BLACK BEAUTIES
Black Beauties: Thoroughbred BMW’s were among Jim Richards’ all-time favourites
Is there a more admired motor racing livery than the black-and-gold John Player Special regalia?
By MARK FOGARTY
From the late 1970s to the mid-’80s, the JPS Lotuses were the lookers of the F1 field. Black bodywork highlighted by gold signage. Pure class.
Most fans think the JPS livery is the best ever.
In Australia, WD & HO Wills had the JPS licence and in 1982 changed its racing branding from Craven Mild, backing the BMW factory team.
From ’82-87, Jim Richards raced a variety of Bee-Ems in the famous black-and-gold colours.
The fat-flared Group C 635 CSi. Not the most successful, but perhaps the toughest looking.
The lithe Group A 635 CSi. ATCC winner and, arguably, the fastest version in the world.
The nimble and potent Group A M3. Another title-winner resplendent in that iconic livery.
And the BMW 318i Turbo sports sedan/GT racer. Often forgotten, but a weapon nonetheless.
Richards remembers the Group C 635 CSi as a case of too little, too late.
“The first one I drove for a year had the two-valve (3.5-litre six-cylinder) motor,” he recalls. “When we got the 24-valve engine, that was a great car to drive. But we were still on cross-ply tyres then and it was just a bit heavy on the front end.
“After a few laps in a race, it would start to understeer. Not too bad, but more than you’d like.
“Frank (Gardner, guru JPS BMW teem boss) tried all sorts of things to counteract that – he even tried putting lead in the back bumper to try to take some weight off the front. It was just a bit off the pace of the (V8) Commodore and Falcon.
“With a little more help homologationwise, it could’ve been right up there.”
With the switch to international Group A rules in 1985, the 635 CSi came into its own, sweeping the ATCC.
“It was a ready made race car,” Richards said. “It wasn’t as fast over one lap as the Group C car, but it handled better and it was more of a race car.
“It had 120 horsepower less than the Group C car, but it was just better all-around. Because it wasn’t over-powered, it put its power down better
“We were as quick as the Germans and their 635s.”
Changing to the M3 Evo in ’87 netted Richo another ATCC crown.
“I loved the 635, but the M3 was just a step up again,” he said. “It was 230 kg lighter, had about the same width tyres, bigger brakes and about the same power as the 635.
“It was like a go-kart. It was fantastic.”
Richards has restored his title-winning M3 to pristine, never-to-be raced condition, joining his original patina Nissan Skyline HR31 – which did the yeoman’s work of his 1990 ATCC title – in his collection.
He rates the M3 as one of his favourite race cars, along with the ungainly HR31, which he “enjoyed driving that as much as anything I’ve ever driven”.
Richo adds that among the myriad of cars he raced, his TCM Falcon Sprint and AMC Javelin – both of which are in race-ready condition – are among his all-time favourites.
“I loved racing them,” he grinned.
As for the ‘orphan’ JPS BMW 318i Turbo (and final 320 variant), he raves about its explosive performance.
“Fantastic!” Richards exclaimed. “It had about 650 horsepower. It was light, it had big tyres. It had massive turbo lag, so you really had to work hard to keep in top of it. In its day, it was very fast.
“Not as quick as the 935s, but it was very, very close. That was a special car.”
He raced the big-winged boosted BMW against the Porsche 935s of Alan Jones and Rusty French in ‘82/83 in the recast Australian GT championship.
Overall, Richards agrees that the distinctive JPS BMWs were among the best-presented Australian racers ever.
“They were beautiful,” he said. “They looked spectacular.”
Pick up your copy of the latest Auto Action (1793) to read the rest of the second part of our Living Legends feature with Jim Richards, and in you missed the first part, Auto Action 1792 is still available digitally.
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