Nevertheless, the team had not forgotten the vision that informed the earliest days of the project – a car primarily for race participation, fast and nimble enough to compete in Groups 4 and 5 and to score victories over the cars from the Zuffenhausen works of a formidable rival. So some refocus as regards the chassis/body was required. First and foremost, this sought lighter weight and reduced mass. Consequently, Lamborghini was instructed to make the body in GRP and mount it on a tubular spaceframe chassis, allowing the car’s unladen weight to be around 1,300 Kg in road trim and little more than 1,000 Kg as prepared for the track. The new format also embodied reduced dimensions for both the wheelbase and overall length in the interests of better handling characteristics. Recognising the value of drawing on very specific expertise and to achieve best possible speed in the project’s development and subsequent vehicle build process, a supplier nexus was determined – body component panels from the company, Trasformazione Italiana Resina, located 50 km west of Sant’Agata at Reggio Emilia; chassis from Modena-based Marchesi & C.; chassis/body assembly at Italdesign.
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| Chassis frame made by Machesi. Courtesy MenudeiMotori |
Complying with the updated specification, Lamborghini initially made
good progress, producing a prototype in little more than 6 months. It was shown to the BMW Board in early May
’77 and well received. The evaluation was
enhanced by the availability for viewing of cars considered likely to be ‘the
opposition,’ De Tomaso Pantera, Maserati Merak and, inevitably, a turbocharged
911. Hearing that the BMW people
perceived ‘their’ car to be superior to these competitors, the Lamborghini team
could be justified in feeling pleased with its efforts. However, back inside the Sant’Agata factory,
the mood was much less upbeat since the company’s financial fitness had been
continuing to deteriorate. Cashflow was
especially poor and this militated against steady, revenue earning
production. So, though there was
customer demand for the Countach and Jarama models, sales rates were
constricted and income lost. With the
receipts from BMW channelled to product development, Rossetti and Leimer sought
to boost revenue by contracting to build an off-road vehicle for American
maker, Mobility Technology International, which had been commissioned to supply
it to the U.S. Military. From the outset
of the project however, there was trouble – named the Cheetah, rights to the
design were contested by Ford and this led to a litigation. Consequently, by the time the vehicle was
ready for debut in ’77, Lamborghini’s confidence in the project as a ‘lifesaver’
had already been eroded. Though no
surprise, BMW’s decision to cancel its contract with Lamborghini in April ‘78
for a second time was a further major blow.
Efforts to sell Automobili Lamborghini as a going concern were
unsuccessful and by legal compulsion the business was declared bankrupt in
August ’78, one month after a prototype M1 had been shown to the press in
Munich at the Olympic Park Also
announced at this time, at Hockenheim, was BMW’s intention to institute a
‘Procar’ racing series in ’79. A
follow-up announcement was made in October ’78 outlining plans for the supply
of Group 4 specification M1s to private entrants, it having been established
that such cars would be allowed to run in German national events. Preparation of these cars was to be entrusted
to Ron Dennis’s junior formulae team, Project Four, and to Osella Engineering,
inheritor of the Abarth works operation after the Fiat takeover in ’71.
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| ’78 M1 prototype. Courtesy Hans Lehmann |
At the point of the Lamborghini contract lapse, seven pre-production M1s were under construction. Not enough had yet been learnt with these to enable the formulation of a revised series production plan/timeframe. The project was under huge pressure given the Group 4/5 racing aspirations and related homologation requirements. This would all come to nothing if 400 units could not be manufactured. Thus, the BMW M team needed to, and did, act swiftly and effectively. Firstly, influence was brought to bear such that a number of Lamborghini employees collaborated to found a new business, ItalEngineering. Its purpose was to improve/maintain relationships and working practices between the various specialist businesses already involved in the project. A key executive of ItalEngineering was Marco Raimondi whose primary responsibility was liaison/co-ordination over the wide range of technical aspects.
