GERMAN IRON

A LEGEND, A RARITY AND SOMETHING QUIRKY WANDER ON TO A ROAD... WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

For some of us, this little 1980-90s line-up of hotshots from Europe could be the basis of a dream collection. All completely street legal, they offer a range of possibilities, including a tolerably comfortable city excperience through to a full-on and very convincing track attack. And all without spending a million bucks.

What you see lined up here are, in order of age, a first-gen 1987 BMW M3, a 1994 Porsche 968 Club Sport and a 1998 BMW M Coupe. They kind of have roughly the same intention, but approach it from very different angles.

Unusually for a collection of historic cars, we were able to get to thrash this lot and get some basic time comparisons. Not something you get to do every day and that was down to an owner who not only ‘gets’ playing with performance toys, but does a fair bit of the thrashing himself!

The exercise stretched across a mixed road driving loop, including typical freeway and country B roads, along with just a touch of city. Then the serious ‘work’ began with a hillclimb circuit of a shade over one-minute in length, plus a 0-100km/h sprint.

It was the performance testing which produced the biggest surprise. Despite some big gaps in year, power claims and overall spec, all three cars were within a whisker of each other, while providing three very distinct driving experiences.

We owe thanks to three people for this story: Clive Massel, owner of the cars and Makulu Vehicle Storage in Moorabbin. He’s a former South African touring car and endurance series champion. Next is Chris Boribon, auction manager at Shannons and a familiar face to anyone who has witnessed their standard-setting events. Finally, Matt Thewliss, who is a well-respected racer and driver trainer with Tampered Motorsport and Fastrack. Joins us us they share their views.