E nds

The BMW Group

With its four brands, BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial services. The BMW Group production network comprises over 30 production sites worldwide; the company has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2025, the BMW Group sold 2.46 million passenger vehicles and more than 202,500 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in the financial year 2025 was € 10.2 billion on revenues amounting to € 133,5 billion. As of 31 December 2025, the BMW Group had a workforce of 154,540 employees.

The economic success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. Sustainability is a key element of the BMW Group’s corporate strategy and covers all products – from the supply chain through production to the end of their useful life.

www.bmwgroup.com 
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/bmw-group/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/bmwgroup
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmwgroup
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bmwgroup

For more information please contact :

Helen Wilson
Corporate and Brand Media Relations Manager
Tel: 07815 372480
Email: Helen.Wilson@bmw.co.uk

Chris Overall
Head of Corporate, Brand and Internal Communications
Tel: 07815 370 990
Email: Chris.Overall@bmw.co.uk

Christina Burnham-Hepe
Corporate Communications Director
Tel: 07815 371 206
Email: Christina.Burnham-Hepe@bmw.co.uk

Note: This press release is a 1:1 copy of the original issued by BMW headquarters in Germany. No adaptions have been made to cater to the UK market. 

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the BMW 3 Series, the press kit “40 Years of BMW 3 Series” from 2015 was comprehensively revised, supplemented and updated.

Please find it in the appendix.

Note: This press release is a 1:1 copy of the original issued by BMW headquarters in Germany. No adaptions have been made to cater to the UK market.

Munich. BMW Group Classic publishes digital historical model overviews for use by the general public and supplements the recently revised BMW Group Online Archive with a comprehensive historical online product catalog of the BMW, Mini and BMW Motorrad brands.

First, the historic model overviews of the Mini and BMW Motorrad brands were made available to the general public in 2021. The historical model overview of the BMW brand is now also available online.

This research tool is available for media, enthusiasts and fans at
https://www.bmwgroup-classic.com/en/history/historic-modeloverview-bmw.html. 424 BMW models are available there. The BMW product range includes all series vehicles from the BMW 3/15 hp model to the BMW 3 Series (E46), including BMW Z4 (E85/E86). A total period of 80 years (1928 to 2008) was prepared. The historical model overviews of the Mini and BMW Motorrad brands round off the online research offering.

In all brand areas, there are overviews of all classic vehicles with short and informative texts on model series, body variants and engines.

These are enriched with current images from the BMW Group Classic vehicle collection and the historic BMW media archive. For this purpose, 614 data sets and 524 images were processed. During the design, emphasis was placed on the future viability of the tool. The historical model overviews can be extended with future vehicle generations.

Anyone who would like to delve even deeper into BMW Group cars and other topics related to BMW Group corporate history can do so under further links to the BMW Group Classic online archive, revised in 2024. For example, publications (brochures, workshop literature, on-board literature, etc.) and specialist books can also be found there.

Katrin Gfrörer, Head of BMW Group Archives and Historic Vehicle Collection: “By making our complete historical model overviews available online, we meet a high external demand for historical product information that has existed for many years and maximizes customer satisfaction with another digital tool. In addition, most of the database in our online archive is publicly available on the BMW Group Archive website and can be used for information and research purposes. These measures impressively underline BMW Group Classic's digitization strategy."

You can access the historical model overviews and the BMW Group Archive under the following links.

Hist. BMW model overview:
https://www.bmwgroup-classic.com/en/history/historic-modeloverview-bmw.html

Hist. Mini model overview:
https://www.bmwgroup-classic.com/en/history/historic-modeloverview-mini.html

Hist. BMW Motorrad model overview:
https://www.bmwgroup-classic.com/en/history/historic-modeloverview-bmwmotorrad.html

BMW Group Archive: https://bmw-grouparchiv.de/irc/

BMW Group Classic Website: https://www.bmwgroup-classic.com/en.html

Media Information

21 June, 2024. Updated: 26 June, 2024.

BMW at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

• Two world debuts, with the world premiere of the all-new BMW M5 and BMW X3
• New BMW M4 CS seen in the UK for the first time
• BMW’s Hypercar, the BMW M Hybrid V8, to storm up the hill
• The BMW Vision Neue Klasse, BMW Concept Skytop and one-of-a-kind BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA on display at the Stable Yard 
• An array of historic racing cars from BMW Group Classic to participate in the Hillclimb including the iconic BMW V12 LMR 
• The BMW R20 concept, BMW Motorrad’s bold mechanical masterpiece, to take to the hill

All eyes will be on BMW at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed to witness the world premiere of the new all-new BMW M5 and BMW X3. Both cars will be unveiled at BMW’s Trackside stand from 10:30 am (BST) on Thursday 11 July.  

Also seen for the first time in the UK will be the new and exclusive BMW M4 CS, which will be joined on the hill by the ground-breaking BMW XM Label. Festivalgoers will be able to see the spectacular BMW M Hybrid V8 and BMW R20 concept in action as well, whilst the Stable Yard will provide the perfect stage for BMW’s Vision Neue Klasse, the luxurious BMW Concept Skytop and the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA with colour-change technology. The latest models from BMW M will be on display at Trackside, including the new BMW M135, the facelifted BMW M2 and BMW M3 Touring and - taking centre stage - the BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh.

A highlight moment for BMW M at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed will undoubtedly be the global debut of the all-new BMW M5. With 40 years of history, the legendary high-performance saloon from BMW M GmbH is entering its seventh generation with an electrified drive system for the first time. The combination of a high-revving V8 engine with M TwinPower Turbo technology and an electric motor, plus power transfer courtesy of an eight-speed M Steptronic transmission and M xDrive all-wheel drive, enables acceleration from 0 to 62 mph in 3.5 seconds. In addition to its constant static presence at the BMW M stand at Trackside, the all-new BMW M5 will also be seen by spectators on Goodwood’s legendary hill climb multiple times per day throughout the event.

The new BMW X3 M50 xDrive will also be unveiled to the world at Goodwood and is the fourth generation SAV, adding another chapter to the BMW X3 success story which began over 20 years ago. The range-topping model boasts greater sporting appeal, visual impact, and versatility than ever before and features the most powerful six-cylinder in-line petrol engine yet fitted in an M Performance model. The 3.0-litre M TwinPower Turbo unit links up with 48V mild hybrid technology. Its maximum output of 398 hp is channelled to the road via an eight-speed Steptronic Sport transmission and BMW xDrive intelligent all-wheel drive. The BMW X3 M50 xDrive powers to 62 mph from rest in 4.6 seconds.

Tackling the famous 1.16-mile course in the ‘First Glance’ category will be the new BMW M4 CS. Powered by a high-revving six-cylinder in-line 3.0-litre engine with M TwinPower Turbo technology, the race-focussed BMW M4 CS has an increased engine output of 550 hp and features model-specific chassis tuning and lightweight design elements. Instantaneous power delivery and optimised traction enable acceleration of 0 to 62 mph in just 3.4 seconds.

Fresh from racing at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, the stunning BMW M Hybrid V8 will also take to the hill. The return of the BMW brand to the top category of Le Mans in the Hypercar class came exactly 25 years after the victory of the BMW V12 LMR in 1999. To acknowledge this historic moment BMW Group Classic will drive the iconic V12 up the hill. The team will also bring two additional famous racing cars to Goodwood’s Hillclimb - the BMW 318i touring car, driven by famed racing driver Johnny Cecotto, and the BMW2002 TIK, with HRH Leopold Prince of Bavaria at the wheel.

Festivalgoers will also be able to see a BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh at Trackside, whilst visitors to the stand can learn more about the 20th BMW Art Car - the Hypercar designed by the internationally renowned artist Julie Mehretu - that played a very special role at this year’s Le Mans.

BMW will storm up the hill on two wheels as well. BMW Motorrad recently unveiled its latest design masterpiece, the BMW R20 concept, at Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este and will bring it to this year’s Festival. Presented as a piece of art and as the epitome of expressive and cool design, the BMW R20 concept showcases the legendary air-oil cooled Big Boxer engine at its centre. The R20 can be seen in the ‘First Glance and Road Bikes’ category, whilst a wonderful BMW R255/1 Compressor from BMW Group Classic will feature in ‘Batch 4’.

The Stable Yard – once again dedicated to BMW – will be transformed into a tranquil location showcasing luxury and technology: from the BMW Concept Skytop, an open top two-seater demonstrating truly unique and exotic design, to the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA, a one-of-a-kind vehicle that combines colour-change technology developed by BMW with the artistic language of South African artist Esther Mahlangu. For many however, the BMW Vision Neue Klasse will form the focal point of the display - the Neue Klasse showcases the breadth of BMW’s future model line-up.

BMW’s latest range of luxury cars will also be on display in the Stable Yard including the BMW i7, the brand’s flagship saloon that has redefined the luxury segment with new levels of electrification and digitalisation. The recently launched BMW i5 Touring will take centre stage in this tranquil space, alongside two e-vehicles from BMW Motorrad – the BMW CE 02 and BMW CE 04 - that provide a breath of fresh air for urban electric mobility on two wheels.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is being held over four days from 11-14 July 2024.

Ends

The BMW Group

 With its four brands BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. The BMW Group production network comprises over 30 production sites worldwide; the company has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2023, the BMW Group sold over 2.55 million passenger vehicles and more than 209,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in the financial year 2023 was € 17.1 billion on revenues amounting to € 155.5 billion. As of 31 December 2023, the BMW Group had a workforce of 154,950 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company set the course for the future at an early stage and consistently makes sustainability and efficient resource management central to its strategic direction, from the supply chain through production to the end of the use phase of all products.

www.bmwgroup.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroup
X: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupView
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmwgroup
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bmw-group/
 

For further information please contact:

Martin Harrison
Media Relations Officer
Tel: 07815 377083
Email: Martin.Harrison@bmw.co.uk

Chris Overall
BMW Media Relations Manager
Tel: 07815 370 990
Email: Chris.Overall@bmw.co.uk

Christina Burnham-Hepe
General Manager, Communications
Tel: 07815 371 206
Email: Christina.Burnham-Hepe@bmw.co.uk

Graham Biggs
Corporate Communications Director
Tel: 07815 376 867
Email: Graham.Biggs@bmw.co.uk

• Updated information pack and imagery for BMW Group UK’s historic fleet
• All resources for each model now available for download
• The historic fleet consists of 16 exceptional BMW and MINI vehicles, manufactured between 1972 and 2014

BMW Group UK’s historic fleet represents the best of BMW, BMW M GmbH and MINI, showcasing a breadth of models from across its brands and remarkable history. To complement the fleet, the company has proudly updated its resources to include a full information pack, fresh imagery and a specification sheet for each car.

The UK subsidiary is the custodian of some of the most prominent cars in the company’s history, from the M Division’s legendary M1, iconic models such as the Batmobile and 2002 and numerous generations of BMW roadsters. The MINI John Cooper Works GP1 and GP2 also form part of the historic fleet.

The fleet now comprises of 16 cars, including 14 BMW and 2 MINI vehicles. It is used by UK automotive media, to create content and feature stories, and by retailers for showroom displays and new product launches. The cars also feature at numerous other events and shows around the country, supporting the launch of new products and showcasing the rich history of both brands.

The new resources not only reflect the significance of the fleet but will help showcase the cars in the best possible light. All the information is now easily accessible, which will not only help the media construct their stories more easily but will also help retailers better inform their customers and facilitate even more social media content. Full information packs are available on request, while the imagery and specification sheets are available online.

An overview for each of the historic cars is provided below.

BMW 1 Series M Coupé [Image Set 1]
The 1 Series M Coupé was unveiled late in 2010 before its market launch in 2011 and its arrival heralded a new entry into the compact sporting segment for BMW M. It offered everything you’d expect from a BMW M car but in a smaller package and was lauded for its performance, agile chassis and expressive design. If ever a car deserved the ‘pocket rocket’ epithet, the BMW 1 Series M Coupé was it.

BMW 3.0 CSL “Batmobile” [Image Set 2]
The BMW 3.0 CSL is perhaps the most iconic BMW manufactured during the 1970s and its competition pedigree is second to none. Six European Touring Car Championships outright wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Nürburgring 24 Hours, Spa 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours as well as class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and numerous other races.

BMW 2002 Turbo [Image Set 3]
BMW has always been at the forefront of innovation and back in the 1970s this was ably demonstrated by the launch of the BMW 2002 Turbo, Europe’s first turbocharged production car that made its debut in 1974. BMW Motorsport had experimented with a turbocharged 2002 in the European Touring Car Championship in 1969 and to demonstrate its technical prowess and the performance potential of the turbocharger the road-going 2002 Turbo was presented at the 1973 Frankfurt motor show with series production starting early in 1974.

BMW E30 M3 Ravaglia Edition [Image Set 4]
The first generation of BMW M3 might have first seen the light of day over 35 years ago but it remains one of BMW’s most iconic models. Developed from the E30 generation of 3 Series the M3 model was thoroughly reengineered to make it a force to be reckoned with in motorsport and it is one of the most successful Touring Cars of all time. It claimed the inaugural World Touring Car Championship as well as two European titles, two DTM championships, two British Touring Car Championships along with countless other titles around the world. It was a star of endurance racing too, with four outright victories at both the Nürburgring and Spa Francochamps 24-hour races.

BMW E46 M3 CSL [Image Set 5]
The ultimate incarnation of the road-going M3 for the E46 generation of 3 Series was the CSL, a stripped out lightweight version of the M3 – a no holds barred machine aimed at the most discerning drivers. The use of the CSL moniker, with the L standing for Leicht or Lightweight, paid homage to the glorious 3.0 CSL Batmobile from the 1970s.

BMW E92 M3 GTS [Image Set 6]
The fourth generation of M3 was a departure from the models that had gone before it – for the first time the M3 featured a V8 engine. Built as a Saloon, Coupé and Convertible (known as the E90, E92 and E93 respectively) it was a hugely successful model. With 420hp from its high-revving V8 it was quite the performer and with a chassis that had been honed by BMW M’s engineers its handling was sublime.

BMW E34 M5 [Image Set 7]
When the original BMW M5 was launched in 1984 it defined a new segment in the motoring landscape, the arrival of the super saloon. With nigh-on super car performance wrapped up in a practical, executive saloon it was the blueprint for a dynasty that’s still delighting fans to this day.

BMW E39 M5 [Image Set 8]
The third generation of M5, known as the E39, was introduced in 1998 and it was quite a departure from its two M5 predecessors, both of which used a version of the venerable 24-valve six-cylinder engine that first saw the light of day in the racing CSLs of the 1970s. It was all change for the E39 though as it heralded the arrival of a V8 in an M5 for the first time.

BMW E60 M5 [Image Set 9]
The fourth generation of BMW M5, known as the E60, was the most advanced car BMW had ever made when it was launched back in 2004. Based on the successful E60 5 Series executive saloon the BMW M5 used cutting edge Formula 1 know-how to create the most technologically advanced super saloon ever seen. The E60 M5 was launched during the era of the V10 Formula 1 engine and BMW M’s engineers drew on the experience they had gained from their F1 program to develop a stunning 5.0-litre V10 engine for the M5 road car.

BMW F10 M5 30 Jahre Edition [Image Set 10]
The fifth generation of M5 launched in the latter part of 2011 and was quite a departure from the cars that had gone before it and for the first time in its history the M5 super saloon featured a turbocharged engine. This generation of M5, known as the F10, offered considerable gains over the V10-engined E60 model that went before it; ten per cent more power, 30 per cent more torque and a 30 per cent improvement in fuel economy.

BMW M1 [Image Set 11]
The BMW M1 was the very first BMW M car and is the only mid-engined car to have been developed by BMW Motorsport, or BMW M GmbH as the company is now known. The M1 was conceived to take on the world’s sports car manufacturers in Group 4 and Group 5 racing but also to demonstrate BMW Motorsport’s prowess on the road.

BMW M635CSi [Image Set 12]
The first BMW 6 Series first saw the light of day in 1976 when it replaced the iconic E9 3.0 CSL coupé at the head of the BMW range. The 6 Series would go on to have a 13-year production run, the longest ever for a BMW, and in 1983 the ultimate version of the 6 Series was revealed at the Frankfurt motor show, the M635CSi. While the 6 Series always offered scintillating performance the M635CSi took it to a new level.

BMW Z1 [Image Set 13]
The BMW Z1 started life as a concept car but such was the excitement around this daring new design that it was put into limited production towards the end of the 1980s. It was the first product to emerge from BMW’s new Technik GmbH department that had been set up to examine new ways of looking at things with a team of talented engineers studying new materials, production processes and concepts who were all positively encouraged to think outside the box. BMW hadn’t built a dedicated roadster since the 507 of the 1950s so it was perhaps apt that the first product from BMW Technik GmbH was a sporting roadster.

BMW Z8 [Image Set 14]
The reveal of a new BMW always brings with it a frisson of excitement but at the 1997 Tokyo motor show rumours of a new BMW concept was the main topic of conversation with no one outside of BMW knowing what was about to be revealed. The Concept Z07 that made its debut in Tokyo was most unexpected, a retro-styled roadster and coupé that paid homage to the classic BMW 507 Roadster from the 1950s. Two years later at the 1999 Tokyo show the production model, now known as the Z8, was revealed for the first time and it had stayed very true to the concept’s design.

MINI John Cooper Works GP1 [Image Set 15]
Ever since the Sir Alec Issigonis-designed Mini arrived at the end of the 1950s there’s been one name that’s synonymous with the performance versions of the iconic machine – John Cooper. The Cooper and Cooper S models were hugely successful race and rally cars and when the MINI was reborn in 2001 the Cooper S was once again the top model in the range. It could be further enhanced by a range of John Cooper Works tuning kits and there was even a race series, the MINI Challenge.

MINI John Cooper Works GP2 [Image Set 16]
The first generation of the MINI Cooper S John Cooper Works GP was an instant hit when it was launched in 2006 and quickly attained iconic status, continuing a long tradition of Cooper enhanced Minis that stretches all the way back to the early 1960s. Given the success of the original MINI JCW GP its successor, this time based on the R56 generation of MINI hatch, was launched in late 2012 and was once again the fastest and most driver-orientated MINI ever produced.

Ends

The BMW Group
With its four brands BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. The BMW Group production network comprises over 30 production sites worldwide; the company has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2022, the BMW Group sold nearly 2.4 million passenger vehicles and more than 202,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in the financial year 2021 was € 16.1 billion on revenues amounting to € 111.2 billion. As of 31 December 2021, the BMW Group had a workforce of 118,909 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company set the course for the future at an early stage and consistently makes sustainability and efficient resource management central to its strategic direction, from the supply chain through production to the end of the use phase of all products.

www.bmwgroup.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroup
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupView
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmwgroup
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bmw-group/

Please find attached on location pictures of the BMW M activation at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Images include the world premiere of the first-ever BMW M3 Touring, the striking BMW M ‘Central Feature’ outside Goodwood House, BMW M at Trackside and BMW i at The Stable Yard.

For more information on BMW at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2022, click here. The BMW M3 Competition Touring with M xDrive press kit can be found here.

Follow the latest from BMW M at Goodwood Festival of Speed on BMW UK social channels (Instagram / Facebook / Twitter).

Munich/Cernobbio. The BMW Group has created a very special car for this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este to pay tribute to one of the most significant models in its history. First and foremost, the BMW 2002 Hommage celebrates the extraordinary feats of engineering behind the BMW 2002 turbo – and re-imagines them as a design study for our times.

“Exactly 50 years ago, the 02 range kick-started an era of success for BMW. This compact coupe is one of the vehicles which made the brand what it is today,” explains Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design. “The 2002 sat at the top of the range and was the first series-produced car anywhere in Europe to come with turbo technology. That set the seal on the coupe as a genuine sports car. At the same time, the 2002 turbo was at the technological vanguard of engine development at BMW. The BMW 2002 Hommage is our way of raising a glass to all these achievements.”

A confident statement of unadulterated driving joy.

“The eye-catching design of the BMW 2002 Hommage employs a very dynamic, striking use of forms for its own take on what is, for me, one of the most iconic vehicles in BMW history,” says Karim Habib, Head of Design BMW Automobiles. “At the same time, it encapsulates BMW’s major motor sport triumphs, which were made possible by turbo technology. As such, the Hommage car brings together the past and future of BMW into a confident statement of unadulterated driving joy.”

The sporting silhouette of the BMW 2002 Hommage lies low against the road. Its compact proportions, complete with long wheelbase, short overhangs and prominent “shark nose”, promise a driving experience that thrills with irresistible dynamics and agility. Aerodynamic details like the large spoilers at the front and rear team up with the profusion of air intakes to optimise airflow around the car and maximise downforce in every driving situation.

Historic details with a modern twist.

Inspired by the signature chrome strip that ringed the 02 in its day, a horizontal carbon band wraps itself around the shoulderline of the BMW 2002 Hommage and splits the body visually into separate sections. The upper tranche of roof, bonnet and boot lid has matt paintwork to prevent reflection of the sun’s rays –
in a reference to racing cars of yore. The body’s lines here are minimalist, clearly drawn and flowing in nature. The lower section creates a definite contrast, with its high-gloss paintwork, very bold, sculptural surfaces, and distinctive lines that infuse the flanks with a contemporary flavour and draw the eye to the driven rear wheels. The Space Race Metal paintwork drapes itself over the BMW 2002 Hommage like liquid metal. In both its matt and gloss form, the light metallic blue finish changes in appearance from a brightly fluorescent blue to grey, depending on the incidence of light, and lends the surfacing a dynamic sense of depth. As a result, the car’s whole body brims with power and energy.

A particularly striking feature of the car’s flanks are the voluminously moulded wheel arches, which frame the body like four brackets and add stature. In the process, they recall the homologated version of the BMW 2002 turbo, which needed broad extensions bolted onto its body to accommodate a significantly wider track. The Hommage car integrates this detail neatly into flanks designed with clear dedication to the job at hand. Slick surfacing and precisely chiselled lines envelop the powerful wheel arches and hand them a starring role. 20-inch light-alloy wheels in bi-colour design round off the styling as the car meets the road. The modern looks of these lavishly milled, multi-spoke items recall the racing rims of bygone eras, while gold-coloured brake callipers bearing the M logo add an extra stamp of class.

Fronted by 50 years of BMW history.

The front end of the BMW 2002 Hommage is a confident and extravagantly dynamic affair; its styling bridges a gap of 50 years in combining the characteristic, horizontal graphic of the 02 range with modern elements of BMW design. The front end is framed visually by the prominent wheel arches. And the wide track and low-slung body provide an ample canvas for generously-sized surfaces. In its lines and form, the bonnet references the “spear” contour stretching down the centre of the 02 models that swells slightly into a surround for the BMW logo as it approaches the kidney grille. Further precise lines lend structure and definition to the matt surface.

Occupying centre stage at the front end is the familiar BMW kidney grille.
Here, it takes the form of a low-standing, connected unit, offering a flesh slant on the kidneys’ historical rendering as a cohesive design element. Sculpted, black double-bars add finesse to the details of the broad-set grille. Like the BMW 2002, the BMW 2002 Hommage also has two single headlights that provide the striking front end with its outer limits. The headlights are bordered by reflectors, whose gold colouring is a pointer to the “golden” 50th anniversary of the BMW 2002’s launch. The reflectors also reprise the yellow hue commonly found in the headlights of racing cars back in the day. An unbroken black strip creates a fitting visual platform for the kidneys and headlights, brings together the stylistic elements of the front end and, in so doing, underlines the car’s wide and athletic stance. Those with a keen eye will also pick out the turn signal repeaters, which – like those of the car’s forebear – are located separately from the headlights and embedded into a full-width strip (in carbon on the Hommage car) above them.

The large front apron, a stylistic nod to those models of the 1970s, shortens the visual distance between the BMW 2002 Hommage and the road and shines a bright spotlight on its driver focus. Together with the car’s wide, sporting stance, this technically innovative, forward-thinking design sends out a message of top-class roadholding and handling flair through fast corners. Now, as in the heyday of the BMW 2002, design excellence and turbo technology bring unsurpassed levels of fun to twisty race tracks, country roads and mountain passes alike. The BMW Motorsport livery of the front apron and its “turbo” lettering in mirror writing casts the mind back to the original decals of the 2002 turbo, as does the exterior mirror cap on the driver’s side. Accent surfaces in exposed carbon mark the point where the front apron and side skirts hand over to the road, and also provide a technically alluring contrast to the body-coloured surfaces.

