Happy New Year to the entire BIMMERPOST community! As we cross over to a new year it’s a fitting time for a recap of the past year. It was an amazing year for BMW, with the company hitting sales records and many new important models making their debuts. 2012 should prove to be as successful, if not more. And we’ll be seeing some new models and facelifts coming. We recap the BMW 2011 year for you inside.

Have a look at a rare BMW Individual color - Santorini Blue. This Santorini Blue E92 M3 coupe recently showed up on the lot of a UK dealership. It looks especially sharp with the ZCP competition package and interior contrast stitching.

The first turbo E90/E92 M3 build that we know of is underway. There are currently several supercharger kits for the M3’s S65 motor available on the market, but no turbo kits, yet. The S65 makes it difficult to place a turbocharger kit’s plumbing, and some tuners are also wary of turbocharging the S65 due to its aluminum construction.

But, South African tuning shop SAVSPEED has taken up the cause and its S65 turbo build is currently in the works. They’ve decided on a single turbo setup. As plumbing is difficult in the S65 engine compartment, a custom engine mount had to be designed. SAVSPEED has already run the turbo’d E92 M3 for 140km on the dyno and all is going well. … CONTINUED

Many of our site members have very impressive car collections, but M3POST member simonlam168’s likely takes the cake! As the title alludes to, Simon’s E93 M3 is perhaps just the fifth most impressive car in his current collection of autos, which includes: Ferrari 458 Italia, E93 M3, Ferrari 599, Porsche 911 GT2 (987), CLK63 AMG, and WRX STI.

Also on order and coming in April, just a F458 spider and a MP4-12C =)

Check out the photos inside.

This must have felt like Christmas for the folks at Autobild. Autobild knows what it takes to have a great story and has done a special edition on BMW M models, called “Fascination M.” In this special comparo, Autobild gives an overview of all current BMW M models as well as interesting insights into M GmbH. Most interestingly, Autobild pitted all (yes, all) currently available M models against each other on a German race track named Sachsenring.

The outcome? As you’d expect, the M3 CRT (it’s sold out but more info here) is the fastest M car Autobild has ever tested on Sachsenring as it clocked a 1:38.87 minute laptime (the M3 GTS isn’t available no more). An amazing second place goes to the brand-new F10 M5 … CONTINUED

Check out this stunning set of photos featuring an equally stunning array of M vehicles!

The cars featured here include:

- e30 m3 evo
- e36 m3
- e46 m3
- e46 m3 csl
- e93 m3
- e92 m3 zcp
- e92 m3 gts
- e82 1m

Here are some beautiful wallpapers for BMW M and M3 fans, from a photoshoot featuring 3 generations of M3s in colors which closely resemble the colors of the classic ///M stripes. Seen in the photos are: Laguna Seca Blue E92 M3, Interlagos Blue E46 M3, and Imola Red E30 M3.

For those curious as to the actual colors of the BMW M stripes, here’s some information on them:

Pantone:
Blue — Pantone Process Blue
Purple — Pantone 268
Red — Pantone Warm Red
Paint:
blue violett GLASURIT-BMW 4000
light blue GLASURIT-BMW 5002
red GLASURIT-BMW 353
RGB:
Blue — 0 138 201 (Hex: 008AC9)
Purple — 43 17 90 (Hex: 2B115A)
Red — 241 26 34 (Hex: F11A22)

Pantone = color process (order) used by printing shops to define colors.
Paint … CONTINUED

Paul Walker (of the Fast and Furious movies) is an avid and serious auto enthusiast. His track weapon of choice is an E92 M3 coupe, supercharged by AE Performance and Gintani. After 2 successful years of this car being tracked and pushed to its limit (while breaking records), this M3 will be getting a power upgrade.

Gintani was contacted by the AE performance team and have now started on a Stage 3 build for Paul Walker’s M3. The Stage 3 build will be documented in this M3POST thread so be sure to check in and subscribe to the thread as the entire process (engine removal, tear down, build, install, and completed project).

Manhart has revealed their latest creation - the MH3 V8 RS Biturbo Clubsport E92 M3, which features some pretty radical performance and cosmetic upgrades.

In fact, Manhart has done away with the M3’s factory S65 engine altogether and drops in the 4.4L biturbo V8 engine (S63) from the X6M / X5M! Power was then bumped up from the factory 555hp to a whopping 750hp and 671lb-ft torque! To achieve this impressive gain in power, the S63 turbos were modified, air intake replaced, and pistons/rods reinforced. The car’s 6-speed automatic transmission also comes via the X6M / X5M.

Other performance upgrades include a MOVIT BBK (396×34 mm rotors / 6 pot calipers and 380×32 mm rotors / 4 pot calipers) and a full titanium exhaust system featuring 80mm exhaust … CONTINUED