjoyed the coast.

Before LA we reached Lancaster and spent a long weekend staying at my friend, Chris’, house, who is on the BMW Car Club forum. Chris really saved my trip with this car. I can truly say the car would not have made it much further without his help and assistance and I cannot thank him enough for this. We got the car into his garage, and there were quite a few things that we knew we had to tackle and quite a few other things that surprised us.

The lights weren’t properly working - the main beams wouldn’t work on their own, they would only work if I put full beams on which meant all four of the lights would then be on (and I didn’t want to be that guy!), so for the first few weeks I was driving will my full beams on but I had the inner two lights unplugged which meant only the outer two lights would be on. A small wiring fire later and once we fixed the issue we had found success, albeit only for a short time and then I had to revert back to my previous driving of having the inner lights unplugged and driving with full beam on.

We also had other work to do which involved fitting the new front wings, and the passenger side inner door handle was broken, meaning that I had to get Nicholl out of the car each time by walking to her door and opening it for her. Although this made me look like a gent it was getting annoying so we welded up what needed to be done and that was fixed.

New wings on, and we removed the iS front airdam as I had smashed it to pieces a few hours prior to getting to Chris’s house. We also painted the lower kick panels, and put on new brakes.

Whilst under the car we noticed the shift linkage was loose, so we tightened this up. There was a rattling from the rear, which ended up being the destroyed rear anti-roll bar mounts. It turns out there is a larger rear anti-roll bar on the back but we couldn’t work out what it was, this was dark blue but it may have been painted. There is no bar fitted up front...

We started the car to leave Chris’ to head down to LA where we would be staying for a week. The car wouldn’t fire, and then we heard a bang…

Yep, that’s the fuel line. Someone had fitted the wrong fuel line into the car so we replaced it all. I literally have no idea how the car got so far and also how lucky we were that it decided to go in Chris’ garage and not in the middle of nowhere.

Finally we were out of the garage and off; we left much later than expected but thankfully the car was in tip top shape.

Our time in LA wasn’t car related. I parked the E30 at my friend’s house for the week and we went everywhere in one of his cars to do the touristy things. Hollywood and Venice beach weren’t what I was expecting, we ate too much good food and went to the beach. Lots of smiles were had and tons of memories made with great people; exactly what a trip like this is made for.

My shift knob had completely torn apart by this time. Mooneyes was just down the road from my friends place and it was somewhere I really wanted to go. I know it isn’t to everyone’s style but I needed a new shift knob and I tried to find a more subtle one to go in the car which became a memory of our time in LA. Personally, I love it. It fits super comfy in the palm of your hands, but burns you when the car is left in the sun and is cold when you’re somewhere where it’s been

Cruised along on Route 66 for a bit and got some photos in an old gas station.

snowing or has dropped below freezing, like in Colorado.

The road to Vegas; No a/c, we both drove there pretty much in our underwear, it was over 38-degrees and it was extremely hot to say the least. We still had a fun drive though.

We spent three full days in Vegas. Had a good time, did stuff that won’t be documented, and then we left and headed towards Flagstaff where we would spend the night and then on to Utah.

Utah: we stayed in Zion National Park and what a beautiful place to go and visit it is. Some places were super busy but we found some secluded spots. We went and explored, and got some photos of the car

With the car still surviving and us having no real issues with it, we piled on more and more miles. The onboard computer read an average MPG of 29, too!

After Utah we headed to Colorado, which is honestly such a beautiful state… until a huge storm hit us, that is. A Cali car on summer tyres, along with the a/c out we found out that the heater doesn’t work either. We luckily found a place to stop and warm up with some food.

After our time in Colorado we visited Vail and also Denver, we spent about a week in Denver but before decided to leave there was something I HAD to do!

Pikes Peak – Yep, let’s get this little 325e up Pikes Peak!

It was insane, we took it easy as the

One of my favourite photos of the car to date.

snow was still with us, we had such a good time and it was an experience to remember. The road was shut just short of the summit, but nonetheless I’m so glad that I was able to do it! After Pikes Peak we drove towards the “Million Dollar Highway”. Has anyone ever gone on this road? Because you really need to! Again, miles and miles of incredible views. We kept stopping to walk and explore.

After we left Colorado we headed to New Mexico. We didn’t do too much car related stuff here. The E30 was idling funny and there were a few other issues, so I met up with my good friend Matthew Jet, who also has an early model E30. We changed the idle control valve, the car had a different style of airbox fitted at some point but the valve hadn’t also been swapped, so we fitted that and did some other bits and pieces to the car.