Bringing matters to a sporting conclusion.

The rear-end design of the BMW 2002 Hommage also calls on elements of the 2002 turbo. For example, the horizontal sub-division of the car’s generous surfaces and its clear lines make a width-emphasising and thus suitably dynamic statement, laced with modern feel. The form of the rear lights is inspired by the same historical blueprint. The almost rectangular lights provide a stylistic border for the rear end. The glass covers have a contemporary black-panel look and only offer a view of the inner workings when the lights illuminate. All you can see when they are dormant is an unbroken black surface. As at the front of the car, this strengthens the impression of a strip wrapped around the car.
The BMW logo to the right of the license plate between the two rear lights is likewise a characteristic element of 02 rear styling. The muscular wheel arches bookend the rear section and accentuate the wide track, while precise spoiler lips bring a modern edge to the car’s detailing. A carbon diffuser integrates the now familiar two sets of twin exhaust tailpipes and wraps up the rear styling with a sporting flourish.

BMW’s fresh interpretation of the BMW 2002 adopts the form of a compact sports coupe in the classical tradition of BMW Hommage cars. But more than that, the BMW 2002 Hommage represents a clear statement of how pure driving pleasure is defined in 2016.

BMW – Honoured Marque at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed

BMW will be the Central Feature Marque at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed. In its centenary year, the company will take centre stage at the world’s most prestigious motoring festival. Showcasing the diversity of its brands - BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad - BMW Group will celebrate its illustrious sporting past, alongside the stylish cars and bikes of its current range. 

Epitomising this year’s Festival of Speed theme – ‘Full Throttle – The Endless Pursuit of Power’ – the Central Feature will celebrate BMW’s myriad of motorsport successes. Taking a starring role on the sculpture created by Gerry Judah will be the legendary BMW 328 Mille Miglia Roadster, the Gordon Murray-designed Brabham-BMW BT52, and the Le Mans-winning BMW V12 LMR.

Visitors will be able to see and hear many products from BMW’s past that continue to make their mark on the company today. Cars steering their way up Goodwood’s famous 1.16-mile course include a beautiful 1957 BMW 507, the Mille Miglia-winning BMW 328 Touring Coupé from 1940, and a 1965 BMW 1800 TiSA – an early example of BMW’s unparalleled success in touring car racing. Meanwhile, motorbike enthusiasts will be treated to an array of classic and modern bikes including a 1966 BMW R50 S Kaczor, a 1976 BMW R90 S 76 and legendary WR 750 Kompressor from 1929.

This summer’s festival also promises one of the most exciting displays ever for BMW Motorsport GmbH. Representing the most recent expression of the BMW M philosophy, the BMW M4 GTS will be seen for the first time at Goodwood – both up the hill and on display – powered by a six-cylinder in-line engine that develops 500hp with the help of a new water injection system.

A unique ‘M Avenue’ will celebrate iconic BMW M cars from the last 40 years alongside the hottest new M products, including the new BMW M2 - the latest compact sports coupé in a long line of legendary road and racing BMWs. Meanwhile, visitors will be enticed to the BMW Pavilion to see the Bavarian manufacturer’s newest models, including the special edition BMW i8 Protonic Red Edition.

Graeme Grieve, BMW Group UK’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Throughout our 100 year history, BMW has always proved to be a highly innovative company which has defined change and looked to the future. From our first racing success in 1924 through to our plug-in hybrid model BMW i8, BMW Group has played a pioneering role in the automotive world. I am delighted that we will be celebrating our landmarks and achievements at Goodwood this year.” 

The Earl of March, Chairman of the Goodwood Group of Companies said, “In its 100-year history, BMW has created many landmark cars, and has an exceptional motorsport heritage in Formula 1, Formula 2, at Le Mans, and in a variety of touring car series around the world. BMW has been one of the Festival’s most loyal and enthusiastic partners for 19 years. I am thrilled to be celebrating their centenary, and our long-standing relationship, with a BMW Central Feature. The sculpture will feature three cars which epitomise BMW's competitive instincts and pursuit of technology in creating the ultimate driving machine.”

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is being held from 23-26 June 2016, beginning with Press Preview Day featuring the Moving Motor Show on Thursday 23 June.

Ends

The BMW Group

With its three brands BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 30 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2015, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.247 million cars and nearly 137,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2015 was approximately € 9.22 billion on revenues amounting to € 92.18 billion. As of 31 December 2015, the BMW Group had a workforce of 122,244 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.

www.bmwgroup.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroup

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupview

Google+: http://googleplus.bmwgroup.com

For further information please contact:

Martin Harrison                                    BMW Media Relations Officer

Tel: 01252921259

Email: Martin.Harrison@bmw.co.uk

Gavin Ward                                           BMW Media Relations Manager
Tel: 07815 371512           

Email: Gavin.Ward@bmw.co.uk

Piers Scott                                            General Manager, Product and Internal Communications

Tel: 07815 378190            

Email: Piers.Scott@bmw.co.uk

Graham Biggs                                       Corporate Communications Director

Tel: 07815 376867           

Email: Graham.Biggs@bmw.co.uk

Goodwood Festival of Speed

Staged every summer since 1993, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is the world’s largest automotive garden party; set against the spectacular backdrop of Goodwood House in West Sussex, UK. Over 600 cars and motorcycles spanning the phenomenal history of motoring and motor sport take part with some of the most legendary figures from the sport as well as international celebrities regularly attending.

For all Media enquiries, please contact Laura Gilbert-Burke or Gema Bernaldo de Quiros at the Goodwood Motor Sport Press Office:

Telephone: +44 (0)1243 755000

E-mail: laura.gilbert-burke@goodwood.com or gema.bernaldo@goodwood.com

Goodwood Motor Sport on social media:

YouTube: http://youtube.com/goodwoodtv

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/goodwoodrrc

Twitter: http://twitter.com/goodwoodrrrc

BMW, one of the world’s most successful premium carmakers, also boasts an excellent position in the all-wheel-drive market, a segment it first entered 30 years ago. Around one in three BMW cars sold around the world is now equipped with the intelligent BMW xDrive all-wheel-drive system. BMW’s success in this segment has been driven not only by the ever-popular BMW X models but also by all-wheel-drive models based on the other model series, from the BMW 1 Series to the BMW 7 Series. Across these model series, a large choice of AWD models is offered in a wide range of engine versions. At the same time, BMW continues to refine this technology and take it in new directions. By offering BMW xDrive in combination with a hybrid drive and with a front-wheel-drive platform, the company has repeatedly demonstrated its proficiency in the all-wheel-drive field, proficiency that will secure BMW’s position at the forefront of this sector well into the future. Today, BMW offers more than 110 models – of either transmission type – with BMW xDrive in 12 different model series, as well as the plug-in hybrid BMW i8 sports car and the compact BMW 225xe with electrified all-wheel drive.

The focus from day one: traction and dynamics.
BMW’s first foray into the all-wheel-drive market came with the unveiling of the BMW 325i “Allrad” at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) in 1985. From the outside, the newcomer didn’t immediately reveal its inner qualities, so its performance when the journalists took it out on the test track was even more of an eye-opener. This very first BMW all-wheel-drive system not only improved traction away from surfaced roads and in adverse weather conditions, but also made for more dynamic handling through corners. “The new BMW is the new champion when it comes to handling,” was the verdict of the testers from German car magazine Auto Zeitung not long after the first unveiling.

Today, the intelligent BMW xDrive all-wheel-drive system takes typical BMW driving dynamics to new levels. The current generation of this system is controlled by the Integrated Chassis Management (ICM) system, which ensures that xDrive always responds appropriately at the earliest possible moment, based on reliable sensing and monitoring of the current driving situation. The interventions may be performed either entirely by BMW xDrive, or by xDrive in combination with Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) or Dynamic Performance Control (DPC). The resulting fast and precise control of drive power distribution ensures typical BMW handling characteristics even under extremely dynamic cornering.

The all-wheel-drive system is biased towards the typical BMW rear-wheel-drive characteristics. That is to say, on the all-wheel-drive models a greater share of the drive power is sent to the rear wheels, even under normal driving conditions. This maintains the typical BMW precise steering response, with virtually no torque steer. For crisp turn-in and high tracking stability, the latest-generation BMW xDrive system starts increasing the amount of power sent to the rear wheels as soon as the vehicle enters a corner, further enhancing the driving pleasure for which BMW is a byword.

BMW all-wheel-drive technology: continuous evolution since 1985.
The full-time all-wheel-drive system featured on the BMW 325i “Allrad” of 1985 split the drive power in a ratio of 37 to 63 per cent between the front and rear wheels. In response to wheel speed differences, visco locks in the transfer case and rear differential were capable of providing a virtually rigid connection between the front and rear wheels, in order to improve traction and stability. This model’s name was soon changed to BMW 325iX, and from 1988 it was offered in a “touring” version as well (lower-case spelling up to and including the E46 series).

1991: BMW 525iX.
Three years on, BMW introduced an all-wheel-drive model in the BMW 5 Series too. For the first time, the power split was now electronically controlled. The newly developed system featured multi-plate clutches that allowed the default 36:64 front-to-rear power split to be varied seamlessly and automatically in line with driving conditions. Initially a hydraulically controlled multi-plate clutch was used at the rear axle, but this was later replaced by electronically controlled selective braking intervention. The system monitored the driving situation using wheel speed signals from the Anti-lock Braking System, supplemented by further information about brake status, engine speed and throttle valve position.

From the outset the all-wheel-drive system of the BMW 525iX was a class apart. The electronic control system delivered a very fast and precise response, resulting in safe, neutral handling characteristics even in difficult driving conditions, such as on wet roads or snow. In the BMW 5 Series, too, the first all-wheel-drive models were offered in both Sedan and touring versions.

1999: The Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) opens a new chapter.
In the run-up to the new millennium, a highly innovative vehicle concept from BMW made its sensational debut. The BMW X5, the first Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV), impressed customers with driving dynamics that were unmatched among other all-terrain vehicles of the time. The outstanding all-wheel-drive system played a big part in this. A planetary gear system split the drive power in a ratio of 38:62 per cent between the front and rear wheels, while electronic control systems such as DSC (Dynamic Stability Control), ADB-X (Automatic Differential Brake) and HDC (Hill Descent Control) ensured the new BMW X5 was both sporty on the road and equipped to handle challenging conditions off the beaten track.

In the years following the successful launch of the SAV concept, there was no let-up in the fast pace of all-wheel-drive development at BMW. The next year, 2000, a model-specific version of the BMW X5’s all-wheel drive technology became available for the fourth generation of the BMW 3 Series.

2003: BMW xDrive makes its debut in the BMW X3 and BMW X5.
Four years on from the debut of the BMW X5 in 1999, BMW kept up the momentum by launching the SAV concept in a further vehicle segment. The new BMW X3 was more compact than the BMW X5 and offered even more agile handling. It set new benchmarks and remained the only premium model in its class for years to come.

The newly developed BMW xDrive all-wheel-drive system, which was introduced in the same year in both the BMW X3 and the BMW X5, soon extended BMW’s lead in the AWD segment. Based on an extremely fast-acting electronic multi-plate clutch in the transfer case, xDrive worked in tandem with the Dynamic Stability Control system (DSC) to continuously adapt the drive power split to the current driving situation. In addition to wheel speed, for the first time the electronic control system also took into account Dynamic Stability Control data, for example about steering angle, accelerator position and lateral acceleration. This is what makes BMW xDrive the world’s first, and still only, “intelligent” all-wheel-drive system. Unlike conventional all-wheel-drive systems, which only react when at least one wheel is already spinning, xDrive is able to detect a risk of oversteer or understeer at the very first signs, and proactively corrects this by redirecting the flow of drive power.

In the years that followed, the BMW xDrive intelligent all-wheel-drive system was fitted not only on the X models but also on the xDrive versions of the BMW 3 and 5 Series Sedan and Touring models. By the time the second generation of the BMW X3 was introduced in 2010, more than 600,000 units of this series had already been sold worldwide. A little earlier, sales of the BMW X5 – which entered its second generation in 2006 – had topped the one million mark.

2008: SAC with Dynamic Performance Control and hybrid drive.
With the two Sports Activity Vehicles now firmly established in their respective segments, in 2007 BMW went on to present the world’s first Sports Activity Coupe. Unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA), the brand-new BMW X6 elevated the typical dynamic character of the BMW X models to a new level of intensity. For the first time, the intelligent all-wheel-drive system was combined with Dynamic Performance Control (DPC), which varies the drive power split between the rear wheels when cornering to ensure unrivalled agility and stability, even under sudden throttle changes or on overrun. In 2009, the BMW Active Hybrid X6 demonstrated a further perfect pairing – between BMW xDrive and hybrid propulsion. Meanwhile, in the same year, BMW M GmbH added two very special models to its range of high-performance sports cars. With an M-tuned BMW xDrive system, including Dynamic Performance Control, the BMW X5 M and BMW X6 M boasted performance that was previously unknown in the all-wheel-drive market.

2009 also saw the arrival of a new X model, the BMW X1. For many years to come, the BMW X1 was destined to remain the only vehicle of its kind in the premium compact segment. Its intelligent BMW xDrive all-wheel-drive system, like that of the new BMW X3 (2010), was also combinable with Performance Control. This system selectively brakes the wheel on the inside of a turn while simultaneously increasing engine power, resulting in quick and precise turn-in to corners and taking the agile handling of both models to new levels.

BMW xDrive also available for other model series.
The steady advance of the BMW X models has been accompanied by an increase in the number of xDrive versions offered in the other BMW model series too. Designed to improve cornering agility and precision, BMW xDrive provides an enhanced driving experience and an optimal combination of dynamics and comfort. So it was only a matter of time before this intelligent drive technology made its debut in the BMW 7 Series as well, in 2009. In spring 2012, the first all-wheel-drive Coupe and Convertible models were then offered in the sporty BMW 6 Series. BMW xDrive can also be specified on the current BMW 3 and 5 Series and, since 2013, on the Convertible, Coupe and Gran Coupe models of the new BMW 4 Series.

Driving progress ever forward.
BMW took things forward in the premium mid-sized segment with the launch of the BMW X4 in 2014. The new Sports Activity Coupe offers a unique blend of driving enjoyment, sophisticated style and contemporary practicality. It comes with BMW xDrive as standard and is available in a wide range of engine versions. In the same year, BMW also presented the third generation of the BMW X5, the second generation of the BMW X6, and M Sport versions of both models. BMW xDrive also made its debut in the new BMW 2 Series Active Tourer. This was a debut with a difference, being the first time BMW had combined its intelligent all-wheel-drive system with an all-new front-wheel-drive format.

With the BMW i8, unveiled in 2014, the BMW Group took a bold new step in new directions – which also extended to the all-wheel-drive system. This 2+2-seater sports model is powered by a highly advanced plug-in hybrid drive system that pairs an internal combustion engine driving the rear wheels with a high-performance electric motor driving the front wheels.

Focused on the future: BMW xDrive meets BMW eDrive.
BMW’s latest all-wheel-drive models bring technology advances that are firmly focused on the future of mobility. The BMW i8 was followed by the international launch of the first production plug-in hybrid model from the BMW core brand: the BMW X5 xDrive40e. Thanks to full-time BMW xDrive all-wheel-drive and eDrive BMW EfficientDynamics technology, this Sports Activity Vehicle mates thrilling and effortless sporty performance with outstanding efficiency. Intelligent hybrid power management synchronises the operation of the internal combustion engine and the electric motor to maximise efficiency at all times, while also responding perfectly to the driver’s demands. The drive from the two power units is transferred to the road via the full-time BMW xDrive intelligent all-wheel-drive system.

BMW 7 Series: Integral Active Steering combinable with BMW xDrive.
In September 2015, the sixth generation of the BMW 7 Series makes its world debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA). This high-end BMW luxury model pioneers groundbreaking innovations on all fronts, and will be available with BMW xDrive from its market launch in October. The new luxury sedan will also be the first model to allow intelligent all-wheel-drive to be combined with Integral Active Steering – that is to say with passively steering rear wheels.

Please find attached the complete press kit for download.

Munich. In September each year, the Earl of March opens the gates to his estate outside Chichester in West Sussex, southern England for the Goodwood Revival Meeting, bringing back to life an era when motor sport was still an adventure. Since 1998 racing fans have flooded to the event to pay homage to racing cars and motorcycles from the 1940s to 1960s. Drivers, riders, team members and visitors don the attire of the times, helping to create a quite unique atmosphere. Today the Goodwood Revival is among the best-known classic motor sport events around the world and one of the highlights of the BMW Group Classic calendar.

The BMW Group Classic line-up.

BMW Group Classic is once again presenting models from the BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad brands in the March Motor Works area. The Bauhaus-style garages provide an attractive showcase for the exhibits in their historical context. Backdrops such as a reconstructed paddock for three BMW 1800TI/SA touring cars and a scene from “The Yellow Rolls-Royce” – a British movie from 1964 in which Ingrid Bergman and Jeanne Moreau share top billing with the title car – transport visitors back into the automotive past. MINI fans can admire advertising and promotional films from the brand’s history while Jock West’s Motorrad Shop, complete with workshop scene, provides an authentic setting for BMW Motorrad’s display of historic motorcycles.

Historic BMW highlights on two wheels.

The celebrations for BMW Motorrad’s 90th birthday make 2013 a very special year. And so it is quite appropriate that a selection of extraordinary BMW motorcycles should join the field for the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy – two Kaczor BMWs, a BMW RS 54 and a BMW RS 500 factory racing machine. In the 1960s, racer and later BMW engineer Ferdinand Kaczor built a 500cc racing boxer machine, whose 50 hp made it roughly twice as powerful as its standard production sibling. And thanks to a self-constructed and extremely lightweight double-cradle frame, it weighed under 150 kilograms. Kaczor rode the bike to a new lap record of the Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit in 1969. The two Kaczor BMWs are piloted by Mike Farrell and Sebastian Gutsch and the winners of last year’s FIM Superstock 1000 title Sylvain Barrier and Lothar Singer. 

In 1954 the BMW RS 54, manned by Wolfgang Meier and Claus Clausen, was the first racing machine for solo and sidecar competition to go on general sale. Its legendary flat-twin boxer engine with vertical shaft drive powered BMW machines to 19 riders’ and 20 manufacturers’ titles in the sidecar world championship in the years up to 1974. The BMW RS 500 of 1956, meanwhile, was a factory version of the RS 54, which Walter Zeller rode to second place in the solo world championship the same year. This machine offered the public an early demonstration of the groundbreaking torque support on the rear wheel which preceded BMW’s Paralever construction, and is piloted at Goodwood by the all-female pairing of Maria Costello and Fabienne Hoffmann.

St. Mary’s Trophy stars Stephane Peterhansel and Johnny Cecotto.

BMW Group Classic lines up with two cars in the St. Mary’s Trophy, one of the headline races on the Goodwood Revival programme. The Austin Mini-Cooper S Competition, driven by multiple Dakar Rally winner Stephane Peterhansel and Max Partl, celebrates the 50th birthday of the MINI Cooper S. The racing version of the car was built from 1964 and in that year John Fitzpatrick drove it to multiple 1300cc class victories and second place in the British Saloon Car Championship. The car was completely rebuilt with races such as the St. Mary’s Trophy in mind. 

The Austin Mini-Cooper S Competition is joined by the BMW 1800 TI/SA racing touring car, steered by former motorcycle world champion and multiple touring car champion Johnny Cecotto, together with Jörg Weidinger. BMW built the 1800 TI/SA from 1965. With its pair of twin carburettors, 130 hp output, five-speed gearbox, wooden steering wheel and adjustable bucket seats, it was a serious contender in touring car racing and notched up an impressive list of victories in international competition. Only 200 units of the BMW TI/SA were built, making it a genuine rarity.

Note: This press release is a 1:1 copy of the original issued by BMW headquarters in Germany. No adaptations have been made to cater for the UK market.
 

Munich. 2013 will see the world’s largest motoring “garden party” – held in the grounds of Lord March’s Goodwood House every year since 1993 – celebrating “the best of the first 20 years”. The one-of-a-kind Goodwood Festival of Speed will mark its 20th anniversary from 12-14 July this year, once again conjuring up a unique atmosphere for the fastest, loudest and most exciting racing machines from the past and present. The event has been one of the highlights of the calendar for BMW Group Classic for many years now, and BMW will line up for the 2013 edition of the legendary Hillclimb with a total of nine extraordinary BMW racing cars and motorcycles piloted by some world-renowned personalities. The company’s involvement this year will be headlined by two very special anniversaries: the founding of BMW Motorrad 90 years ago and Nelson Piquet’s Formula One World Championship win with the Brabham BMW BT52 30 years ago.

The participating BMW racing motorcycles/cars and their riders/drivers are:

BMW R 50 (1966), rider: Helmut Dähne

BMW RS 54 sidecar (1970), riders: Theo Sattler and Hans Jürgen Eckert

BMW Boxer Cup R 1100 S (2002), riders: Michael Neeves, Marc Potter

BMW Power Cup K 1200 R (2005), riders: Michael Neeves, Marc Potter

BMW HP4 (2013), rider: Chaz Davies

BMW S 1000 RR (2013), rider: Michael Neeves

Brabham BMW BT52 (1983 Formula One World Championship-winning car), driver: Nelson Piquet

BMW V12 LMR (Le Mans winning car 1999), drivers: Marc Surer and Steve Soper

BMW M1 Procar (1979), driver: Riccardo Patrese

90 years of BMW Motorrad – racing success straight off the start line.

The history of BMW Motorrad can be traced back to the BMW R 32 developed by Max Friz in 1923. Over the decades since, BMW’s motorcycle wing has earned itself a glowing reputation around the world thanks to a stream of pioneering innovations, motor sport triumphs, outstanding quality standards and distinctive design. The racing machines in action at the Goodwood Festival of Speed pay tribute to the BMW two-wheelers’ impressive record of success on the track and allow visitors to experience at close quarters the rapid pace of technical development over the decades.

Back on track – the restored Brabham BMW BT52.

1983 was a very special year for the BMW brand. Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet piloted a Brabham BMW to the Formula One World Championship crown – the first driver in Formula One history to win the title in a car powered by a turbocharged engine. It took just 630 days after BMW linked up with the British Brabham team as engine supplier for the sensation to come about; BMW Motorsport had laid down a milestone.

The 1983 World Championship-winning Brabham BMW BT52 has been comprehensively restored to mark the 30-year anniversary of its title triumph. The Historic Motorsport team headed by Norbert Knerr set about piecing the tricky puzzle of the Formula One car back together – a complex and detailed task. The restoration of the BT52 was carried out with help from the company’s present-day development departments, as well as the mechanics and senior figures involved in the project back in 1983. With precious little technical documentation to be found, the expertise and commitment of those who were there at the time was particularly important; indeed, without their input the project could never have materialised in this form.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed will provide the newly restored Formula One car with its official driving debut – and it goes without saying that Nelson Piquet will be behind the wheel once again for the occasion.

The new BMW M6 Coupé and M6 Convertible will be seen for the first time in the UK at The Goodwood Festival of Speed 28 June - 1 July 2012. Powered by the latest V8 M TwinPower Turbo engine producing 560hp, both new models will run up the famous 1.16 mile hill and will help mark the 40th anniversary of BMW’s high-performance M division. Along with a selection of the Bavarian manufacturer’s hottest current M cars showcased in the BMW pavilion, Goodwood will provide the perfect stage to celebrate 40 years of M.

The new BMW M6 Coupé and M6 Convertible models represent the most recent expression of the BMW M philosophy. These bold 6 Series flagship models offer searing performance and sporting dynamics, combined with supreme long-distance touring manners and everyday usability.  With near 50:50 weight distribution and optimised aerodynamics the latest BMW M6 offers an intense M experience.

Bespoke M design, a driver-focused cabin and cutting edge in-car technology, makes the new M6 the most desirable yet, whether ordered with the lightweight carbon-fibre roof or the elegant retractable soft top. 

The new BMW M6 Coupé and M6 Convertible are equipped with the same high-revving, turbocharged V8 engine as the M5 Saloon. This revolutionary powerplant not only produces 53hp more than its ten-cylinder predecessor at 560hp, but it also benefits from a greatly improved torque output over a broad band of revs. It’s this 680Nm, available from as low as 1,500rpm to 5,750rpm, that not only gives the new M6 its stunning outright acceleration, but also its commanding flexibility on-road.

