The John Player Special BMW 325i Group A

[keithg87]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWduC7g8zLg&t=24s

I think a lot of you will remember the JPS 635CSi's and M3's, here the 325i that was raced by Tony Longhurst in the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship. A great battle with Dick Johnson.

Here his car is the previous season, the BMW Motorsport 323i.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcFRpcBnBlg

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by keithg87

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWduC7g8zLg&t=24s

I think a lot of you will remember the JPS 635CSi's and M3's, here the 325i that was raced by Tony Longhurst in the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship. A great battle with Dick Johnson.

Here his car is the previous season, the BMW Motorsport 323i.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcFRpcBnBlg

Keith, the post was automatically held for approval by a mod, now done. Thanks for the links, I love the GpA 325i. We're fortunate to have one racing in Europe with Peter Auto HTC at the moment, though perhaps not quite so 'on the limit'! Just as well, considering the value of the grid.....

[Aysedasi]

Great video!

[E.B]

Those were great days in the ATCC. Plenty of giant killing.

[E36ST]

This (black) ex JPS 325i is now owned by me. It's the third of the three pre-M3 Group A 3 series BMWs built by Frank Gardner's JPS Team.


The first car built is the white 323 also linked above, which was Tony Longhurst's primary car for the 1985 season.


Then came a second 323i (later upgraded to a 325i) which Longhurst used for two rounds late in the 1985 season, then Garry Rogers drove it for two rounds early 1986. This car raced as #23 and is currently in Australia.


Finally the #25 car in the video above which Longhurst used for the full 1986 season, now based in NZ.


An article reuniting Paul Radisich with it
https://www.pdf-archive.com/2016/05/...paul-radisich/


Another great video of it in action here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npTb8vTL0ws


The '7 Sport' race cam was fitted into this #25 car for some of the following 1986 Amaroo rounds.

[E.B]

David Towe, another tenther, also owns and regularly races one of the JPS M3 cars.

From the Heritage Touring Cars website the history on his car:

Towe’s car was the last M3 built by Frank Gardner’s famous JPS team in Sydney in 1987 with its logbook issued on September 10, 1987.

It made its racing debut in the 1987 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst as the #44 entry of Jim Richards and Tony Longhurst, finishing fourth overall and claiming victory in its class and is believed to have then also raced at the Calder road/oval circuit round of the World Touring Car Championship a week later.

The team was disbanded at the end of the season with Peter Brock’s Mobil team taking over the Australian BMW race program.

This car is then believed to have been raced by Brock as the #05 entry in the 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship (after all, it makes sense that Brocky would have raced the newest car!) and then claimed victory at the Pepsi 250 at Oran Park in the hands of Brock and Jim Richards.

The duo again ran the Towe car in the Enzed 500 at Sandown though a split oil filter cost the car lots of time and it finished a delayed seventh before it was raced by Brock and Richards at Bathurst that year, though under the #56.

Reports of the time indicated that the #56 Brock/Richards car had been the car raced by Richards as #1 during the 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship, though Towe’s research has found this not to be the case.

“The key thing that distinguishes my car as the #56 Bathurst car from 1988 (as well as the #05 Sandown 500 car) is that it has four aerial holes in the roof which were put there for the NetComm telemetry system used in the TV coverage as well as the team radio etc.

“All of the stuff put in the car used up four aerial holes and this car is the only one out of the six JPS M3s that has four aerial holes in it. You can clearly see them in the TV coverage and in photos of the car at those events.

“I’ve checked it out with the car Jim (Richards) owns, my other M3 (ex-Tony Longhurst early 1987 ATCC car, which we will feature down the track) then the later two cars that became the art cars in Germany. I have photos of them all but none have more than one aerial hole in the roof. So it all adds up – I’ve been through hours and hours of video vision!”

The race that year was run under FISA regulations as part of the Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship and Class 2 cars were restricted to running numbers between 51 and 70, hence the change for Brock from his regular #05.

Richards never actually drove the car in the race given Brock hit an errant wheel on Conrod Straight at speed, delaying the #56 car while it was repaired and prompting Jim to move into the second #57 car started by David ‘Skippy’ Parsons.

It failed when Richards climbed aboard, leaving TV commentator Neil Crompton (making his Bathurst 1000 debut) to team with Brock in the many-lap-behind #56 entry.

[keithg87]

Originally Posted by E36ST

This (black) ex JPS 325i is now owned by me. It's the third of the three pre-M3 Group A 3 series BMWs built by Frank Gardner's JPS Team.


The first car built is the white 323 also linked above, which was Tony Longhurst's primary car for the 1985 season.


Then came a second 323i (later upgraded to a 325i) which Longhurst used for two rounds late in the 1985 season, then Garry Rogers drove it for two rounds early 1986. This car raced as #23 and is currently in Australia.


Finally the #25 car in the video above which Longhurst used for the full 1986 season, now based in NZ.


An article reuniting Paul Radisich with it
https://www.pdf-archive.com/2016/05/...paul-radisich/


Another great video of it in action here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npTb8vTL0ws


The '7 Sport' race cam was fitted into this #25 car for some of the following 1986 Amaroo rounds.

wow that's really cool! was it running at the 2015 MG Classic at Manfeild? I remember being there and seeing a JPS 325i, actually have a video of it on my channel