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| Left - Marco Raimondi (ItalEngineering) with (right) Dott Franco Baraldini (Lamborghini) |
In addition to the design/styling work already undertaken by Italdesign, Giugiaro’s company was delegated to paint/finish the tubular chassis frames. The body panels, glass and interior trim was then assembled on the chassis frame and the completed shell painted. The wiring loom was subsequently fitted prior to the partially complete vehicle passing into the care of Karosserie Baur at Stuttgart. At Baur the remainder of the mechanical, electrical and trim equipment was installed. This stage was found to be problematic as Baur reported that because of dimensional inconsistencies and resultant fit issues, it needed substantially more time than had been agreed in order to complete its work. Thus a further delay occurred and the cost of production was further escalated. However, on completion, the cars were shipped to Munich for testing/final inspection at the factory. Despite the issues at Baur, the race car preparation programme was implemented in time for the ’79 season. But, though it had originally envisaged participation in Group 5, (Special Production cars), BMW feared a lack of competitiveness against other makers now deploying turbocharged cars. Consequently, the M1 became destined to race in the less prestigious Group 4, (Special Grand Touring cars), category.
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| Body panels being fitted to the chassis frame. Courtesy 2020 BMW M1 Club e.V. |
Its development supervised by Rosche, a /1, Group 4-compliant version of the M88 engine was soon running and proving effective. With a 470 bhp output, it was considerably more powerful than the standard M1 unit. As regards the chassis, suspension, steering and brake components were replaced with race-specification items, while the removal of non-essential items allowed a reduction of the kerb weight down to 1,020 Kg. Wheel widths were increased front and rear, and accommodating arch extensions applied to the bodywork. The aerodynamics were improved by the addition of a large rear wing and front spoiler. By contractual agreement, all the cars were equipped with Goodyear tyres. Eventually, 54 Group 4 M1s were built.
Three months on from the press presentation, a public launch was effected at the Paris Motor Show. Just two months beyond that, in January ’79, the first deliveries were being made to customers. By then the reality of the car’s gestation troubles and the complexity of its revised manufacturing process were reflected in the asking price – around DM 110,000. That made for a car very much more expensive than competing products such as Porsche’s 911 Turbo. Unsurprisingly, customer demand was below expectations and it quickly became necessary to discreetly offer discounts and incentives such as ‘free’ options.
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| Paris Motor Show, October ’78. Courtesy Gilbert Uzan |
The racing strand of the M1 project continued to progress more positively. A car in race specification emerged in December ’78. During testing, the top speed capability was found to be 193 mph with 0-60 mph achievable in just over 4 seconds. The development work went well enough to allow for a Group 4 race debut in the hands of Marc Surer at the DRM Nürburgring Eifelrennen in late April ’79. Classified 9th overall and first in class in the Rennsport Trophae (Division 1) race, it was a largely successful first showing, though Surer’s progress had been hampered by engine trouble in the latter stages.
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| Procar chassis# 4301063, winner Nurburgring, April ’79. Courtesy Wolfgang Clemens |
Both road and race versions counted towards the homologation target of 400 units, though, as mentioned above, it had been seen in ‘78 that the quota would not be achievable in time for the ’79 season. Neerpasch had thought around this problem and come up with the idea of a racing format not constricted by the sport’s governing body’s (FIA) regulations. Making use of their existing good rapport from the F3 engine supply programme, Neerpasch engaged Max Mosely’s interest in the creation of a GT series to be run as support races to Formula 1 Grand Prix events. Mosely in turn enlisted Bernie Ecclestone as an advocate, enabling rapid progress on the scheme’s implementation. With support from the F1 constructors, a Procar Association was set up and agreement reached for races to be run at the European Grands Prix. It was envisaged that each race would be contested by 20 cars, 5 to be entered by the BMW factory and the remaining 15 by a variety of teams, including Project Four Racing, Osella, Schnitzer Motorsport, Eggenberger Racing, GS Tuning, Tom Walkinshaw Racing, Team Konrad and Ecurie Arvor. With this number of cars, it was decided to entrust some preparation also to BS Fabrications, a Luton-based business familiar to Ecclestone and through which he promoted Nelson Piquet’s driving career. Sales to the teams were based on the price of a Procar being $60,000.
The competition format encompassed a two day event on the Friday and Saturday of each Grand Prix – practice on the Friday, race on the Saturday. The BMW factory team on each occasion would comprise the 5 drivers fastest in Formula 1 practice and, irrespective of Procar practice times, they would be assigned the first five grid slots. Series points/prize sums were awarded as below:
The series rounds for ’79 were to be held at the following Grands Prix:
The series championship would be taken by the highest points scorer over the 8 rounds, a M1 being their principal reward for the feat, with other BMW models to be gifted to the other five drivers finishing in the first six places in the season-end standings table.