The result is a 0-62mph sprint of just 4.2 seconds for the M6 Coupé, with the M6 Convertible following at 4.3 seconds. Both versions have a top speed limited to 155mph. The new M6 Coupé and Convertible go on sale in the UK on 15 September 2012, with the Coupé costing £93,820 and the Convertible £99,020.

Driving the M6 Convertible in the super car run will be one of the UK’s best known television presenters and ex-racing driver, Tiff Needell. Steering the M6 Coupé up the hill will be British Touring Car Championship driver, Tom Onslow-Cole.

Whilst Tiff and Tom will be aiming for a quick run up the hill, they will also be in the BMW pavilion for interviews and autographs. They will be joined by legendary Formula 1 commentator, Murray Walker, and by one of the UK’s best ever international racing drivers, Steve Soper. On stand too will be Superbike World Champion, Troy Corser, when he’s not riding the BMW R90S TT up Goodwood’s famous hill.

BMW celebrates 40 years of M

For 40 years, BMW M has brought the thrill and flair of motor-racing to the road with the world's most powerful letter – M. Racetrack performance and road dominance has given BMW M owners the unique reward of having the best of both worlds. Since its creation in 1972, BMW M has grown to become the most successful high-performance division in the automotive world.

To celebrate this key anniversary a plethora of M models, including the new M6 Coupé, will showcase in the BMW pavilion together with other new and potent models from the BMW range.

The BMW pavilion will host three unique examples of the BMW M3. The first is the BMW M3 DTM race car, currently competing in the 2012 DTM season - one of the world’s most exciting and competitive touring car championships. The BMW M3 DTM heralds the return of BMW to the DTM race series after an absence of nearly 20 years.

Alongside this spectacular racing car, but also not for sale, is the M3 Chrome Bullet – a show car finished in a full chrome exterior and accentuated with BMW Motorsport stripes. Complementing the M3 line up is a new BMW M3 Performance Edition. Built by BMW M GmbH solely for the UK market, and costing £74,080 OTR, just thirty of these exclusive cars are available to buy.

Also on display will be a new BMW 1 Series 3-door M135i. Costing £29,995 OTR, the M135i is a true M Performance vehicle - designed with aerodynamics in mind while also exhibiting BMW M design flair. The powerful M Performance unit, the 3.0-litre M Performance TwinPower Turbo engine, is not only exceptionally powerful but also lag-free, high revving and efficient. The result is an impressive 320hp at 5,800rpm and torque peaking over a wide rev band: 450Nm from 1,300-4,500rpm. Such performance gives the M135i a 0-62mph time of just 5.1 seconds (4.9 seconds with the optional sports automatic transmission) and a top speed electronically limited to 155mph.

The eagerly anticipated BMW 3 Series with M Sport trim will also be at Goodwood. M Sport trim specification builds on the striking styling of the 3 Series and its agile and dynamic character, through a combination of unique interior and exterior design changes and suspension upgrades. M Sport is now available across the majority of variants of the BMW 3 Series Saloon for £3,000 over the cost of the SE model.

On stand too will be a potent BMW X6 M50d, an example from the new performance range from BMW which is designed to bridge the gap between M Sport variants and the outright M high-performance models. The BMW X6 M50d, costs from £62,280 OTR, and features the most powerful diesel ever to come from BMW. The 2,993cc six-cylinder in-line engine has three turbochargers and offers 381hp and an impressive 740Nm of torque, with a 0-62mph of only 5.3 seconds.

BMW in the Moving Motor Show

Once again, The Goodwood Festival of Speed will present the Moving Motor Show. This exclusive event, on Thursday 28 June, enables participating manufacturers to invite selected customers, media and corporate clients to a privileged preview of the Festival and to drive production cars up the hill.

This year, and to reflect the 40 years of M theme, the M5 Saloon will be in action whilst at the BMW Moving Motor Show stand, the legendary M1 will be showcased with two unique examples of M product– a BMW M3 Group A DTM race car (kindly provided by amateur racing driver, Andrew Busby) and a BMW M635CSi (generously loaned by BMW Car Club).

The M3 was the most successful racing car of all time winning a huge number of races and over 40 championships between 1987 and 1992, whilst the classical M635CSi proved to be a real wolf in sheep’s clothing. Using a more powerful version of the BMW M1 engine, this was the third model to bear the now famous M badge and was powered by BMW’s thoroughbred 24-valve, six cylinder engine.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is being held from 28 June - 1 July 2012. Representing BMW Group UK will be Martin Harrison, Media Relations Officer, on 07525 977083. Additional members of the team will be available on the following days:

Thursday:

Gavin Ward, BMW Media Relations Manager                                   + 44 7901 951 512

Friday:

Wieland Bruch, Corporate Communications Manager          + 44 7525 977 067

Sunday:

Sarah Heaney, MINI Media Relations Manager                     + 44 7824 417 597

Ends

The BMW Group

The BMW Group is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI, Husqvarna Motorcycles  and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 25 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2011, the BMW Group sold about1.67 million cars and more than 113,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2010 was euro 4.8 billion on revenues amounting to euro 60.5 billion. At 31 December 2010, the BMW Group had a workforce of approximately 95,500 employees.

www.bmwgroup.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWUK

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWUK

For further information please contact:

Martin Harrison                    Media Relations Officer

Tel: 01344 480493             Email: Martin.Harrison@bmw.co.uk

Gavin Ward                           BMW Media Relations Manager
Tel:  01344 480829            Email: Gavin.Ward@bmw.co.uk

Wieland Bruch                      Product Communications Manager

Tel: 01344 480113             Email: Wieland.Bruch@bmw.co.uk

Graham Biggs                       Corporate Communications Director

Tel:  01344 480109            Email:  Graham.Biggs@bmw.co.uk

Press office fax:                    01344 480306

Media website:                    www.press.bmwgroup.co.uk
Customer website:              www.bmw.co.uk

Note: This press release is a 1:1 copy of the original issued by BMW headquarters in Germany. No adaptations have been made to cater for the UK market.

“A company is like a human being. As long as it goes in for sports, it is fit, well-trained, full of enthusiasm and performance.” These were the words of Robert A. Lutz, BMW AG Board Member Sales, back in 1972. They were the words christening the youngest subsidiary of BMW AG at the time, BMW Motorsport GmbH. Today the company is called BMW M GmbH. But it is just as fit, well-trained, full of enthusiasm and performance as it was 40 years ago.

The early 1970s were the dawn of a new age for BMW: A new, young Board of Management under Eberhard von Kuenheim had set out to strategically power and pursue the ongoing success of the Company. This included the construction of a new head office – the legendary BMW Four-Cylinder – as well as the establishment of BMW’s own in-house Sports Division. Quoting Robert A. Lutz once again: “With sports always being a driving force at BMW, also while the Company was developing dynamically in the business world, it was only obvious at this point that we should concentrate and consolidate our activities in motor sport.”

Indeed, demand and untapped opportunities exceeded the potentials and capacities of the former Sports Department by far. The BMW 1800 TI and 2000 TI, as well as the entire 02 Series, were the most popular competition cars winning one race after the other. But BMW itself was able to meet only a fragment of the overall demand, the vast majority of cars being prepared, run and sold by tuning companies. Since the mid-1960s, BMW had also been involved in Formula 2 – and in the years to come hardly a team anywhere was able to enter this Formula successfully without BMW’s high-performance power units. Countless racing wins and European Championships by BMW dominated the scene.

1972: A team highly experienced in racing forms BMW Motorsport GmbH.

BMW Motorsport GmbH, facing the challenges described, took over on 1 May 1972. The Managing Director of this team of specialists originally made up of 35 employees was Jochen Neerpasch, an ex-Porsche works driver and Ford’s Racing Manager in Cologne before moving to Munich.

He immediately attracted a whole group of racing drivers destined to leave their stamp on BMW Motorsport for decades to come: Chris Amon, Toine Hezemans, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Dieter Quester. Björn Waldegaard and Achim Warmbold were hired by the Company as rally drivers.

The new company was able to move into its own building after just a few months, with the racing workshop and racing engine production shop, toolmaking and the engine dynamometer all being installed in the immediate vicinity of BMW’s Munich Plant on a site measuring more than 8,000 square metres in Preussenstrasse. This is where the sports machines for 1973 saw the light of day: A 950-kilo 2002 powered by a two-litre four-valve four-cylinder for rally racing, with maximum output of 240 hp, as well as a new touring coupé described by Jochen Neerpasch in the early days in very clear words: “Since we saw 1973 as our kick-off year, we didn’t expect to win this European Championship right away.” The model designation of the new car was 3.0 CSL. The doors and lids were made of aluminium, the five-speed gearbox featured a magnesium housing. Overall weight was 1,092 kg or 2,408 lb. But the real highlight was hidden beneath the hood, a 3,340 cc straight-six with 12 valves, fuel injection and a compression ratio of 11:1. Maximum output: 360 hp. This was the last two-valve engine that BMW built for racing.

BMW’s traditional philosophy: The human focus.

BMW Motorsport GmbH entered the 1973 season perfectly prepared not only in technical terms. The drivers were also top-fit, with Jochen Neerpasch taking the entire team of drivers to a “driver tuning” season in St. Moritz. Here, in this Swiss skiers’ paradise, the entire team received the final touch from a sports instructor and a sports psychologist. Even back then, in the very early years, BMW attached the utmost importance to optimisation of the man/machine interface. And there were even plans back then for similar courses to be offered to “non-professionals”. Since 1977 these courses have been called BMW Driver Training.

This was the team BMW Motorsport GmbH took to the race track in the 1973 season. And it was not only the 3.0 CSL coupé that hit the headlines from the very beginning: For the first time a complete racing team from the car transport vehicle to the key tag came in the same design.

 These were the three blue, violet and red colour stripes on a brilliant white background characterising the look of BMW Motorsport to this very day.

The CSL coupés in these colours soon known to everybody in the world of motor racing were unbeatable. Hans-Joachim Stuck and Chris Amon brought home the Touring Car Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in their very first attempt. BMW was the overall winner of the Touring Car Category in the 24 Hour Race at Le Mans.

The most successful touring car of its day: The BMW 3.0 CSL .

The 3.0 CSL dream coupé in its spectacular racing livery subsequently became the most successful touring car of its time, winning the European Championship six times between 1973 and 1979 and dominating the international touring car scene for almost a decade. But the BMW 3.0 CSL was a pioneer not only in its colour design, but also through a whole range of significant technical innovations: First, it was powered from 1973 by BMW’s first-ever four-valve six-cylinder. Second, it featured a prototype anti-lock braking system from 1974, long before this innovation became standard technology in the BMW 7 Series. And at the end of its career, in the guise of the turbo coupé, the 3.0 CSL developed maximum output of up to 800 hp. In 1976, BMW Motorsport GmbH sent BMW’s most powerful touring car out on to the track with Ronnie Peterson at the wheel, this supreme version of the CSL featuring a 3.2-litre biturbo engine with output intentionally reduced to 750 hp.

BMW Motorsport GmbH maintained its successful process of development also in Formula 2: Fifty of BMW’s two-litre four-valve engines went to March, subsequently winning 11 out of 16 races. In 1973 Jean Pierre Jarier, powered by a BMW engine, brought home the European Formula 2 Championship at the wheel of his March and the engine dominated the two-litre category consistently for nearly ten years, with Patrick Depailler (1974), Bruno Giacomelli (1978), Marc Surer (1979) and Corrado Fabi (1982) winning the European title in their BMW-powered March Formula 2 racing cars. Other teams were equally thrilled by this two-litre four-cylinder built in a production run of more than 500 units, most of which developing over 300 hp.

In 1975, BMW Motorsport GmbH shifted its focus to the other side of the Atlantic: Now the Company concentrated on the US IMSA Series, seeking in the process to present the letters “BMW” to a larger US market. When the year came to an end, the number of US citizens who knew that BMW stood for “Bavarian Motor Works” had increased considerably – and this was no surprise with BMW winning the Manufacturer’s Category in the IMSA Championship.

1976: The “driver’s school” becomes BMW Driver Training.

On 3 February 1976, BMW’s Board of Management decided to entrust BMW Motorsport GmbH with yet another task: to professionalise an activity still referred to at the time as a “driver’s school”. The original brief given to the Management of the Company was to organise 15 courses a year with 20 participants each at BMW’s test facilities, as well as five additional courses with 100 participants in each case on race tracks – that is a total of 800 participants a year. “As the Company responsible throughout BMW for all motor sport activities, BMW Motorsport GmbH wishes to promote the driver in his performance as part of the man/machine system.” This was the key statement in the initial publication of BMW Driver Training – and it remains valid to this very day.

From the very beginning one of the main features of BMW Driver Training was to provide the cars for the participants to use – and this philosophy remains unchanged to this very day. This means that all participants have the same cars in technical terms and need not worry about tyre wear and their own cars. To implement this philosophy in practice, the Company established its own small fleet of BMW 320i’s, at the time the ideal car for training with its maximum output of 125 hp. All of these cars featured a specially tuned suspension, a limited-slip differential with 40 per cent locking action, and a bucket seat for the driver. So BMW’s first “team” in Driver Training was certainly well prepared.

The BMW Driver Training curriculum was all set and ready to go following the first test courses at the Manching Military Airfield near Ingolstadt, Rauno Aaltonen officially signing up as BMW’s first chief instructor on 13 January 1977. In fact, Aaltonen applied his experience not only on the track, but also through the only book on driver training published at the time: “Revolution at the Wheel” – a unique book clearly describing the course and its curriculum, and therefore sold out almost overnight. To this very day, the “Flying Finn” passes on his unique skills to BMW drivers, although the focus has now for a long time been on greater safety.

Soon making their appearance: The first “extra-hot” road-going BMW.

Well into the second half of the 1970s, BMW Motorsport GmbH focused almost exclusively on the construction of racing cars. The new BMW 320 entered in Group 5, for example, continued the outstanding success of the 02 Series. But many a good customer – not just racing drivers, but also BMW enthusiasts in everyday life – were also looking for M Power on regular roads and this is how the first “hot” 5 Series came into being from 1974: the 530, 533i, 535i. Indeed, these cars were superior to their production counterparts not only in terms of their engines, but also in their suspension and brake technology receiving the special attention of the engineers at BMW Motorsport GmbH. “Regular” saloons almost “normal” at first sight thus became the first high-performance four-seaters revolutionising the world of the sports car through their sophisticated technology. Initially these were built and sold only in very small numbers, but soon the performance philosophy became increasingly popular. By 1980, 895 units based on the first 5 Series had been purchased.

The big sensation in the world of sports cars in 1978: The BMW M1.

The next project to come along was geared towards producing Motorsport GmbH’s first competition car not based on a regular production model: the BMW M1. While BMW built the technical components, Lamborghini was supposed to supply the body and the chassis. However, financial problems at Lamborghini resulted in significant delays. Ultimately, a new production chain had to be found and the manufacture of the BMW M1 turned into something of a patchwork puzzle. The spaceframe was manufactured at Marchesi, the glass-fibre reinforced plastic bodyshell was produced at T.I.R., both companies were based in Modena. Giorgio Giugiaro’s company ItalDesign assembled them and provided the interiors fittings. The cars were then transported to Stuttgart where Baur installed all the mechanical assemblies.

Jochen Neerpasch, the Managing Director of Motorsport GmbH, joined forces with Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley to create the ProCar Series as the opening race leading into most European Formula 1 Grand Prix during the 1979/80 season.

Since the minimum production requirement for homologation in FIA Group 4 was 400 units, the ultra-low mid-engined M1 measuring a mere 1.14 metres in height also came as a road-going model. The first car with the famous letter “M” made its debut in the market. The price of the 277 hp M1 back in 1978 was exactly DM 100,000, but demand exceeded supply by far. When 130 cars had been completed after one year, there were still more than 300 firm orders waiting to be fulfilled. Right from the start the M1 was the fastest road-going sports car built in Germany, as timed by a leading car journal: In a test conducted in 1979, the M1 reached a top speed of 264.7 km/h or 164.1 mph. “You only have to shift up from fourth to fifth at 213 km/h or 132 mph, and then keep on accelerating all-out up to the top speed of the car,” according to the testers. Lots of customers appreciated this, as did the subsequent Formula 1 World Champion Alan Jones.

Even this was very little compared with the racing version: Developing 470 hp, the ProCar racing version had a top speed well over 300 km/h or 190 mph. And it was in one of these cars that Niki Lauda, already two-time winner of the Formula 1 World Championship, made his big appearance in 1979, winning three out of 8 M1 ProCar races and finishing second on another occasion. In the USA the Red Lobster Team Ml’s quickly became genuine cult cars wiping out the competition in the IMSA GTO Class.

Motivated by the outstanding success of the M1 and its great image, Motorsport GmbH decided to build another model: Proceeding from the regular 5 Series, the engineers developed and built the M535i in 1980, carrying over the two-valve six-cylinder from the 635CSi. With engine output of 218 hp, this 5 Series quickly became the king of the fast lane.

Formula 1 sensation in 1980: BMW creates the World Championship turbo engine.

Jochen Neerpasch left Motorsport GmbH in 1980 and was succeeded by Dieter Stappert taking over as the Racing Director. Paul Rosche, in turn, who had been responsible for BMW racing engines since 1969, was appointed Technical Director. And it was indeed Paul Rosche who became the key player when BMW decided in the early 1980s to prove its competence also in the highest realms of motor sport: In April 1980, BMW officially announced its entry into Formula 1, giving the engineers at Motorsport GmbH the green light to develop BMW’s first Formula 1 power unit:

Taking a four-cylinder displacing only 1.5 litres and based on a standard production block, the team of specialists around engine “wizard” Paul Rosche created a Formula 1 power unit developing staggering output of 800 hp. The secret behind this mind-boggling performance was the combination of 16-valve technology and a turbocharger masterminded for the first time in Formula 1 by Digital Motor Electronics.

The first training car was put through its paces in practice just a year later and in 1982 Brabham entered the first Grand Prix with a BMW engine. Right from the start, this turbocharged power unit proved its supremacy on the track, with the greatest triumph following in 1983: Just 630 days after BMW’s Formula 1 engine had made its first appearance, Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet won the World Championship in a Brabham BMW. And up to 1987 BMW brought home a total 9 Grand Prix wins with this successful machine.

BMW M turbo engines did not only go to the Brabham Team. Arrows also used the M power machine from 1984 to 1986, just like ATS in 1983/84 and Ligier in 1987. In 1986, Gerhard Berger won the race in Mexico in a Benetton car, marking the last triumph of this turbocharged power unit. A year later Road and Track, the US car journal, demonstrated the supreme performance of the Benetton B 186 with Teo Fabi at the wheel: Powered by 900 hp, Fabi’s monoposto accelerated to 100 mph (160 km/h) in exactly 4.8 seconds. And Paul Rosche was confident that this four-cylinder was able to develop a lot more power in practice: “It must have been about 1,400 hp, but we don’t know the exact figure since the engine dynamometer didn’t go beyond 1280 hp.”

Another important event in 1983 went almost unnoticed: BMW Motorsport GmbH took on additional functions and responsibilities when it was transformed into a performance-oriented development company. Accordingly, the headcount at BMW’s highly successful subsidiary was now increased to 380, further important responsibilities such as motor-sport organisation, administration and workshops being added to the development, design and testing of outstanding BMW products. This saw the creation of individual development centres for engines and suspension technology providing the input for these activities. And in its customer relations Motorsport GmbH had already been offering far more than “just” sophisticated automotive technology for a long time already, sales of accessories and the growing wish of discerning customers for custom-built and individually equipped cars already accounting for a significant share in sales. 

BMW M1 six-cylinder also featured in production cars: The M5 and M635CSi.

In 1984, Motorsport GmbH hit the headlines once again, especially among all aficionados of high-performance sports cars: The fast-revving four-valve straight-six originally featured in the M1 now made its appearance in the M635CSi Coupé and in the M5. Particularly the M5 hand-built in Preussenstrasse quickly became a legend in the world of motoring: The M5 was a genuine “wolf in sheep’s clothing”, with output of 286 hp exceeding the engine power of the 518i almost three times. While at first sight the M5 could hardly be distinguished from its regular production counterpart, its top speed of 245 km/h or 152 mph caught many drivers of big saloons and sports cars thoroughly by surprise when the M5 simply left them standing no matter how hard they tried. The term “Executive Express” was born.

1986: The debut of the M3, the most successful touring car ever.

After completing its activities in Formula 1, Motorsport GmbH focused all its energy on touring car racing. And in 1986 this resulted in the birth of the BMW M3, a compact two-door sports saloon representing BMW’s first parallel development in series production and motor sport: The road version requiring a production run of 5,000 units within one year for recognition as a touring car was conceived for racing right from the start and tailored in virtually every respect to the regulations in Group A. Since the facilities in Preussenstrasse were unable to handle the sheer magnitude of the tasks involved, Motorsport GmbH moved to its second home in the Munich suburb of Garching in 1986.

The result was an outstanding success for BMW in every respect. Right from the start, this brilliant white racing car in BMW Motorsport livery brought home one racing win, trophy and title after the other: In 1987, Italian driver Roberto Ravaglia won the World Touring Car Championship at the wheel of a BMW M3.

Developing maximum output of 195 hp from its four-cylinder 16-valve power unit and featuring a catalytic converter as standard, this high-performance saloon became the benchmark in motor sport from now on.

In the five years to follow, the M3 was the uncontested leader in the international touring car scene, bringing home two European Touring Car Championships, winning the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) twice as well as a large number of other international events and championships, and thus becoming the most successful touring car.

The M3 was equally successful as a road-going car for customers, reaching a sales volume nobody would have expected: Sales of the first BMW M3 amounted to more than 17,970 units, including 600 2.5-litre M3 Sportevolution models as well as 765 M3 convertibles built by hand. The M3 also proved that sporting performance and environmental protection need not necessarily be a contradiction in terms, with the M3 offering a standard of fuel economy quite unparalleled in relation to its power and performance.

A new market: The second M5 also built as a touring car.

The M5 entered its second generation in 1988, the straight-six power unit originally displacing 3.6 and subsequently 3.8 litres, with output increasing first to 315 and then to 340 hp. Another change was that the engines no longer bore the “M” in their internal production code, but rather an “S” designating the origin of BMW Motorsport GmbH power units from now on. The customer is able to determine the difference at a glance, the letters “BMW” now being replaced by “M Power” on the valve cover, just as on the M3 four-cylinder. The M5 was initially introduced as a saloon and then at the beginning of 1992 as a touring to create ­a unique synthesis of a thoroughbred sports car and a sophisticated transport vehicle.

When the next 3 Series was set to make its appearance in 1990, Motorsport GmbH was already working on the new BMW M3 which was launched on the market in 1992. But the new car was no longer adorned by striking spoilers and widely flared wheel arches, like its predecessor. Instead, the new M3 – reflecting the signs of the times – came in a more discreet look and was recognisable to the connoisseur only through specific details – one of which, of course, being the unmistakable sound generated by the three-litre six-cylinder four-valve power unit developing maximum output of 286 hp. This M3 six-cylinder was also BMW’s first engine with VANOS variable valve timing, an infinitely adjustable system varying the intake camshaft as required. This system patented by BMW M boosts torque above all at low and medium engine speeds.

Another unique feature on this car seen for the first time was the introduction of engine management developed by BMW and with a capacity of 20 million instructions per second.

The Car of the Century: The second BMW M3.

Customers and the media alike simply loved this M3 right from the start. The order books were full immediately and the first titles and awards were just around the corner. The readers of sport auto, the German motor magazine, made this most agile of all BMW 3 Series their “Car of the Year” no less than twice in a row, Auto Plus in France even chose the M3 following a comparison with other upmarket models as the “Car of the Century”. And immediately after the M3 had been launched in the USA, the editors of Automobile Magazine gave the new star their “Car of the Year” award, the first time ever that this prize went to an import.

This time both a convertible and a somewhat more comfort-oriented saloon were included in the planning process right from the outset. Developing maximum output of 295 hp, the M3 GT produced in a small, special series moved up the performance benchmark right to the top. Between 1992 and 1996 Motorsport GmbH built more than 85 four-door racing 3 Series based on this M3, with Johnny Cecotto at the wheel winning the ADAC GT Championship in 1993 and setting out to conquer the US motor-sport market next. So it was no surprise that the 400 hp PTG M3 subsequently won the IMSA title in 1996.

