Whether on the track or the street, the M3 GTR is a veritable unicorn. Built in tiny numbers and even scarcer today, it’s the kind of car that makes collectors’ hearts race. Thomas Plucinsky, head of BMW Group Classic USA, says that in 2025, just three of the track-only machines remain. The Strassenversion is just as rare. At launch, the road-legal version built as a homologation special held the title of the most expensive new BMW ever. Price tag? A cool €250,000.
For the 3 Series’ 50th anniversary, the Petersen Automotive Museum pulled off a dream gathering with seven cars, one representing each generation. Among them, the GTR stood out as the only E46 to pack a V8. Enthusiasts know it by its codename, P60B40, and its IndyCar origins. In 2001, the race car dominated the ALMS GT series, taking first and third place in seven of ten races. This car is the last M3 GTR still running, a quarter of a century after being built.
But the fairytale ended after the 2001 season. Rule changes forced the GTR out of competition. However, BMW adapted it for Grand-Am in 2003 with a smaller straight-six. It promptly won the 2004 championship, retired in 2006, and was resurrected in 2015 in full 2001-spec glory, complete with its 4.0-liter, 10,000 rpm V8 and the iconic Petite Le Mans livery.
US-spec vehicles came with a NACA duct to cool the cockpit, a far cry from the air-conditioned M4 race cars of today. While unmistakably E46 in shape, the GTR wore a carbon fiber cloak, rolled on BBS wheels built just for it, and carried the last hex nut ever used on a BMW Motorsport machine.
After its race days were over, BMW dismantled the car, and it nearly ended up in a parts bin. But BMW Group Classic USA refused to let a legend die. They tracked down the scattered components in a warehouse in Indianapolis and brought the original 2001 crew back to restore it. Eighteen painstaking months later, the M3 GTR was reborn, ready to scream once again.
Video: Petersen Automotive Museum / YouTube
