Whether or not on the observe or the road, the M3 GTR is a veritable unicorn. In-built tiny numbers and even scarcer at the moment, it’s the form of automotive that makes collectors’ hearts race. Thomas Plucinsky, head of BMW Group Traditional USA, says that in 2025, simply three of the track-only machines stay. The Strassenversion is simply as uncommon. At launch, the road-legal model constructed as a homologation particular held the title of the most costly new BMW ever. Price ticket? A cool €250,000.
For the three Collection’ fiftieth anniversary, the Petersen Automotive Museum pulled off a dream gathering with seven vehicles, one representing every technology. Amongst them, the GTR stood out as the one E46 to pack a V8. Fanatics understand it by its codename, P60B40, and its IndyCar origins. In 2001, the race automotive dominated the ALMS GT sequence, taking first and third place in seven of ten races. This automotive is the final M3 GTR nonetheless working, 1 / 4 of a century after being constructed.
However the fairytale ended after the 2001 season. Rule modifications pressured the GTR out of competitors. Nevertheless, BMW tailored it for Grand-Am in 2003 with a smaller straight-six. It promptly gained the 2004 championship, retired in 2006, and was resurrected in 2015 in full 2001-spec glory, full with its 4.0-liter, 10,000 rpm V8 and the enduring Petite Le Mans livery.
US-spec automobiles got here with a NACA duct to chill the cockpit, a far cry from the air-conditioned M4 race vehicles of at the moment. Whereas unmistakably E46 in form, the GTR wore a carbon fiber cloak, rolled on BBS wheels constructed only for it, and carried the final hex nut ever used on a BMW Motorsport machine.
After its race days had been over, BMW dismantled the automotive, and it practically ended up in a elements bin. However BMW Group Traditional USA refused to let a legend die. They tracked down the scattered elements in a warehouse in Indianapolis and introduced the unique 2001 crew again to revive it. Eighteen painstaking months later, the M3 GTR was reborn, able to scream as soon as once more.
Video: Petersen Automotive Museum / YouTube
