CUSTOMER FEATURE: ‘How hard could it be?’ w/ Ashleigh and her [R8TD M] BMW G80 M3 Competition.

‘How hard could it be?’ w/ Ashleigh and her [R8TD M] BMW G80 M3 Competition.

How hard could it be? Sometimes this is only question you should ask yourself before plunging into something new and that’s the one thing Ashleigh remembers before her life changed… for the better.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let us first introduce Ash – Ashleigh Smith, Wife to Alex and Mum to two young boys and an older than her years teenage daughter. Alex and Ashleigh have been married for 10 years and in that time, they’ve collectively owned quite a few fun and fast cars. But it wasn’t until just 2 years ago where Ashleigh’s interest turned into a full-blown passion.

What happened? Well, you’re just going to have to read till the end because this story starts nearly 25 years ago when Ashleigh was a young child with an interest for the fun, fast and loud.

There was something exciting about growing up in the 90’s and 00’s. ‘Car Movies’ were in their prime, The Italian Job, Fast and Furious, Talladega Nights, Need for Speed and even Cars. Shows like AutoSalon were the thing and you couldn’t go a couple blocks in Sydney with-out seeing a modified car or hearing its bass coming from the boot. For Ashleigh the 90’s was where her interest in cars began, she could distinctively remember naming each car from the backseat of her parents’ own. As she got older, her taste refined, and she would only point out the fun and fast cars that she found personally desirable. Years passed with this basic interest of cars, life happened, Ashleigh got married and built a family.

Ashleigh’s first mum-mobile was a Honda CRV. She loved the simplicity and with young kids it was perfect. But it always felt slow and a bit floaty, not like her husband’s Jeep SRT with the Hemi V8 at the time. Even though heavy, it stayed quite flat through the corner and had an overall more solid feel… After a while, the Jeep SRT was traded in for a Mercedes Benz C63s with the bi-turbo V8 - a real luxury hot rod. At the time, Ashleigh had gotten out of the CRV, jumped in and an Audi Q7. But, during this time she found herself grabbing the C63s keys whenever not all the kids were coming, the rumble and speed was just intoxicating. But as time went one, the C63s began to be compact and the Q7 to large… a changeup was in order. But the bug for something fun and fast began to nibble.

The decision was made to down-size, Alex into a Mercedes Benz AMG GTR and Ashleigh into a Land Rover Defender Supercharge! A pretty incredible line-up. Ashleigh was in love; she had the rumble and speed of their past C63s but with the space and luxury Land Rover do so well. Alex was also hooked on his purchase, with GTR’s ability, speed and sense of occasion making for a special ride. Bringing us back to about 2 years ago, when Alex decided he wanted to give Roll Racing a go in his GTR. Ashleigh loved the idea, and so did the kids - it was a big family day out and the first time the kids saw the cars are more than just the family’s transport.

This was a pivotal part to Ashleigh’s story because this is where, ‘How hard could it be’, comes into play. Watching her husband do his thing, Ashleigh began to ponder… Her kids were having so much fun, the sounds and smells were just intoxicating – this was amazing. She wanted to have a go and there was one car she couldn’t stop noticing… whether it be winning on track or rolling through pitt-lane the BMW G80 M3 Competition caught Ashleigh’s eye like no other car had before. That very same night after their first Roll Racing event Ashleigh was on BMW configurator building her dream spec and once she had - she hit Carsales to find it. She was not going to wait! Alex was over the moon to see her enthusiasm and after a week or two of scrolling through a few ads… the wasn’t a perfect one found.

A little time passed and the G80 idea began to dim, but Alex had been busy at work and his love for cars with ‘super’ abilities grew… formulating into a purchase of a McLaren 720s. Now, as garage line ups go - a Land Rover Defender Supercharged V8, Mercedes Benz AMG GTR and a McLaren 720s is borderline perfect. With a line up so nice, it’s hard not to want to drive them and that’s exactly what happened. Every Sunday morning, and every opportunity they got - Alex would jump in the 720s, Ashleigh in the GTR and the kids would fight for the two spare seats. A spirited blast to Wiseman’s Ferry, with a pub feed waiting was something the kids loved as much as the parents. For Ashleigh, the GTR was the nail in the coffin - the fun and fast bug was no longer nibbling, it was taking large bites that she couldn’t ignore. Alex saw this shift in her eyes when they spoke about the drive they had just completed and the late nights she spent looking at G80’s online.

Until finally one night, it was there… the perfect BMW G80 M3 Competition! Unfortunately, it was in Melbourne, but it was the exact spec Ash wanted - Jet Black on dual tone White interior, with a plethora of factory Carbon Fibre. The supercharged Defender was traded in and G80 was brought up to NSW. Ashleigh jokingly remarked, ‘when it arrived – it was love at first sight’. Her number plate was fitted, and [R8TD M] was born.

It only took 2 weeks until the road led her to us at EuroWerke. She parked right out front next to a BMW M2 with the number plate [MRATED], Thony - you might remember him from his feature article. They laughed at how similar their number plates were and so began a great friendship! But back onto topic, this is when Ashleigh met Oscar, and talks began about upgrading her BMW G80 M3 Competition. Her request was simple, ‘I’d like it louder, faster, and on pump fuel’. That is easy enough Oscar explained but also elaborated that the DME (ECU) would first need to be removed and sent to Femto Evo in Finland for unlocking - on its return everything else would be quite straight forward and simple. Ashleigh, not surprised, as she had already read only about locked BMW DME’s and was excited that the car’s down-time would be shorter than she thought. When the DME returned, the Werke began.

For performance it received O-SPEC Downpipes, Midpipe and Forward-Facing Air Intakes. NGK Spark Plugs were installed, along with an xHP TCU Tune. The last piece was to bring all the components together with a custom TUNE+ ECU Tune. Regarding cosmetics, Adjustable Lowering Springs and Wheel Spacers were added, along with a front Tow Hook Front Number Plate Holder, Carbon Fibre CSL Style Grill w/ custom Red Pinstriping and Boot Lip were installed. The final piece was the addition of a Dash Cam, making this basically a complete ‘Drive in & Drive out’ package.

When Ashleigh came to pick her car up, she was beyond words, speechless. She couldn’t believe just how much change could be had with such little modification, the car is now… faster - louder and a whole lot meaner. She couldn’t thank Oscar enough.

Time passed and Ashleigh has continued to attend Roll Racing events with Alex, and now the kids don’t have to fight when hitting the open road because the G80 will fit all. She hasn’t stopped tinkering either with the rear diffusor receiving a custom touch with painted red pinstripes and the factory wheels were refinished with the same red pin-striping. The whole car is tied together with an execution that’d make you think this was Ashleigh’s 50^th build, but it’s not… it’s her first and we are so grateful to be a part of it.

Today Ashleigh has recently kicked over a whopping 20,000kms! It’s proven to be the perfect car for every occasion and a campfire for her kids to be around. It just goes to show, giving into your interests and creating a passion that can be shared with your family… is never a bad thing.

We must Thank Ashleigh for un-trusting us with G80 and always making time to attend our events, whether it be a Cars & Coffee or last year’s BMW Superfest (where she won People’s Choice!). You’ve always been one of the first to show interest and show up. Thank you!

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