Do trees have ears? If they do, then this lot providing a dingy canopy over one particular section of the road from Blankenheim to Mayern have heard it all. Maybe they turn their branches in interest for the occasional impatient blare of a flat-plane crank Ferrari V8, or the silky roar of a V12 from Maranello or Sant’Agata. But the guttural bark of a Porsche flat six and the metallic bray of an M-division straight six must be so common as to not even warrant a flutter of interest.
It is their loss today, because this M3 has its throttle pinned from 2000rpm in third gear and my ears are almost beside themselves, craning out over the lowered window. The noise starts with a deep, cultured rumble, but suddenly at 3000rpm it wakes up and roars an ugly, almost rattly sound – like a wrench running along the bars of a lion’s cage. Gradually the induction roar and hiss from the four stubby exhausts overwhelms everything and the note hardens until it’s screaming round to the cut-out. If ever you needed to explain to a little green man with three eyes and a nifty silver space suit why diesels, turbocharged engines and electric motors simply don’t do it like a highly tuned naturally aspirated petrol engine, point them to this straight six.
Amid all the accelerative fury, a small, yellow road sign in the ditch almost goes unnoticed. It reads simply: Nürburgring.
This is more than just a personal pilgrimage to the ’Ring – it is a journey to see the works M3 GTRs take on the Porsches and Vipers over 24 gruelling hours in arguably the world’s toughest and best annual motor race. And it seems fit to take the M3 CS – the final iteration of the six-cylinder M3 – to watch the V8-powered GTRs in their final race.
Although the CS might have two-thirds of a CSL’s nomenclature, realistically it’s about one quarter of the lightweight special. For an extra £2400 over the regular M3 coupé you get the CSL’s gorgeous 19-inch wheels, drilled brake discs, chubby Alcantara steering wheel and an M-track mode that dials back the stability control’s threshold. But most crucially, the CS also gets the CSL’s tighter steering rack: 14.5:1 versus 15.4:1. And finally – in a move that makes paddle-shift Luddites like me rejoice – it’s available as a manual.
The eight-hour drive east from London is no problem in the CS. One of the real strengths of the M3 that leads to its enormous popularity is that, despite being a 338bhp sports coupé, it is perfectly happy being used everyday for the most mundane of journeys. You notice the wind noise in the old 3-series bodyshell, the interior looks ancient compared with newer BMW offerings and the pedals are nastily off-set, although the Three’s driver focused interior and uncontrived appearance are a pleasing sight to these eyes.The dreary hours of Belgian motorway pass with that engine growling away behind the bulkhead saying: ‘I’m ready. I might be okay behaving sensibly like this, but really I’d like to be going for it. Flat out.’
There is British interest at the front of the grid for the race, as one of the GTRs has reigning ETCC champ Andy Priaulx among its four-man driver line-up (see panel, above). The weather is atrocious as the race gets underway. It looks absolutely terrifying as over 200 cars – everything from an old Mini to a 750bhp Porsche 911 Turbo race car – battle around the 13-odd-mile track in the spray, with 200,000 fans camped around the circuit.
Add your comment