The really discerning purchaser was able to have his M3 – just like every other BMW – built to his personal wishes, since BMW Individual had been established by Motorsport GmbH in 1992, supplementing the Company’s existing activities. Covering the entire range of BMW models, this specialist company fulfils the most individual wishes and preferences tailor-made to the customer and exceeding the range of “regular” options by far. Demand is particularly great for unusual paintwork or interior equipment, as well as individual features and professional communication electronics. Establishing BMW Individual, Motorsport GmbH once again became a pioneer in the market, also opening up the door to more individual style in the automotive world, one might say as the supreme standard of customer orientation.

With this new line of business developing and expanding at a breath-taking pace, the Company had to be adjusted once again: It required a new name covering the entire scope of operations, since a customer wishing to have his car individualised by BMW Individual or taking part in BMW Driver Training did not find what he was looking for under the existing name “Motorsport GmbH”. So what could have been better than that legendary letter M, defined within the Company as the “most powerful letter in the world”? Since 1 August 1993, therefore, the former Motorsport GmbH has been BMW M GmbH.

In 1995, the best-selling BMW M3 received even more power in a far-reaching process of evolution. And this extra power – 321 hp from 3.2 litres, more than 100 hp per litre – set a new benchmark for the competition and ­was also accompanied by extra torque. Double VANOS variable timing was also used for the first time, the advanced system with continuously variable timing of the intake and exhaust camshafts. Another feature was the introduction of a six-speed manual gearbox as the standard for conveying drive power to the rear wheels.

A world-first achievement in transmission technology: SMG.

As far as transmission was concerned, BMW M GmbH became the first car maker in the world to introduce the Sequential M Gearbox (SMG), offering this unique technology in the M3. Based on the conventional M3 gearbox, SMG activates the clutch electrohydraulically when changing gears. So from now on the driver of the M3 no longer had to press down the clutch pedal, but was able to shift gears instantaneously simply by pulling or pushing the gear lever up and down one level. While some drivers were a bit sceptical about this new technology at the beginning, SMG soon boomed in the market, almost every other BMW M3 being fitted with this type of SMG gearbox by the time production came to an end.

Also in 1995, another engine with M Power scored an outstanding triumph: This was the big six-litre 12-cylinder based on the 750i engine powering the closed-top McLaren sports car to victory in the 24 Hour Race at Le Mans. Four-valve technology, a titanium crankshaft and an aluminium clutch helped to give the V12 maximum output of more than 600 hp. Once again it was an engine designed and built by Paul Rosche, who created the FI together with McLaren director Gordon Murray as the ultimate road-going sports car.

A few years later in 1999, BMW celebrated the greatest success with this power unit, the BMW V12 bringing home overall victory at the legendary 24 Hour Race in Le Mans.

By this time, however, the engine was no longer a product of M GmbH. BMW Motorsport Ltd was established in the United Kingdom in late 1995, taking over all of BMW’s motor-sport activities. Since then M GmbH has concentrated on the three areas of BMW M Cars, BMW Individual and BMW Driver Training.

The muscle twins: M roadster and M coupé.

The next sports car boasting that symbolic M at the rear entered the market soon after in 1997: The M roadster starring as the Ultimate Driving Machine in every respect is more than “just” a thrilling combination of the Z3 roadster with the 321 hp power unit of the M3. For at the time this unique muscle machine was also the highlight within the BMW roadster line-up. And the M coupé following shortly after the M roadster is a thoroughbred sports car of the highest standard, again featuring the M3 power unit and based on the M roadster, but with its own very special character. Indeed, the M coupé combines supreme agility and dynamic driving performance in a body offering not only driving pleasure, but also practical advantages in everyday motoring. Two golf bags, for example, fit easily into the attractively styled rear compartment.

1998: The M5 with its 400 hp 8-cylinder.

In 1998 the engineers of BMW M GmbH introduced the third generation of the BMW M5, opening up an entirely new dimension of driving dynamics in this part of the market. Naturally, understatement was once again the name of the game in creating this high-performance top model within the successful 5 Series. This is precisely why only the connoisseur can tell the new M5 from outside, focusing on the redesigned front skirt with its extra-large air scoop, the wide light-alloy wheels and the four tailpipes already well-known from the M roadster and M coupé.

For the first time the heart of the M5 is an all-new 8-cylinder offering the ultimate in power and torque: Maximum output is around 300 kW (400 hp) and torque peaks at around 500 Nm (369 lb-ft). And like its predecessor, the new M5 again features an ultra-precise and smooth six-speed manual gearbox.

2000: Entry of the third M3 in exciting new design.

Over the years the engineers at BMW M have set the standard not only in engine technology, but also with the chassis and suspension, for example on the third-generation M3. Making its debut in the year 2000, the M3 featured the compound brakes, with floating brake disks combining the advantages of better heat dissipation and a longer service life than regular systems. This new BMW M3 offered a bit more of everything: more power, more performance, more unique style. In simple facts and figures, this means 343 hp, 365 Nm (269 lb-ft) and acceleration from 0-100 km/h in 5.2 seconds. And contrary to its predecessor, the new M3 once again expressed its outstanding performance and driving qualities more clearly through truly exciting design. Nothing had changed about the M3’s ability to cope with everyday road-going situations. It remained a high-performance automobile which once again took on the lead role in its class thanks to the combination of outstanding characteristics.

One year later, the M3 took off its road-going suit and donned racing overalls. The M3 GTR lined up on the starting grid of the American Le Mans Series with a four-litre eight-cylinder under the bonnet for the first time. The racing car with the characteristic air scoops in the bonnet and the powerful rear aerofoil proved superior on the race tracks of the USA and won the Championship in the GT Class – an appropriate prize to celebrate the 30th birthday of M GmbH in 2002.

2003: The resurrection of the CSL.

Celebration in true BMW style: With the development of a very special car, the M3 CSL. The three letters represented “Coupé Sport Lightweight” and this essentially said it all. Roof, centre console and door panels were made of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, the rear window was lighter, and numerous features providing creature comforts were simply eliminated. Powered by the engine tuned to 360 hp, the CSL was a superb performer on the tightest corners and provided impressive testimony to this ability. On test runs, the car went round the North Loop of the Nürburgring in 7:50 minutes, which was an outstanding time for a vehicle in this class. In 2003, the CSL was launched on the marketplace and all 1,383 cars had been sold within the space of a few months.  

Meanwhile, the M3 GTR was consigned to the pits and no longer permitted to race – the US regulations had been changed.

Yet the 3 Series powered by an eight-cylinder engine was far too young and competitive to be put out to grass. It was modified and made ready for endurance races on the Nürburgring. And the success was impressive. In 2004, the M3 GTR celebrated a spectacular one-two victory in the 24 Hour Race at the Eifel – and repeated the feat a second time in the following year.

2004: The ten-cylinder M5 and M6.

At the latest since the turn of the millennium, not a year has passed without an M automobile making headlines. In autumn 2004, the new M5 was making waves after its predecessor broke through the barrier of 20,000 vehicles manufactured. This most aristocratic 5 Series car was the most powerful ever built: five litres displacement, ten cylinders, 507 hp power, 520 Nm (384 lb-ft) torque, and engine revs beyond the 8,000 barrier. These statistics highlighted the separation between the car for road-going use and the car for ambitious racing in a way that had never before been witnessed.

The performance values of the fourth-generation M5 once again defined the benchmark in the segment for powerful sports saloons. Power was increased by more than 25 percent compared with its eight-cylinder predecessor – the M5 exceeded the magic mark of 100 hp per litre. Its specific power was therefore at the level of motor sport. The interplay of the V10 engine and the seven-speed SMG permitted performances that far exceeded those of other series saloons. The sprint from 0 to 100 km/h took just 4.7 seconds and the speedo needle hit the 200 km/h (124 mph) mark after around 15 seconds. The electronic limiter generally cut out at a speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).

The M6 followed just months later with the same power unit. The chassis could be adjusted at the touch of a button, and like the M3 CSL the big coupé had a roof made of carbon fibre. Naturally, the M6 could also race faster than the factory-limited 250 km/h (155 mph). BMW therefore offered an increase in top speed accompanied by driver training on a closed track.

In 2006, M GmbH expanded its portfolio to include the new sports-car generation – the BMW Z4. The Z4 M roadster and the Z4 M coupé were fitted with the formidable 343 hp six-cylinder engine from the M3, which powered the two-seater up to 250 km/h (155 mph).

A dozen works racing cars were created on the basis of the coupé. They were powered by a six-cylinder tuned to 430 hp and they generally drove the competition into the ground. Eleven out of the 16 races in the VLN Endurance Racing Championship Nürburgring went to the Z4 coupés in 2009 and 2010. Since 2010, the successor has been known as the Z4 GT3, a racing version of the current Z4 Roadster with a 4.4-litre eight-cylinder for motor-sport customers.

2007: The first BMW M3 with eight cylinders.

After 15 years, in 2007 a new engine in the new M3 generation replaced the outstanding straight six-cylinder engine that had won the “Engine of the Year” award several times. An eight-cylinder engine was fitted for the first time in the coupé and the saloon launched shortly afterwards. The new V8 engine generated power of 420 hp from a displacement of 3,999 cubic centimetres. Around 85 percent of the maximum torque of 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) could be called up over the enormous rev range of 6,500 rpm. Power was transferred to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox and a completely new rear-axle differential. Particularly in the coupé, the design engineers once again used lightweight construction. The positive experiences with other M models led to the roof also being made of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic and the engine bonnet was made of aluminium. 

Three decades after production of the first series model was launched, BMW M GmbH supplied the 300,000th vehicle in 2008. The vehicle portfolio of BMW M GmbH had meanwhile expanded to nine models. The automobiles were powered by engines that derived their unique characteristics from the high-revving concept: straight six-cylinders with 343 hp in the BMW Z4 M roadster and in the BMW Z4 M coupé, V10 engines with 507 hp in the BMW M5 and the new BMW M5 Touring and in the BMW M6 Coupé and BMW M6 Convertible. M GmbH also posted significant growth in the sale of sports packages which were meanwhile available for the models of the BMW 1 Series, BMW 3 Series, BMW 5 Series and BMW 6 Series, as well as for the BMW X3 and the BMW X5.

2009: The turbo returns with muscle as the power unit of the future.

This naturally meant that expansion now really started to take off. The high-performance character of automobiles produced by BMW M GmbH was first transferred to the segment of BMW X models with the BMW X5 M and the BMW X6 M in 2009. The development yielded a new V8 high-performance engine whose performance characteristics were precisely tailored to the character of the two models. The 555 hp M TwinPower Turbo was the world’s first power unit featuring an exhaust manifold overarching the cylinder bank and Twin Scroll Twin Turbo technology. The turbocharger and catalytic converters are positioned in the V space between the cylinder banks. This configuration produces the spontaneous response typical of M and delivers linear development as well as permitting uniform torque development.  

That same year, BMW M GmbH developed an extreme athlete based on the BMW M3 Coupé for customers who had particularly demanding requirements for the performance characteristics of their vehicles. This model was also suitable for racing in club sport events. The BMW M3 GTS was produced at the manufacturing facilities of BMW M GmbH exclusively on customer request. The modifications geared to deployment in motor sport comprise the drive and chassis technology, the bodywork and the interior. Design principles and technical details derived directly from motor sport defined the eight-cylinder engine with a displacement expanded to 4.4 litres and power increased to around 450 hp.

Today: Highly charged company for high performances.

At the end of 2010, M GmbH again expanded its product range and presented the 1 Series Coupé, a 340 hp car in the compact class. The straight six-cylinder with M TwinPower Turbo and petrol direct injection had an easy time with the muscular lightweight vehicle. This is obvious with a power-to-weight ratio of just 4.4 kilograms per hp. A few months later, the new M5 came along with a newly developed eight-cylinder turbo packing 560 hp and a top speed of up to 305 km/h (190 mph).

M goes Diesel.

40 years after the foundation stone of today’s M GmbH was laid, the experts in athletic driving turned their minds to a new project – the BMW M Performance Automobile as an expansion of the model range with a clear focus on athletic performance and unrestricted road-going capability as well as outstanding efficiency. The new product category was launched with four models: BMW M550d xDrive Saloon, BMW M550d xDrive Touring, BMW X5 M50d and BMW X6 M50d. The heart of these cars was a new straight six-cylinder diesel engine developed with three turbochargers and power of 381 hp exclusively for BMW M Performance Automobiles.

The Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M3 DTM race car will be on display for the first time in the UK at The Goodwood Motorsport Press Day on 14 March 2012.

Accompanying this spectacular racing car will be BMW Team RBM’s driver, and triple World Touring Car champion, Andy Priaulx (GB) who will contest the DTM season - one of the world’s most exciting and competitive touring car championships – in 2012. The BMW M3 DTM will herald the return of BMW to the DTM race series after an absence of nearly 20 years. The season gets underway in Hockenheim on 29 April and will make its only UK appearance at Brands Hatch on 20 May.

The press day at Goodwood will also provide the stage to help mark the 40th anniversary of BMW’s high-performance M division and for BMW to run two potent examples of the brand up the famous 1.16 mile hill. The first is an E30 M3 Roberto Ravaglia, one of 25 UK-supplied limited edition cars that were built to celebrate BMW’s success in Touring cars. The second is the world’s most successful performance saloon, the new BMW M5 Saloon. 

Celebrations will continue this summer at The Goodwood Festival of Speed, 28 June -1 July, 2012, when the Bavarian manufacturer will showcase its newest M cars in the BMW pavilion along with a selection of some its famous racing cars.

Representing BMW Group UK at the Goodwood Motorsport Press Day will be Martin Harrison, Media Relations Officer, on 07525 977083, who will be available at the event to answer media enquiries. 

Ends

The BMW Group

The BMW Group is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI, Husqvarna Motorcycles  and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 25 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2011, the BMW Group sold about1.67 million cars and more than 113,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2010 was euro 4.8 billion on revenues amounting to euro 60.5 billion. At 31 December 2010, the BMW Group had a workforce of approximately 95,500 employees.

www.bmwgroup.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWUK

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWUK

For further information please contact:

Martin Harrison                    Media Relations Officer

Tel: 01344 480493             Email: Martin.Harrison@bmw.co.uk

Wieland Bruch                      Corporate Communications Manager

Tel: 01344 480113             Email: Wieland.Bruch@bmw.co.uk

Graham Biggs                       Corporate Communications Director

Tel:  01344 480109            Email:  Graham.Biggs@bmw.co.uk

Main office number:            01344 480320

Media website:                    www.press.bmwgroup.co.uk

Customer website:              www.bmw.co.uk

The fifth generation of the world’s most successful performance saloon, the BMW M5, will be seen for the first time at The Goodwood Festival of Speed 1-3 July 2011. The new car will make its UK debut in the BMW pavilion along with a selection of the Bavarian manufacturer’s hottest current cars and some famous racing cars celebrating anniversaries from its glorious heritage.

For more than 25 years the BMW M5 Saloon has defined the high-performance saloon. The new model raises the concept of the premium executive saloon, combining track-car dynamics and supreme touring comfort to an even higher level.

It features the most potent engine ever devised by BMW’s high-performance M division along with race-bred chassis technology that includes, for the first time, an Active M differential and electronic damping control. The unique exterior design has been dictated by the technical requirements of the car, while the luxurious sports car-like cockpit offers an extensive range of innovative driver assistance systems and mobility services.

For the first time an M5 features a turbocharged power unit ­– a high-revving 4.4-litre (4395cc) V8. Developing 560hp from 5750-7000rpm, it is the most potent series-production engine ever to emerge from BMW’s high-performance M division. Incorporating the company’s M TwinPower Turbo technology, twin-scroll turbochargers, high-precision direct fuel injection, VALVETRONIC variable valve control and a cross-bank exhaust manifold, it guarantees the legendary BMW M-car thrust with seamless lag-free delivery from little more than tickover speed - thanks to 680Nm of torque from only 1500rpm.

Compared with the previous V10-engined M5, maximum power is up by around 10 per cent and peak torque by more than 30 per cent. As a result, the latest M5 can accelerate from 0-62mph in just 4.4 seconds, and 0-124mph in only 13 seconds. The voluntarily limited top speed is 155mph.  With BMW’s seven-speed M Double Clutch Transmission Drivelogic and Efficient Dynamics technology, including engine Auto Start-Stop and Brake Energy Regeneration, the M5’s fuel consumption has been reduced by more than 30 per cent to 28.5mpg, while CO2 emissions tumble to 232g/km. 

The new M5 Saloon will be available in the UK in November 2011, priced at £73,040 on-the-road.

Joining the M5 on the BMW pavilion will be TV and radio star, Vernon Kay, who will be available for interviews and to sign autographs on the Friday.  On both Saturday and Sunday, the BBC’s expert anchor for Formula 1 coverage, Jake Humphreys, will be on stand too. He will be joined by legendary Formula 1 commentator, Murray Walker.

Le Mans ace Dirk Müller to drive the BMW Z4 GT3

Straight from the Le Mans 24 Hours, and a podium finish for BMW Motorsport, Dirk Müller will drive the BMW Z4 GT3 against the clock on the famous Goodwood 1.16 mile hillclimb.

Müller achieved third place for the BMW M3 GT in the GTE class at the 79th staging of the Le Mans 24 Hours, along with fellow drivers Andy Priaulx and Joey Hand. In the hard-fought LM GTE class, the number 56 BMW M3 GT crossed the finish line at the “Circuit de la Sarthe” after 313 thrilling laps and having covered a distance of over 4,200 kilometres.

Dirk Müller clocked the fastest GTE race lap with a time of 3:58.876 minutes in the race, which was at times dramatic and overshadowed by several spectacular and alarming crashes.

The BMW Z4 GT3, which competes in the FIA GT3 European Championship, has proven to be competitive, with a one-two finish at the first race of the year in Portimão in May 2011. It had already secured outright victory at the Dubai 24 Hours, earlier in the year, its first ever win in a marathon race of this scale.

The BMW Z4 GT3 was launched in March 2010 and, with its elongated bonnet, driver’s compartment towards the rear of the car, long wheel base and narrow wheel arches, boasts an unmistakable appearance. The difference between the road-going production and racing car can be found under the bonnet: while the production version of the BMW Z4 is driven by a six-cylinder engine, the GT3 car is powered by a 4.4-litre eight-cylinder engine.

Whilst Dirk Müller will be aiming for a quick run up the hill, he will also be at the BMW pavilion to sign autographs.

Icons sharing an anniversary 50 years apart

Goodwood will host two significant anniversaries for cars that can boast the title of icon in the pantheon of the great cars of automotive history – the BMW 328 and the M3.

Both these cars, separated by 50 years of automobile history, share characteristics that have helped elevate them to the highest platform of four wheel nirvana.  Both appeared on the race circuits before they were widely available to the public;  both dominated their competitors on the great race circuits of the world;  both were designed for racing first and for the road later;  both were feted by the motoring journalists of their day and both are still revered as milestone cars.

To celebrate the 328’s 75th anniversary, a beautiful and truly historic example will ascend the famous Goodwood hill on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The BMW 328 Kamm Coupé, named after the German aerodynamics pioneer Wunibald Kamm, and recreated by BMW Classic, comes to Goodwood for the first time.

Five BMW 328 models contested the 1940 Mille Miglia, but the Kamm Coupé disappeared without trace in1953. With the 70th anniversary of BMW’s famous Mille Miglia victory fast approaching, BMW Classic reproduced this legendary racing car to take part in the 2010 race and to highlight an important milestone in both motor sport history and the development of vehicle aerodynamics.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the M3 going on sale in the UK, a BMW M3 Group A DTM will be driven up the hill by one of the UK’s best ever international racing drivers, Steve Soper.

BMW 328 - racing heritage

The BMW 328 first appeared at the 1936 Eifelrennen held on 14 June at the daunting Nurburgring.  A single example driven by Ernst Henne started the race among a field of larger sports cars but proved its agility and performance by totally dominating the event at an average speed of 101.5kmh over the tortuous 70 mile race

Built between 1936 and 1940 a mere 464 examples of the 328 were made but its innovative engine formed the backbone of many post-war racing engines under the Bristol name.  It powered countless racing machines including those of Cooper, Frazer Nash and Veritas, as well as a whole generation of 1950s sporting road cars including Bristol and the AC Ace right up until the early 1960s, a full 25 years after its debut.

The 328 won its class in just about every race in the classic sports car calendar of the day – the Le Mans 24 Hours, Tourist Trophy and the Mille Miglia included.  In total it won 141 victories from 172 starts in national and international races.  At its zenith, special streamlined 328 roadsters and a coupé built by Superleggera Touring of Milan raced in the 1940 Mille Miglia and finished first, third, fifth and sixth, the winners covering the 1,000 miles at an average speed of 104mph.

As befits a car that is prized among collectors, top quality BMW 328s are today valued at close to half a million Pounds.

The road-going M3 started a racing trend

Although the M3 made its public debut at the 1985 Frankfurt Show, customer deliveries did not start until late in 1986, and it didn’t reach the UK until 1987 and then only in left hand drive.  Customers started to read about the new M3 in motoring journals which to a man proclaimed the tactility, agility and performance to be quite unlike anything before in its class.

The E30 M3 made its racing debut at Monza in March 1987 and took the first six places in the race, until all were disqualified for insufficient roof metal thickness.  Its major competitor, the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, was also excluded for homologation discrepancies.  These two cars, piloted by a panoply of touring car driver greats, battled out the next two seasons – the M3 using finesse and poise, the Sierra punching out much higher power from its turbocharged motor.

The results presaged the reasons why the M3 would be held in such awe.  Roberto Ravaglia won the 1987 and only World Touring Car Championship (until it made its return in 2005), the M3 winning five of the season’s races, while Winnie Vogt won the European series with the M3 winning all but one round.  1988 was the same with Ravaglia winning the European series again.  In the Donington Park race, M3s finished first to eighth unmolested.

The M3 is the most successful racing car of all time winning a huge number of races and over 40 championships between 1987 and 1992.  But it was not only a winner in sprint events.  It won the Nurburgring 24 Hours three times and the Spa 24 Hours four times.  The M3 was versatile too.  It won the Corsican round of the 1987 World Rally Championship – a car developed and entered by Prodrive, the company responsible for the MINI John Cooper Works WRC that made its WRC debut in 2011 - and will also go up the hill at Goodwood for the first time this year.  The M3 still races today in GT2, Le Mans, ALMS and the Intercontinental Cup.

M3 GTS to storm the hill

The M3 story was brought right up to date this year with the introduction of the BMW M3 GTS, the most powerful version of the high-performance M3 Coupé.

The car, only available in Fire Orange, will bring a frisson of colour and brightness to the Sussex countryside, as it steers its way up Goodwood’s hill in the super car run.

The M3 GTS features a 450hp engine that offers the ideal preconditions for use at club sport events, while still being road-legal. In addition to a larger and more powerful V8 engine, exclusive tuning of the seven-speed M Dual Clutch Transmission with DRIVELOGIC and modified suspension technology, the M3 GTS has also been specifically optimised with regard to aerodynamics and lightweight construction.

The sporting potential of the BMW M3 GTS is underlined by a power-to-weight ratio that has been lowered to 3.4kgs per hp. Featuring a transmission and suspension configuration which has been optimised for the racetrack, the BMW M3 GTS accelerates from zero to 62mph in a mere 4.4 seconds. The car covers the standing kilometre in just 22.5 seconds before going on to a 190mph top speed.

Limited production of the BMW M3 GTS for the UK market in right-hand-drive form commenced in January, 2011, with all 15 examples now sold.

BMW in the Moving Motor Show

For only the second time, The Goodwood Festival of Speed will present the Moving Motor Show on Thursday 30 June.  This exclusive event enables participating manufacturers to invite selected customers, media and corporate clients to a privileged preview of the Festival and to drive production cars up the hill.

This year, the new BMW 1 Series M Coupé and M3 Coupé will be action whilst at the BMW Moving Motor Show stand, the legendary M1 will be showcased with unique examples of BMW’s super sports car. This includes the BMW M1 Homage, built by the BMW Group Design team, to mark the 30th anniversary of the BMW M1 supercar and first shown at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2008.

