Edged Weapon - 1981 BMW M1

Don't give NASCAR all the credit for running a race car that sort of, somehow, resembles something from the street. The very vaguely production-based racer is just as much from Europe, where, when Byzantine rules led to their creation some 30 years ago, they were called "silhouette" racers. And in Europe, these silhouette race cars were a big, big, big deal. They sold a lot of street cars. In this case, they also sold an unusual road rocket that, relatively speaking, wasn't raced a whole lot.

Believe it or not, BMW still factory-stocks full carpeting kits for M1s. Compared to what was being produced by Ferrari, Lamborghini, et al, the M1's cabin is remarkably austere

Silhouette cars were the culmination of a long series of events that rocked the foundation of international sports car racing. Flip back the calendar to 1967, when the Ford Motor Company was happily exterminating Ferrari's legacy of Le Mans dominance in a nod to the monstrously egotistical Henry Ford II, who had been jarringly rebuffed in his efforts to buy Ferrari by Enzo himself. Rules changes relegated the 7.0-liter GT40 monsters from Dearborn into obsolescence, a happenstance that coincided with the fabulous Porsche 917's swift ascension to global dominance. Then, abruptly, the FIA decided that beginning in 1972, the heretofore-dominant sports prototypes would be limited to 3.0 liters of displacement. Interest in these formula-derived specials dissipated in a hurry, whereupon the global authority determined that the appropriate tools for contesting these races would be Group 4 (modified GT) and Group 5, which was effectively a category for extremely modified production cars--so modified, in fact, that only the basic contours of the vehicle had to be recognizable as somewhat resembling what came from the factory. The first manufacturer to exploit the revised rules, predictably, was Porsche. Its entry, the monstrously turbocharged 935, became one of the most recognizable racers of the 1970s, sprouting ever-nuttier body kits and wings, and coughing exhaust fireballs at every lifting of the throttle. They won prodigiously, and onlookers loved their crazy looks and over-the-edge antics, garnering Porsche--and its production 911 and Turbo--gobs of publicity.

Thematic simplicity extends to analog gauges and warning lights

Understandably, others wanted a helping from this feast. One of the aspirants was BMW, which from the outset, envisioned a mid-engine GT for taking on the 911 Turbo and its subsequent evolutions, and the 3.0 CSi coupe, which did yeoman track work

during the middle 1970s, was deemed too bulky. The effort was bootstrapped by Jochen Neerpasch, the ex-Porsche driving star then heading BMW Motorsport, and BMW marketing boss Bob Lutz, long before his GM days. In 1975, BMW made a deal with Lamborghini, under which the Italians would use their excess capacity to build a ground-up supercar. The deal called for world introduction of the new road car, tentatively dubbed E-26, in time for the 1978 Geneva Salon, with silhouette versions homologated from the production version off to take on Le Mans a few weeks later. The basic aesthetic design was contracted to Giorgetto Giugiaro at ItalDesign, who worked in any number of characteristics lifted from the Paul Bracq-penned BMW Turbo show car, which dated back to 1972. Lamborghini managed to get a few prototypes, built with BMW powertrains, running by mid-1977, but Sant'Agata was going broke and it missed the Geneva delivery deadline. Furious, BMW brass immediately terminated the deal.

The delays tanked more than BMW's 1978 Le Mans assault. While Munich sought a new production strategy for its supercar, by now officially called the M1, the FIA rules for Group 2 and Group 4 meant that BMW would now have to produce 400 customer examples before the silhouette M1 could be homologated for racing. That was when Giugiaro assumed supervision for producing the M1's body panels, including their already standard double-kidney grille. These were mated to the space frame, fabricated by Modena specialist Marchesi, at the Baur coachworks in Stuttgart. The base cars were then shipped on to BMW Motorsport where the powertrains were installed. Despite its sharply creased shape and very low profile, the production M1 still had an unexpectedly high drag coefficient of 0.40.

BMW managed to get a roadworthy M1 onto the street in time for the 1978 Paris show, but actual customer deliveries didn't begin until the following February, nearly a year late. By that time, Neerpasch had secured a deal creating a new racing series, Procar, that would be contested exclusively by M1s as Formula 1 support events. That solved a nagging problem for BMW: Given production capability, it would have taken years for the M1 to reach Group 5 because of the 400-car homologation mandate. It also likely saved BMW some potential embarrassment, because the M1 was still relatively heavy, and despite BMW's single Group 5 M1's having an alleged 1,000 turbocharged horsepower from its M88 straight-six (derived from the 3.0CSL coupes' engine--costs dictated that Neerpasch never got the V-8 or V-12 he originally wanted) in Group 5 trim, it still underperformed when compared to the feathery, 800hp 935s.

