BMW’s GT3 heritage was on show at 82MM

Going into 2012’s VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring, BMW had won four Championships in a row from 2008-2011, the latter two with the Z4 which shared a 522PS (384kW) V8-powered engine with the E90 M3 model.  

That year’s calendar featured ten races at the famous circuit over a seven-month season, kicking off with the 59^th ADAC Westfalenfahrt. BMW privateers Team Schubert ran the Z4 driven by Dirk Adorf, Dirk Müller and Jörg Müller and the trio qualified second to the Falken Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3 R. When it came to the four-hour race, sudden heavy fog caused the red flag to be waved two hours and 43 minutes in, and this combined with technical issues for the leading Porsches sealed the win for the Z4 ahead of the Timbuli Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, with full Championship points awarded.

“There is no more adrenalin left in my body,” said Jörg Müller after the race. “It was more than tricky on the track when it started to rain, which was later accompanied by the fog. Fortunately, the team called me to the pits quite early to change to rain tyres.”

While round one put the Z4 in prime position to continue its Championship-winning streak, this opening race would prove to be its only campaign win. Three podiums and two failures to finish followed, and BMW’s dominance of the VLN ended in 2012 by the Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 run by LMS Engineering.

Fast-forward 13 years, and this Z4 found itself at the Goodwood Motor Circuit for Members’ Meeting’s GT3 Shoot-Out courtesy of James Thorpe, who was drawn to the car on account of its scarcity. “BMW only built 31 of them which makes it quite rare,” he told us when we spoke to him ahead of the Shoot-Out final.

“It is part of the appeal because the most expensive car in the world is a Ferrari 250 GTO, and they made 36 of those, so it's rarer than a Ferrari 250 GTO which I quite like.”

Thorpe came by the car through Andrew Jordan, but the Z4 wasn’t the machine the Goodwood regular would lend his services to. That honour would instead go to Aubigny House Captain Andy Piraulx, who Thorpe described as “a lovey chap.” The pair previously drove a Chevrolet Camaro Z28 in the Gordon Spice Trophy at the 81^st Members’ Meeting, where they finished fifth.

When it came to the GT3 Shoot-Out, the anticipation built as final times were set in order of slowest qualifier to fastest, meaning Priaulx went fourth in the running and promptly set purple sectors to assume top spot. In the end, though, it was Jordan who would take the glory, winning the Shoot-Out aboard the Chevrolet Corvette Z06.R GT3, less than a second ahead of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage of Phil Keen, with Priaulx rounding out the podium places.

To have such an exhilarating display at 82MM was a true showcase of the variety of sights to be enjoyed at the Motor Circuit throughout Goodwood’s racing calendar, as Thorpe reflected.

“I think it’s good because for the Revival [you’re] very much constricted by having the cars up to 1966, whereas at Members’ Meeting you can have more different machinery. A few years ago [at 79MM] you had the drift cars and so it is an opportunity with the event […] to be more playful. The sidecar [Shoot-Out] was great!”

As for its GT3 follow-up, Thorpe had nothing but praise to lay on the class taking over the Members’ Meeting Shoot-Out: “People like the cars, they're sort of sexy looking cars; they sound fantastic, they're fast. I think it's a good spectacle for everyone to see these cars. I think it's a great idea.”

Photography by Joe Harding, Toby Whales, Charlie Brenninmkeijer and Jordan Butters.