Whether or not on the monitor or the road, the M3 GTR is a veritable unicorn. In-built tiny numbers and even scarcer in the present day, it’s the type of automobile 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 costliest new BMW ever. Price ticket? A cool €250,000.
For the three Sequence’ fiftieth anniversary, the Petersen Automotive Museum pulled off a dream gathering with seven automobiles, one representing every technology. Amongst them, the GTR stood out as the one E46 to pack a V8. Fanatics realize it by its codename, P60B40, and its IndyCar origins. In 2001, the race automobile dominated the ALMS GT collection, taking first and third place in seven of ten races. This automobile is the final M3 GTR nonetheless working, 1 / 4 of a century after being constructed.
However the fairytale ended after the 2001 season. Rule adjustments pressured the GTR out of competitors. Nonetheless, 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 long-lasting Petite Le Mans livery.
US-spec autos got here with a NACA duct to chill the cockpit, a far cry from the air-conditioned M4 race automobiles of in the present day. 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 have been over, BMW dismantled the automobile, and it almost ended up in a components 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
