By itself, the BMW M3 is the kind of sports car that'll give you enough jollies to continue heaping praises on it. But it definitely isn't a supercar that'll redefine the way you look at how performance cars are built.

So, yeah, that's a pretty sizable gap. But what happens when a motorsports company like RS Racingteam can bridge that gap and bring the M3 closer to what you'd expect from a racing exotic?

Dubbed the RS-M3 package, RS Racingteam's program for the M3 comes packed with a full racing overhaul that saw a lot of the amenities from the standard M3 get stripped out in favor of racing equipment. Guess it's a matter of having one or the other, huh?

So instead of all the niceties that come with cozy M3 interior, the RS-M3 now has front sport bucket seats with six-point harnesses, a full-on roll cage, a new racing steering wheel, racing brake pads, and of course, touches of carbon fiber installed in various parts of the cabin. Handling was also taken care of by a set of 19-inch ATS-Superlight forged wheels and a 10-way adjustable Bilstein suspension system.

All that is nice, but we care most about on the RS-M3 program are the performance upgrades. RS Racingteam tweaked the car's 4.0-liter V-8 engine to produce 450 horsepower at 8,300 rpm and 318 pound-feet of torque at 4,100 rpm. That might seem like a subtle improvement from the 420-horsepower capabilities of the stock model, but with all the weight savings - 190 kg (418 pounds) - made by stripped down interior, this M3 is capable of hitting 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 4.6 seconds, 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph) in 14.7 seconds, and a top speed of 186 mph.

It's a pretty neat program, but one that'll cost you a lot of money. The individual car can be yours for €80,000 ($107,000) while the street-legal version sells for €110,000 ($147,000).

2013 BMW M3 "RS-M3" by RS Racingteam

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2013 BMW M3 "RS-M3" by RS Racingteam
  • Engine/Motor: V8
  • Horsepower: 450 @ 8300
  • Torque: 318 @ 4100
  • [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array

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