The glory days of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft are long gone. Nevertheless, it’s always worth taking a moment to reminisce. This M3 hails from the golden era of the E30 in DTM, complete with a gurney flap. It made a spectacular appearance over the weekend at the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Free from emissions and noise regulations that are strangling today’s road cars, the racing machine sounds absolutely glorious.
If you followed DTM back in the day, you probably know the story of this car. Venezuelan racer Johnny Cecotto drove this M3, which wore racing number #7 and featured a Fina livery. In honor of his achievements, BMW launched a special M3 E30 edition bearing his name. Just 480 units were made with the M3 Evolution II’s bumpers and the 2.3-liter S14 engine tuned to 215 horsepower. Fun fact: the four-banger came with body-colored valve covers and intake manifold.
This race car is nothing short of DTM royalty and a fitting way to celebrate 50 years of the 3 Series. BMW brought all seven generations of its iconic sports sedan to Goodwood, but this one might just be the best-sounding of them all. Wealthy enthusiasts would gladly pay an obscene amount for an in-house restomod based on an original E30, but BMW hasn’t entered that niche, at least not yet. Still, it did entirely revamp an M1 for KITH founder Ronnie Fieg, so never say never. If there’s a market for a €750,000 M4, we’re confident that deep-pocketed individuals would pay a similar amount for a “new” M3 E30.
In 2025, the closest thing you can buy isn’t the M4 GT4 or the pricier GT3, but rather the new M2 Racing. Like the DTM-spec M3, it has a four-cylinder engine and relatively compact proportions, but it lacks the E30’s iconic styling. It largely retains the G87’s controversial design, and chances are it won’t be as revered 30 years from now. Still, BMW M continues to honor its decades-long connection between motorsport and road cars.
Source: Goodwood Festival of Speed
