When we talk about famous race cars from the past, models such as the Ferrari 330 P4, Lancia Stratos and the Lola T70 come to mind. But about the elusive BMW E30 M3 Warsteiner Touring Car? With a look and feel so iconic most replicas of this masterpiece are often easily recognized at any track day. Top gear calls the M3 “small, tough and probably the world’s most adaptable racing car.
We sat down with Feroz Ebrahim CEO of Cars and Chronos; Car Collector and Race car driver. Who ran us through his inspiration and history with Warsteiner.
“All I could afford at the time was the E30 so I bought an old race car from Cape Town stripped it to the shell and rebuilt it for myself.” explains Feroz. I came across a picture of an old british touring car and the Warsteiner looked so good so I copied that livery once the car was done.”
The legendary E30 Race car
The Warsteiner E30 was first built in the early 80’s and 90’s for the well-known and hugely popular (DTM) series. Eric Van de Poele a Belgian racer secured the championship title with his classic M3 in 1987. Roberto Ravaglia’s later followed this up by a spectacular win in 1989. Not to mention the jaw-dropping wins of Windelhock, Soper and Cesotto who all managed to win titles with their M3’s.
The original Warsteiner always shrouded in mystery. Many whisper of this fabled car and yet much like a legend, a good deal of the information about . So let’s take a look at this magnificent modern custom replica design, with some South African flavour. The base car for this project was a run-of-the-mill E30. Feroz chose to take it to the next level and based his redesign on the classic ’87 Warsteiner E30 race car instead.
A Racecar was born !
Once stripped down to its bare bones, rebuilt with the attention to detail that it deserves, with the cage and shell fitted the time had come to dress the rest of the car in all its Warsteiner livery. A custom coilover kit installed to provide ultimate handling and give adjustability to the way the car feels. Having all this meant the car tailored to any track with just a few minor tweaks.
The sexy work wheels fitted with Bridgestone intermediate rubber, making them perfect for track use, but streetable too. 6-pot Alcon calipers installed in front in order for the car to come to a halt extremely fast. The car has managed a lap time of 1.13 seconds on Zwartkops as a result. Feroz’s model feautured a more popular in-line 6-cylinder M, albeit stroked to 2800cc although the original Warsteiner M3’s powered by the 4-cylinder M-motor,
“Getting to race on the track once the car was built entirely had to be my favourite part it’s always interesting to see if my hard work has paid off.” Says Feroz
The car neatly fitted with mods such as a custom intake plenum feeding a set of 48mm Dellorto side draughts,
Also included forged internals below and a high lift cam up top. In order to get more power out of it The results create a healthy 165KW on the rears and the drivetrain features a strong M3 5 speed gearbox.
Feroz’s racing journey
Feroz goes into detail withthe journey of his build.
“My passion is to start from scratch and see my dream unfold when the project matures and the car is successful.”
Not too long after the E30 I later built another E36 Warsteiner replica race car also which my brother later bought from me which was also a very successful car. In 2011 after winning BMW CCG Class Championship I would eventually build my 3rd race car which was my ultimate… An E46 M3 GTR with a wide body kit and some of the best upgrades available at the time. That car was amazingly quick and so easy to drive compared to the other cars.”
Keep and eye out for Feroz in his new modified Z4 sponsored by Xpel and Gulf Oil ripping up tarmac at future race days.
Feroz explains his best moments “Definitely my championship-winning year where I raced all year on secondhand tires I bought from ford racing. My low budget car with no driver aids was a handful and to be successful in it was a real accomplishment for me.”