Chris Harris begins plans to recreate the iconic M3 of the late 80’s - The Bastos M3

Sideways News

Time to put the ‘serious’

into going rallying

Time to put the ‘serious’ into going rallying Chris Harris begins plans to recreate the iconic M3 of the late 80’s - in true @Rally_Prep & @HarrisMonkey style

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omeone’s been bitten by the bug and rallying has its next convert! hris Harris has spent some time enjoying his faithful ‘Project Shed’ 325 BMW, and he has proved the case without doubt that you CAN have a great time rallying on a very small budget. A mission and message he is still keen to emphasise by taking the 325 to the Nicky Grist Stages on July the 13th.

A

n d s o t h e Bastos M3 is born

But Chris was also aware of the shortcomings that the budget car inevitably brings when it comes to really attacking a stage, and as a driver who can really pedal a car his competitive instinct soon led him to start asking questions about improving the performance of the car. One thing led to another - as these things tend to do – and a plan was hatched!

The concept – build a replica E30 M3 with a stonking 3.0ltr M3 engine, something that would look great, sound great, and be an absolute blast to drive – and so we set about the build – and then……………….

A phone call came in offering us an ultra rare opportunity to buy a barn find E30 M3 – a quick call to Chris later and the plans took a radical change – why build a replica M3 when you can build a real one! Many long calls, emails and a couple of meetings over a beer finalised the specification, and at the start of June the build began.

The plan is simple – keeping a close eye on budget so that the value for money ethos remains – we are going to recreate a replica of the Prodrive built Group A M3’s from the late 80’s and early 90’s, but built in such a way as to keep the on-going maintenance costs and rebuild requirements at a realistic level for someone who is an enthusiast who has to fund their own motorsport rather than a professional team or driver with huge resources behind them.

First we sent the shell to our partners at Caged Laser Engineering in Frome, who specialise in this roll-cage development and installation, for a comprehensive welded in roll structure. Chris has lots of motorsport experience having raced and tested some of the most amazing machinery on the planet in his day job – so it was a real compliment for him to remark on the superb fit and finish the team at Caged achieved, with his eye for detail noticing the touches which go to

make the final result so good such as the laser cut box sections being bespoke fitted to the multiple profiles in the bodyshell’s floorpan and sills.

The mechanical spec is orientated around achieving the holy grail of performance and reliability and sensible cost, and as such the glorious S14 engine will be built to produce around 260-270bhp with lots of mid-range torque – exactly what is required for a gravel specification rally car. This will be backed up by a H pattern dog box to re-create that Group A experience – and will give the driver more to do than the modern sequential set ups which are now prevalent.

We love the approach to this Chris is taking – it clearly shows the heart of a true petrolhead and enthusiast. There was undoubtedly the opportunity to simply sell the M3 on, or complete a mild restoration and turn it around for a tidy profit – but as Chris so rightly says these things are there to be enjoyed and driven, not just thought of in terms of pound notes – amen to that!

We are really looking forward to working on this project with Chris, and on seeing him out on the stages in a beautiful car at the end of it. It will also demonstrate that you can have a competitive car professionally built without needing a lottery win to fund it – the boys in the big money should watch out – Harris is coming to get you!

Follow us and the build on Twitter @rally_prep and Chris on @harrismonkey

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