One to Buy: Steve Soper's ex-Team Bigazzi 1992 BMW E30 M3 Sport Evolution Gr.A
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Despite having been up against much newer and more highly developed opposition, BMW’s iconic E30 M3 still proved itself a winning platform during the car’s sixth and final season in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM).
That year, 1992, the M3 won seven of the 24 DTM races with the calendar comprising twelve double headers at each round. All seven victories were achieved by BMW’s works-backed Schnitzer Motorsport and Team Bigazzi outfits which campaigned cars with an array of trick parts not available to the myriad privateers that also ran M3s.
Schnitzer drivers Roberto Ravaglia and Johnny Cecotto were each responsible for a brace of first place finishes during the 1992 DTM while team-mate Joachim Winkelhock bagged a solitary win. The other two victories were achieved by Bigazzi’s Steve Soper driving chassis WBA121307 which will be going under the hammer at Bonhams’ Monaco sale on April 24th.
In addition to his brace of first place finishes, the eleven double header races undertaken by Soper during 1992 (he missed the penultimate round at the Nurburgring to race a works 318is in the BTCC) yielded a trio of fourths and two fifths. In total, the Brit bagged nine top ten finishes to claim ninth in the overall DTM championship standings.
In 1993 (the first year of Class 1 regulations in the DTM), chassis WBA121307 was campaigned by Kaucuk Motorsport for Josef Venc. After that, 1994 saw it do a handful of races in the Czech Republic before being retired from competition duty.
When purchased by the current custodian, chassis WBA121307 was still in highly authentic condition, retaining all of its original parts right down to Steve Soper's own steering wheel. The M3 was then totally dismantled and restored from the ground up. Following completion, a reunion was organised in Munich that saw Soper, the Bigazzi team and period BMW Motorsport heads all sign the car.
