Hi Mike, yes Gardner's JPS Team BMW did use the E30 in OZ. The first one was a 323i that was used as a development car and was only used in certain rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the Sydney centered AMSCAR Series. It was in BMW Motorsport colours as they donated the car to Gardner for development puposes. I owned the car for 5 years and it was a delight to run, reliable and relatively cheap to maintain. The car is now in New Zealand.
The next 2 cars were 325i's and were in the JPS livery as Gardner paid for these out of his tobacco money. They were never an outright contender in the ATCC but were quite successful on the smaller tracks and a good indication of the potential of the impending M3's. Both are still available for sale and I've attached a link for the one in NZ which is in quite nice condition.
http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/...5/Default.aspx
The other one is here in Sydney and is available for about AUD $100k.
http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/...8/Default.aspx
The 3rd of these 325 shells was converted to M3 specification before the 325 build was completed. I own it and it has been a great car to race. The mainstay of Gardner's challenge in the ATCC was the aging 635 which was proving to be past it's use by date in 1986 and the M3 was introduced in 1987. Richards quaified the first of them on pole for the first round in March. They went on to win the championship and finish 4th outright at Bathurst that year.
4 Apr 2012, 10:02 (Ref:3053344)
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