History
Imperial Tobacco’s JPS (John Player Special) brand sponsored the BMW race team in the early ’80s. BMW Australia promoted this with a special edition 323i E21 based on the Motorsport Edition. The Motorsport Edition was a local market option collection comprising: 5 speed gearbox, Limited Slip Differential, Motorsport suspension (25mm lower and stiffer) Bilstein dampers, Recaro sports seats, sports leather steering wheel. front and rear spoilers and 5.5" BBS mag allow wheels with Michelin XVS tyres, available in White or Polaris Silver. The JPS Edition was a Motorsport Edition, ordered in black and then sent to the BMW team workshops run by Frank Gardner. There the gold stripes and JPS logos were added, the wheel centres were anodised gold and the build number plaque fitted. As an option the 13" wheels could be replaced with 15" gold centre Simmons wheels and, at considerable cost, the engine could be stroked to 2.7 litre. Only 70 JPS Editions were planned.