Sitting alongside the Homage will be the BMW Turbo by Paul Bracq, a revolutionary concept car created for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The Turbo Concept was an extreme version of the M1. Like it, the Turbo had a low profile, mid-mounted engine, and long sloping nose with many unique touches including a more rounded front nose, gullwing doors, rear fender skirts and a more sculpted rear end.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is being held from 1- 3 July 2011. Representing BMW Group UK will be Martin Harrison, Media Relations Officer, on 07525 977083, who will also attend the Moving Motor Show on 30 June 2011. Additional members of the team will be available on the following days:

Thursday:

Wieland Bruch, Corporate Communications Manager          + 44 7525 977 067

Friday:

Gavin Ward, BMW Media Relations Manager                                   + 44 7901 951 512

Saturday:

Sarah Heaney, MINI Media Relations Manager                     + 44 7824 417 597

Sunday:

Graham Biggs, Corporate Communications Director           +44 7771 976 867

Ends

The BMW Group

The BMW Group is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 24 production facilities in 13 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

The BMW Group achieved a global sales volume of approximately 1.29 million automobiles and over 87,000 motorcycles for the 2009 financial year.  Revenues totalled euro 50.68 billion. At 31 December 2009, the company employed a global workforce of approximately 96,000 associates.

The success of the BMW Group has always been built on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy. As a result of its efforts, the BMW Group has been ranked industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for the last six years.

For further information please contact:

Martin Harrison                    Media Relations Officer

Tel: 01344 480493             Email: Martin.Harrison@bmw.co.uk

Gavin Ward                           BMW Media Relations Manager
Tel:  01344 480829            Email: Gavin.Ward@bmw.co.uk

Wieland Bruch                      Product Communications Manager

Tel: 01344 480113             Email: Wieland.Bruch@bmw.co.uk

Graham Biggs                       Corporate Communications Director

Tel:  01344 480109            Email:  Graham.Biggs@bmw.co.uk

Press office fax:                    01344 480306

Media website:                    www.press.bmwgroup.co.uk
Customer website:              www.bmw.co.uk

Note: This press release is a 1:1 copy of the original issued by BMW headquarters in Germany. No adaptations have been made to cater for the UK market.

The anticipation began in August 1985. That summer Germany’s automobile magazines built up their readers’ expectations for the fastest 3 Series BMW of all times. The key data revealed a sports car that would punch way above its class: 200 hp, top speed in excess of 230 km/h, sprint from a standing start to 100 km/h inside 6.7 seconds. However, the story was that “the most dynamic BMW 3 Series drivers” would have to wait until mid-1986. The pundits were right on that count. But one prediction missed the mark by a mile: anyone who “wants to be in the A Team needs to be turbocharged under the bonnet”. Not true.

The BMW M3 became the most successful touring car in motor-sport history. The M3 project was launched just a few months earlier. Production of the M1 mid-engine sports car had already been discontinued for some time and BMW CEO Eberhard Kuenheim commissioned a design for a successor, almost as an aside, according to legend. After one of his regular visits to Motorsport GmbH in Munich’s Preußenstraße he said, almost as he was leaving: “Mr. Rosche, we need a sporty engine for the 3 Series.” His aspiration was in good hands. Motorsport GmbH with its managing director of technical development Paul Rosche had demonstrated its expertise with the legendary 5 Series saloons driven by M engines as well as developing the Formula 1 turbo engine that powered Brazilian Nelson Piquet to win the World Championship in the Brabham BMW in 1983.

The new 3 Series engine had something in common with this: the crankcase. It originated from volume production and actually formed the basis for the two-litre engine with four cylinders. Four cylinders meant less weight and high torque, an ideal platform for a sports engine in the projected displacement class. Naturally enough, the series four-cylinder engine was much too tame for a sports engine. A comprehensive power boost was called for in order to turn the plucky daily workhorse into an athletic and sporty power unit. The BMW design engineers increased the displacement to 2.3 litres and applied a formulation that had already achieved significant successes over a period of many years: four-valve engineering. There was also another reason for the decision to opt for a four-cylinder engine and not adopt the six-cylinder engine introduced in the BMW 3 Series. The longer crankshaft in the big engine started to vibrate much earlier than the shorter four-cylinder shaft. The design engineers therefore designed the crankshaft drive of the BMW M3 with sufficient torsional stability to achieve 10,000 revolutions a minute and more. By comparison with the four-cylinder engine installed in the series vehicles, this represented an increase of more than 60 percent. The rated speed for the road version of the BMW M3 was still significantly below the critical range at 6,750/min and therefore offered sufficient scope for further developments.

Paul Rosche recalls: “We started work immediately. One advantage was that the big six-cylinder engine originally had the same cylinder gap as the four-cylinder engine. We therefore cut two combustion chambers off the four-cylinder head of the M88 and bolted a panel over the hole on the rear side.” This meant that the new four-cylinder engine had a second forebear. The six-cylinder engine that had initially created a sensation in the M1 and had meanwhile transformed the M635CSi into one of the fastest coupés in the world. Paul Rosche: “Whether you believe it or not – we had created an outstanding four-cylinder engine for the 3 Series within the space of two weeks. Under the development name S14, this engine was to generate headlines in sport and in volume production over the years to come. One Sunday, I drove to von Kuenheim’s flat and gave him the car for a test drive. When he came back he said: ‘Good, I like it.’ And that’s how the M3 came into being." 

Team BMW Motorsport has made a triumphant return and won the 2010 24-hour race at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Five years since the manufacturer’s last victory, the no. 25 BMW M3 GT2 claimed BMW’s 19th victory at this endurance classic on Sunday. The winning car, with Jörg Müller (DE), Augusto Farfus (BR), Uwe Alzen (DE) and Pedro Lamy (PT) at the wheel, crossed the finish line first after 154 laps of the 25.378-kilometre circuit. The quartet of drivers produced a flawless performance and fought their way onto the top step of the podium despite gearbox problems in the last three hours.

An impressive fight back saw the second BMW M3 GT2, car number 26, driven by Dirk Werner (DE), Dirk Müller (DE), Andy Priaulx (GB) and Dirk Adorf (DE) race through the field to finish in seventh in front of 220,000 spectators. A crash, while swerving to avoid a collision, resulted in the four drivers losing an hour in the pits early on in the race and dropping back to 182nd. In cool, but dry conditions, car number 26 worked its way back up the field lap by lap. The drivers’ fighting spirit was ultimately rewarded.

The two private BMW Z4 GT3 cars with numbers 76 and 69, run by Schubert Motorsport and Dörr Motorsport respectively, rounded off an excellent overall result for BMW by finishing in fourth and ninth. In addition to the win, BMW teams secured ten class wins at the Nordschleife. These results have further strengthened BMW’s position as the most successful manufacturer in the history of the race. Of the 198 cars lining up for this year’s event, 63 were BMWs.

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen said: “That was a fantastic return for us at the 24-hour race here on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. This win reminds me of the triumph in Le Mans in 1999. I have never known excitement like I experienced today. After some of our direct rivals fell by the wayside, our victory was also hanging by a thread. At about 12.00 the winning car developed a gearbox problem, resulting in the loss of one gear. Shortly after 13.00 other gears gradually gave up. It was a masterful performance how Jörg Müller and Uwe Alzen brought the car home in first place in this crucial phase. The tension was enormous for all of us, so the relief was all the greater when the car crossed the finish line. I must say a big thank you to every single member of the team. Everyone worked perfectly together. Thanks also to our loyal fans, who have taken us to their hearts after a five-year break and given us such great support.”

For the Schnitzer Motorsport team this is the fifth win in the “Green Hell” after previous victories in 1989, 1990, 2004 and 2005. Team Manager Charly Lamm said: “Days like this are the ultimate reason why I love my profession so much. The commitment shown by the entire team today is really unique. We had to overcome some tricky situations, but always believed in ourselves. The preparation time was tough, as we had to get the best possible package on its feet within a relatively short timeframe. We obviously succeeded. It goes without saying that I feel sorry for the rivals who did not finish the race. However, reliability is crucial in a race like this, and in that regard we were number one today.”

The fast and flawless work which Schnitzer Motorsport has demonstrated for decades played a big role in this triumph. Following Werner’s crash on the eighth lap, the mechanics changed the front-left suspension, the radiator and the rear-left shock absorber on the number 26 BMW M3 GT2. The winning car also experienced difficulties: tyre damage on lap 46 and a damaged radiator just six laps later also required unscheduled pit stops. In addition, the car developed a gearbox problem in the last three hours. However, the team and drivers stayed calm and refused to be denied victory once they had taken over at the head of the field with two hours remaining.

A fifth victory on the Nordschleife sees Pedro Lamy draw level in the all-time winners’ list with Marcel Tiemann (DE), who is the only driver to have enjoyed as much success at the 24-hour race as the Portuguese BMW driver. For Jörg Müller and Uwe Alzen this was the second victory at probably the most challenging circuit in the world. Augusto Farfus also goes into the Nordschleife history books following his first 24-hour start in a works car.

Drivers’ reactions.

Jörg Müller (Car Number 25):

“During my last stint we lost fourth gear. The problem gradually got worse. The main priority was to be careful and keep the car in the race. Everything worked out superbly in the end. The entire team has worked extremely hard over the last few months. This victory belongs to them. We drove consistent laps over the entire distance. If you can achieve that at a 24-hour race, you normally find yourself up at the front. For us today, it was even enough to finish first.”

Augusto Farfus (Car Number 25):

“That is my first victory at a 24-hour race. To win on the Nordschleife is a unique experience. I would like to thank BMW and Charly Lamm for putting their trust in me. I have learned a lot here, particularly from the Nordschleife old hands in my team. We knew that first we had to make it through the event before we could start to dream of winning. Our reliability was our greatest advantage today.”

Uwe Alzen (Car Number 25):
“To come away with that kind of result from a race that was anything but easy is sensational. First a puncture, then a damaged radiator and the gearbox problems. I have never seen a pit crew work so quickly and professionally, particularly when replacing the radiator. The whole race was unbelievably exciting. I am back on the top step of the podium for the first time in ten years. That is a great feeling. For me it is a great honour to work with BMW and Schnitzer. I feel on top of the world in this team. Today I am simply over the moon.”

Pedro Lamy (Car Number 25):
“That is definitely my best win here on the Nordschleife. Each one of my five victories was special in its own way, but the way we won this one was particularly difficult. Maybe some of the other teams were missing the bit of luck that was needed here. However, as you can make your own luck, this entire team most definitely earned its victory. I am pleased for BMW, everyone in the team and, of course, for myself.”

Dirk Werner (Car Number 26):
“Our race started with the worst possible scenario: we fell back almost to last place on the first lap. I felt really bad, as I was the one in the car when we had the crash. However, the team worked incredibly hard to boost my confidence again. My compliments to my fellow drivers, who did not make any mistakes. Seventh place after that start is a great result.”

Dirk Müller (Car Number 26):

“That was my fourth 24-hour race at the Nürburgring for BMW – and the third time we have won. We can be very proud. I say ‘we’ deliberately, although it was car number 25 that crossed the line in first, as we are a true team. Of course we are a bit disappointed that we did not finish higher with the no. 26 car. However, we showed an incredible morale. After the crash the car looked really bad, but the team fixed everything perfectly. First and seventh is a great result.”

Andy Priaulx (Car Number 26):

“I am more than happy. Our team claimed victory, which is fantastic for BMW. On the other side, we would have hoped for more with our car. Having said that, we did finish the race – and after a magnificent fight back. I simply cannot rate the performance of my team-mates highly enough. Nobody in our team gave up. We will take this fighting spirit with us from this week at the Nürburgring.”

Dirk Adorf (Car Number 26):

“After qualifying, nobody really expected a result like this from us. I am very impressed that we managed to turn the tide in this way. Charly Lamm and his team were fantastic and always believed we could win. The morale in the team is very impressive. Over the course of the race we made up three laps. I don’t like to think what might have been in it for us if we hadn’t been so unlucky at the start of the race.”

Ends

Munich . Sales of the BMW 5 Series already amount to more than 5.5 million units in five model generations – and now a new chapter is starting in the highly successful story of the BMW 5 Series Sedan.

While the sixth generation naturally follows the great heritage of its predecessors, its roots go back much further. As early as in the 1960s, BMW developed a strong and distinctive profile as a manufacturer of sporting but elegant, powerful and technically innovative midrange four-door sedans. Introducing a four-door notchback body, engines fitted lengthwise at the front, rear-wheel drive and an elaborate suspension, BMW established a classical principle at the time which remains highly attractive and fully endorsed to this very day.

It was at that time that the BMW 1500, the BMW 1800 and the BMW 2000 entered the market as the “New Range”, establishing the most successful model series BMW had ever seen up to that point. The competence in the development and production of saloons demonstrated by BMW with these models gave the Company a worldwide breakthrough as a manufacturer of modern and highly desirable automobiles with very individual characteristics.

Switching from the New Range to the BMW 5 Series in 1972, BMW introduced not only new nomenclature, but also a new era in design.
Indeed, the number “5” immediately became the synonym for unmistakable driving pleasure in this segment. Ever since, the BMW 5 Series has stood for sedans which, through their design, offer particularly harmonious balance of sportiness and elegance authentically reflecting a unique combination of driving dynamics and motoring comfort ensured by superior drivetrain and suspension technology. The BMW 5 Series therefore offers a particularly concentrated rendition of the outstanding competence in development of this leading car maker from Munich.

1972: the BMW 5 Series makes its debut.

The BMW 520 and the BMW 520i with four-cylinder power units developing 115 and, respectively, 130 hp were presented at the 1972 Frankfurt Motor Show as the successors to the New Range. The model designation introduced a new concept determining the nomenclature of BMW cars to this very day, with the ”5“ at the beginning specifying the series as such and the two following numbers indicating the displacement of the respective model. At the same time these model designations brought back memories of legendary BMWs in the 1950s such as the BMW 501 “Baroque Angel” and the iconic BMW 507 sports car.

In its design, the first BMW 5 Series stood out from the start through its stretched and sleek lines, large windows and low waistline. As design elements typical of the brand, the dual headlights and the Hofmeister kick in the C-pillar were re-interpreted in new style and technology, French designer Paul Bracq thus setting the foundation for the design language of BMW so characteristic in the 1970s. To precisely calculate the car’s deformation zones in the interest of superior occupant safety, BMW’s engineers for the first time used superior computer technology to a large extent.

Introduction of the BMW 525 in the second year of production hailed the entry of the first six-cylinder into the market. The powerful and, at the same time, refined engine featured in this top model delivered an impressive 145 hp. This wish for additional power became one of the most important reasons for expanding the model range also in the years to come, BMW Motorsport GmbH established in 1972 providing particularly spectacular input by presenting the BMW M535i with its 160 kW/218 hp six-cylinder in 1980.

1981: second generation, first diesel.

Accounting for sales of almost 700,000 units, the first generation of the BMW 5 Series more than doubled the success of the New Range in the market. The next model launched in 1982 then continued this story of success, remaining faithful in its design to the principle of clear lines and large windows.

With its even more striking design front and rear, the new BMW 5 Series, despite its exterior dimensions remaining almost identical, offered far greater presence and flair on the road. Engineering refinements and intelligent lightweight technology provided more space within the interior, optimum weight and improved occupant safety. The newly developed suspension with its double-joint front axle and semi-trailing arm rear axle served in particular to enhance the motoring comfort offered by the new model. Modern electronic systems were also introduced into the BMW 5 Series at this point, ranging from anti-lock brakes via an on-board computer all the way to electronic fuel injection.

Right from the start upon its introduction into the market, the new sedan came with a broad model range and engines extending from 90 to 184 hp. A particularly sporting version was introduced in 1984, even though the 218 hp BMW M535i was not the last word from Motorsport GmbH this time. Instead, Motorsport GmbH proudly presented the very epitome of the Sports Sedan at the 1985 Frankfurt Motor Show, the BMW M5. Hardly distinguishable from the other models when considered from outside, the BMW M5 was optimised throughout beneath its sheet metal for uncompromising driving dynamics. Power came from a straight-six boasting four-valve technology and no less than six throttle butterflies. Output of this drive unit derived from the legendary BMW M1 was 286 hp, developing supreme thrust and performance previously offered by only the most thoroughbred sports cars.

The decision taken by BMW in 1983 to enter the fiercely contested diesel market with the BMW 524td was almost a revolution. To offer the character so typical of the brand also with a diesel, the only option was obviously to give the car a powerful and refined turbodiesel engine. The 2.4-litre straight-six developing maximum output of 115 hp fulfilled these requirements in a truly ideal manner, the BMW 524td offering the best performance of all diesels in its segment and, at the same time, the highest standard of fuel efficiency. Clearly, even diesel sceptics were impressed by this innovative combination of superior muscle and equally outstanding economy.

Entry into the diesel market was not the only option for BMW to bring together sporting performance and superior economy. On the contrary – precisely at this time BMW had already completed a large number of studies and innovations in developing particularly fuel-efficient technologies and looking for alternative sources of energy. Many of these innovations went into series production in the course of time, others set the foundation for long-term research projects. One example is the hydrogen-powered test car presented as early as in 1976 on the basis of the first-generation BMW 5 Series.

Apart from the turbodiesel, a particularly efficient petrol version of the
BMW 5 Series proved suitable for series production right from the start: The BMW 525e was powered by a six-cylinder designed and built consistently for superior traction and economy all in one. Displacing 2.7 litres, the power unit named after the Greek letter “eta” also known as the symbol for efficiency developed maximum output of 125 hp at an engine speed of 4,250 rpm, with peak torque of 240 Newton-metres/177 lb-ft at just 3,250 rpm. New engine electronics, optimised weight and a five-speed transmission with an overdrive economy function were further features helping to give this model outstanding efficiency.

The second generation of the BMW 5 Series was replaced after seven years of production. By this time sales had amounted to more than 722.000 units, again setting a new record.

1988: third generation of the BMW 5 Series –
for the first time also as the Touring.

With BMW having started the introduction of catalyst technology back in 1984, the third-generation BMW 5 Series was fitted from the start exclusively with this high standard of emission management. The first models available from the beginning in 1988 were the BMW 520i, the BMW 525i, the BMW 530i, the BMW 535i, and the BMW 524td) – all with six cylinders and electronic fuel injection. The power range extended from 115 all the way to 211 hp.

A new BMW M5 was also introduced at an early point, with engine output of 315 hp further increased to 340 hp in 1992.

The two eight-cylinder BMW 530i and BMW 540i followed in 1992, with the BMW 518i being introduced in 1993 as the entry-level model with a four-cylinder power unit. In the meantime, the six-cylinder engines, benefiting from four-valve technology and variable Vanos camshaft management, had gained even greater power, torque and efficiency.

With its precisely defined deformation zones and even stiffer passenger cell, the third generation of the BMW 5 Series set new standards in the area of occupant safety. As an option the elaborately refined suspension was available with electronically controlled dampers, a further option being speed-related Servotronic steering assistance. ASC Automatic Stability Control was also available for the first time in addition to the anti-lock brake system.

The first BMW 5 Series with electronically all-wheel drive was launched in 1991, the concept of fully variable power distribution from front to rear, together with a rear axle differential lock, proving right from the start in the first comparative tests to be superior to all four-wheel-drive systems available so far.

Compared with its predecessor, the third-generation BMW 5 Series was significantly longer and came with a lot more space inside, also thanks to its brand-new design. Indeed, the new sedan created under the guidance of Chief Designer Claus Luthe combined sporting elegance and flowing lines with a distinctive wedge shape. This stylish character was then carried over by the designers to the first BMW 5 Series Touring, this unique five-door revealed at the 1992 Frankfurt Motor Show offering a brand-new look and brand-new features behind the B-pillar.

With sound insulation being given particular significance, the level of sound within the body was virtually the same as in the sedan even though the generous space inside obviously formed an ideal resonance body for acoustic effect and disturbance. The BMW 5 Series Touring was fitted from the start with self-levelling on the rear axle.

The Touring model was available with nearly all the engines also offered on the sedan, and as an option also came with all-wheel drive. A BMW M5 Touring joined the range in 1992, successful sales of this five-door clearly confirming BMW’s concept to combine additional practical value with attractive design: Overall sales of the BMW 5 Series Touring up to 1996 amounted to approximately 125,000 units, and total sales of the third-generation BMW 5 Series were more than 1.3 million units the world over.

1995: the fourth generation –
for the first time with light-alloy suspension.

The fourth generation of the BMW 5 Series made its debut at the 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show, offering an evolutionary development through its design of the former model with its sporting and elegant style. A particular feature at the front was the dual round headlights behind a glass cover, with the light rings for the positioning and daytime driving lights so typical of BMW being added in the year 2000.

Both the sedan and the Touring introduced in 1997 once again offered even more space within the passenger compartment. Boasting features such as a multifunction steering wheel, a navigation system, active seats and Dynamic Stability Control, the BMW 5 Series was acknowledged as a particularly outstanding high-tech representative of its segment.
In the interest of enhanced driving dynamics and safety, the body came with a significant increase in torsional stiffness over the former model, and the fourth-generation BMW 5 Series was the first large-scale production car worldwide made almost completely of light alloy. The newly developed all-aluminium power units also helped to significantly reduce the weight of the car.

The new model entered the market with straight-six power units delivering maximum output from 150 to 193 hp. Technical innovations gave both the petrol and diesel engines even more power on further reduced fuel consumption. Two V8 engines were introduced once again in 1996, with the new BMW M5 entering the market in 1998 with the most powerful production engine built by BMW up to that time: this 294 kW/400 hp power unit came, among other highlights, with features such as oil supply controlled for centrifugal forces and electronically controlled individual throttle butterflies.

The fourth generation of the BMW 5 Series once again set up a new sales record accounting for 1.47 million units sold up to the end of production in early 2004.

2003: the fifth-generation BMW 5 Series – progressive and efficient.

From the start, the fifth generation of the BMW 5 Series introduced in 2003 stood out through its impressive design and innovative technology. Once again, both the sedan and the Touring launched in 2004 set new standards in terms of active safety, driver assistance systems, and efficiency. BMW’s typical design language with convex and concave surfaces as well as flowing transitions from the front and side to the rear gave the fifth edition of the BMW 5 Series a particularly characteristic note, the interior with its clear-cut functions highlighting above all the iDrive control system featured as standard.

Engines with an aluminium or, respectively, a composite aluminium/magnesium crankcase as well as the lightweight aluminium front section of the car ensured a particularly good balance of weight front-to-rear. Another important component newly developed at the time was the integral rear axle likewise made of aluminium

DSC Dynamic Stability Control was yet another significant innovation contributing to the car’s excellent suspension technology, particularly through its enhanced range of functions. The same superiority was provided for the first time by Active Steering and Adaptive Drive with electronic damper adjustment and anti-roll stability management. As highlights in the area of driver assistance, the fifth-generation BMW 5 Series also featured cutting-edge technologies such as the Head-Up Display and BMW Night Vision, Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go and Lane Departure Warning introduced as new systems in
the car.

The range of engines in the BMW 5 Series was expanded to six petrol and four diesel engines extending from 125 kW/170 hp in the BMW 520i all the way to 270 kW/367 hp in the BMW 550i. The BMW M5 and the BMW M5 Touring, in turn, came with a 5.0-litre V10 high-speed power unit boasting individual throttle butterflies and dynamic oil supply, with maximum output of 373 kW/507 hp.

Starting in 2007, all versions of the fifth-generation BMW 5 Series were enhanced as standard through a wide range of BMW EfficientDynamics technologies varying appropriately from one model to another. Innovations such as Brake Energy Regeneration, a gearshift point indicator, active air flap control and on-demand ancillaries gave all models in their respective class an unparalleled balance of performance and fuel economy. The ultimate benchmark for efficiency in the upper midrange segment was in particular
the BMW 520d returning average fuel consumption in the EU test cycle of 5.1 litres/100 kilometres (equal to 55.4 mpg imp) and a CO2 emission rating of 136 grams per kilometre as record figures in this segment despite engine output of 130 kW/177 hp.

Offering striking design, innovative technology and outstanding efficiency,
the fifth generation of the BMW 5 Series consistently continued the victorious history of this model family. From 2005 to 2008, the BMW 5 Series was
the best-selling car in its segment for four years in a row, with worldwide sales
of this model generation amounting to more than a million units by the
end of 2007. Just a bit later, in January 2008, BMW Plant Dingolfing was able to celebrate a particularly impressive anniversary, with five million
BMW 5 Series having come off the production line in Dingolfing since 1973. 

