Gateway Tech was an annual technical event sponsored by the St. Louis BMW Club — a weekend for dedicated BMW enthusiasts who wanted to learn more about their cars and how to make them go faster, stop shorter, and look better. BMW NA and the BMWCCA both provided support, and speakers came from all over the country. It no longer takes place, which is a shame.
In 2001 there was an extra reason to make the trip: the E46 M3 had just arrived in the United States. The car had been generating enormous anticipation — a 333hp inline six, a six-speed close-ratio gearbox, and a body that had evolved from the E36 M3 into something genuinely aggressive. Most people had only seen it in magazine photographs. Here it was in person.
These photos are detail shots of a car that almost nobody had seen yet. The rear brakes, the tail, the wheels, the interior — every angle worth documenting. Not because anyone told you to, but because you knew you were looking at something special.
