B10 4.6 V8 Touring Switchtronic #027

P.S. Due to a very nice opportunity I have to let go of my fabulous Touring already. Just finished her with some new tyres, oil, filters, bushes, cables, hoses etc. (cost me a small fortune) but sometimes a certain car comes onto the market and then I just have to get it !

Finally I found a true supersaloon again. It is an extraordinary M3 Limousine with the 3.2 litre engine and manual 6-speed gearbox. I found it in the very west of Spain this time and was tucked away in the basement of an appartement for nearly 5 years! It has only 56.000 km on the clock which was done by two previous owners. It actually never left the town it was first registered in august 1997. The car ofcourse is immaculate and all the keys and the servicemanual come with it. It is cosmosblack with black leather, has got the sunroof, 4 electric windows, klima, extended BC and was serviced extensively before we went for the trip to Holland. After having driven it for nearly 2.100 km back home I can only say that it is a very, very quick car indeed, very much quicker and racier then my B10 Touring but it became never uncomfortable and didn’t missed a beat. I am very happy with this purchase because of the rarity, the color combination, the 6-speed manual and ofcourse the low mileage!

 The family car has arrived! I just bought a very nice, in as new condition, Alpina B10 3.3 Touring with manual transmission. It is productionnumber 49 out of only 70 examples. It comes with the 3.3 engine which produces 280 horsepower and 335 Newtonmeters of torque. With this powerpack it accelerates in 6,7 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h and it reaches a topspeed of 256 km/h. Not bad for a 1650 kg sportscar! I must admit it is not as exciting as my previous B10 V8s Touring but it pulls good and makes good speed. The car came from its second owner who only drove 35.000 km in 5 years and stalled it in his garage always. The car is absolutely spottless. No dings, dents or scratches and the interiour is immaculate. Offcourse the car lacks the ugly roofrails, does have the original 19″ Alpina wheels with brandnew tyres, a glass sunroof, electric adjustable heated seats with memory, black leather, Alpina floormats, climatcontrol, xenon headlamps and some other features. Best thing though is that the car has only done 76.000 km! I am curious about how I will experience this car since it has a manual gearbox (I prefer an AT for daily use) and for how long I will keep it. My two girls at least can be driven around in comfort, style and speed now!

Since I am the proud father of a babygirl (Lieve) priorities are changing. The Z4 M is out of the collection and I still haven’t got myself a new racer. Instead I am looking for a Touring that will fit the needs. Like integrated childseats in the back. Or a retractable bootfloor for easily packing of all the stuff you have to take with you when going on a trip (to grandparents for example). And a new or other car is not even the most expensive purchase. Our apartment in the citycenter of Haarlem is just too small for a couple with a kid so we’re looking for a real, grownup people house now. My girlfriend only has got two requirement; enough rooms for us, Lieve and family that wants to stay for the night, and a garden. ofcourse I will ad one requirement to that; a garage! A garage that is big enough for at least two cars, my ‘82 Renault 5 Alpine Turbo Coupe in Calberson style (completely restored) and an Alpina or BMW. On the driveway (what’s a garage without a driveway?) my girlfriends car, my dailydriver and the aforementioned Touring will have to find a parking spot of their own. The fact that we are tenants (ofcourse, untill 3 months ago we were happy dinky’s) and therfor very flexibel makes it in these times easier to find and negotiate about a nice house that fits our requirements. In two days we will have our second viewing of two nice houses that are on our shortlist. So, if everything goes as planned I can make carplans before the summer starts and park my new racer next to the R5 in my own garage!

The next stop had to be Goodwood House. Because the Festival was about to begin (in 3 days) I wondered if I could get us in. The small backroad I knew from our previous visits was still unguarded so I speeded the M through the mud and ended up at the lawns behind the House (where we once played soccer with a drunk JayKay). The next step was to get past the guards at the gate where you enter the place where The Cartier Style et Luxe is held. Those 3 guys were amazing; ‘how the hell did you get in!?’. I told them I wanted to show my girlfriend around the place I had visited for six times already with friends. ‘So why not buy tickets? It’ll start in 3 days!’ I pointed them the big pregnant belly and the started to laugh. ‘Alright my friend, I haven’t seen you!’ and they all turned around laughing even harder. That’s how we got in and could drive around the place:

If you haven’t visit the Festival yet and you are a carnut, then shame on you! The atmosphere is great, as are the cars and the drivers!

