The title may say contender, but Tony Longhurst was never supposed to be.
Of course, 1993 welcomed a new set of regulations, a return to Ford versus Holden and the tribal war of the 1970s. Where did this leave the two manufacturers effectively excluded from this new generation BMW and Nissan?
Nissan investigated the possibility of entering its Primera model as a 2.0-litre entry, but elected against this and failed to return to Australian race tracks as a factory entity until 20 years after.
Following a hiatus from racing the BMW product in 1988 lasting until 1991, LOGAMO Racing chose to stay with the Bavarian marque for 1993 as Longhurst set about a giant killing performance in the Australian Touring Car Championship.
While many of BMW’s factory teams overseas competed in the 2.0-litre specification new shape 318i, the local arm raced the old M3 featuring a raft of restrictions leading to much frustration as the goalposts kept on changing.
Weight and rev restrictions continued to be placed on the M3 all season as CAMS (now Motorsport Australia) didn’t want the smaller capacity model built to the old Group A regulations to outshine its new for 1993 formula.
Channel Seven chose Longhurst’s Benson & Hedges M3 to carry a Racecam in its lower front bumper providing spectacular shots all season highlighting the braking prowess of Bimmer’s little pocket rocket.
Although it wasn’t supposed to outshine the V8 Ford and Holdens, on occasion it did. Regularly, the familiar yellow and black M3 lurked behind the lead pack particularly at circuits such as Lakeside or Amaroo Park.
Longhurst was also at his peak as a driver during the time having won the Bathurst 1000 in 1988 and keeping the dominant Nissan Skyline GT-Rs honest during the previous two seasons.
Finishing ninth outright in 1993 was a nice string to his bow as he finished a best of second outright for the round at Winton and third in the wet at Wanneroo.
Partnered by British ace Steve Soper at Bathurst, it ended in a DNF and thus ended BMW’s participation in the ATCC as Longhurst moved to the now standalone Australian 2.0-Litre Championship for 1994 in which he won.
Longhurst raced a Perkins Engineering-built Holden VP Commodore for 1994 in the ATCC before making a marque switch to Ford after leaving the LOGAMO Racing organisation in 1995 as he went independent with Castrol sponsorship.
The M3 now has been meticulously restored to its period paint scheme and specification.