Munich . Sales of the BMW 5 Series already amount to more than 5.5 million units in five model generations – and now a new chapter is starting in the highly successful story of the BMW 5 Series Sedan.

While the sixth generation naturally follows the great heritage of its predecessors, its roots go back much further. As early as in the 1960s, BMW developed a strong and distinctive profile as a manufacturer of sporting but elegant, powerful and technically innovative midrange four-door sedans. Introducing a four-door notchback body, engines fitted lengthwise at the front, rear-wheel drive and an elaborate suspension, BMW established a classical principle at the time which remains highly attractive and fully endorsed to this very day.

It was at that time that the BMW 1500, the BMW 1800 and the BMW 2000 entered the market as the “New Range”, establishing the most successful model series BMW had ever seen up to that point. The competence in the development and production of saloons demonstrated by BMW with these models gave the Company a worldwide breakthrough as a manufacturer of modern and highly desirable automobiles with very individual characteristics.

Switching from the New Range to the BMW 5 Series in 1972, BMW introduced not only new nomenclature, but also a new era in design.
Indeed, the number “5” immediately became the synonym for unmistakable driving pleasure in this segment. Ever since, the BMW 5 Series has stood for sedans which, through their design, offer particularly harmonious balance of sportiness and elegance authentically reflecting a unique combination of driving dynamics and motoring comfort ensured by superior drivetrain and suspension technology. The BMW 5 Series therefore offers a particularly concentrated rendition of the outstanding competence in development of this leading car maker from Munich.

1972: the BMW 5 Series makes its debut.

The BMW 520 and the BMW 520i with four-cylinder power units developing 115 and, respectively, 130 hp were presented at the 1972 Frankfurt Motor Show as the successors to the New Range. The model designation introduced a new concept determining the nomenclature of BMW cars to this very day, with the ”5“ at the beginning specifying the series as such and the two following numbers indicating the displacement of the respective model. At the same time these model designations brought back memories of legendary BMWs in the 1950s such as the BMW 501 “Baroque Angel” and the iconic BMW 507 sports car.

In its design, the first BMW 5 Series stood out from the start through its stretched and sleek lines, large windows and low waistline. As design elements typical of the brand, the dual headlights and the Hofmeister kick in the C-pillar were re-interpreted in new style and technology, French designer Paul Bracq thus setting the foundation for the design language of BMW so characteristic in the 1970s. To precisely calculate the car’s deformation zones in the interest of superior occupant safety, BMW’s engineers for the first time used superior computer technology to a large extent.

Introduction of the BMW 525 in the second year of production hailed the entry of the first six-cylinder into the market. The powerful and, at the same time, refined engine featured in this top model delivered an impressive 145 hp. This wish for additional power became one of the most important reasons for expanding the model range also in the years to come, BMW Motorsport GmbH established in 1972 providing particularly spectacular input by presenting the BMW M535i with its 160 kW/218 hp six-cylinder in 1980.

1981: second generation, first diesel.

Accounting for sales of almost 700,000 units, the first generation of the BMW 5 Series more than doubled the success of the New Range in the market. The next model launched in 1982 then continued this story of success, remaining faithful in its design to the principle of clear lines and large windows.

With its even more striking design front and rear, the new BMW 5 Series, despite its exterior dimensions remaining almost identical, offered far greater presence and flair on the road. Engineering refinements and intelligent lightweight technology provided more space within the interior, optimum weight and improved occupant safety. The newly developed suspension with its double-joint front axle and semi-trailing arm rear axle served in particular to enhance the motoring comfort offered by the new model. Modern electronic systems were also introduced into the BMW 5 Series at this point, ranging from anti-lock brakes via an on-board computer all the way to electronic fuel injection.

Right from the start upon its introduction into the market, the new sedan came with a broad model range and engines extending from 90 to 184 hp. A particularly sporting version was introduced in 1984, even though the 218 hp BMW M535i was not the last word from Motorsport GmbH this time. Instead, Motorsport GmbH proudly presented the very epitome of the Sports Sedan at the 1985 Frankfurt Motor Show, the BMW M5. Hardly distinguishable from the other models when considered from outside, the BMW M5 was optimised throughout beneath its sheet metal for uncompromising driving dynamics. Power came from a straight-six boasting four-valve technology and no less than six throttle butterflies. Output of this drive unit derived from the legendary BMW M1 was 286 hp, developing supreme thrust and performance previously offered by only the most thoroughbred sports cars.

The decision taken by BMW in 1983 to enter the fiercely contested diesel market with the BMW 524td was almost a revolution. To offer the character so typical of the brand also with a diesel, the only option was obviously to give the car a powerful and refined turbodiesel engine. The 2.4-litre straight-six developing maximum output of 115 hp fulfilled these requirements in a truly ideal manner, the BMW 524td offering the best performance of all diesels in its segment and, at the same time, the highest standard of fuel efficiency. Clearly, even diesel sceptics were impressed by this innovative combination of superior muscle and equally outstanding economy.

Entry into the diesel market was not the only option for BMW to bring together sporting performance and superior economy. On the contrary – precisely at this time BMW had already completed a large number of studies and innovations in developing particularly fuel-efficient technologies and looking for alternative sources of energy. Many of these innovations went into series production in the course of time, others set the foundation for long-term research projects. One example is the hydrogen-powered test car presented as early as in 1976 on the basis of the first-generation BMW 5 Series.

Apart from the turbodiesel, a particularly efficient petrol version of the
BMW 5 Series proved suitable for series production right from the start: The BMW 525e was powered by a six-cylinder designed and built consistently for superior traction and economy all in one. Displacing 2.7 litres, the power unit named after the Greek letter “eta” also known as the symbol for efficiency developed maximum output of 125 hp at an engine speed of 4,250 rpm, with peak torque of 240 Newton-metres/177 lb-ft at just 3,250 rpm. New engine electronics, optimised weight and a five-speed transmission with an overdrive economy function were further features helping to give this model outstanding efficiency.

The second generation of the BMW 5 Series was replaced after seven years of production. By this time sales had amounted to more than 722.000 units, again setting a new record.

1988: third generation of the BMW 5 Series –
for the first time also as the Touring.

With BMW having started the introduction of catalyst technology back in 1984, the third-generation BMW 5 Series was fitted from the start exclusively with this high standard of emission management. The first models available from the beginning in 1988 were the BMW 520i, the BMW 525i, the BMW 530i, the BMW 535i, and the BMW 524td) – all with six cylinders and electronic fuel injection. The power range extended from 115 all the way to 211 hp.

A new BMW M5 was also introduced at an early point, with engine output of 315 hp further increased to 340 hp in 1992.

The two eight-cylinder BMW 530i and BMW 540i followed in 1992, with the BMW 518i being introduced in 1993 as the entry-level model with a four-cylinder power unit. In the meantime, the six-cylinder engines, benefiting from four-valve technology and variable Vanos camshaft management, had gained even greater power, torque and efficiency.

With its precisely defined deformation zones and even stiffer passenger cell, the third generation of the BMW 5 Series set new standards in the area of occupant safety. As an option the elaborately refined suspension was available with electronically controlled dampers, a further option being speed-related Servotronic steering assistance. ASC Automatic Stability Control was also available for the first time in addition to the anti-lock brake system.

The first BMW 5 Series with electronically all-wheel drive was launched in 1991, the concept of fully variable power distribution from front to rear, together with a rear axle differential lock, proving right from the start in the first comparative tests to be superior to all four-wheel-drive systems available so far.

Compared with its predecessor, the third-generation BMW 5 Series was significantly longer and came with a lot more space inside, also thanks to its brand-new design. Indeed, the new sedan created under the guidance of Chief Designer Claus Luthe combined sporting elegance and flowing lines with a distinctive wedge shape. This stylish character was then carried over by the designers to the first BMW 5 Series Touring, this unique five-door revealed at the 1992 Frankfurt Motor Show offering a brand-new look and brand-new features behind the B-pillar.

With sound insulation being given particular significance, the level of sound within the body was virtually the same as in the sedan even though the generous space inside obviously formed an ideal resonance body for acoustic effect and disturbance. The BMW 5 Series Touring was fitted from the start with self-levelling on the rear axle.

The Touring model was available with nearly all the engines also offered on the sedan, and as an option also came with all-wheel drive. A BMW M5 Touring joined the range in 1992, successful sales of this five-door clearly confirming BMW’s concept to combine additional practical value with attractive design: Overall sales of the BMW 5 Series Touring up to 1996 amounted to approximately 125,000 units, and total sales of the third-generation BMW 5 Series were more than 1.3 million units the world over.

1995: the fourth generation –
for the first time with light-alloy suspension.

The fourth generation of the BMW 5 Series made its debut at the 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show, offering an evolutionary development through its design of the former model with its sporting and elegant style. A particular feature at the front was the dual round headlights behind a glass cover, with the light rings for the positioning and daytime driving lights so typical of BMW being added in the year 2000.

Both the sedan and the Touring introduced in 1997 once again offered even more space within the passenger compartment. Boasting features such as a multifunction steering wheel, a navigation system, active seats and Dynamic Stability Control, the BMW 5 Series was acknowledged as a particularly outstanding high-tech representative of its segment.
In the interest of enhanced driving dynamics and safety, the body came with a significant increase in torsional stiffness over the former model, and the fourth-generation BMW 5 Series was the first large-scale production car worldwide made almost completely of light alloy. The newly developed all-aluminium power units also helped to significantly reduce the weight of the car.

The new model entered the market with straight-six power units delivering maximum output from 150 to 193 hp. Technical innovations gave both the petrol and diesel engines even more power on further reduced fuel consumption. Two V8 engines were introduced once again in 1996, with the new BMW M5 entering the market in 1998 with the most powerful production engine built by BMW up to that time: this 294 kW/400 hp power unit came, among other highlights, with features such as oil supply controlled for centrifugal forces and electronically controlled individual throttle butterflies.

The fourth generation of the BMW 5 Series once again set up a new sales record accounting for 1.47 million units sold up to the end of production in early 2004.

2003: the fifth-generation BMW 5 Series – progressive and efficient.

From the start, the fifth generation of the BMW 5 Series introduced in 2003 stood out through its impressive design and innovative technology. Once again, both the sedan and the Touring launched in 2004 set new standards in terms of active safety, driver assistance systems, and efficiency. BMW’s typical design language with convex and concave surfaces as well as flowing transitions from the front and side to the rear gave the fifth edition of the BMW 5 Series a particularly characteristic note, the interior with its clear-cut functions highlighting above all the iDrive control system featured as standard.

Engines with an aluminium or, respectively, a composite aluminium/magnesium crankcase as well as the lightweight aluminium front section of the car ensured a particularly good balance of weight front-to-rear. Another important component newly developed at the time was the integral rear axle likewise made of aluminium

DSC Dynamic Stability Control was yet another significant innovation contributing to the car’s excellent suspension technology, particularly through its enhanced range of functions. The same superiority was provided for the first time by Active Steering and Adaptive Drive with electronic damper adjustment and anti-roll stability management. As highlights in the area of driver assistance, the fifth-generation BMW 5 Series also featured cutting-edge technologies such as the Head-Up Display and BMW Night Vision, Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go and Lane Departure Warning introduced as new systems in
the car.

The range of engines in the BMW 5 Series was expanded to six petrol and four diesel engines extending from 125 kW/170 hp in the BMW 520i all the way to 270 kW/367 hp in the BMW 550i. The BMW M5 and the BMW M5 Touring, in turn, came with a 5.0-litre V10 high-speed power unit boasting individual throttle butterflies and dynamic oil supply, with maximum output of 373 kW/507 hp.

Starting in 2007, all versions of the fifth-generation BMW 5 Series were enhanced as standard through a wide range of BMW EfficientDynamics technologies varying appropriately from one model to another. Innovations such as Brake Energy Regeneration, a gearshift point indicator, active air flap control and on-demand ancillaries gave all models in their respective class an unparalleled balance of performance and fuel economy. The ultimate benchmark for efficiency in the upper midrange segment was in particular
the BMW 520d returning average fuel consumption in the EU test cycle of 5.1 litres/100 kilometres (equal to 55.4 mpg imp) and a CO2 emission rating of 136 grams per kilometre as record figures in this segment despite engine output of 130 kW/177 hp.

Offering striking design, innovative technology and outstanding efficiency,
the fifth generation of the BMW 5 Series consistently continued the victorious history of this model family. From 2005 to 2008, the BMW 5 Series was
the best-selling car in its segment for four years in a row, with worldwide sales
of this model generation amounting to more than a million units by the
end of 2007. Just a bit later, in January 2008, BMW Plant Dingolfing was able to celebrate a particularly impressive anniversary, with five million
BMW 5 Series having come off the production line in Dingolfing since 1973.

Munich. BMW Group Classic is expanding its mission: from the beginning of this year the newly established Motorsport division is offering assistance in everything to do with classic competition vehicles that carry the BMW and Mini badges. The activities of the motorsport specialists extend from advice on servicing and repair, through parts procurement, right up to complete restoration – drawing on the definitive skills of the manufacturer.

Oldtimer Grand Prix, Festival of Speed, Mille Miglia, Le Mans Classic – motor racing with historic cars is experiencing an unstoppable boom. More and more competitions are exerting a magnetic pull on participants and spectators alike. And almost always there are one or more BMWs on the starting grid. To ensure that these vehicles remain raceworthy, as from January 2010 BMW Classic has set up a dedicated Motorsport division whose aim is to provide the same comprehensive service for classic racing cars as BMW Classic does for road vehicles. 

The experts expect to find their main customers among the owners of racers from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. “Anyone who owns a high-performance car like that will also want to drive it,” says Friedrich Nohl, who heads up the Motorsport division of BMW Group Classic. And he should know: Nohl was previously head of sports and touring car technology at BMW Motorsport. Whatever the event, the drivers are scarcely less ambitious to win than those who drove the classics in their heyday. And just as in those days, the mechanical stresses of racing can sometimes cause something to drop off or blow up. “Even in historic motor sport we are pushing men and materials to their limits,” Nohl adds. With these thoroughbred race cars, procuring replacement parts of a commensurate quality is not so easy. In future, the specialists at BMW Group Classic Motorsport intend to offer their help, even to the extent of replicating special components. Where damage or wear to a vehicle is more extensive, BMW Group Classic will in future also offer maintenance, repair or rebuilding.

Mini Cooper and BMW 1602 as demonstration models.

As demonstration models, the specialists are building two competition vehicles in the course of this year. One is a Mini Cooper S Mark 1 dating from 1964, which can be entered for circuit races. The other is a 1970s BMW 1602 Touring.  “Both will be rebuilt from the ground up, in other words starting from the bodyshell,” says Friedrich Nohl. Whereas the Mini is being converted to a competition car, the 1602 already has a racing history.

BMW Group Classic has set up the Motorsport division to meet the growing demand for skilled servicing of racing classics while remaining faithful to the originals. “We are getting more and more frequent enquiries of this kind,” says Friedrich Nohl. That is no surprise, since many of the one-time circuit and rally cars have survived and are still being raced today. They originate predominantly from the period from 1960 to 1990 – three decades in which BMW and Mini were helping to make a decisive mark on motor sports.

1960-1990: the heyday of the classics.

In the summer of 1961, BMW launched the 700 Sport as the first postwar car intended for motor racing. With its 40 hp this 640 kg flyweight outstripped the competition in its sports class right from the start. In the very first year the German Circuit Championship and the Rally and Touring Car Championship went to the “Little Fury”, as the public christened it. In the same era, the Mini made an indelible mark on the history of rallying: its overall victory in the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally is the stuff of legend. 

The 1970s were dominated by the 3.0 CSL dream coupé, which became the most successful tourer of its era. Between 1973 and 1979 it won the European Championship six times and dominated the international touring car racing scene for the best part of a decade. At the end of its career, as a turbo coupé, it had an impressive power output of up to 800 hp and, on account of its extravagant set of spoilers, went down in history as the “Batmobile”. 

The 1980s are symbolised by the BMW M3, born in 1986. Right from the start the racer made a clean sweep of victories, trophies and titles: in 1987 it won the World Touring Car Championship – the first and only world title ever awarded in this vehicle category. In the following five years the M3 was undisputed leader of the touring car racing scene. With several European touring car championships, a second win in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) as well as a fistful of other victories and championships at international level, it became the most successful tourer of all. 

“We want to make it possible for the owners of our successful classics to get involved in events and competitions without having to sacrifice the driving fun which these cars offer to this day,” Friedrich Nohl stresses.

Munich. Anybody who was not invited read it in the papers: On the morning of 9 July 1929 full-page ads informed the public that BMW had become a car maker. And guests invited to BMW’s new showroom in the middle of Berlin were able to admire a small car bearing the model designation 3/15 PS DA 2, with the two last letters standing for “Deutsche Ausführung” or “German Version”. In popular language the car nevertheless soon took on a new name, BMW’s first production model remaining a legend to this day as the “Dixi”.

The first of these attractive small performers coming off the production line on 22 March in BMW’s plant near the former Berlin-Johannisthal Airport set the foundation not only for the production of cars by BMW. For although the Dixi was largely taken over from an existing model with parts and components already in use, the car clearly bore the handwriting typical of BMW to this very day: From the beginning efficiency and dynamics were of utmost significance to BMW, forming an integral part of the brand’s DNA. Indeed, BMW had already made a great name for itself as a manufacturer of very economical high-performance products such as aircraft engines and motorcycles, before entering car production.

Before BMW fitted the brand’s white-and-blue logo on the radiator grille of the Dixi, the car had already been updated in technical terms and, as its highlight, boasted a new all-steel body. As a result the BMW 3/15 very modern at its time won the International Alpine Rally in its very first attempt in 1929, successfully completing all large passes in the Alps during the race lasting a full five days.

Apart from its reliability, the Dixi also appealed to a growing number of customers through its all-round economy and relatively low price: Consuming just six litres of regular fuel, the Dixi was more economical right from the start than rail transport and the customer had the option to pay the purchase price of 2,200.– reichsmarks for the “base” version in instalments, if he wished to do so. This made the BMW a lot cheaper than a comparable Hanomag, with the car coming at about the same price as the best seller back then, the Opel Laubfrosch.

Early type of VANOS technology back in 1938.

Step-by-step BMW’s engineers developed technologies and concepts in the years to come to improve both efficiency and driving dynamics, thus building up a significant lead over their competitors. Even back in the 1930s, for example, BMW looked into variable camshaft management and took out the first patent for this technology in 1938/39.

Several prototypes of the BMW 802 aircraft engine already featured a technology which today, naturally enhanced to a higher level, serves to offer greater efficiency in all of BMW’s gasoline engines in the guise of double-VANOS. On BMW’s 2,500-horsepower aircraft engine, the intake and exhaust valves were masterminded by cam discs adjustable to various settings while the engine was running.

In 1940 BMW introduced a further international highlight in one of the main areas of Efficient Dynamics: lightweight construction. The BMW 328 Kamm Racing Coupé is indeed a particularly outstanding example of the supreme performance of the BMW 328 in motorsport. The car’s tubular spaceframe was made of an extra-light electron alloy and weighed just 32 kg or 71 lb. Together with the outer skin made of aluminium and the six-cylinder power unit, unladen weight was a low 760 kg or 1,676 lb. Superior aerodynamics created by Wunibald Kamm, one of the pioneers of modern streamlining, gave the car a drag coefficient of approximately 0.27. This, together with 136 horsepower coming from the two-litre engine, provided a top speed of 230 km/h or 143 mph.

BMW took up this concept again after the war, following the same philosophy in 1961 in the BMW 700 RS. This new racing car bearing the white-and-blue emblem excelled through its extremely light structure, again featuring an elaborate tubular spaceframe combined with light aluminium outer skin.

In road trim this small racer weighed a mere 630 kg or 1,389 lb, no problem at all for the racing engine specially developed for this outstanding athlete: The 70-hp two-cylinder displaced just 0.7 litres, giving the engine an output per litre of 100 horsepower still quite remarkable today and accelerating the RS to 160 km/h or 99 mph. Particularly with the great German racing driver Hans Stuck at the wheel back then, the BMW 700 RS scored numerous wins in all kinds of hillclimb events.

1968: BMW six-cylinders once again setting the standard for years
to come.

Following the outstanding success of BMW’s New Range and the 02-models,
BMW was able in 1968 to once again take up the great tradition of the 1930s with larger six-cylinder power units. So this marked the debut of the BMW 2500 and 2800 taking the Company back into the market for large saloons and coupés.

The engines themselves were the same in both body variants: Fitted at an angle of 30°, the power units came with a crankshaft running in no less than seven earings and incorporating twelve counterweights for vibration-free smoothness further enhanced by the overhead camshaft. This, clearly, led to the concept of turbine-like smoothness on BMW’s six-cylinder power units.

One of the technical innovations on the two engines identical in their structural
features was the triple-hemispherical swirl-action combustion chamber interacting with appropriately designed pistons. This particular configuration ensured an even more intense fuel/air combustion process serving in this case to provide superior power on good fuel economy: The 2.5-litre delivered maximum output of 150 hp, the 2.8-litre an even more impressive 170 hp – sufficient to boost the BMW 2800 into the exclusive group of 200 km/h cars. And achieving a top speed of 190 km/h or 118 mph, the BMW 2500 likewise had only very few competitors to fear. No surprise, therefore, that BMW’s six-cylinders set the standard in modern engine technology for years to come.

A big contribution to this supremacy came from a racing car representing the sporting extreme of Efficient Dynamics at the time: the BMW 3.0 CSL built in 1971. Once again, intelligent lightweight engineering served to make this outstanding model even more dynamic, with sophisticated aerodynamics helping to optimise the car’s driving characteristics. As an example, BMW introduced features at the time such as specially developed downforce flaps and a complete underfloor cover. Qualities of this kind made these light, powerful and fast coupés unbeatable for many years, with BMW winning all but one European Touring Car Championships between 1973 and 1979.

1972 Olympics: the BMW electric car makes its first appearance.

In the early ’70s BMW’s development experts focused very carefully not just on outstanding achievements in motorsport. Rather, the 1972 Olympics were the starting point for intense research also on electric drive technology, a small fleet of orange-coloured BMW 1602 Saloons boasting battery-powered electric motors becoming the symbol of the Munich Games. And in the three decades to follow, BMW became one of the world leaders in the segment of electric cars.

Just a year later BMW introduced another pioneering model featuring highlights in technology now once again gaining greater significance: The BMW 2002 turbo was the first production car in Europe to feature a turbocharged engine. This gave BMW a leading role in turbo technology, at the same time setting the foundation for the successful use of this technology in both series production and motorsport.

BMW’s next step in efficient technology came in 1978, the BMW M1 super sports car with its four-valve technology carried over from motorsport setting a new benchmark in optimising the cylinder charge process. BMW started using this technology successfully in motorsport in the late 1960s, developing it to production standard ten years later, with optimised cylinder charge technology being subsequently used in other BMW M models such as the M635CSi, the M5 and the M3.

In 1979 the first Digital Motor Electronics in the BMW 732i set new standards throughout Europe, map control helping to provide more power on less fuel. This improvement was further enhanced by automatic overrun cut-off reducing
fuel consumption to zero in the overrun mode.

All this set another milestone in the market, BMW becoming the pioneer in
automotive electronics. In the process of enhancing motoring efficiency, BMW never lost sight of the driver and his – or her – particular role. Precisely this was the reason for the introduction of the world’s first fuel consumption gauge in the BMW 5 Series as yet another achievement in electronics in 1981. This new display sensitised the driver to the issue of fuel economy, showing him clearly how he himself was able to drive more economically, that is on less fuel. And to this day, the
fuel consumption indicator plays an important role in the context of BMW’s Efficient Dynamics strategy.

The BMW 524td: a milestone in diesel technology.

The decision taken by BMW to enter the fiercely contested diesel car market was truly revolutionary in the history of the Company, a new generation of engines marking this significant breakthrough.

The BMW 524td introduced in June 1983 featured a diesel engine combining the benefits of diesel technology with qualities typical of BMW such as dynamic performance and supreme refinement. And this led straight to the development
of BMW’s turbodiesel based on the existing range of straight-six power units between 2.0 and 2.7 litres engine capacity.