To be continued in November Straight Six…

We were definitely far away from the hot California weather and beautiful beaches, but we are now in a different kind of beauty!

What could be better than both finished in Oxford Green with two of BMW’s iconic E31 similar interior specs. 8 Series models? How “Words do not do these two about a pair of identical justice. Seeing them drive together cars, owned by the same family? through the country roads of Kent at

George Colbeanu couldn’t quite sunset was a unique experience… believe it either when he first met driving both of these cars on the road Tahmid Haque and father Kiron, together and side by side is quite owners of the 840Ci Sport and 850CSi the sight. To say it turns heads is an you see in these incredible photos, understatement.”

TWO OF A KIND

Words by Tahmid Haque and George Colbeanu. Photographs by George Colbeanu.

They are a rare sight these days, but Tahmid and his father have owned an astounding six examples during the past two years. Most have been traded on in the search for perfection but the two enthusiasts have settled on the pair of Oxford Green examples – the V8 840Ci and the V12 850CSi – to keep for their burgeoning collection of BMW M cars.

The 850CSi is the granddaddy of all 8 Series models. Powered by the legendary S70 5.6-litre V12, a heavily developed version of which powered the McLaren F1, that makes 372bhp at 5,300rpm and with 402lb of torque available at 4,000rpm, it is nothing but a pleasure to listen to as it accelerates past you, its driver in utter luxury. This particular 850CSi was the last of 21 cars to be finished in Oxford Green Metallic, the final of 47 to be fitted with partial Nappa Silver-Grey Leather (N4SL),

and is number 149 of 160 righthand drive cars. It is highly optioned with all-wheel steering, electric rear blind, switchable driving modes, cruise control, electrically adjustable steering column, auto mirror tilt, and staggered-size Style 21 ‘Throwing Star’ wheels.

The 840Ci is a 1998 build, and it is all-but identical to the untrained eye, but is fitted with the updated M62B44 4.4-litre V8, with 282bhp, 310lb of torque and a five-speed automatic instead of the 850’s manual. Wearing the same shade of Oxford Green Metallic and with similar Light Silver Nappa leather, the two cars make for a rather special combination when out driving together.

Tahmid says that the personality of both cars suits him and his father, and thankfully, there is rarely an argument for the keys when the pair take them out.

“It took a drive or two for me to get used to the sheer size and grunt of the V12 after the V8. Instantly, you feel how much power the car is packing, especially with the manual gearbox, it’s a big step up from the 840Ci. Hitting the motorway home after we bought it, I realised that the 850CSi was a powerhouse and it just pulled like a train. The 840Ci is more like the grand tourer the E31 was always thought to be. It’s gentler, a cruiser you would take on holiday with all the luggage. Very smooth and subtle with the automatic gearbox and a wound-down exhaust note.”

“I prefer the 850CSi without a doubt. I like to drive spiritedly, it has more than enough power and the manual gearbox really engages you and makes you focus on the driving. I also love the sound of the V12, with the custom stainless exhaust it’s addictive and you cannot drive the car any other way but hard. My dad prefers the 840, he is the more laid-back driver who likes a smooth ride.”

To the untrained eye these cars are the same, but their different mechanical specifications give them vastly separate characters which suit Tahmid and Kiron’s driving styles.

The Ultimate Driving Machines, plural? Thanks to George’s wonderful photography, we can all share in enjoying this special pair.

BMW 220D M SPORT

GRAN COUPE Road Test: BMW 220d M Sport Gran Coupe OTR £33,340 (£37,825 as tested) Editorial and photographs by Steve Carter

After weeks upon weeks of glorious summer sunshine, the heavens have finally had enough. The rain is pouring and thunder is ripping across the land. It’s smack bang in the middle of August as I write this and the weather is so intense, the sky is dark grey and our house has all its lights on. The time is only 1pm. Apt weather as it ironically turns out, as I’ve not long arrived home and stepped out of BMW’s latest 2 Series, a 220d M Sport Gran Coupe in Storm Bay metallic.

I have to start by talking about that colour. To my eyes it’s one of the great contemporary colours that BMW is currently producing. Much like the Dravit grey and the Barcelona Blue seen on the new 8 Series, this colour manages to blend subtlety with boldness; not a single person who has seen the car has failed to avoid mentioning positively. In addition, it oozes modernity, making almost every other car colour on my road look instantly dated.