Over the eight events in the ’79 season, a total of 29 drivers took part – Toine Hezemans did seven, Stuck, Regazzoni and Helmut Kelleners, six, Niki Lauda, five. De Angelis, Fittipaldi. Beltoise, Mass, Konrad, Brun, Reutemann, Cheever, Needell, Jarier, Hotz and ‘Winter’ each did just one. Winners were: Belgium, de Angelis; Monaco, Lauda; France, Piquet; UK, Lauda; Germany, Lauda; Austria, Laffite; Netherlands, Stuck; Italy, Stuck. The top three in the Championship’s closing standings were, 1st Lauda, (78 points); 2nd Stuck (73 points); 3rd Regazzoni (61 points). Both Lauda and Stuck were presented with a M1 road car, Regazzoni and Hottinger with BMW 528s, and Hezemans and Piquet with BMW 323is.
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| Procar race, Hockenheim, July ’79. Courtesy 2020 BMW M1 Club e.V |
The
season had seen some hard racing with consequent spats and shunts, raising the
profile and perceived entertainment value of the series. With some instances of lesser-known drivers,
(notably Markus Höttinger, for example) out-performing top line Grand Prix
stars, there was speculation that the cars were far from being all of
equivalent specification/competitive set-up.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long before the ‘private’ teams began to
complain that the ‘factory’ cars had a power advantage. In response, a revs limit increase was
sanctioned – going from the previously-specified 8,500 to 9,200. Disquiet rumbled on however, and at the
German event it was openly suggested that winner, Lauda’s, car was ‘special,’
in response to which ‘The Rat said: “Nonsense,
after the race at Silverstone my car windows were cleaned and the car was
brought to Hockenheim. The cars are all equally fast. If at all, you can only make a difference
with the tyres. Although they are all the same, there are small differences and
if you are lucky enough to find a set of tyres that are a bit faster, because
they are simply made that way, then you can drive faster.”
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| Procar race, Zeltweg, August ’79. Courtesy 2020 BMW M1 Club e.V. |
Lauda,
Stuck and Regazzoni arrived at the final race, at Monza, all in the running to
take the championship. Stuck, though
classified as a ‘private’ driver had proven the series meister, especially in
the later races, though Lauda was very nearly as quick and with consistency had
racked up points on occasions when Stuck had suffered a DNF. At Monza, Stuck won with a 20 seconds
advantage over Lauda, with the remarkable Höttinger in 3rd. It made for a close finish to the
championship, but was clear enough given Lauda’s 5 points advantage.
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| ’79 Procar champion, Niki Lauda with M1, German Grand Prix, ’08. Courtesy BMW Group |
There
was an additional Procar race, run at Donington Pak in June, as a part of a
meeting commemorating Gunnar Nilsson. It
was won by Nelson Piquet, but no championship points were awarded for this
event.
It was generally agreed that Procar had in ’79 fulfilled BMW’s ambitions and was widely regarded as a properly competitive series, not just a demonstration exercise run for marketing purposes. In helping to consolidate BMW’s standing as a major player in global motorsport, it provided encouragement to the management in the Four Cylinder Tower to rekindle the company’s F1 aspirations. Somewhat ironically, as a consequence, BMW itself ceded ‘ownership’ of the Procar series to the Formula One Constructors Association in order to focus effort and resources on a F1 engine programme. At the same time, it was decided to entrust all the preparation of the ‘works’ M1s (i.e. those allocated to the F1 drivers) to BS Fabrications for the ’80 season. Also revised for ’80 was the qualifying format by the removal of the privileged pre-determined starting grid positions allocated to the Grand Prix drivers.
While
the primary focus in ’79 was on the Procar series, wider utilisation of the
race version M1 evolved with success. Four
years previously, French entrepreneur and amateur racing driver, Hervé Poulain
had successfully proposed and implemented the ‘Art Car’ programme, in which
contemporary artists were commissioned to apply a ‘livery’ to various BMW
models destined to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans events. The ’75 entry was a BMW 3.0 CSL painted by
Alexander Calder and driven by Poulain, Sam Posy and Jean Guichet. For ’79, an M1 with decoration by Andy Warhol
was entered. Group 4 compliant and in
the IMSA GTX .25+ class, it was taken to 6th overall, 2nd
in class by drivers, Poulain, Marcel Mignot and Manfred Winklelhock.
