2011 BMW E92 M3 GTS

VIN#: E686328

ENGINE 4.4-liter S65B44 V-8

OUTPUT 450 hp @ 8300 rpm, 325 lb-ft @ 3750 rpm

TRANSMISSION 7-speed Getrag dual-clutch automatic

CURB WEIGHT 3373 lbs

TOP SPEED 190 mph

BUILD DATE  July 2011

COLOR  Fire Orange

OWNER  EVO MotorWerke

OWNED SINCE  N/A

LOCATION  Cincinnati, OHio

They called it “Jägermeister” internally, former BMW M head Kay Segler once said. The GTS’s nickname harked back to the radically bewinged Group 5 E21 race cars, and its later E30 counterpart, both of which ran in Europe. Each car sported a traffic-cone paint job, and of course, bore the logo of their title sponsor. 

As with the Jäger cars, you can spot the GTS’s bad-attitude adjustment from space. Every last example wears Fire Orange paint and boasts a mile-wide wing flying proud of the trunk. Blacked-out wheels, trim, and kidneys complete the GTS’s visual fluorishes, along with a scything front splitter.

A matching orange roll cage headlines the GTS’s interior alterations. You’ll notice the car’s rear seats are out to lunch, that its back windows and rear side glass have been swapped with plastic, that its roof is carbon. Even the door trim was lightened, and air-conditioning was an optional extra. Much of the sound deadening was cast out, along with the whole audio system. 

In place of devices to muffle or overwhelm engine noise, BMW subbed in God’s Own Titanium Exhaust, an ultralight, catalytic-back unit that contributes to the GTS’s roughly 100-pound weight loss over an ordinary M3.

That weight savings matters with a track special like this, but it matters a whole lot less than what that exhaust system does for the engine’s song. There may be no finer-sounding M3 built. 

The car’s owner wanted to drive home one thing: “The car is so visceral. Its sound is so visceral. Just make sure you get that in there.”

Three-point belts and six-point harnesses were both standard, underscoring the GTS’s talents on track and road. Next to the ordinary E92 M3, engine displacement was punched out from 4.0 to 4.4 liters; torque jumped nearly 60 lb-ft. The car’s 450-hp peak represented 30 horses more than the base E92 M3.

Just 150 examples of the GTS were built, positioning the car among the rarest M variants of all time. Whether by sight or by sound, you won’t miss the GTS when it goes flying by.