1992 BMW M3

E30 Sedan

Unspecified

Manual

WBSAK05060AE42360

Clear

Gasoline

1992 BMW M3 E30 S14B23 Having successfully conquered Formula 1, BMW Motorsport returned to the familiar territory of touring car racing in the mid-1980s. Instead of using an existing model, the German manufacturer decided to create an altogether more potent version of the recently introduced 'E30' 3-series. At that time the popular German and European touring car championships were held under the Group A regulations, which stated that a car could only be homologated if at least 5000 examples within twelve months had to be constructed. This meant that BMW not only had to build a new racing car, but also a homologation special for the street. Even though BMW had been very successful in the previous years with Turbocharged engines, they decided against using forced induction for the new 'M3'. The main reason was that it would not be very practical on a road car designed for every day use. The most powerful engine available in the E30 at the time was the 2.5 litre straight six cylinder engine, but that was determined to be too long and heavy for this application. Instead the Motorsport team decided to create a brand new four cylinder engine, which with its shorter crankshaft would be able to rev more easily compared to the 'six'. Designed in just fourteen days, it is no surprise that the 'S14' was a mix of existing parts. Simply put, it was the M1 engine with two cylinders cut off. The block was derived from the two-litre 'four' found in the 320, equipped with a DOHC, sixteen valve head. Sharing its bore and stroke with the bigger six cylinder engine, the new S14 displaced just over 2.3 litre. In stock form it produced a cool 200 bhp, with the competition spec engine putting out at least 300 bhp at 8000 rpm.