The street version of the M1 lasted three years, ending its run in 1981 with 399 road cars produced, along with about 60 racing versions, including the Procars. With its razor-edged ItalDesign lines, the M1's reinforced-fiberglass body throatily yells its exclusivity, having come to be in an era when Ferrari 308s and (especially) Porsche 911s seemed to be as numerous on U.S. highways as, um, BMWs. Their comparatively small production numbers mean that they've solidly maintained their value, and that a high percentage of them have been preserved, and kept well. Part of the reason for their durability is that despite their oddball German-Italian origins, M1s were still BMWs, which means they were attentively built cars. Take a close look at one, and you'll quickly realize that their build quality mirrors that of any 2002, 320i or 530i from the same era, when BMW was galvanizing its rep as a gotta-have marque for American car enthusiasts. Despite their GRP-over-tubes construction, body panels are rarely misaligned. The interior is sternly functional, as befits any BMW product from the days before gathered leather and ridiculously complex electronics turned these cars into self-parodies. The leathers are finished in subdued tones, and there's the requisite row of circular, no-nonsense analog gauges that you'd expect.

Gordon Medenica of Pelham, New York, who operates the BMW M1 Register (gmedenica@aol.com), said at least 350 of the 450-plus M1s are accounted for today, with typical U.S. market prices recently ranging between $100,000 and $150,000, depending on condition and mileage. A surprising variety of original parts are still available through BMW Mobile Tradition. A popular retrofit is the addition of a steering kickback damper. None of the cars was federalized by BMW, although ACI of California added this car's rammer bumpers, side bars and Ford catalytic converters to get them stateside legally.

To Neerpasch's presumed regret, the M1 never got a "proper" V-12--these came later to BMW's arsenal. What was dropped within the tubing was still a very proper M-Power item, the M88 DOHC inline-six, an iron-block powerplant which likely explained the M1's relative bulk. Fitted with a cast-alloy twin-cam 24-valve head--the first BMW four-valve engine for road use--the M88 displaced 3,453cc, its bore and stroke identical to production BMW engines using the same block. The crossflow head, however, was evolved directly from those developed for the CSL coupes that raced IMSA beginning in 1974, and treated to larger intake and exhaust valves. To enhance the M1's center of gravity, the engine was fitted with a dry-sump oiling system using a side-mounted tank, and longitudinally mounted at the very bottom of the frame. It's fed through Kugelfischer-Bosch mechanical fuel injection, and fired by a Magnetti-Marelli breakerless ignition with a digital control box. It's rated at 277hp, dusting both the Ferrari 308 GTB's initial 240hp and the 265hp of the U.S.-spec Porsche Turbo from the same era. Like the engine, the ZF five-speed manual transaxle is plopped front-to-rear in the chassis.

Typical for a mid-engine exotic, the M1 has separate front and rear compartments, both of debatable storage utility. The front one is dominated by the leaned-forward radiator and its evacuation ducting, with the battery mounted just behind the ducts, along with the fuse box. The brake servo and master cylinder are likewise up front. A massive single GRP molding covers both the engine bay and the rear compartment, where the donut spare resides.

Ergonomically, this is solidly a BMW product. The factory compensated for the standard Recaro seats' relative lack of front-to-rear movement by installing an adjustable steering column, not exactly the norm for the mega-exotics. The white-backlighted (not the common Bimmer red) instruments are deeply set into a hooded nacelle, all straight-ahead for the driver. Most of the M1's smaller controls are grouped onto the center console, most notably for the standard dual-level air conditioning, along with the likewise-standard Becker Mexico cassette audio system, which was the world's best back in 1979.

Especially by today's standards, the M1's Gianpaolo Dallara-designed suspension is traditionalist, with coils, wishbones and trailing arms, damped by height-adjustable Bilstein gas shocks. The rack-and-pinion steering is unassisted, unlike the ATE disc brakes, the rear ones mounted inboard. When new, the M1s had their unforgettable thin-slotted Campagnolo wheels shod with Pirelli P7 speed-rated radials, but since then many owners, including Kelly Marsh, who keeps this 1981 M1 today, have upped the frontal size one step for improved steering grip. Marsh is a little different from the typical M1 owner in that he owns a BMW dealership in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, and raced in the IMSA Camel GT series, including a class win at the Daytona 24 hours. This M1, chassis number 402, was previously owned by Amelia Island concours impresario Bill Warner, and was originally an ItalDesign fleet car when first built.

