Hi mates,
i found this article on a Turkish BMW site and thought to share it with everybody here. It is a brief summary of the M.
History of BMW M Power From Past to Present
Probably BMW M Department is one of the best known and most observed one of the high performance vehicle manufacturing departments in the world. The aim of this article is to observe the development of M Power since the first M model, BMW M1.
1972
BMW M GMBH, which is a sub-establishment of BMW AG,started its studies in May 1972. It was formerly known as BMW Motorsport GMBH. BMW Motorsport GMBH department was founded to support BMW models which were attending races during 60's and 70's in various categories. 8 persons were working in this department when it was founded.
The first project of this team was BMW 3.0 CSL.CSL stands for Coupe Sport Lightweight. This department manufactured 1265 pieces of this vehicle from 1972 to 1975.
1973
In 1973 the 24 hour race starting from Nurburgring was won with BMW 3.0 CSL driven by pilots Hans Joachim Stuck and Chris Amon.Due to the large aerodynamic wings which were built up for this car, it was named 'The Batmobile'.
1978
The first M Class vehicle for the city roads, BMW M1 E26 was announced in 1978 Paris Motor Show. The prototype was drafted by Paul Bracq based on 1972 model BMW Turbo and the design was completed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, a world famous car designer. Actually, the story of M1, the first M series car
is an interesting one. Due to the lack of material and sources during that
period, BMW made a deal with Lamborghini for the design and production of this car. However, the Italians were having some financial problems and the project came back to the BMW technicians. The purpose of manufacturing the M1 was, to make a car for the race tracks only and to attend the Germany Racing Championships. Because of the delay caused by the above mentioned reasons, it was impossible for M1 to attend the racing series which had already kicked off. The car was designed and manufactured but could not attend the series. Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley made a cooperation and they decided to arrange a racing series named Procar. Procar Series was defined as the opening race for Formula 1 races. But the problems were not yet over for M1. The cars to be attended to Procar Series had to be in mass production. They had to be selling in the market for public use, in other words. BMW M GMBH started to manufacture the road version of this car. They produced and sold 450 pieces and it became very popular amongst the collectors. M1 E26 which was based on the 6 cylinder engine of 3.0 CLS produced 277 HP. It was attention attracting that this car had a top speed of 165 mph in 1978.
1979
Even though BMW M1 E26 was manufactured for daily driving also, it was still a race car under the body of a daily ride. The first real M series for daily drivers was manufactured in 1979. It was the BMW M535i E12. In fact this was the better performing one of the middle - high range 5 series sedans. It had bigger and better brakes, Recaro sports seats and the engine was a 6 cylinder M30. This M was on sale until 1981 and 1410 pieces were sold.
1983
In 1983, with the start of 6 Series, M635CSI was manufactured too. it had a 3500cc, 6 cylinder engine and produced 286 HP. The ///M team showed great effort to adapt all their race experience to the new M series.
i found this article on a Turkish BMW site and thought to share it with everybody here. It is a brief summary of the M.
History of BMW M Power From Past to Present
Probably BMW M Department is one of the best known and most observed one of the high performance vehicle manufacturing departments in the world. The aim of this article is to observe the development of M Power since the first M model, BMW M1.
1972
BMW M GMBH, which is a sub-establishment of BMW AG,started its studies in May 1972. It was formerly known as BMW Motorsport GMBH. BMW Motorsport GMBH department was founded to support BMW models which were attending races during 60's and 70's in various categories. 8 persons were working in this department when it was founded.
The first project of this team was BMW 3.0 CSL.CSL stands for Coupe Sport Lightweight. This department manufactured 1265 pieces of this vehicle from 1972 to 1975.
1973
In 1973 the 24 hour race starting from Nurburgring was won with BMW 3.0 CSL driven by pilots Hans Joachim Stuck and Chris Amon.Due to the large aerodynamic wings which were built up for this car, it was named 'The Batmobile'.
1978
The first M Class vehicle for the city roads, BMW M1 E26 was announced in 1978 Paris Motor Show. The prototype was drafted by Paul Bracq based on 1972 model BMW Turbo and the design was completed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, a world famous car designer. Actually, the story of M1, the first M series car
is an interesting one. Due to the lack of material and sources during that
period, BMW made a deal with Lamborghini for the design and production of this car. However, the Italians were having some financial problems and the project came back to the BMW technicians. The purpose of manufacturing the M1 was, to make a car for the race tracks only and to attend the Germany Racing Championships. Because of the delay caused by the above mentioned reasons, it was impossible for M1 to attend the racing series which had already kicked off. The car was designed and manufactured but could not attend the series. Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley made a cooperation and they decided to arrange a racing series named Procar. Procar Series was defined as the opening race for Formula 1 races. But the problems were not yet over for M1. The cars to be attended to Procar Series had to be in mass production. They had to be selling in the market for public use, in other words. BMW M GMBH started to manufacture the road version of this car. They produced and sold 450 pieces and it became very popular amongst the collectors. M1 E26 which was based on the 6 cylinder engine of 3.0 CLS produced 277 HP. It was attention attracting that this car had a top speed of 165 mph in 1978.
1979
Even though BMW M1 E26 was manufactured for daily driving also, it was still a race car under the body of a daily ride. The first real M series for daily drivers was manufactured in 1979. It was the BMW M535i E12. In fact this was the better performing one of the middle - high range 5 series sedans. It had bigger and better brakes, Recaro sports seats and the engine was a 6 cylinder M30. This M was on sale until 1981 and 1410 pieces were sold.
1983
In 1983, with the start of 6 Series, M635CSI was manufactured too. it had a 3500cc, 6 cylinder engine and produced 286 HP. The ///M team showed great effort to adapt all their race experience to the new M series.
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