Munich. 40 years after the start of the Procar Series
launched specially for the BMW M1, the Procar will once again be
captivating motor-sport fans. As part of the races for the German
Touring Car Championship (DTM) on the Norisring (5 to 7 July 2019), 14
BMW M1s will be making a spectacular comeback on the track. This
racing car was produced in conformity with the Group 4 regulations
prevailing at the time and Formula 1 drivers and international
privateer drivers then competed against each other. BMW Group Classic
has also been able to rekindle the enthusiasm of famous drivers for a
return to the cockpit of the BMW M1 for the Procar Revival at the
Nuremberg city racing circuit. Former Formula 1 drivers Jan Lammers
from the Netherlands and Marc Surer from Switzerland are two
motor-sport legends who will be lining up at the start. They were
already darlings of the public in the original Procar races four
decades ago.
BMW Group Classic is recalling many different memories of the
extraordinary race-track debut of the BMW M1 with historic motor sport
in the warm-up programme for the German Touring Car Masters. The
mid-engined sports car was developed for racing competitions and road
registration, and launched in autumn 1978. Since delays in the
production process prevented homologation by the deadline, the
Managing Director of BMW Motorsport GmbH at the time, Jochen
Neerpasch, worked together with the Formula 1 managers Max Moseley and
Bernie Ecclestone to create a completely new race series. A total of
19 races were carried in the Procar Series in the years 1979 and 1980
and this developed into an ideal forum for the subsequent success of
the BMW M1 in other international competitions.
The Procar races carried out as part of the warm-up programme for the
European Grand Prix rounds gave privateer drivers and talented juniors
the opportunity to race against the top stars of motor sport in BMW M1
cars with technically identical engineering. The five fastest drivers
out of the Formula 1 drivers at the Friday training session qualified
in each case to race in the BMW M1. Celebrity drivers like Niki Lauda,
Nelson Piquet, Alan Jones, Jacques Laffite and Emerson Fittipaldi
loved driving round the thrilling curves with the fast and agile
mid-engined racer. The BMW M1 generated 470 hp and the driver’s skill
was the sole factor in determining who was victorious at the end of
the race – this was instrumental in generating maximum excitement at
every venue and it helped to make the Procar Series extremely popular.
The overall winner of the first Procar season was Niki Lauda. In the
following year, Nelson Piquet took first place in the overall
standings with three wins in succession. The BMW M1 continued its
motor-sport career in other competitions such as the German Automobile
Racing Championship and in the American IMSA GTO Championship. As a
Group 5 racing car with turbocharger for its inline six-cylinder
engine, an output of up to 1000 hp and imposing spoilers, the car also
ranked there as one of the most spectacular and successful
representatives of its era.
The Procar Series remains the most important chapter in the racing
history of the BMW M1 to this day. 30 years after the debut of the
mid-engined sports car, a Procar Revival in 2008 attracted fans of
historic motor sport to the Hockenheimring. This circuit was the
showplace for a Procar Series race in 1979 and 1980 and a lot of
former drivers took the opportunity to try their luck competing in the
BMW M1 once again. Another Procar Revival took place before the race
for the “Austrian Grand Prix” at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg two
years ago. The Austrian Formula 1 circuit is also among those circuits
where races in the legendary Procar Series were held.
Procar racers are also not being hosted for the first time at the
Norisring. In the second season of the previous race series, one of
the Procar races started on the city circuit. At that time, the German
racing driver Hans-Joachim Stuck won the race ahead of Jan Lammers and
Marc Surer.