And this is a good thing, as when blended with all of the black and dark silver M Sport styling cosmetic parts that this car abounds in, it does detract from the slightly awkward styling. Particularly

guilty of this is the front end and those oversized kidney grills. Conversely, the swooping roof line and flush B pillar caps do work well, with the rear end styling echoing BMW’s latest design language; high placed blade-like light clusters, and a tiered boot. Yes, this car doesn’t have a hatchback at all but a proper old school boot. Why? Well that’s driven by the market economics of BMW’s biggest growth markets, such as China where a booted car is preferred over the European preference of a hatchback. The car also has a separated pair of exhaust pipes similar in size to those aftermarket jobs fitted to every 90’s Subaru Impreza, I kid you not. They’re bigger than a Heinz Baked Bean can!

Whilst we are on the subject of design, the interior in the F44 model is a very pleasant and impressive place to spend time. Not only has the quality moved on significantly from the previous 2 Series versions, but the styling itself makes it feel like you are in a top of the range BMW, with the dashboard instrument binnacle and centre console following that gloss black / silver switchgear design language. If I am to be critical, there are a few too many buttons for my liking. There is also too much information displayed on the instrument screens and the illuminated Boston trim, which whilst providing awesome cabin lighting ambience does have a cheap

plastic feel and sound when tapped versus the rest of the interior. But that aside, the interior is definitely big enough for the family, and the boot is a decent enough size too, it even has a secondary and spacious under floor storage space which is handy to stop things flying around.

As with most of the BMW UK press fleet, this Gran Coupe is not shy of having a few of the option boxes ticked. Both the M Sport Plus Package (£2,200) and Technology pack (£1,500) are fitted to this car which after Registration, Delivery and number plates bumps the on the road price from £33,400 to a fairly hefty £37,825. The former option adds nice M design touches such as M seat belts, spoiler and high gloss shadow line trim, whilst the Technology pack includes the awesome Adaptive LED headlights, the Head Up Display and wireless charging for your smartphone. Combine that with Apple CarPlay and this, as my teenage kids tell me, makes the Gran Coupe cabin “an epic place” to be.

Out on the road and the first thing I notice is how comfortable the ride is. Riding on 18-inch alloys with low profile run flat tyres, my previous experience of this setup on other BMWs was that the ride could be a bit fidgety, but not so here. The car rides along the road in a very relaxed and grown up way, those road lumps and bumps easily dismissed, whilst at the same time the car feels taut with body roll checked around corners.

Making swift progress is easy in the Gran Coupe. The 2.0 litre four-cylinder turbo diesel engine pushes out some impressive numbers, 187bhp and a substantial 295lbft / 400Nm of torque. Even from below 2,000rpm this engine pulls strongly, but perhaps what is most impressive is just how quiet it is. Only if you push it hard does it get anywhere close to being raucous. Most of the time it just purrs away, working in complete harmony with the 8-speed automatic

gearbox, itself an absolute peach. You can of course move the gearbox to manual mode and use the paddles, and encourage a little more throttle urgency by pushing the (Individually configurable) Sport button; but in a car like this, those both seem more like pub bragging points than of any real practical use. My advice, leave the car in auto and let it do its thing and you’ll likely get 60 miles per gallon plus out of it.

With the engine being so quiet, this generally makes the cabin a pleasant and comfortable place to be. Occasionally a combination of a road surface change and the Bridgestone tyres does create a bit of cabin booming, but nothing that is too annoying. And anyway, with the Harman Kardon speaker option fitted in this car, my music is streaming freely and rather loudly most of the time as I indulge in Apple CarPlay, something I now realise we should have optioned in our M140.

So, with tunes on I start to push on a little harder, enjoying the engine’s ample torque and those M Sport additions. Good fun, but go faster into a corner and you’re soon reminded that hooning around is not what this car is about. Unlike the ultimate rear-wheel drive driving machines of old, this particular F44 version is a modern front wheel drive model, sharing much of its underpinnings with BMW’s MINI. This means that the front wheels do eventually push wide in a corner, forcing the Bridgestones to audibly complain, begging me to lift my right foot just a little.

But to dismiss this car because of where its driven wheels are located would be a mistake. This is a highly capable, comfortable and stylish car, as happy cruising around town as it is on your daily commute.

