Time passes in a very strange way if you don’t pay attention to it. If you’d asked me this morning what year the E92 BMW M3 GTS was released, I’d probably have given an answer much shorter than reality. That reality, a cruel one at that, is that the GTS was first announced nearly a full decade ago in late 2009. I still think that rear wing is dumb and bad, but the rest of the car is honest to goodness track monster stuff.
The formula for this GTS is pretty well proven. Add a bit more power, subtract a bit of weight, and put it on sticky tires. Porsche does it, Mercedes does it. It’s a very German way to make a faster and more expensive car. The resulting driving experience is usually a bit un-German, though.
It still surprisingly weighs a little more than 3500 pounds all told, but it weighs some 140 pounds lighter than a standard M3 DCT, despite having a roll bar installed. The E92’s big naturally aspirated V8 up front is a unique unit that hadn’t been seen before in an M3, and likely will never be seen again.
That V8 shoved this big coupe (an actual coupe) from 0-60 in a tick over 4 seconds, and would nearly touch 200 miles per hour on the top end. It’s a pretty comprehensive street/track car.
Leave it to Henry Catchpole to give the GTS a proper good fling around a wet British circuit. Check out the newest in a series from Carfection below. The burly Bimmer takes everything he can throw at it and then some. With some modern track-focussed tires and standing water, this car looks like a handful to manage. This is the kind of car that will bite you if you don’t pay it respect. They just don’t make them like that anymore.
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