In the United States the E46 M3 competed in the 2000 American Le Mans Series GT category and finished third in the championship

Whilst the E46 M3 and CSL variants may remain one of the most loved generations of M3, the 3.2L straight six was, at the time, deemed uncompetitive against the likes of the Porsche 996 GT3 race cars. The resulting E46 GT was developed instead using a V8 and was introduced in February 2001.

With the new, more powerful engine replacing the previous year straight-six powered versions, the GTR won the 2001 American Le Mans Series GT category, driven by Jörg Müller.

However, the eligibility of the GTR was the subject of controversy, with some rival teams believing that the GTR was an in-house prototype vehicle rather than production model available for purchase by the general public. The ALMS homologation rules for 2001 required the M3 GTR road car to be sold on at least two continents within twelve months of the rules being issued, which BMW claimed to fulfil by stating that 10 GTR road cars were available for sale. The ALMS rules were altered for 2002, now requiring that 100 cars and 1,000 engines must be built for the car to qualify without penalties. The GTR road car was never intended for production on this scale, so BMW withdrew the GTR from competition at this point. In 2003, the M3 GTR returned to competition at the 24 Hours Nürburgring, with two cars run by Schnitzer Motorsport. The GTR won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 2004 and 2005 and also competed in the 24 Hours Spa.

This car was built using an original BMW Motorsport body shell to the specification of the BMW M3 GTR race cars that dominated the ALMS and VLN Series in the early 2000’s. Fitted with a BMW Motorsport V8 engine, suspension and dampers that was specifically developed by BMW Motorsport for the V8 GTR engine. The BMW S62 Series V8 engine with dry sump oil system which produces very good power and has been freshly rebuilt, with just 3 hours of a 50 hour rebuild interval. The engine is connected to the 5-speed Drenth MPG Gearbox via 7 1/4 in clutch. The engine runs on Motec engine mapping and includes both ‘rev-cut' on up change and ‘blip’ on down change. The car is in Endurance specification, with 120 litre fuel cell, LS Differential, AP racing brakes, both gearbox and diff coolers, as well as carbon / composite bodywork and BBS Wheels etc.

The car most recently competed in the prestigious Aston Martin Masters Endurance Legends race at the wonderful Silverstone Classic July 2019 in the hands of the BMW works legend, Steve Soper. The car ran faultlessly attracting a huge amount of attention winning its class outright against the RSR Porsche’s and alike. It was also the second GT car home, gaining an overall podium!

With the handful of original cars impossible to obtain, This car was invited and attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2016 and 2017 (pictured below). Eligible for the wonderful grids of the “Masters Endurance Legends” and the “Peter Auto Endurance Racing Legends” this car afford its new custodian some fantastic racing both in the UK, Europe and USA.

The car was built for its first owner at a cost of in excess of £300k, along with testing and development therefore offering great value today, ready to race and ready to win!

An extremely quick and simple car to run makes for a very cost effective entry into the prestigious Endurance Racing grids. It is offered today with 16x BBS wheels as part of a small spares package. It is available to view immediately at our showrooms just outside London

Please refer to our main website for full details, more pictures, our terms of sale and accurate pricing as some websites may use out of date currency exchange rates: https://www.dkeng.co.uk/ferrari-sales/1114/blue_chip_competition_cars/bmw_e46_gtr.html