After becoming a sponsor of the NSW IPRA Championships, the next logical step for JLM Australia was to get its branding on one of the cars competing in the series. As luck would have it, Joseph Lenthall had just finished building his new race car and was looking for partners.
Fast forward a few short weeks and Joseph’s car, now wrapped in JLM bright livery, makes its debut at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Joseph’s passion for motorsport goes back over two decades. After competing in tarmac rallies, Joseph quickly progressed to his true love – circuit racing, where he campaigned his first two cars, both Mazda RX7s. After years of racing rotaries, Joseph decided to try something different.
The car of choice for his third racing project was a 1995 BMW M3.
“The BMW just made sense. It was relatively affordable and it provided a great base chassis to build a race car on. There was also no shortage of spares and performance parts were readily available.”
The 6-cylinder, 3.2L, naturally aspirated BMW S54 engine was sourced from a later, E46 series M3 model.
The factory 5-speed gearbox was equipped with a short shifter and mated to a shorter ratio diff with a Drexler LSD.
A MoTeC engine management system controls injection and ignition with a race dash providing Joseph with all the vital information.
“There’s just so many different types of cars all racing each other, it’s really exciting to watch and being very close to production cars, people can relate to them.”
Improved Production Racing Association (IPRA) is one of Australia’s oldest and wide-reaching motorsport categories. Its eclectic mix of modified production cars is what attracted Joseph to the series.
“There’s a synergy between JLM and IPRA, both brands share a common passion for cars, so when JLM initially approached me, the decision was easy. I have already tried some JLM products and was impressed with their quality.”
The IPRA competitors, their crews and fans skew heavily towards being small business owners, mechanics and fabricators who often work in the automotive industry.
Over the last decade, IPRA NSW has cultivated a great group of people who love to catch up, enjoy a beer and a feed and chat about their lives, both within and outside of racing.
After two rounds, Joseph is leading the series on points, with a small lead over his arch-rival Tim Robson.
IPRA NSW Championship Points Table
JLM Lubricants Australia is a proud sponsor and supporter of Improved Production Racing.