Using turbocharger technology and large flow cross-sections on the intake and
outlet valves of the 2.4-litre power unit, BMW’s engineers were able to increase
engine power to a substantial 115 hp. At the same time the swirl-chamber combustion process enhanced to an even higher standard provided an ideal basis for minimising both fuel consumption and combustion noise: Under the DIN standard, this modern BMW turbodiesel made do with just 7.1 ltr/100 km (equal to 39.8 mpg imp), despite the car’s top speed of 180 km/h (112 mph) and acceleration to 100 km/h in 12.9 seconds, setting new standards at the time in the dynamic performance of diesel cars.

A truly unique concept: the eta engine.

Yet another new concept introduced by BMW, this time in the gasoline market, was BMW’s eta technology available as of autumn 1981 in the BMW 528e sold in the US market. In spring 1983 this initial model was followed by the BMW 525e in Germany before the BMW 325e was launched in Europe in 1985.

The letter “e” stood for eta, the symbol for efficiency. And indeed, the 2.7-litre six-cylinder power unit featured in this very special model was optimised without compromises for superior torque and economy, consuming just 8.4 litres of regular grade fuel on 100 kilometres (equal to 33.6 mpg imp), despite engine output of 122 hp.

Back then this kind of fuel economy on a large six-cylinder (with virtually the same fuel consumption under practical driving conditions) was acknowledged as truly sensational. The concept of a large power unit with relatively low power was indeed quite unusual back then in Europe and remains exceptional to this day.

It was also in the early ’80s that BMW started developing the hydrogen car, taking on a leading role in the development of the hydrogen combustion engine and, together with the German Research and Test Institute for Aerospace Technology, building several test models as of 1984. One of these cars was the BMW 745i Hydrogen.

BMW consistently maintained this development process, building hydrogenpowered experimental versions of the BMW 7 Series in all upcoming generations of the car and in each case pushing this technology to its extreme limit. In the process BMW succeeded in combining the hydrogen combustion engine with both superior environmental compatibility and sporting performance.

The further reduction of driving resistance was one of the highlights in developing two BMW sports cars in the late 1980s: The first of these models was the BMW Z1, a genuine spearhead in innovation and technology, launched in 1988 and boasting not only very low weight thanks to its bodyshell made of a special synthetic material, but also an outstanding drag coefficient of 0.36. This progress in aerodynamics was attributable, among other things, to the fully covered underfloor with a diffuser at the rear, while the driver and passenger enjoyed optimum driving conditions with draughts reduced to a minimum.

The other example was the BMW 850i Coupé introduced a year later, again setting new standards in aerodynamics. Despite its large cooling air intakes for the twelve-cylinder power unit, this elegant coupé came with a drag coefficient of just 0.29. Again, this was because very many of the car’s aerodynamic components such as the exterior mirrors with hardly any effect on air drag had been developed very carefully in a painstaking streamlining process.

In 1991 BMW took up the concept of the electric car once again, demonstrating the current state of the art in the BMW E1. This first all-electric car built in recent times worldwide was a fully-fl edged automobile offering ample space for four passengers and their luggage.

Made consistently in lightweight construction, the body was a combination of extrusion-pressed aluminium profiles with the outer skin made of plastic and aluminium.

The objective in developing this very special car was to build a genuine BMW with unrestricted driving pleasure – and precisely this was the objective BMW achieved so impressively.

Given cars and technologies of this standard, the development of alternative
drive systems by BMW was just as innovative and dynamic as the development of conventional power units.

In 1992 BMW introduced infinitely variable valve management – BMW VANOS – as a world-first achievement in the M3 sports car, improving both power and torque as well as fuel economy and the management of emissions. As of 1992 VANOS was also featured as a further improvement on BMW’s other six-cylinder power units, being replaced as of 1995 by double-VANOS which as of 1998 was alsointroduced on BMW’s V8 engines.

1995: BMW 5 Series takes on the leading role in intelligent
lightweight construction.

In 1995 the next generation of the BMW 5 Series entered the market as the forerunner in intelligent lightweight construction. This was indeed the world’s
first large-scale production car to feature a chassis and suspension made completely of light alloy and reducing the weight of the entire vehicle by approximately 30 per cent.

The all-aluminium power units were also 30 kg or 66 lb lighter than before, helping to reduce unladen weight of the BMW 523i, for example, from 1,525 kg/3,362 lb to 1,495 kg/3,296 lb.

In the same year BMW introduced the 316g and 518g, Europe’s first natural gas cars to enter series production. This alternative drive technology served to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 20 per cent and the formation of ozone-building hydrocarbons (HC) by an even more significant 80 per cent.
At the same time the new engines made a further contribution to the series development of hydrogen drive, since natural gas comes with very similar features and qualities relevant to the car.

In all, BMW built a small series of 842 natural gas-powered models up to the year 2000.

Moving on to the year 2001, BMW enhanced the VANOS technology into fully
variable VALVETRONIC valve management running the engine for the first time without a throttle butterfly and remaining absolutely unique the world over to this day. In the four-cylinder power unit of the BMW 316ti this meant more performance on less fuel, particularly under part load, thus reducing fuel consumption versus the former model by a most significant 12 per cent.

One of the big advantages of this technology is that it can be used worldwide,
since it does not make any particular demands in terms of fuel quality.

In the years to come BMW carried over VALVETRONIC valve control
to other gasoline engines, all the way to the four-cylinder power unit of the
MINI introduced in 2006.

BMW EfficientDynamics building up an increasing lead.

Today BMW has successfully expanded and enhanced this quest for greater
economy combined with superior driving dynamics through the concept of
BMW Effi cientDynamics. Technologies such as Brake Energy Regeneration, the Auto Start/Stop function, the gearshift point indicator, ancillary units operating only on demand and including the detachable a/c compressor, intelligent lightweight engineering and active aerodynamics through precise management of the car’s air fl aps are now featured in all new models in an appropriate combination. And following the principle of BMW EfficientDynamics, each new model excels through reduced fuel consumption and enhanced driving dynamics in comparison with its respective predecessor.

The by far most efficient premium cars in the German market come from BMW and MINI. The latest statistics compiled by the German Motor Vehicle Authority on behalf of the BMW Group show that new BMW and MINI models registered in Germany in 2008 come with average fuel consumption of just 5.9 litres/100 kilometres (equal to 44.9 mpg imp) and CO2 emissions of 158 grams per kilometre. Both figures are significantly below the average of all new vehicles registered in Germany in 2008, which is 165 grams per kilometre.

The statistics compiled by the German Motor Vehicle Authority on behalf of the
BMW Group not only show the significant superiority of BMW EfficientDynamics over comparable technologies introduced by other premium manufacturers, but also demonstrate the outstanding position of the BMW Group within the overall market: In statistical terms a BMW or a MINI consume significantly less fuel than the average of all new cars registered in Germany. In its fleet consumption determined by the German Motor Vehicle Authority the BMW Group also outperforms even the largest European volume manufacturer and is therefore absolutely equal to a large number of car makers focusing primarily on small cars in their range.

On an EU level the BMW and MINI brands likewise achieve fuel economy and
CO2 ratings below the overall average of European car makers. From 1995 until the end of 2008, the BMW Group has reduced the fuel consumption of its
cars sold in Europe by more than 25 per cent, in the process outperforming
the commitment made by the Association of European Car Makers (ACEA) on
behalf of its members.

Munich. The cruising altitude of modern airliners ranges from 10 to 12 kilometres. It is hard to imagine, then, that a pilot managed to broach these heights a full 90 years ago. It was a BMW engine which, on 17th June 1919, propelled Franz Zeno Diemer to an altitude of 9,760 metres. If further proof were needed of the superiority of the ingenious yet simple concept of BMW’s highaltitude engines, it was furnished during that summer of 1919 at Munich’s Oberwiesenfeld airfield. No human had previously piloted an aircraft to a greater height.

When Diemer set out on his record flight from the Oberwiesenfeld on 17th June, his DFW F 37/III – an altitude aircraft specially developed by Deutsche Flugzeugwerke – was powered by a BMW IV aero engine. Based on the tried and tested BMW IIIa, the new BMW IV engine had its bore and stroke increased by 10 mm to boost output from 185 to 230 hp. Glorious flying weather saw the engine deliver a consistently excellent performance on that Sunday, enabling Diemer to make a steady ascent to ever greater heights. After 87 minutes he had reached 9,760 metres. No other aeroplane had previously attained such an altitude. Later Diemer announced that the engine still had reserves in hand, but that he himself had reached the limits of his capacity. After all, in his open pilot’s seat he not only had to contend with temperatures as low as -50° Celsius, but also with the low oxygen levels in the air at this altitude, which took their toll on him physically.

The challenge Diemer faced during his world record flight was the same underlying problem with which all aircraft engines had to grapple during the First World War: loss of power at altitude. Normally an aeroplane requires maximum output on the ground in order to take off at all. But with aircraft now forming a separate military arm, the requirements changed. Engine output also became crucial to survival at high altitude, for example for rapid climbing to escape hostile combat squadrons.

With increasing altitude, however, the air density steadily diminishes, and this led to power loss in the engines. Two different concepts were pursued in an attempt to counteract the loss of output in the thinning air. Some manufacturers – such as Daimler – turned their attention to charging, whereby air was forced into the carburettor by means of a charger. But this technology was too complex to bring to production readiness within a short space of time, and only established itself in the 1930s. BMW’s head designer Max Friz, on the other hand, opted for an over-square, high-compression unit for the first BMW aircraft engine, the forerunner of the BMW IV world record engine. This design principle involved an enlargement of the cylinder volume as well as an increased compression ratio. To avoid engine overload, it had to be throttled back at take-off and low flying altitudes.

To meet the demands of a high-altitude engine, Max Friz had designed a special carburettor which was to deliver a steady supercharged pressure and ensure a consistent air/fuel mixture ratio. The carburettor was controlled by two levers, one for normal operation and one for high altitudes. By means of these two levers, the pilot could control the throttle valves of the BMW carburettor in such a way that the optimum mix was prepared to suit the aircraft’s altitude at any time. The throttle valves were only opened fully once an altitude of 3,500 to 4,000 metres had been reached. This configuration meant that the loss of power of the IIIa at altitude was less than in other engines.

One of the first advocates of this concept was war Franz Zeno Diemer, an experienced flyer who had already obtained his pilot’s licence in 1913. During the First World War he served as a test pilot in the Bavarian Flying Corps. It was in this role that he came into contact with BMW in 1917 when testing the BMW IIIa aero engine. His record flight in the summer of 1919 won international acclaim, even though it was denied official recognition. All aviation records had to be confirmed by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in order to be ratified. Although Germany was a founder member, it had been excluded from the FAI as a result of the First World War. That is why Diemer’s record never entered the official record lists. But even without a certificate, the ascent to almost 10,000 metres was a sensational testimony to the potential of the BMW aero engines.

Even at that time, the BMW engines were compelling not only for their outstanding performance, but for their fuel economy as well. The first BMW IIIa already featured lightweight components in its design. Its crankcase and pistons were made of aluminium, giving a weight of just 285 kg and a weight-to-power ratio of 1.54 kg/hp. Diemer’s record-setting engine, the BMW IV, boasted a mere 1.24 kg/hp. Fuel consumption figures demonstrated the superiority of the BMW engine over the competition. During throttled operation, in the region of 1,050 rpm, the BMW IIIa consumed 200 grams per hp and hour, which was more than a third less than a “normal” aircraft engine in this performance class. In practice it meant that, with a supply of around 200 kg of fuel – i.e. some 260 litres – an aircraft with the BMW IIIa had an operating range of 1,200 kilometres, while the same amount of fuel in a normal unit was good for only around 730 km.

Indeed, the BMW IIIa also had the edge over another form of transport. On one of his test flights, Diemer made it from Augsburg via Leipzig to Döberlitz in just under four hours, with the BMW IIIa engine powering his aircraft getting through just 84 litres of fuel. Over the same distance, a car at the time took 14 to 16 hours and consumed between 100 and 120 litres.

Munich. Things did not look good. Indeed, BMW was rapidly approaching the final collapse and demise of the Company in the 1950s: While motorcycle production had reached a new record in 1952, production figures decreased more significantly in the years to come than they had increased in the late ’40s.

To set off this dismal end of the motorcycle market, BMW built the prototype of a new small car in 1950, taking up the lines of the pre-war BMW 327 and the 600-cc fl at-twin engine so popular at the time. But the project was subsequently discarded for economic reasons.

After launching the Isetta in 1954 in an attempt to set off the slump in the motorcycle market, BMW soon realised that this bubble car was too small for the new customers entering the market, who, as a result of the German “economic miracle” soon expected a lot more of their new car in the late ’50s. Quite simply, therefore, such spartan “super-minis” had already passed their climax, with customers demanding a longer wheelbase and more comfort.

At the same time the automotive industry was booming, with production in West Germany increasing by one-third in 1955 alone. Introducing new models, BMW sought to jump up on the bandwagon, the BMW 600, a somewhat longer Isetta with its fl at-twin engine fitted at the rear, intended to meet demand for a genuine four-seater at least for a while as of 1957. But again, the BMW 600 turned out to be a flop, customers not accepting the concept with the door at the front of the car.

Looking hard for a solution, the Development Division initially attempted for economic reasons to build a conventional small car using as many parts of the BMW 600 as possible. Wheelbase was extended to 1,900 mm or 74.8" by adding on extra sections front and rear, and the front seats were moved back to provide convenient access to the car from behind the wheel arches. But soon it became evident that without a further extension of the car’s wheelbase space for the rear seats would be very limited. At the same time the rapid increase in weight resulting from the car’s longer wheelbase was another problem, together with the poor seating arrangement.

The attempt to modify the frame and structure of the BMW 600 and meet modern demands thus proved to be impossible – or at least subject to significant compromises. So instead BMW decided to find a more promising solution by re-configuring the entire design and structure of the body.

Proven chassis and suspension carried over from the BMW 600.
Notwithstanding this decision, BMW’s engineers did not want to completely give up the proven parts and components of the BMW 600 in developing their new model. So they decided to modify the front axle of the BMW 600 with its longitudinal swing arms for consistent track and wheel camber and carry over the concept to BMW’s new small car – naturally with appropriate reinforcements to meet the greater demands made of the new model.

The engineers also took over the rear wheel suspension which, with its swing arms modified to a slightly higher angle, supported the car’s steering as a function of acceleration in bends and counteracted any tendency to oversteer. Further features carried over from the BMW 600 were the all-synchromesh four-speed transmission as well as the bevel gear differential – and, of course, the fl at-twin power unit originally used on BMW motorcycles and now increased in size from 600 to 700 cc.

The crucial point was now to wrap up this technology in an appropriate body suitable both for the market and the requirements of the future. Back in late 1957, that is before the BMW 600 entered the market, BMW’s new Board of Management had already requested the Development Division to develop and build a conventional small car with progressive design in corporation with an Italian designer and coachbuilder.

In July 1958 Wolfgang Denzel, an automotive engineer himself and BMW’s importer in Vienna, proudly presented his new model designed by Michelotti in Starnberg just south of Munich. The decision in favour of this concept model was then taken in October 1958, allowing BMW to create both a Coupé and a Saloon to series production level as an in-house development.

The reason for doing this in-house was that the prototype, while being very attractive and offering excellent driving qualities, would have been neconomical in production due to the expensive tooling required. So working hard on all the details, BMW’s designers developed a dynamic little car which had nothing do to do with BMW design so far: the BMW 700.

In its design the BMW 700 followed a trapezoid line with the roof structure and the basic body of the car opposed to one another to form two counter-fl owing bodies. This design concept came from the USA as a streamlined rendition of the former pontoon structure, with further refinement by Italian car designers.

Under the guidance of Wilhelm Hofmeister, BMW’s designers then turned this draft into two models, a two-door Saloon and a Coupé.

The fi rst BMW with a monocoque body.
Apart from its brand-new design, the BMW 700 offered another surprising highlight: it was the first BMW with a monocoque body. And the reason for introducing this new technology was clear: “They might believe initially that in this way we were giving up an old principle going back many years within the Company. But our calculators quickly showed us that a monocoque floorpan was able to save about 30 kg in weight, lower the entire car by 60–70 mm (2.4–2.8") and streamline the production process, with appropriate cost benefits.”

BMW was not a newcomer to the use of monocoque unitary body panels. On the contrary, the BMW 326 built in Eisenach from 1936 until the beginning of the War already featured a floorpan made of high-rising panel supports firmly welded to the body of the car – at the time the best solution for a load-bearing body structure.

This experience carried over from the past quickly paid off, a comparison with two other well-known cars of the same size built in Europe and with a monocoque body clearly confirming the superior stiffness of BMW’s car structure.

On 9 June 1959 BMW’s Board of Management under their Chief Executive Dr Heinrich Richter-Brohm made the big move, presenting the new BMW 700 Coupé, the first model in the new series, to some 100 international motoring journalists. This was in Feldafing near Munich, at the same place where about two years before they had first seen the not-so-fortunate BMW 600.

Since the turbulence encountered in BMW’s model range had added further momentum to the critical reports by the press, Helmut Werner Bönsch, BMW’s Director of Technical Sales Planning, admitted quite frankly in his welcome statement that “ultimately it was this attitude and these doubts which convinced us to invite you here today to experience the new BMW 700 Coupé, and not to wait until the Frankfurt Motor Show.”

The debut: standing ovations.
The minute Bönsch revealed the new Coupé, everybody started clapping. The journalists immediately admired the new model with its wheelbase of 2,120 mm (83.5"), front track of 1,270 mm (50.0") and rear track measuring 1,200 mm (47.2").

Boasting these dimensions, the BMW 700 had grown out of the small car class still prevailing in the market at the time and allowed a relatively high standard of freedom in providing extra space. The designers and engineers were particularly proud of the car’s consistent lightweight technology reducing dry weight to less than 600 kg or 1,323 lb despite the car’s overall length 3,540 mm or 139.4", thus providing the qualities required for good acceleration and hill-climbing performance.

Compared with the BMW 600, the extension in wheelbase by 25 per cent came with an increase in weight by only 14.5 per cent. And despite its low height of just 1,270 mm or 50.0", the Coupé offered acceptable headroom just like the doors measuring 93 cm or 36.6" in width allowed unusually comfortable access for a car in this class.

Enjoying the seats, the driver and passengers in the BMW 700 benefited from an unusually good balance of useful interior space and exterior dimensions, the curved windows helping to keep the doors smooth and provide extra width inside the car.

Again in the words of Helmut Werner Bönsch: “In combining the footwells and the luggage compartment we followed the example of a modern sleeping car – which shows that sometimes you can even learn from the railways!” He then added that “we also remembered to keep the four corners of the car in clear sight from the driver’s seat, allowing the driver to easily manoeuvre even into tight parking spaces.”

Appropriately contoured to fit the human body, the front seats with their active-breathing upholstery were adjustable even while driving and came with backrests moving to four different angles. The backrest at the rear, in turn, folded down whenever required like in the BMW 600, allowing the driver and passengers to take along bulky objects such as all their camping gear.

Same space and dynamic performance as the BMW 326.
The BMW 700 was also well-equipped for travelling with a fair amount of luggage. The front luggage compartment with its conveniently fl at floor was able to accommodate two standard-sized suitcases measuring 70 cm or 27.5" in length, together with some smaller bags. The fuel tank was beneath the luggage compartment, perfectly protected by the spare wheel standing upright in front. Offering a capacity of 30 litres or 6.6 imp gals plus three litres reserve, the tank was sufficient for a cruising range of approximately 500 kilometres or more than 300 miles, since, according to the fuel consumption standards applicable at the time, the BMW 700 was quite happy with some six litres for 100 kilometres, equal to approximately 47 mpg imp.

Developing maximum output of 30 hp at 5,000 rpm, the two-cylinder power unit was able to accelerate the Coupé to a top speed of 125 km/h or 78 mph. Exactly what this meant in terms of performance became quite clear in a statement again made by Helmut Werner Bönsch, comparing the car’s performance with that of the legendary BMW 327 touring sports car: “The BMW 700 Coupé with its 700-cc 30-hp two-cylinder offers the same top speed, the same acceleration and the same safe average speed on the road as its legendary predecessor with its two-litre six-cylinder two-carburettor power unit. And it does so with the same space inside and with superior roadholding of an even higher standard.”

Journalists driving the BMW 700 Coupé were – rightly – thrilled from the start, waxing lyrical about the car’s design and its driving qualities: “Acceleration is certainly impressive for a car of this size, taking you from a standstill to 90 km/h in 20 and to 100 km/h in 30 seconds.”

With this kind of performance, some journalists realised from the start that the BMW 700 Coupé was already looking at a sporting career: “You have the feeling that you’re sitting in a car with genuine sporting values, but without the rather harsh ride and limited space so typical of most sports cars.”

Ultimately, most of the testers readily confirmed the optimism expressed by BMW’s Board of Management: “The BMW 700 Coupé is the latest model from Bayerische Motoren Werke and promises to be a great success and a real highlight at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show.”

Public attractions at the 1959 Frankfurt Motor Show: the BMW 700 Saloon and Coupé.
Precisely this is what happened, with the BMW 700 becoming a genuine highlight for the public in Frankfurt. The new Coupé was presented on the BMW stand at the 1959 Frankfurt Show at a price of DM 5,300.– including the car’s heater. Right next to it was the four-seater Saloon based on the same engineering and design concept and destined to enter series production in early 1960.

Retailing at a price of DM 4,760.–, the Saloon was almost DM 600.– cheaper than the Coupé with its higher level of equipment. At the same time the Saloon boasted a far more spacious body offering adequate space for four adults. And unlike the Coupé with its fl air almost reminiscent of a sports car, the Saloon stood out in particular through its practical features and benefits.

Likewise designed by Torino coachbuilder Giovanni Michelotti, the Saloon also received its finishing touches in BMW’s Design Office under Wilhelm Hofmeister.

With its steeper windscreen and rear window as well as the modified roof, the Saloon, on a body otherwise identical, looked much larger than the dynamic Coupé. But weighing just 10 kilos more than the Coupé, the 640-kg (1,411 lb) Saloon was able to offer almost the same good performance, accelerating to 100 km/h in approximately 30 seconds and reaching a top speed of 120 km/h or 75 mph.

With the Frankfurt Motor Show hardly over, BMW struck a very positive balance towards the end of September: “Both new models were warmly welcomed by motor journalists and the public alike, showing a response well beyond even our most optimistic expectations. As a result, we successfully made an unusually large number of sales not only in Germany, but also and above all in our export markets.”

The BMW 700 was the direct competitor of the initially cheaper VW Beetle and appealed above all to the motorist wishing to stand out from the crowd. Indeed, as a result of great demand customers had to wait several months for the delivery of their car, with BMW selling more than 35,000 units in 1960, the BMW 700 thus accounting for some 58 per cent of the Company’s overall revenues.

Born for motorsport: the BMW 700 Coupé.
The sporting qualities of the BMW 700 Coupé came out quite clearly from the start, shortly after the beginning of production in July 1959: The first Coupés were to be admired on the track before the end of the year, for example in the Sahara-Lappland Rally. In 1960 BMW’s fast Coupés brought home both gold medals and titles, Hans Stuck clinching the German Hill-Climbing Championship once again at the wheel of a BMW 700 at the age of 60.

This clearly created significant demand among many customers for an even more powerful engine, with the big day coming in summer 1961, when BMW proudly presented the BMW 700 Sport to the press at the Nürburgring Race Track.

With its compression ratio increased to 9:1, an even more dynamic camshaft and Solex twin-carburettors supplying the fuel, the two-cylinder boxer engine now developed 40 hp at 5,700 rpm.

This sporting package was rounded off by an optional sports gearbox and an even harder suspension featuring firmer dampers and an anti-roll torsion bar. The power unit, in turn, was sufficient for acceleration to 100 km/h in just under 20 seconds and a top speed of 135 km/h or 84 mph.

All the customer had to pay for this extra driving pleasure was DM 550,–

This “hot” version of the BMW 700 quickly became a legend in the early ’60s particularly in motorsport, and was lauded by fans as the “little fighter”. And indeed, at its time the car put up some exciting duels against competitors from both Steyr-Puch and Abarth.

Racing machine with a tubular spaceframe and an aluminium body:
the BMW 700 RS.
Moving on to works racing, BMW prepared two truly outstanding performers parallel to one another: the 700 GT in 1960 and, a year later, the BMW 700 S.
“When a new BMW sports car, the BMW 700 RS enters the Rossfeld Hillclimb Race on 18 June 1961, this will be in a quest to test the driving qualities of the BMW 700 at higher speeds and under more dynamic conditions,” said the announcement.

