Petersen reveals BMW 3 Series exhibition

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California, has unveiled a special exhibit paying tribute to perhaps the most famous sports-sedan-turned-racing-icon, the BMW 3 Series, as it reaches its 50th year. Riffing on BMW’s longstanding “The Ultimate Driving Machine” slogan, the Petersen exhibit is titled “The Ultimate Racing Machine” and features 11 examples of this legendary car, stretching from 1978 through to 2024.

The 3 Series had big wheeltracks to fill, replacing the beloved and successful ’02 model which also scored some successes on track, notably (in 2002 form) the 1970 Nurburgring 24 Hours and (in 2002ti form) the 1971 European Rally Championship. But the 3 Series (and latterly, in coupe form, the 4 Series) reset the parameters of touring car success.

Presented in partnership with BMW, the Petersen’s display traces the evolution of the 3 Series through all seven generations, showcasing its impact on motorsport and the marque’s heritage. Thomas Plucinsky, head of BMW Group Classic USA, said: “The original BMW 3 Series and now the BMW 3 Series and its ‘fraternal twins’ the 4 Series are the core of the BMW brand. ‘The Ultimate Racing Machine’ exhibit brings together seven of the most successful and important race cars – one from each generation combined with a couple of wonderfully preserved street examples including one of the three remaining, V8-powered, M3 GTR Straßenversion.”

But perhaps there is no wilder car on display than the Group 5 BMW 320i, a model that was raced in its time by the likes of Gilles Villeneuve, Marc Surer, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Eddie Cheever. Its dramatic wheel arch extensions, slice-your-shins front splitter, pram-handle rear wing and roof spoiler from lessons learned with the CSL’s aero package, is a visual assault. The fact that a two-liter four-cylinder unit, pumped out over 300hp makes the car extra special, although it’s worth noting that the IMSA GTU cars with turbochargers squeezed out 600hp!

A 3 Series collection wouldn’t be complete without one of the most successful touring cars in history, the E30 model M3, and the example on show at the Petersen is a 1992 model from DTM racing, with a 2.5-liter engine now replacing the original’s 2.3, and producing 375hp. This particular car scored two wins in the hands of Steve Soper. By the time the E30 was replaced, it had captured 19 national touring car titles around the world, had twice won the European Touring Car Championship, captured the 1987 World Touring Car Championship, and made the 3 Series so famous that car reviewers named the sports compact segment of the market after the car.

The crisp yet aerodynamic lines of the E36 model, which was the first six-cylinder M3, were dramatically embellished for the GT model shown here, with its flared front and rear wheel arches, and the PTG-run car displayed here won its class at the Rolex 24 of Daytona in 1997, the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1997 and ’98, and took home wins in the 1997 and 1998 Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Championships in the GT2 category.

Many people cite the E46 as their favorite 3 Series, and wax lyrical over the M3 model’s driving dynamics – particularly in CSL form – as well as its appearance, but there is special reverence for the GTR. In this model, the 3.2-liter inline-six was replaced by a four-liter V8 that even in street form had something approaching 400hp. Jorg Muller wrung the most out of the 500hp racing model to capture the IMSA GT title in 2001 with four wins.

Of course, this would lead to the E90/92/93 M3s becoming V8 as standard and the M3 GT coupe (E92) became a staple of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and World Endurance Championship (WEC). The 2011 car on show at the Petersen raced in the ALMS as part of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s partnership with BMW North America and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. It achieved four victories in the hands of Joey Hand and Dirk Muller, contributing to BMW’s clean sweep of ALMS GT titles in 2011, and won both the 2011 and 2012 Sebring 12 Hours.

For the sixth-gen, BMW introduced the 4 Series nameplate to distinguish the F32 two-door coupe from the F30 3 Series four-door sedan. The M3 and M4 road cars had identical power plants – back to straight-sixes but with twin turbochargers, producing 425hp – the competition cars were based on the sleeker M4. But in 2019, the DTM series, one of the cornerstones of BMW motorsport activities, outlawed the V8s that had been its staple since 2000, and brought in new rules forcing its OEMs to run more fuel efficient turbocharged inline-fours. The 2020 car on display is that of former Indy car racer and F1 driver Timo Glock, and while it looks every bit as aggressive as the F32 DTM models of previous years, underneath its hood lies a two-liter “four”… that produces 610hp!

The most recent car in the display is the GT4 version of the latest M4, the G82/83 model as used in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, the SRO GT4 America and the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. It uses the turbocharged three-liter straight-six, which generates 550hp, and this particular example comes courtesy of the BMW Performance Center.

As well as the racing cars on show, the display features road cars, too, including a delectable E21 320i from 1983, still looking elegant despite the federal regulation bumpers that added six inches to its overall length, a very rare 1995 lightweight M3 from the E36 era, and as Plucinsky highlighted, the even rarer – just three production cars – street version of the V8 M3 GTR.

Petersen’s BMW 3 Series will run until July 2026.