In and, BMW provided a fleet of identical M1 cars for Formula One and other professional drivers to race in the BMW M1 Procar Championship, the rounds of which were held during Grand Prix race weekends, thus strengthening the marque's ties with the sport.

The name was chosen to avoid confusion with the original BMW M1.

In 1984 BMW took the M88 / 3, a modified version of the M88 / 1 from the BMW M1 and put it in the E24 chassis, creating the M635CSi, or M6.

In 1980, and 1981, Sauber and Wietl turned their attentions to developing BMW M1 sportscars, in the latter year it won the 1000km Nürburgring.

The 961's time was not only quicker than the BMW M1 which was entered in the Group B category, was also faster than several C1 and C2 class prototypes.

# REDIRECT BMW M1

In 1983 BMW took the M88 / 3 six-cylinder engine, a modified version of the M88 / 1 from the BMW M1 and put it in the E24 chassis of the BMW 6-Series, creating the M635CSi ( called the M6 in North America ).

A top speed of makes the European version the second fastest BMW ever built next to the M1.

The 1976 Fiat 131 Abarth ( 51. 6 kW / liter ), 1976 Lotus Esprit with Lotus 907 engine ( 54. 6 kW / liter, 1. 20 bhp / cid ), and 1978 BMW M1 with BMW M88 engine ( 58. 7 kW / liter, 1. 29 bhp / cid ) all used four valves per cylinder.

This was done to avoid confusing it with the BMW M1 sports car.

First introduced at the Amsterdam Motor Show in 1984, the first incarnation of the M5 was hand-built utilizing the 535i chassis and a modified BMW M1 engine, being the fastest production sedan in the world at the time of its introduction.

While the BMW 3. 0 CSL and M1 had been limited-production, purpose-built sports cars, the M535i was a reworked 5-series sedan fitted with the M90 engine.

It utilized the 535i chassis and an evolution of the engine from the BMW M1.

With a total production of 2, 191 units, the E28 M5 remains among the rarest regular production BMW Motorsport cars – after the BMW M1 ( 456 units ), BMW E34 M5 Touring ( 891 units ), and the BMW 850CSi ( 1510 units ).

Porsche's design and development efforts paid off during the 1978 European Car of the Year competition where the 928 won ahead of the BMW 7-series and the Ford Granada.

Peter Scharmann's 1978 March Engineering | March – BMW

Image: Monopoletta BMW, Bj 1949, Foto 1978. jpg | 1949: Monopoletta-BMW

In 1978 BMW debuted the 635CSi, with a 3453 cc SOHC, 218 PS ( 160 kW ) engine and a top speed of 222 km / h ( 138 mph ).

Production of the Baur TopCabriolet began in 1978, and were sold via the BMW dealership network.

The BMW M1 ( E26 ) is a sports car that was produced by German automaker BMW from 1978 to 1981.

The result was sold to the public, from 1978 to 1981, as the BMW M1.

The M1 coupe was hand-built between 1978 and 1981 under the Motorsport division of BMW as a homologation special for sports car racing.

Originally, BMW commissioned Lamborghini to work out the details of the car's chassis, assemble prototypes and manufacture the vehicles, but Lamborghini's financial position meant that BMW reassumed control over the project in April 1978, after seven prototypes were built.

Surer enjoyed BMW backing for most of his career, placing second in the 1978 F2 championship and winning the 1979 series in a works March-BMW.

His career highlight was winning the DRM championship in 1978 driving a BMW 320i Turbo for Schnitzer Motorsport.

He was very successful in sportscar racing and the World Sportscar Championship, winning the 1970 Targa Florio with a Porsche 908 and the 12 Hours of Sebring twice, in 1975 with a BMW Coupé, in 1978 with a Porsche 935 and the Spa-Francorchamps 1000km race 4 times ( 1968-1970, 1972 ).

From 1978, March concentrated on Formula Two running the works BMW team.

From 1973 to the end of Formula 2 in 1984, BMW supplied engines to the championship-winning drivers in 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, and 1982.

The prestige of Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, Lotus, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and Aston Martin derives in part from success in sports car racing and the World Sportscar Championship.

In Germany, domestic production based racing was largely dominated by BMW, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, although sports car / GT racing gradually became eclipsed by touring cars and the initially sports car based Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft gradually evolved into the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft.

The BMW 328 is a sports car made by BMW between 1936 and 1940, with the body design credited to Peter Szymanowski, who became BMW chief of design after World War II ( although technically the car was designed by Fritz Fiedler ).

BMW also revived the MG brand in 1995 on a new affordable sports car, the MGF, as well as strengthening Land Rover's position in the off-roader market.

In January 2011 BMW announced that it would be extending the Mini range with the launch of two new two-door sports crossover vehicles based on the Mini Paceman concept car, with a coupe version to enter production in 2011 and a roadster in 2012.

In 2004, Infiniti added an all-wheel drive version of the G35 sports sedan to compete with similar all-wheel drive sports sedans from Audi and BMW.

From 1998 to 2000, the Le Mans – winning BMW V12 LMR sports car used a similar S70 / 2 engine.

The BMW Z4 is a rear-wheel drive sports car by the German car maker BMW.

Like the older Targa Florio and later the Carrera Panamericana, the MM made Gran Turismo ( Grand Touring ) sports cars like Alfa Romeo, BMW, Ferrari, Maserati and Porsche famous.

; 1959: The world's first monocoque sports car: BMW 700

In addition, she still can use her fully equipped and armed BMW sports convertible and MV Agusta motorcycle.

Opel put the primary emphasis on cost control, Mercedes supported expensive competitiveness in development, BMW wanted an international series rather than one focussed on Germany only, while Audi insisted on allowing their trademark quattro four-wheel drive ( despite running the rear wheel drive Audi R8 ) in sports car racing.

The BMW E52 automobile platform was the basis for the 2000 through 2004 Z8 convertible sports car.

It was quite successful in Europe, attracting keen drivers who wanted an affordable and reliable sports saloon as an alternative to the German offerings of BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Nissan wanted to create a fresh approach started by the Cedric / Gloria and focus its efforts to compete with European executive mid-sized sports sedans, such as the BMW 5 series, Audi A6, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Jaguar S-Type.

It was particularly successful in the United States where the sports model two-door Sentra SE-R was marketed by Nissan of America as a latter-day BMW 2002.

Due to its relatively low price compared to other foreign sports cars of the time ( Jaguar, BMW, Porsche, etc.

After the success of BMW M products like BMW 3. 0 CSL in racing venues and the growing market for high performance sports cars, M introduced cars for sale to the public.