The fact that this was indeed no more than a test is obvious, considering that the BMW 700 RS, in making its debut in the sports car category up to 1600-cc, was competing against the likes of the Porsche Spyder and the Porsche RSK, to mention only two formidable rivals.

BMW’s small racing machine boasted a tubular spaceframe and an aluminium body, with 70 hp coming from the side-shaft power unit and with the complete vehicle weighing less than 600 kg or 1,323 lb. Depending on the transmission ratio, this small but dynamic performer was able to reach a top speed between 150 and 200 km/h (93 and 124 mph) – enough for Walter Schneider to bring home the German Circuit Championship in 1961 at the wheel of a BMW 700 RS.

The dynamic BMW 700 remained seriously competitive and in most cases even superior for years to come, boasting various levels of tuning and engine power. And when BMW’s two-cylinder sports car finally reached the end of its career, Hubert Hahne, one of the big stars at the time in touring car racing, had brought home the majority of his wins in this outstanding performance model.

At the same time the BMW 700 had already become the ideal car for young drivers making their first appearance in racing at the time. A very good example is Hans-Joachim Stuck, who has great memories of this great car: “I was just nine years old when I accompanied my father to drivers’ courses held by Scuderia Hanseat at the Nürburgring race track. And there I was able to drive a BMW 700 myself, since it was a closed circuit reserved entirely for our racing activities.”

BMW quickly added further versions to the range, making the BMW 700 even more successful: Following the regular BMW 700, the Company introduced the BMW 700 De Luxe in February 1961, featuring the same technical equipment but with an even higher level of appointments. The most exclusive model in the BMW 700 range launched at the same time was the BMW 700 Convertible, the Baur Coachbuilding Company in Stuttgart designing and building this open-air version of the BMW 700, as they had already done so often in the history of BMW.

To provide all the qualities for driving in the open air, Baur reinforced the car’s load-bearing elements and re-designed the rear end. An uncomplicated, straightforward roof mechanism made open air motoring a genuine pleasure, particularly because the 700 Convertible came as standard with the more powerful engine otherwise featured in the BMW 700 Sport.

1962: new generation for greater comfort.
The most significant change came in spring 1962 when BMW, while retaining the car’s wheelbase, extended the body by no less than 32 cm or 12.6" in order to offer a significant increase in motoring comfort.

This new model was marketed as the BMW LS and the BMW LS De Luxe. As of autumn 1964 the Coupé also received this longer body, coming off the assembly line in its last year of production as the BMW LS Coupé.

In all, sales of the BMW 700 amounted to 190,000 units by the year 1965. And the car was a great success in many countries the world over, with BMW delivering assembly kits for the BMW 700 to assembly plants in countries otherwise imposing high taxes on completely built-up cars. Hence, the BMW 700 was assembled from kits in Belgium, Italy, Argentina and even – in small numbers – in Israel.

At the end of the day the BMW 700 more than fulfi lled its expectations, having given BMW new hope and taking the Company successfully through the crisis in 1959 and on to the fi nal breakthrough to profi table large-scale production.

Munich. The style has changed, but not the content: “Many German motorists see motoring not just as a comfortable and fast means of transport, but also as a sporting activity. These are people who, once they see an aerodynamic car body with a long and sleek engine compartment, as well as a speedometer extending all the way to 150 km/h, feel that strong yearning for wide open roads simply perfect for driving fast, for Alpine passes just begging to be conquered, and for ompetitors so easy to overtake.”

It was precisely with these words that BMW announced the Company’s first self-engineered roadster in 1934. And indeed, this concept with its six-cylinder power unit was destined to shape the future of the brand, extending all the way to the current BMW Z4.

The starting point for this development came at the Berlin Motor Show in May 1934. Here, together with the BMW 315 Saloon, BMW for the first time presented the prototype of a Sports Roadster with exceptionally attractive lines. Right behind the long and sleek engine compartment there were two sports seats tailored to the driver and front passenger protected by the low, raked windscreen and an mergency roof.

The rear end tapered out in an elegant sweep to the back of the car, adding a particular aerodynamic touch with excellent streamlining.

The radiator grille on this two-seater was inclined much further to the rear than on the Saloon, with mighty, sweeping front wheel arches extending on beneath the doors into the rear wheel arches. To reduce air drag to a minimum, the rear wheels were fully covered, while the body of the car itself rested on an electrically welded steel-pipe double frame with three crosswise box elements.

Front suspension was made up of the upper track spring, wishbones further down and hydraulic lever-type dampers. The rear wheels, in turn, were mounted on a live axle incorporating semi-elliptic springs and hydraulic lever-type dampers.

Small but hot: six-cylinder power unit displacing 1.2 litres.
Both the saloon and the sports car were powered by the same outstanding engine: a 1.5-litre straight-six developed out of the 1.2-litre originally featured in the former BMW 303. The crankcase and cylinder block of this outstanding engine were made of one single piece, the engine featured one camshaft beneath the block, with tappets operating the vertical hanging valves aligned in series via rocker arms. The intake and exhaust pipes, finally, were on the same side.

A feature quite unusual today is the different distances between the individual
cylinders, with the second and third and, respectively, the fourth and fifth cylinders being further apart, the space in between being used for the crankshaft and amshaft bearings.

The crankshaft without any counterweights therefore ran in four bearings, just like the camshaft.

This was however not the reason for this particular design and configuration, which was rather attributable to the assembly process at the time, with the crankshaft being completely pre-assembled together with the connecting rods and pistons. And since the pistons, as a result, had to be inserted from beneath, the main bearings for the crankshaft had to remain outside of the cylinders, not extending into their contour lines. As a result, the main bearings had to be accommodated between cylinders spaced out at a large distance.

While this power unit delivered maximum output of 34 hp on the saloon with its two carburettors, maximum output of the six-cylinder in the BMW 315/1 sports model was 40 hp. And the standard of efficiency offered was quite exceptional, BMW’s engineers proudly stating that “this beautiful and fast sports car consumes only 10–2 litres of fuel on 100 km, with oil consumption between 0.1 and 0.2 kg. So in terms of running costs, it is no more expensive than a small car far lower down in the market”.

With the public simply falling in love with the BMW 315/1, BMW decided to build the car in a small series – also because the Company wanted to make a more powerful entry into the prestigious world of motorsport. Starting in summer 1934, therefore, the very attractive BMW 315/1 was retailed at a substantial 5,200.– reichsmarks. The production model differed from the prototype primarily through the modified arrangement of the headlights and side ventilation grids taking the place of the bent openings originally featured on the first model.

Outstanding success in motorsport.
Reaching a top speed of 120 km/h or 75 mph, the BMW 315/1 Roadster was one of the really serious contenders in the sports car market at its time. Indeed, BMW’s story of success on the race track quickly took on even greater significance with this new model, the BMW 315/1 achieving its first significant success in the International 1934 Alpine Rally.

The starter grid for this rally in Nice was made up of 127 truly outstanding cars looking at daily race sections of 500–600 kilometres to be covered at a minimum speed. On the fourth day there was an additional speed test at Stilfser Joch.

After covering precisely 2,867 kilometres or 1,778 miles, 96 of the 127 cars which had originally entered the race reached the finish line in Munich – 66 thereof without having lost one point. The five cars entered by the BMW Works Team were the only cars in their class to complete the International Alpine Trophy without one single penalty point, the BMW 315/1 Team Richard Brenner/Albert Kandl/Ernst v. Delius finishing first in their category.

Only 230 units of the BMW 315/1 were completed by mid-1935, many of them going to private drivers. One of them was Ralph Roese, a BMW works driver for many years, who built himself a BMW 315/1 Special. This was a complete re-build of the 315/1, the highly modified engine ultimately developing no less than 136 hp in a brand-new race car body weighing just 380 kg or 838 lb.

Given qualities of this kind, it is no surprise that this racing car finished first in its very first race at Nürburgring in 1936, a staggering 17 kilometres ahead of the competition. Understandably, this special model remained a great success over the years until finally winning the German Road Racing Championship in 1939.

Achieving this kind of success, both the drivers and the Company soon started
looking for more: a car in the prestigious category up to two litres. And so it is no surprise that another, even more powerful version of the BMW Roadster – the 319/1 – entered the market in late 1934. Identical in its looks to the BMW 315/1 with the exception of the air vent on the engine compartment, the BMW 319/1 was powered by a 1.9-litre tuned to 55 hp and benefiting both from larger displacement and three larger downdraught carburettors.

Obviously, an engine like this was easily able to cope with a two-seater weighing just 780 kg, accelerating the roadster in standard trim to a top speed of pproximately 135 km/h or 84 mph. At the same time this was of course a truly exclusive car due to its retail price of 5,800 reichsmarks. Production from 1934–1936 therefore amounted to just 178 units, with the BMW 319/1 again bringing home outstanding success in motorsport.

The climax of the pre-war era: the BMW 328 Roadster.
In the mid-30s, production roadsters and competition cars were still very similar in technical terms – and motorsport was still the ideal place to prove the performance and reliability of a production car. But to keep up with the competition, BMW soon had to build cars with more power and muscle. So BMW’s engineers looked for ways and means to significantly increase engine output without increasing engine size. And they found the solution – the M328, the engine powering the legendary BMW 328 sports car in 1936.

Right from the start in its debut at Nürburgring on 14 June 1936, BMW’s new
roadster literally pulverised even the most powerful supercharged competitors. This outstanding success was attributable to the well-balanced combination of superior engine power and cutting-edge suspension technology characteristic of BMW roadsters to this day: 80 hp in the regular version and low weight of just 830 kg or 1,830 lb gave this elegant roadster superior performance still impressive today.

With the BMW 328 Roadster initially being restricted to motorsport as of mid-1936, production of the series model started in spring 1937. And so this high-performance sports car was driven not only by BMW’s works drivers, but also by private customers since, over and above racing, it was very well suited for everyday use. And with its top speed of 155 km/h or 96 mph, this was indeed one of the fastest cars on the road back then.

But again, the BMW 328 Roadster remained a very rare bird, with only 464 units
of this classic roadster being built up to 1940.

Comfort and elegance for all times: the BMW 507.
While the 328 paved the way for BMW’s sporting activities, the Company’s next two-seater sports car set new standards in design and elegance as of the mid-50s: the BMW 507.

When making its debut in New York in 1955 the 507 left both journalists and the public absolutely spellbound. The long and sleek engine compartment, the cockpit perfectly tailored to the driver and passenger, the short and muscular rear end, stretched side lines and gently sweeping curves gave the car absolutely beautiful, timeless design.

At the same time the 507 came with a brand-new, but nevertheless clear and
impressive BMW face: The double kidney grille was now vertical instead of
horizontal, sweeping elegantly between the headlights across the entire front end of the car. And the 507 also had a lot to offer within the engine compartment, boasting an aluminium V8 acknowledged to this day as the first light-alloy V8 in the world built in series production.

Finished in brilliant red, the sales brochure proudly presenting BMW’s new eight-cylinder sports car promised truly outstanding performance: 150 hp from 3.2 litres and top speed of 220 km/h or 136 mph. And as an option BMW somewhat later also offered an upgraded version, delivering approximately 165 hp maximum output.

This truly exclusive car went to exactly 251 proud owners between 1956 and 1959. And not all of them wanted to enjoy this beauty merely as a café cruiser,
racing driver and the “King of Hill-Climbing” Hans Stuck using a modified 507 in mountain races in Europe and winning a number of events in his eight-cylinder roadster.

A spearhead in technology built for the road: the BMW Z1.
With the roadster coming under increasing criticism in the ’60s and ’70s in terms of both safety and comfort, it took 29 years before the next roadster bearing the white-and-blue logo entered the market. This was the BMW Z1 launched – ahead of its time in technical terms – in 1988.

The body of the Z1 was a steel monocoque made of pressed and welded metal
panels and with its plastic floor bonded into place. The entire outer skin was made up of plastic elements and panels likewise bolted on to the car, with the doors retracting on request into the high side-sills even while driving.

The 170-horsepower 2.5-litre straight-six power unit and most of the car’s axle
components came from the 3 Series. With the engine being fi tted behind the front axle, the BMW Z1 was a front mid-engined car, to use the technical term.

Acceleration from a standstill to 100 km/h came in less than eight seconds and the car’s top speed was 225 km/h or 140 mph.

Through its extremely harmonious combination of materials and technologies, the BMW Z1, weighing just 1,250 kg or 2,756 lb, was a truly dynamic roadster still thrilling today in terms of stiffness, its low centre of gravity, and stability in bends. The first units of the car built largely by hand were delivered to customers as of January 1989, the base price of DM 80,000.– ensuring lasting exclusivity. Production of the BMW Z1 finally ended in June 1991, after a production run of exactly 8,000 units.

Sheer driving pleasure in large numbers: the BMW Z3.
The BMW Z1 was the breakthrough. More and more enthusiasts now showed
growing interest in an open BMW two-seater – and in response BMW launched
a roadster in 1995 built in large numbers for customers the world over. Very soon this compact performer became the epitome of BMW’s classic virtues, offering well-balanced technology within a truly attractive body and with a clear focus on driving pleasure.

The BMW Z3 entered the market with a choice of two engines. Featuring a 1.8-litre four-cylinder two-valve power unit developing maximum output of 115 hp, the “regular” model accelerated to 100 km/h in 10.5 seconds and reached a top speed of 194 km/h or 120 mph. The other option was a four-valve 1.9-litre four-cylinder delivering maximum output of 140 hp for acceleration to 100 km/h in 9.5 seconds and a top speed of 205 km/h or 127 mph.

With the Z3 proving to be a huge success, BMW was able in the course of time to offer a whole range of different engines meeting all kinds of different demands. Ultimately, therefore, the portfolio extended from the original 1.8-litre four-cylinder all the way to the 3.2-litre six-cylinder high-performance power unit carried over from the BMW M3, delivering up to 325 hp in the M Roadster and giving BMW’s compact sports car truly outstanding performance on the road.

A fascinating milestone in automotive technology: the BMW Z8.
Entering the new millennium, BMW proudly presented a very special new model: the BMW Z8. With its sleek proportions, classic lines and soft folding roof, the Z8 was truly one of the most outstanding cars of its time through its looks alone. Measuring 4.40 metres or 173.2" in length, 1.83 metres or 72.0" in width, and 1.31 metres or 51.6" in height, this was indeed a modern interpretation of the former BMW 507.

Like its classic role model, BMW’s new roadster offered the very best technology available at the time in automobile production. Within the outer skin bolted on to the car, a monocoque aluminium frame, that is spaceframe technology, provided the load-bearing structure and gave the driver and passenger an extremely direct feeling of the road and the driving experience.

Within its engine compartment the BMW Z8 featured a high-performance five-litre V8 sports engine delivering no less than 400 hp. Combined with a manual six-speed gearbox, this supreme engine enabled the driver to enjoy the utmost in performance at all times and under all conditions. Indeed, this superiority translated into equally clear facts and figures, the ambitious driver being able to lap the 20-km Nord-schleife of Nürburgring in the Z8 in a remarkable 8:15 minutes.

An unmistakable athlete to this day: the BMW Z4.
The latest member of the BMW roadster family is the BMW Z4 presented for the first time at the Paris Motor Show in September 2002. From the start, this open two-seater not only marked a further highlight in BMW design language, but also set new standards in its class. The exciting design of the car was determined by the highly attractive interplay of convex and concave surfaces, hard edges and smooth, sweeping curves.

Available from the start with a choice of two high-torque straight-six power units, the Z4 – either in the guise of the 231-hp Z4 3.0i or as the 192-hp Z4 2.5i – guaranteed roadster motoring at its best.

The outstanding agility of the BMW Z4 is ensured by the car’s wide track, an
extremely low centre of gravity, optimum 50:50 axle load distribution, and the very precise electric power steering. Fading-free high-performance brakes, runflat tyres featured as standard, and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC III) with an add-on traction mode finally, guaranteed supreme driving safety under all conditions.

Style and performance: the new BMW Z4.
The modern interpretation of the classic roadster launched in spring 2009, the new BMW Z4, combines more power with more style than ever before. Indeed, this is the only car in its segment to combine classic roadster proportions with the seating position moved far back close to the rear axle, rear-wheel drive and a fully automatic retractable hardtop.

The new BMW Z4 offers all the driving pleasure of a BMW roadster in particularly refined style. Driving with the roof down, this outstanding two-seater provides a refreshing experience of the sun shining in and the wind rushing by, with the hardtop closed it ensures the same level of all-round comfort as a sporting coupé in the premium segment. So through its wide range of diverse qualities alone, the new BMW Z4 is indeed the re-birth of the roadster.

Here again, it is certainly appropriate to quote the “BMW Blätter”, the original BMW Leaflets in their description of the BMW 315/1 back in 1934: “In a nutshell you can describe BMW’s new sports car as the fast, beautiful and reliable car bound to give the ambitious sports driver one exhilarating experience after the other, at the same time combining all the advantages of an economical touring car.”

1. Twenty Years of the BMW M3 - a Legend in Sports. (Short Version) p2 2. The Birth of a Sports Legend. p5 3. The Successor: Six Cylinders for Ongoing Success. p13 4. Continuing the Success Story: The Third-Generation BMW M3. p19 5. The BMW M3 - a Spearhead in Innovation. p28 6. The BMW M3 Models. p32

It is one of the most successful chapters in the history of the automobile and
in international motorsport alike: the story of the BMW M3 - and to this day,
the end of this unique success story is not even in sight.

In 2006 BMW and BMW M GmbH celebrated the 20th birthday of the most successful
touring car of all times. Within two decades, three generations of the BMW M3
have successfully entered and conquered both the market and the race track,
each of these models quite unique and legendary in its own right. Dominating
the racing scene and paving the way on the road for a new species of
particularly sporting, but nevertheless highly practical series-production cars
fully suited for everyday use, the BMW M3 to this day thrills a loyal and
constantly growing group of enthusiasts and aficionados the world over.

This unique story of success started back in 1986 with the launch of the first
BMW M3 based on the E30 version of the BMW 3 Series. From the start, this
thoroughbred sports car thrilled not only the motorsport enthusiast and the
racing expert, but also car fans the world over. Boasting powerful-looking
spoilers and strikingly flared wheel arches all round, the very first BMW M3
was a sensation to behold even at a standstill. And although the road-going
version offered all the everyday driving qualities required of a modern car,
the real home of the BMW M3 was the race track. Powered by a four-cylinder
featuring avantgarde four-valve technology, the BMW M3 brought home one victory
after the other.

Originally conceived for just 5,000 units for the purpose of homologation, this
very first BMW M3 gained growing popularity right from the start.
And apart from the car's convincing concept, an ongoing increase in engine
power from 195 hp all the way to 238 hp added to the car's fascinating thrill.

Total production up to the end of the car's production cycle in 1991 amounted
to almost 18,000 units including the BMW M3 Convertible. Subsequently, the two
following generations significantly exceeded even this remarkable sales figure,
the second generation of the BMW M3 based on the E36 model series accounting
for a sales volume of almost 72,000 units, and the third generation based on
the E46 model series achieving an even more impressive production run of over
85,000 units.

Precisely this success confirms the strategy of BMW M GmbH to convey the
qualities of superior motorsport machines right through to series production.
After three generations and more than 174, 000 units sold, production of the
E46-based BMW M3 ended in 2006 - only to be continued in 2007 with the fourth
generation carrying on this exceptional story of success.

The successor to a legend:
Based on the coupé version of the E36 model series, the second generation of
the BMW M3 made its appearance in 1992. At first sight this model looked quite
"normal", without any large spoilers or striking wheel arches - but just one
glimpse into the engine bay told another story, with this being the first BMW
M3 to feature a six-cylinder power unit.

Developing maximum torque of 320 Newton-metres or 236 lb-ft all the way from 3,
600 to 6, 000 rpm, together with maximum output of 286 hp, this outstanding
sports car offered the driver superior acceleration at all times and in every
situation. Indeed, BMW's engineers were able to achieve these performance
figures quite unusual at the time through painstaking attention to detail and
with a number of innovative solutions: Apart from VANOS variable camshaft
management and the upgraded single throttle butterfly control unit, newly
developed engine electronics able to process more than 20 million instructions
per second helped to give the engine its enormous power and performance.

Catering for growing demand for a four-door model, the second generation of the
BMW M3 was also built in saloon guise, in addition to the coupé and convertible
versions. And the success of all three models was overwhelming, almost 72, 000
units of all three body variants leaving BMW's Regensburg Plant throughout
seven years of production. These were joined by another 700 units built as
completely knocked down (CKD) kits at BMW's Rosslyn Plant in South Africa.

The BMW M3 saga goes on:
Towards the end of the year 2000, the latest and still current version of the
BMW M3 entered the market as the next generation. Based on the E46 model series
coupé, this version of the BMW M3 again combines supreme performance,
exceptional driving qualities and unique design, clearly distinguishing the car
from other models in the BMW 3 Series.

Particularly the front section of the current BMW M3 supporting the engine
compartment lid made of aluminium looks flatter and more aggressive than on
every other regular production BMW 3 Series. And beneath the engine compartment
lid with its striking powerdome lurks one of the most significant innovations
introduced in this model - the new, even more powerful six-cylinder engine
developing maximum output of 252 kW/343 hp and applying the high-speed engine
concept carried over from Formula 1 and now so characteristic of all cars built
by BMW M GmbH: When revving at a speed of 8,000 rpm, the pistons in the new M3
power unit move up and down at a velocity of more than 20 metres or 66 feet a
second, thus reaching a new dimension for a car of this class.

The BMW M3 CSL was also based on this model. Boasting an even more powerful
engine, developing 265 kW/360 hp and featuring radical lightweight technology
using the most advanced materials such as carbonfibre-reinforced plastics and
carbon, the BMW M3 CSL has a power-to-weight ratio of 3.85 kg/hp - a truly
outstanding figure which raises this BMW M3 to an entirely new dimension of
dynamic performance.

Still, the fact remains that yet another model stands out as the fastest and
most expensive of all BMW M3s built so far - the BMW M3 GTR presented to the
public in 2001 for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Indeed, this truly
unique car was a genuine eye-catcher from the start not only through its
muscular look, but also and in particular through its 4.0-litre V8
high-performance power unit developing 330 kW/460 hp in racing trim and,
respectively, 258 kW/350 hp in the road-going version.

This supreme sports car set the standard also in another respect, its price of
approximately Euro 250,000 making it a truly exclusive offer.

Contents: 1. Good things come in threes: BMW Youngtimers celebrate landmark birthdays. 2. A new era of automobile class: the 02. 3. Luxury of sportiness: The first 6 Series Coupé. 4. Sporting legend: The BMW M3.

40, 30, 20: BMW Mobile Tradition is celebrating three landmark birthdays in
2006. This year marks the anniversary for three series, each of which
interprets the theme of sportiness in its own inimitable way. In 1966, volume
production started up for the 02 Series. This series was extraordinarily
successful in reinterpreting the concept of the sports saloon and played a
major role in motor sport long after production had come to an end.

In 1976, the elegant 6 Series Coupé entered the limelight at the Geneva Motor
Show for the first time. It was distinguished and fast on the road, while
being superior and aggressive on the race track. In 1986, the first M3 rolled
off the assembly line and took to the road - a thoroughbred racing car licensed
to drive on open roads.

Sport has kept all of these cars fit. Even if they're now getting on in years
- they certainly aren't old! Their owners make sure of this by taking a
literal approach to the concept of "Mobile Tradition". Not only are there a
large number of vehicles driving around quite happily on the roads - these cars
are still battling to gain the top placings in races for classic cars. The
owners can rely on the support of BMW in their endeavour - more than 90 percent
of all spare parts are still supplied for the 02 Series. And that's just one
example!

Another factor links the 02 Series, 6 Series and M3. As "Youngtimers", they're
enjoying enhanced popularity, and demand is on the increase. In fact: this
designation is only applicable officially to the 6 Series. FIVA (Fédération
Internationale des Véhicules Anciens), the leading international organization
for classic cars, includes the model years 1971 to 1980 in Class G or
"Youngtimers". The preceding decade, when the 02 was launched, is called Class
F or "Economic Miracle". Officially, there's no Class H for the 1980s, but the
vehicles from this period are often referred to as "Classics of the Future".