At
National level, no M1s were ready to compete in the Deutsche Rennsport
Meisterschaft, (Rennsport Trophäe, Group 4 Division 1), until the fourth round at
Salzburg in May. In the eight remaining
races of the season there were intermittent entries for Stuck, Lauda, Regazzoni,
Jochen Mass, Franz Konrad, Wolfgang Schütz, Ralf-Dieter Schreiber, Walter Brun,
Markus Höttinger and Lili Reisenbichler.
Class wins were achieved by Stuck (twice), Schütz (twice) and Mass.
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| BMW M1 of Niki Lauda, Norisring, DRM, June ’79. Courtesy Harry Maurer |
For ’80, a calendar
of nine races was announced, including two UK races and three in Germany:
New
teams for the season were: BMW Nederland, Schnitzer Motorsport, Sauber
Motorsport, Team Merzario, Kannacher GT Racing, Team Austria, Team Lepitre,
Ralf-Dieter Schreiber, Racing Team Jurgensen and Peter Oberdorfer. No less than 40 drivers took part, though 17 entered
only a single event.
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| These five F1 drivers competed in both Procar seasons; left to right: Laffite, Pironi,, Jones, Piquet, Reutemann. Courtesy Motorsport.com |
The
opening race at Donington showed that the revision of the qualifying rules was
capable of causing quite a shake up in the relative competitiveness of the F1
drivers, with several strong performances from the ‘private’ drivers
contributing to a close fought and incident-packed event won by Jan Lammers.
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| Winning Procar of Jan Lammers, April ’80, Donington Park. Courtesy 2020 BMW M1 Club e.V |
At the second round, the peculiar nature of
the AVUS circuit, with its exceptionally long straights, brought the engine
revs limit back under scrutiny. Although a maximum of 8,700 was again
recommended in the interests of reliability, there was plenty of enthusiasm for
going to 9,000-9,300. Hans-Geog Bürger’s
GS-entered car won the pole with 8,700 set, though other drivers claimed they
were not competitive if restricted to less than 9,000. However, the main talking point at the race’s
conclusion was the performance of the Cassani driver, Manfred Schurti who beat
Lammers to the win by six seconds. Schurti
was an accomplished driver with the Gelo, Martini and Porsche works teams,
though with a less high profile than many of the Procar participants. At Monaco, Stuck was back to his ’79 late
season form, finishing ahead of Kelleners, 2nd and Piquet, 3rd.
Stuck won again at the Norisring but was
down to 7th at Brands Hatch, with 5 F1 drivers – including winner,
Reutemann – ahead of him. Didier Pironi
found himself under a good deal of criticism in regard to collisions at the
Hockenheim event, infuriating Stuck in particular, but emerged as the victor,
and appeared not too bothered by the controversies! However, such an incident-packed race once
again proved that Procar was a full-bloodied racing series. The final three races of the ’80 series – and
the last Procar events of all time – were dominated by Nelson Piquet, the man
who would win the F1 World Championship the following year, being first across
the line in each. This late run of form
served to propel Piquet’s points total to 90, putting him well clear of Jones (77
points) and Stuck (71 points) and thus more than enough to secure his standing
as the ’80 Procar champion. His reward
from BMW was a 635CSi,while Jones was presented with a BMW 528i, and Stuck
received a BMW 323i.
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| Race and Championship winner, Nelson Piquet, Imola September ’80. Courtesy Getty Images |
With
the conclusion of the Procar series, the M1’s period as a BMW model was coming
to an end. Production was discontinued
in ’80, though the last examples were not delivered to their first owners until
into ’81. 453 M1s had been built, (some
say 457), of which 54 were to Procar or Group 5 specification. As regards the Group 5 cars, despite the
homologation problem, BMW had been at work since ’78 on a suitable engine for
the category. Announced that year, a
twin turbo version of the M88 had been developed and this was utilised from
’81. Designated 88/2, it had a reduced cubic
capacity – down to 3,191 cc – enabling M1s to run in the 4.5 litre (naturally
aspirated) class. Subject to boost
pressure, the M88/2 could output almost 1,000 bhp. The key to unlocking the M1’s entry to Group
5 competition was obtained in December ’80 when the FIA issued homologation papers
under reference #670 with acknowledgement of completion of the required 400
units.
Part 3, to follow, covers the Group 5 M1s and a survey of M1s marketed for resale in recent years.
