THE FACT THAT a number of Tony Viana’s race cars (and not replicas of them) survive is a measure of the man and his enduring legacy, even 17 years after his death. The latest Viana car to join the historic racing scene is this 325i Shadowline, as campaigned in the 1987 Stannic Group N series as # A1, having won the championship – some say by default – the year before.

This is also ultimately the car which set the 3 Series on the path to track success, and a quarter-century later the Three is still setting the pace on local racetracks.

IMAGE GALLERY FOR THE 325I SHADOWLINE

Having focussed on the 5 Series as it sales mainstay (and racing it in various categories from the mid 1970s), BMW SA realised the compact car writing was on the wall and initially imported the Three before it became the mainstay of production at Rosslyn. Initially, the factory team used the 323i for Stannic Group N competition alongside the 528i, which ran a class higher.

For 1986 the Shadowline – so called because of the blacked out window trim – was readied and it became the first in a long line of homologation specials which kept BMW at the sharp end of the field and made the likes of Viana, Robbi Smith, Geoff Goddard and Hannes Oosthuizen  household names.  

The Shadowline’s main claim to fame was a higher compression version of the 2.5-litre straight six powerplant, and it was rated at 126kW and 226Nm – slightly more powerful but quite a lot more torquey than the mill fitted to the normal four-door. The hot version also had a limited-slip differential, while an  ‘executive option’ package added electric front windows, aircon and power steering. A pair of front foglamps made kerbside ID easier. Without extras the basic Shadowline weighed in at a lean 1 140kg and this is how the racers were specced.

Most race drivers are unemotional about their race cars, usually disposing of them to fund the next one. Being a works car, this one ended up parked at Viana’s Odendaalsrus premises at the end of the 1987 season but by 1990 it had moved across the Vaal to occupy a rectangle under hail netting at BMW Motorsport in Midrand. When the racing team moved from there the car made a short hop to BMW HQ alongside the motorway, its slow decline continuing in a lonely corner of the employee’s parking area. After a while it passed to Goddard, a faithful servicer of BMW South Africa on road and track, for a nominal R1. It was a small price to pay for the technical expertise and driving skill he had contributed to the brand.

It stood – now shrouded in a tarpaulin – for many years on his property near Pretoria, then was moved to an adjacent plot, taking up residence in a barn. For a while its only companions were rats and farm workers, who found that its grey tartan-trimmed back seat made the perfect dining area, and also proved ideal for post-prandial naps.

So when Goddard finally accepted that his dream of refurbishing it to its former glory wasn’t going to come true, he offered it to his mate Peter Kaye-Eddie, the nuggety property tycoon whose passion for motorsport is undiminished after four decades.