In summary, it’s comfortable, spacious, has loads of useful tech, goes well, is economical and looks both modern and sporty. Of course, the obvious question to ask then, is whether you’d be better off buying a Gran Coupe over a 3 Series? Not an easy one to answer but I know which way I would go. However, the Gran Coupe has pleasantly surprised me. I didn’t think I was going to like it, but I do. And as the Stormy dark sky outside is now being broken up by the sunshine once more, the Gran Coupe is sparkling wet with rain, that Storm Bay Metallic popping in the light. Just in time to head out for one more drive, me thinks, before I have to hand her back.

SILVER DREAM MACHINE

Eire based Petrolhead Larry Armstrong has owned some amazing cars in his time - classics, sports cars, homologation specials and super saloons, as well as some stunning BMWs before finding the car featured here. He now owns two of Munich’s finest that are arguably in the Bavarian company’s top five collector cars – read on to find out more..

Words – Larry Armstrong/ Jeff Heywood Photographs - Craig Pusey/ Larry Armstrong/BMW Classic

Larry first became interested in this 2002 Turbo in December 1999 when thumbing through a copy of Autosport Magazine he saw an ad placed there by a London dealer. Now before we carry on, let’s make one thing clear, Larry is a ‘serial’ classic car collector, who has already owned a 1964 Mini Cooper S, an ‘88 Sierra Cosworth, a monstrous ‘98 Mercedes E55 AMG, a Porsche 911 SC and a 1983 Renault Turbo 2 amongst others.

After enquiring about the Turbo Larry ascertained that the car was in fact in Cremona, Italy, and wouldn’t be arriving in the UK until January 2000. In the New Year Larry travelled to Jaymic in Cromer, Norfolk to rendezvous with the Turbo - the car had been sent to the UK’s ‘02 specialists for a new set of tyres and a general check over.

Larry liked what he saw and quickly agreed terms with the dealer, then collected it and drove it to Gloucester to be stored at a friend’s property until he could come and collect it. While Larry was travelling to Jaymic, he saw another ad for a Renault 5 Turbo 2, which was also in Norfolk, at Swaffham, which is only about 12 miles from Cromer. In any case Larry also viewed the Renault and bought it too!

Larry got the 2002 Turbo home around February 2000 and set about stripping it for a repaint. There was virtually no rust, and to his knowledge not only does it retain all its original body panels, but it’s also never been welded. Larry replaced all the various body trims and rubber seals and fitted

The 2002 Turbo’s interior is nicely finished in black leather and isn’t as austere or tacky as many 70s car interiors were, being built out of quality materials

The 2002 Turbo’s engine bay looks far busier than that of its tii cousin, thanks to the plumbing for that KKK turbocharger.

Larry is pictured here with the Norman Pratt Trophy, which was awarded for his 2002 Turbo, voted to be the Best Overall Car at the Co. Meath Show in 2018

15-inch Minilite alloy wheels and correct aspect ratio tyres to keep the rolling diameter to factory spec. He also fitted a stainless-steel exhaust at the same time. Eventually the car was ready for paint and it was repainted at Dennings Cars of South Dublin, who gave the car its fantastic BMW 057 Polaris Silver finish.

Interestingly, the Turbo originally belonged to an Italian gentleman called Alceste Bodini, who was a well-known Techno Formula 2 driver in Europe. So the car has lived the largest part of its life in Italy, far away from the damp conditions of Northern Europe and the dreaded salt spreading on slushy/snow covered roads.

While in Larry’s ownership, he has only replaced the steering box, track rods and an ignition switch, which isn’t too bad in 20 years of ownership! In the time Larry has owned the Turbo he has won the following prizes; Best 70s car at the Irish Jaguar Club Terenure Show 2003 Best 70s car at BMW Club Ireland Show 2003 Best retro car at the BMW NI Show Carrickfergus 2014 Best Classic at the retro car, BMW NI Show Carrickfergus 2016 Best Classic car, BMW NI Show Best overall Car Norman Pratt Trophy, Co. Meath 2018 (see photo)

At the start of this article we did say that Larry is a serial car collector. Presently tucked away in the Armstrong garages are the following: 1974 BMW 2002 Turbo 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL (restoration nearly complete) 1998 Peugeot 106 GTi 1991 Peugeot 309 GTi 1973 Simca Rallye 2 Historic rally car (being restored, almost finished) 2007 BMW Z4 2.5i

Larry purchased the Phoenix Yellow Z4 on a whim because he liked the colour! He intends to keep it as a future classic, although previous dodgy colour matches meant that he’s arranged with the paint shop he uses to give the Zed a total repaint – well, it has to be immaculate to sit in his collection, after all.

