One to Buy: Brilliant Red 20,000km 1990 BMW E30 M3 Evolution 3 (Sport Evolution)
To counter the increasingly serious threat from Mercedes-Benz and also see off newcomer Audi, BMW Motorsport created the ultimate road-going iteration of the E30 ahead of the 1990 DTM season: the Evolution 3.
Officially dubbed the M3 Sport Evolution, this final incarnation of BMW’s legendary homologation special was the most extreme yet seen and bristled with competition-derived features designed to maximise on-track performance.
Perhaps most notably, the Sport Evolution ushered in an enlarged 2.5-litre engine (the most powerful yet seen), however, the extensive list of enhancements also included an adjustable aero kit, uprated suspension, lightened body parts, high-backed Recaro front seats and much, much more.
600 examples of the Sport Evolution were constructed between December 1989 and March 1990 (all in left-hand drive) and one of the finest examples to exist is currently on offer at the Munich Legends showroom in Chelwood Gate, East Sussex.
A three owner car that has been in the hands of the current custodian for over 20 years, this exceptional unrestored machine was configured from the factory in Brilliant Red with BMW Motorsport cloth upholstery and the optional electric sunroof.
It has today covered a little over 20,000 miles and comes complete with the original book pack and tool kit.
Reprinted below is Munich Legends’ description:
Price: £279,000
Mileage: 20,125 miles
Year: 1990
Transmission: Manual
Exterior Colour: Brilliant Red
Interior Colour: Motorsport Cloth
Former Keepers: 2
We’d like to introduce you to arguably the best BMW E30 M3 Sport Evolution in the world.
The E30 M3 is one of the most iconic cars to come out of the 80s – a decade that saw a lot of fantastic machines. Most of these were produced for homologation purposes – to enable manufacturers to race them, a certain number of road-going examples had to be produced.
The E30 M3 was exactly that – a homologation special produced so that BMW could race it on track (mainly the DTM series), and it went on to be one of the most successful race cars in history. It was also a runaway success with the car buying public, and BMW ended up producing over 17,000 M3s in various incarnations during the production run.
In fact, each time BMW modified their race car for the season, they had to produce a specific number of road-going cars to match, and the production cars that followed carried the modifications with them – there was the original version, an Evolution I, an Evolution II and finally, the Evolution III, or Sport Evolution.
The big difference in production terms was that no standard production car followed the Sport Evo as it had done with previous evolutions. It was effectively a very special edition car, with only 600 units made during the run from December 1989 to March 1990, during which time ‘standard’ E30 M3s continued to come off the production line in 215bhp guise (until production ceased in December 1990).
The Sport Evo wasn’t just special because of the numbers. Five years of intense competitive racing went into the R+D of this, the ultimate racer of its time, making the Sport Evo the very best E30 M3 BMW could make. They may only have had an inkling then of just how iconic this car would become.
Under the bonnet, things were very different. Visually, the changes were subtle – red plug caps, leads and throttle grommet hinted that things were not the same, but the engine had undergone some serious sharpening. The cylinder bore was increased to 95mm (from 84mm) and a long-stroke crank was added to boost displacement to 2,467cc (from 2,305). In addition, the valves were enlarged and a more aggressive cam was fitted. Special nozzles sprayed oil under the pistons to keep them cool. The end result was a power increase to 238 hp at 7,000 rpm. A slightly modified 3.15:1 final drive was fitted.
The Sport Evo version of the E30 M3 is the ultimate of the Ultimate Driving Machine.
Externally, body-wise, things were different visually – but the changes were much more than just cosmetic – they were functional too. The Sport Evolution had thinner glass, a lighter boot lid and bumpers, and brake cooling ducts in place of fog lights. In addition, it was fitted with a smaller fuel tank. The SE had unique adjustable front and boot spoilers, giving greater downforce, even wider front wings, and reprofiled grille slats with sealed gaps for better aerodynamics. The Sport Evolution also sits 10mm lower than the normal E30 M3. The Sport Evo came in two colour options only – Jet Black and Brilliant Red. The alloys are 7.5×16-inch cross-spokes with the spokes painted Nogaro Silver.
The interior is a special place too, with SE only red safety belts strapping you into the Recaro Vader seats with their integrated headrests – another special SE-only feature, along with a suede gear knob, handbrake and steering wheel.
We’ve seen a fair few of the 600 Sport Evos in our time, and we’ve noticed how few of them have decent provenance or history.
This car is truly exceptional.
Sold by Munich Legends to the current owner over 20 years ago, this Sport Evo has literally lived around the corner all this time, covering a mere 500 miles during the two decades – most of which were to our workshop and back.
The owner made it his life’s hobby to curate, care for and treasure this fabulous car, and his knowledge of this model is truly staggering. We have to be honest – over the last twenty years, whenever we’ve had a Sport Evo offered to us for sale, this owner – a good friend – is the man who we call to help us appraise the car. He probably knows more about Sport Evolution E30 M3s than any of the Munich Legends team, and we’re going to say he may be the leading world authority on these cars. You can guess that this Sport Evo is going to be the best there is.
We actually don’t have the space here to detail all the history documents, reports, publications and general Sport Evo collectables assembled by the owner over the years, but its probably fair to say we have never seen such an impressive and comprehensive paper accompaniment to a BMW of this magnitude – certainly never for a Sport Evo.
Condition wise, as you’d expect, the car is utterly exceptional. The few age related/lack of use items that may have needed replacing have all been inspected, and the report makes surprising reading for its sparsity. The new owner of this car will be confident that they have purchased a truly one-off, wonderful piece of BMW history, in both the model, its history, condition and back story.
