BMW, in the 1970′s wanted to create a super car that would be on a parallel with Ferrari and Porsche. To do this they needed to design and construct a vehicle which would fit in the Group 5 race series.

There were rules for this racing series which BMW needed to fulfil in order to produce the vehicles. The rules also stated that 400 cars had to be created for road drivability, thus the BMW M1. Unfortunately, the BMW M1 super car experienced some hassles in the development. The tale from this escapade is about what one should not do to make a supercar.

Initially the BMW motorsport department turned to Lamborghini to use their experience to help design and build their new racer. The result was a sleek, low slung, mid engine supercar with body work designed by Ital Design and a 3.5 litre engine that could be turbocharged to produce 850 bhp in Group 5 racing spec.

Lamborghini was experiencing some financial setbacks during this time. They proved detrimental to the project since there were several delays and then the project was moved to Baur Germany. Still BMW motorsport department plodded on releasing the M1 in 1978, two years later than the project was supposed to be. This provided another problem because the Group 5 racing rules were modified and the M1 didn’t fit in with the new standards.

All of the work that was required for the M1 was not wasted because BMW decided to form a race series in which the M1 super car could race. They called it the Procar BMW M1 Championship. It was a great idea since it was a support race for the Formula 1 Championships of the World race. The F1 stars like Ayrton Senna, Nikki Lauda, and Nelson Piquet were pitted against each other in the same vehicle.

Whilst the race series was a success the road car BMW M1 never really took off, even though in standard trim it produced 277 bhp, could reach sixty in 5.6 seconds and top out at 162 mph. Eventually just 456 models were built making it one of BMW’s rarest models and one that is highly sought after by enthusiastic collectors.

The BMW series was great for road travel with high performance, quality construction, and low running costs. It was better than other supercars of its time. The exterior of the vehicle had two kidney shaped front grilles with pop up headlamps, and black slats on the rear windshield.

Whilst commercially the BMW M1 was never really a success its engine was subsequently used in the first BMW M5, and its design inspired BMW’s recent M1 Homage concept car.

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