Larry’s Phoenix Yellow 2.5i Z4. Larry purchased the car because he likes the colour! He intends to keep the car as a future classic

Photos reproduced with kind permission of Craig Pusey and are the copyright of Craig Pusey Photography Instagram – Craig Pusey Photography

Feature 02 TURBO HISTORY

The first BMW Turbo was the Paul Bracq concept supercar. Originally shown in 1972, this spectacularly sleek concept car with its gull-wing doors had an M10 turbocharged engine at its heart. The scarlet show car never made it into production but what BMW could do with the 2-litre M10 engine did impress the motoring world.

BMW was still in recovery mode as the company moved from the 1960s into the 70s, and thanks to the Neue Klasse range of cars they were finally in a much better financial situation. Even so, the cautious and conservative Bavarians weren’t in a position to launch a ‘flash’ supercar like the original gull-winged Turbo at the start of the decade, so Munich’s finest turned

their attention to developing a more powerful 02 to sit at the head of the 2002 range as the ultimate sports saloon.

BMW’s engineers still felt that the 2002 chassis could take more power, so around the already tried and tested tii model they chose to fit a KKK (Kuhnle, Kopp and Kausch) turbocharger with 0.55 overpressure to the M10 engine, which was sufficient to add another 40bhp to the already quick 130bhp tii; the turbo’d two-litre also produced a healthy 240Nm of torque. The compression ratio was modified from 9.5:1 to 6.9:1 in order to prevent engine knocking and Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injection was utilised, which boasted an integrated boost enrichment feature. An oil cooler was also added as a precaution.

Bigger brakes were fitted to cope with the extra power, a limited slip differential was added for better traction and high-speed 185/70 x13-inch tyres were fitted to alloy wheels under new, wider arches. The interior also benefited from an upgrade to make it feel more sporty. The standard seats were replaced with comfortable sports seats, a leather threespoke steering wheel faced the driver and a turbo boost gauge was added to the right of the dashboard cluster. This was all topped off with a unique red-facia that surrounded the instruments to emphasise the sporting intentions of the car. BMW engineers claimed the 2002 Turbo could accelerate from 0-60mph in a mere 6.8 seconds before topping out at 130mph on West Germany’s derestricted Autobahns. The 2002 Turbo caused quite a storm when launched in the mid-70s. BMW had successfully produced Europe’s first turbocharged production road car, one that could only be out-performed by a 210bhp Porsche Carrera RS in its day.

Externally, the styling was very boy racer, with Motorsport stripes added down each flank, along with a boot spoiler to add downforce at the rear, and of course, those flared guards. At the front BMW’s engineers removed the front bumper and an aggressive front spoiler was added. Press models had “2002” and “turbo” added to the front spoiler in reverse script, so any car in front of the turbo would know exactly what had suddenly appeared behind them in the rear view mirror. The press had a field day with what was viewed as BMW’s irresponsibleness with the turbo lettering, so it was decided to drop the reverse lettering on all production models. Many lucky owners today have added aftermarket reverse scripting, to ensure that the many modern cars on contemporary roads know exactly what is approaching from behind!

In the 1970s, increasing road traffic accidents and reforms of road traffic laws saw speed limits introduced on most major roads in Germany, and right as Turbo production started the OPEC countries of the Middle East announced an oil embargo. Known as the 70s Oil Crisis, this led to a ban on Sunday driving and massive energy saving measures were suddenly introduced as oil prices quadrupled. Unfortunately, BMW’s 2002 Turbo was frowned upon in this new era, which ultimately led to its demise in 1975 after BMW had built just 1672 turbo models, all left hand drive, as the steering column for right-hand drive cars couldn’t be fitted because of problems getting the column to clear the exhaust manifold.

The Turbo was often described by motoring journalists as having a Jekyll and Hyde character, and driving characteristics that felt like “a punch in the kidneys” when the turbocharger suddenly kicked-in at just above 4000rpm. Although the 2002 turbo became infamous for its turbo lag it still managed to catch out the unwary, with many drivers surprised by the Turbo’s vicious power delivery, especially in the wet. Many ended up through a hedgerow, or worse still, embedded in a tree or lamp post, making turbo numbers today even more scarce.

One thing can be sure, the BMW 2002 Turbo is the ultimate 2002 and the lucky few to own one today are members of a very exclusive club.