The cards were always stacked against the E92-generation BMW M3. Introduced in 2007 on the eve of a worldwide economic recession, the iconic performance sedan didn’t receive the first-year sales bump usually awarded to desirable new performance cars. That lack of initial sales would lead BMW to create one of the coolest, most America-coded M3s of all time: The Lime Rock Park Edition.
Tom Plucinsky, head of communications for BMW North America, recounts how the Lime Rock Park Edition was born.
“In the later part of the [car’s] lifecycle, [BMW] was trying to boost sales, and special editions really worked for that,” he told Motor1. “Lime Rock Park was a track we sponsored at the time; We were good friends with Skip Barber. We got into a discussion with him, and [Skip] was like ‘let’s make a Lime Rock Park Edition.'”
And so they did.
It’s well known the Lime Rock Edition’s now-legendary Fire Orange paint was borrowed from the M3 GTS, a track-focused variant of the E92 with a bigger engine only sold in Europe. But that wasn’t always the plan. “The original color was supposed to be Valencia Orange,” says Plucinsky.
If you’re familiar with BMW color codes, you’ll know Valencia Orange was also used for the 1 Series M coupe, introduced just a few years earlier. According to Plucinsky, BMW’s legal team weren’t fans of the two cars sharing the color, as the company had marketed Valencia Orange as a color exclusive to the 1 Series M.
The North American product team got as far as building a proof-of-concept vehicle painted in Valencia Orange. When the legal implications came to light, the team pivoted.
“They flex-painted it with Fire Orange and showed it to the product strategy committee,” says Plucinsky. “The execs signed off on it and that’s how we ended up with Fire Orange for the Lime Rock Park Edition.”
It’s not just the color that makes the Lime Rock Park Edition special. You can’t put the name of a storied race track on a car without a few performance upgrades. The $10,000 premium got you carbon fiber fangs in front to spice up the splitter area, as well as a carbon lip spoiler for the trunk. Tucked below the rear bumper is an Inconel-titanium exhaust.
