BMW Z4 GT3 V8 racing at GoodwoodAn argument could be made that BMW's E89-generation Z4 GT3 car was perhaps the greatest FIA GT3-classed car in the history of the series. Everything since has become too fast and complicated, and everything before was largely production-based. This was the real sweet spot, a factory-built hot-rod race car made by shoving the E92 M3's monster S65 4.4-liter V8 under the hood of the poked, prodded, and stretched two-seater sports car. It looked incredible, won often, and sounded like a band of hell's own demons playing a gorgeous melody. What's not to love about that? The FIA GT3 rule set used to be a lovely short thing with very few exploits and loopholes. Unfortunately a couple decades of rules lawyering and each manufacturer pushing the envelope has led to the modern field looking like a slew of vaguely-car-shaped prototypes that are too fast, too expensive, and too complicated for a pro-am lawyer or dentist to step into. But between 2010 and 2015 BMW built the weirdest little race car, and it's still my favorite. At the time a new Z4 GT3 was $405,000, while BMW's current GT3 class competitor, the infinitely boring M4 GT3, will run you just about $700,000. There's something to be said about a small, lightweight package carrying a big honkin' V8. It's very American, very Carroll Shelby, but it's been perfected by the Germans. This car weighs about 2,600 pounds in race-ready trim, and packs 515 horsepower under the hood. BMW campaigned this car in every GT3-legal class in the world, taking wins in the American Le Mans Series (in GT2 specification), Japan's Super GT, and 24 Hour endurance races in Dubai, Belgium, and more. Heck, two of these decade-plus old machines are going to be competing at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring later this year. What makes it so great?BMW Z4 GT3 racing at Laguna SecaWhen BMW phased out the E92 M3 in 2013 the company was left without a current vehicle to promote in motorsport. The then-new F80-generation M4 hadn't yet been introduced for homologation, and BMW wanted to take motorsport back to its roots with a dedicated car for privateer teams to campaign. German racing team Schubert Motorsports asked BMW for something smaller and lighter than the BMW M3 GT2 that it could submit for homologation to the growing GT3 contingent. BMW didn't have a racing engine based on the inline-six in the Z4, but the GT3 regulations allow manufacturers to substitute a different production-based engine in its racing cars, so long as the engine and car are both built in large enough quantity. So, the blue and white roundel folks took the old E92's race-proven V8 and stuffed it in the little roadster-with-a-roof.This is the kind of car that just doesn't get built anymore. For the most part GT3 race cars still race with the engine that the street counterparts came with from the factory. If you look inside the Z4 GT3 you won't see the wild big screens and myriad buttons that you see in race cars built today. While this was complex compared to something from, say, the 1990s, it's positively archaic by 2026 standards. And I think that's what is wrong with racing today. GT3 has gotten far too fast and too expensive for the non-factory supported teams to race. Just look at the sheer number of teams that have abandoned top-level IMSA or SRO competition in recent years because they can't keep up with the rising cost. Is there a reason GT3 cars need carbon bodywork? Do these cars absolutely have to have the heightened level of massive downforce? No, reject modernity, return to your 2010 BMW Z4 GT3 roots. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and add us as a preferred search source on Google.
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