Frankly speaking – I enjoy sleep. Research finds that the human body requires at least 8 hours of sleep to rejuvenate itself and keep everything in shape. However this job sometimes requires you to go out in the wee hours of the night to capture some of the most amazing moments of automotive culture. Last Friday was definitely the most memorable night because I spent my night to witness one of my all-time favourite car – the BMW E30 M3.
If you haven’t noticed yet, the E30 M3 is an absolutely rare gem in Malaysia and to date, I’ve counted only 6 original units and were only able to encounter one in the flesh. With Bimmerfest just a couple of days away, I got in touch with a friend from the northern end to find out if these babies will be making their way to Putrajaya for the upscaled event and joy-oh-joy.. found out that 3 of them will be coming down. With the overzealous excitement – I made plans to meet up with these gems in Ipoh, Perak JUST to witness them in action.. This is where The Journey to Bimmerfest 2013 began!
It was a cold morning and I’ve barely slept from the night before.. I began my journey from KL to Ipoh at midnight because the guys were meeting up at 3:30am. I know it was ridiculous to travel the wrong way, and only to come back for the event but one can’t deny a rare opportunity. Knowing that the journey will require my lack of sleep – I was pumped with Red Bull and coffee to keep myself awake throughout the following day because there was still the main event, Bimmerfest set to commence in the morning.
Meeting the E30 M3 in the flesh is like meeting the love of your life. And despite seeing it over and over again – I can’t deny the fact that I absolutely love this car. Its not perfect, but its the imperfections that I adore most..like how it was only built in left hand drive (although there are a few RHD units and converted ones) and the fact that its rare in this part of the world makes me lust for it even more. As we reached the meet-up point, an absolutely beautiful example of an E30 cabrio and an E36 cabrio made its way.. I knew it was going to be an epic journey! But it was short lived because it was an odd timing.. the other 2 M3s from the farthest end has decided to not come for Bimmerfest 2013 unfortunately.
Not to despair because I still had 1 E30 M3 to watch through the journey like in a movie theater. I spent some time at the meet-up point to appreciate this fine example of automotive history. Indeed it has quite a rep sheet because this unit came all the way from the United States whilst the owner was abroad and he’d brought it back with him back in ’96 because he adored it too much to let go. I am completely on the same page and I would have done the exact same thing. Powered by a 2.3-litre 16 valve in-line 4 – this car produces about 190bhp and although that doesn’t sound like much.. 30 years ago, it was in Ferrari 308 territory.
Its difficult to put my finger on why this car brings me the fizz but I guess its the history of the E30 M3 and how it was used to race in DTM against the Mercedes 190E. People claim that the E30 M3 is definitely one of the greatest handling car ever made and how potent the chassis was.. I can’t tell from my seat because I have yet to have the opportunity of driving one.
Without further ado… We began the journey. Short convoy within 10 minutes and very quickly we lost them in the dark. Hard long chase only to have found them back at the next meet up point at the Rawang R&R and we came across so many more BMWs! The journey was becoming even more exciting.. meeting up with more of the brand’s heritage along the way..
It was just a continuous collection of E30s from different ages and modded with very different styles! I believed I was in heaven for a short 30 minutes watching each and every example and question myself.. “Why have I not bought one yet?”
There were a few examples – oozing retroness all the way to the stanced out examples. It was no doubt a very cool scene and I knew I was in for a treat when I participated in this journey. Too bad I wasn’t in a BMW to actually be a part of the adventure..
The short break meant I could stop and enjoy a nice hot coffee.. But just as eager as the others to continue the journey – we quickly had it to go and I got in the drivers seat to catch up with some of the others. The experience of encountering one by one just as the sky about to show the glimmer of light is absolutely breathtaking. Although we were not able to share this experience via pictures – Zahid did manage to capture some of the E30s in action.
This very example has been crafted and hand-painted to give it a touch of personalisation. Running white-on-white and sporting Racing Dynamic wheels – this E30 gives a touch of retro styling to the aged machine.
How about this stanced out one? Illustrated in Dakar Yellow – similar to the E30 M3 we were following.. this E30 320i has got many things up its sleeves. Notice that front mounted intercooler? Damn! But again.. this is another example of why we all should have an E30 in the garage! Because its absolutely cool!
I don’t really enjoy the whole stance malarky but I can’t deny that this E30 coupe looks absolutely BADASS! Presented in matte black..it is matched with my favourite set of wheels on the E30. The BBS RS! With its chromed dish and gold base.. I think its a perfect match to the E30 bodyline. My rim of choice if I had my E30!
I knew I was going to see more of such later but the excitement continued because we had almost 30 Pre-90s BMW within our sight.. and I have to admit, an absolutely beautiful sight to behold. On our way to MAEPS for the first meet-up of all the BMWs before heading to the Bimmerfest venue in Putrajaya.. we can only imagine what it was going to be like over there..
As we reached the site.. this was what the view was like!
I count a hundred at least in sight by 7:30am.. it was going to be a great day ahead. More on Bimmerfest Malaysia 2013 soon!