After a good drive up the hill and back to the starting line we left Goodwood House at the entrance gate. From here on we drove all the way to Wareham in Dorset and found a horsefarm with a big room available. The owner was a 65-year old guy called Tom and he was great.  Because the weather (and the farm) was so nice we stayed here for 4 days of which 2 days we spend at the beach at Lulworth Cove (amazing scenery!).

The last day we went to Monkeyworld, the largest rescuecenter for primates and apes in the world. Dorset is beautiful, simple. The last home of Harry Patch in Wells was the next stop. That meant we had to drive north. Not much of a problem with the BMW. Since my girl was now a bit used to the power and speeds I could drive it harder every day! Wells and the nearby city of Batch are both characterstic English towns, very nice. 

The next stop was Porlock in Exmoor Somerset. I once read a Colin Forbes novelle which played partly in this area. It’s a cute little village with a small harbour at the Bristol Channel from where you can see the contours of the Welsh Coast. Even better is drive up to Dunkery Beacon, the highest point of Exmoor, from where you have a great view over the Moore and the Channel.

The next stop was Croyde with it’s giant wide beaches. You have to see it in real to believe how overwhelming wide the beach is. There’s a narrow road starting in Braunton that leads you high up alongside the beach to Croyde.

There we found a B&B farm again of which the lady of the house rented rooms for over more then 55 years! We had a very good meal in the local pub (unlike all the prejudices I must say that in general the pubs serve very good meals) and the most quiet night ever. From the north we then drove to the south, the next Moore, Dartmoore, home of the Hound! This area must be the one with the most narrow roads in Southern England, miles for miles singletraffic lanes with high hedges on both sides. At least we had the roads almost entirely for ourselves. Again we found a beautiful farmhouse with again a lovely old couple that gave us a warm welcome. From our room we could see the English Channel, what a view. The next two days were our last and we decided to take the central route passing Stonehenge on our way to Folkstone again. After exactly fourteen days we arrived in Haarlem tuesday july 6th at 20.00 Hours, just in time to watch the semi-final Holland vs Uruguay!

The Z4 M Roadster was fantastic. We could drive it with the top down every day, luggage space was sufficient, we even came home with a lot more then we started our trip (we now have a decorated babyroom and well-filled drawers full of baby cloths!) and it is made for trips like this. Even fuel economics were not too bad! On top of this it is absolutely very exclusive. Since I have it I never saw another one, only two Coupe’s. I don’t know if I want to sell the car, only if somebody will pay a normal price I will let it go. It is just too good fun to sell it at a bargainprice!

Speedchills Le Mans 2010

The next day the weather was cleared up and we decided to check out the circuit. The atmosphere was great, so many petrolheads together doing crazy things with cars (like driving over the ankledeep muddy fields in Murcielago’s for example) and entering the paddock and the circuit was great.

The next day was saturday so we decided to treat ourselves on a nice set of grandstand tickets. The Speedchills organisation had a few of those tickets uncollected and after 5 minutes of negotiating and € 20,- each poorer (what a bargain!) we mist the start in 2 minutes (suckers!). In another 2 minutes the drivers past the starting line again and I was deaf for the rest of the race; those Lola’s were absolute screamers! After an hour the grandstand became a bit boring and we decided to see other parts of the circuits (glad we didn’t paid full price…). My favorite part was at the Porsche Curve after midnight. Seeing the cars approaching at very high speed out of the black woods into the lighted curve with red glowing brakes is a sight I’ll never forget.

The next day our companions wanted to hit the road early (they already have kids…) so we mist the finish but were back in Holland before dinner. In two years we will be back for Le Mans Classic, that’s for sure!

If you have read my previous posts you’ll know I am a big fan of the 3.2 straight six M-engine. Well, the M3 (with CSL Competition package) never arrived in my stable. Instead I bought the engine packed in a Roadster body, the Z4 M. With the summer ahead of us and an already excellent spring this car is just the car for me at the moment. With less weight then the E46 M3 and no complicated electronic fuzz it is an absolute madman. Throttle respons with the  ’sportbutton’ activated is extreme, the engine just wants to rev! Although the car is a bit wobly due to the stiff suspension I really like the loose end which is really easy to slide but also really easy to control. Even my girlfriend likes this car! I bought it from the first German owner who has only done 11.000 kms with it in 3 years. He had 7 other cars and was fast becoming 60-years of age so this very sporty car had to go in favor of a nice SL automatic… Since he was a German he orderd every possible option except for the cruisecontrol. He also had the car serviced before I bought it and even handwashed it himself!

Oh, if you wonder why the car still isn’t on the blog with pictures, I will try to make nice ones this weekend!