Think of the recipe of an ///M car? They take the base model, add 10 shots of power and mix it with a lot of driving pleasure sweetness. There will be times when we ask ourselves, what is it that we look for in a car, and almost always, there BMW ///M division has a way to answer those concerns. Looking beyond just history, these ‘Q cars’ are your recipe of surprise as it looks unassuming yet never to be messed with. But how would you accentuate an experience from one?
One would suggest that there are many ways you can do this. All with just a connected OBD-2 port to a laptop, power is always the first call-to-action and yet we know for one thing is that these ///M cars were never just about brute force. The engineering minds are always on taps to keep the car balanced, between power and handling for what they call as – The Ultimate Driving Machine. But with modern cars too, they’re not off the factory floors unhinged. And there’s always tweaks that you could do to unlock just a little bit more to tickle your fancy.
The BMW 1M (E82) Coupe was developed to celebrate the best ideas and engineering that BMW M-Division have ever put into production. At a time when manufacturers were fighting between the advancements of speed and efficiency versus driving experience, the 1M came to life to reward the true driving enthusiast. It only ever came in a 6-speed manual layout matched to the E82’s short-wheel based FR layout, and just a shade over 6,000 units were ever produced.
The 1M came fitted with BMW’s N54 block, originally made for the 35i non-M series like the 335i and of the likes. Which at start had a lot of enthusiasts arguing that the 1M wasn’t a true M car at heart. However, we know by value today that the recipe was just about correct. From factory, it produced 335hp and a peak of 500nm with overboost function.
What you see here, is a BMW 1M that’s been personalised to fit the owner/driver’s preference. Although we’ve feature this car some years back, it brings a good memory again to put this here, because the 1M has turned into such a collectible car today, that we don’t see that many on the road anymore – let alone modified to be driven in this part of the world.
On the exterior, much of the parts have been retained. You will see that a wing has been added, courtesy of the Varis Hyper Narrow GT Wing in Carbon Fibre. The 1M’s widened track of 74mm up front and 46mm on the rear had always given the car a much angrier stance. Here, it is fitted with lighter set of Rays ZE40 wheels matched with a widened width to fit wider tyres. This car was used for spirited weekend hill drives and the occasional track day activities, and the short-based rear driven layout proved it to be a bit of a wild animal.
Much of the work was done not to make the 1M quicker on a straight line, but to keep it on taps and stuck to the ground on bends. The suspensions were swapped in favour of a KW Clubsport added with various strengthening anti-roll bars to make the chassis even stiffer. In the brakes department, a set of AP Racing 6-pot brake kit were also swapped in favour of the stock brakes on the 1M. With these little supporting mods, it gave the driver an added confidence to push harder in the bends, and fitting into the description of making the 1M into a proper attack dog in just about any conditions.
Minor go-fast bits were also installed, like the Akrapovic exhaust to elevate the senses a little more and let the in-line six noise out a little more. The Cobb Tuning Accessport unlocks a little bit more power and telemetry to the driver at the wheel as well. And when we talk about personalisation, we have to adore the Full Bucket Recaro seats that’s been replaced in favour of the stock leather seats for it’s spirited usage.
The 1M today is regarded as one of the best driver’s car made in the decade. It has all the right recipes to make it a future Modern Classic, and we’re pretty sure in 5-10 years to come, we will look back and absolutely adore the characteristics that made the 1M absolutely special. With ///M cars today becoming more of a laptop, this generation was still a good combination between analogue and digital. And with so little numbers ever made in RHD format, this car would definitely make a mark on the used market for years to come.
Written By | Qhalis Najmi