"Mine's been signed off on by both the EPA and the DOT," Marsh explained. "All I had to do with it, really, was just tighten up a few suspension fittings that were a little loose. You sit a lot lower in an M1 than in a 911, so you're constantly looking up at everything. Even as a U.S. car, it's got great acceleration, great cornering and it makes terrific noises. The pedals are offset to the center, but that doesn't bother me at all.

"Despite the weight, it seems to accelerate better than the Ferrari 308 I once had," he said. "It's not as quick as a Porsche Turbo, but the M1's performace is more linear, more direct, not as abrupt or on-and-off as the Porsche was. The M1's handling is really benign. I grew up with Porsches, and you really have to do something with them when they start misbehaving. With the M1, there's no such problem. It's very comfortable. It's very fast and with the bigger tires on the front and rear, it actually tends to understeer. The M1 is a real road car, an exotic, like a Ferrari or Lamborghini, that just happens to be German."

Owner's Story

"BMW was trying to compete with the 911 and the 308, and was also trying to create a race car, trying to take on Porsche. I had a 1979 Ferrari 308, and to me, the M1 is a much better car. Even though the 911 was a great car, I've never considered it to be an exotic, but to me, the M1 is an Italian exotic that has German practicality.

Owner Kelly Marsh

"This is a real car. It starts every day. You can drive it every day. I take it to work a couple of times each week, about 10 or 12 miles each way, and there's never a problem. I've driven it about 100 miles each way to Mid-Ohio, and that's no problem. With a little less than 300hp, it's a terrific car to drive, although you never forget that you're in a BMW. The interior's really not that fancy, given the car's price, which may ultimately have contributed to its downfall."

- Kelly Marsh

WHAT TO Pay

BMW M1

Low: $75,000

Avg: $100,000

High: $150,000

Pros and Cons

Pros

Still-fresh ItalDesign looks

BMW still has many parts

Exceptional build quality

Cons

Can a German be exotic?

No V-8, no V-12, no turbo

Ignition failures are very costly

Specifications

ENGINE

Type: M88/1 straight-six, cast-iron block, aluminum-alloy head, dual overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder

Displacement: 3,453cc (210.71-cu.in.)

Bore x stroke: 93.4 x 84mm

Compression ratio: 9.0:1

Horsepower @ rpm: 277 @ 6,500 (European specification)

Torque @ rpm: 239-lbs.ft. @ 5,000 (European specification)

Main bearings: 7

Fuel system: Kugelfischer-Bosch mechanical fuel injection, dual pumps, ball-joint throttle linkage, dual fuel tanks

Lubrication system: Dry sump, tank inside bodywork

Exhaust system: Tubular exhaust manifold, twin outlets

TRANSMISSION

Type: ZF DS25 five-speed manual transaxle, Fichtel und Sachs dual-disc clutch

Ratios: 1st 2.42:1

2nd: 1.61:1

3rd: 1.14:1

4th: 0.85:1

5th: 0.70:1

Reverse: 2.86:1

Final Drive Ratio: 4.22:1

STEERING

Type: ZF or TRW rack and pinion, manual

Turns, lock to lock: 3.2

Turning circle: 42.6 feet

BRAKES

Type: Hydraulic, split circuit, power assist

Front/rear: 11.8-inch vented disc/11.7-inch vented disc

CHASSIS & BODY

Construction: Reinforced fiberglass panels over tubular steel space frame

Body style: Two-passenger GT coupe

Layout: Mid-engine, rear-wheel drive

SUSPENSION

Front: Unequal-length wishbones, coil springs, 23mm anti-roll bar, height-adjustable Bilstein gas shocks

Rear: Unequal-length trailing arms, coil springs, 19mm anti-roll bar, height-adjustable Bilstein gas shocks

Wheels: Campagnolo cast-aluminum alloy

Front/rear: 16 x 8 inches / 16 x 7 inches

Tires: Bridgestone Potenza SO3 radials

Front/rear: P225/50-ZR16 / P245/45-ZR16

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

Wheelbase: 100.8 inches

Overall length: 171.7 inches

Overall width: 71.8 inches

Overall height: 44.9 inches

Front track: 61 inches

Rear track: 62 inches

Shipping weight: 3,175 pounds (est.)

CAPACITIES

Crankcase: 9 quarts (includes sump)

Cooling system: 21 quarts

Fuel tank: 30 gallons (total)

Transaxle: 3.6 pints

CALCULATED DATA

Hp per cc: 0.080

Weight per hp: 11.46 pounds (est.)

Weight per c.i.d.: 15.07 pounds (est.)

PERFORMANCE

0-60 mph: 5.6 seconds

¼ mile: 13.1 seconds at 112 mph

Top speed: 162 mph

PRICE

Base price: $50,000 (est. European spec.)