>>The ONLY real sports car they ever built and they diss Lambo??? These German honda building contenders must be pissed they are run of the mill in todays world!!!<<
BMW's Supercar heritage
STEVE CROPLEY
BMW has tried building supercars before as a way of breaking away from its enduring image as producer of the world's sportiest saloons. Its wildest ever effort was the M1, born in the revered Motorsport division as a GT racer for the 1979 season.
BMW's mistake was to get the Lamborghini involved in the assembly process: the M1 fell so far behind schedule that the GT regulations had changed by the time the required 400 cars had been built (mostly by Bauer) who took over from Lamborghini. But the car still achieved wide recognition as a racer in a torrid one-make race series called Procar, which supported F1 in 1979 and 1980. (Of which the thing sucked because of lack of any development)
Ironically, the M1 was far better developed than many of the road-going Ferraris and Lambos of the time (in their dreams). Its composite body over a steel frame had a kerbweight around 1,450kg, and ventilation, door sealing and cooling all shamed the handmade Italians'.
The engine was a 277hp, 24-valve straight six of 3.5 litres, built by Motorsport. The car could just beat 256kph and its 0-100kph sprint time was a respectable 5.5sec. Most of the 450-odd M1s built between '78 and '81 survived, and few non-race versions have needed restoration. They change hands in auctions at around 4.9 million baht.
BMW tried the supercar thing again much more recently with the all-alloy, front-engined Z8 roadster, an attempt to re-create the charisma of the 1955 BMW 507. The idea emerged with Z07 concept at the Tokyo Show in 1997, and we were driving production cars by early 2000. The car was wickedly quick with a 400hp 5.0-litre V8 to propel it, though the 1,600kg body seemed surprisingly hefty for its all-aluminium construction.
It wasn't a success. The price was too high at approximately six million baht, and without electronic aids there was too much wheelspin and understeer. Most of all, it looked like a retro car with too many overtones of the much cheaper Z3 roadster and in 2003 it died. But BMW was already thinking of trying again. AUTOCAR/BANGKOK POST SERVICE
Well they got this rubbish printed in Bangcock, let's see if it makes the German and Italian Press
)
BMW's Supercar heritage
STEVE CROPLEY
BMW has tried building supercars before as a way of breaking away from its enduring image as producer of the world's sportiest saloons. Its wildest ever effort was the M1, born in the revered Motorsport division as a GT racer for the 1979 season.
BMW's mistake was to get the Lamborghini involved in the assembly process: the M1 fell so far behind schedule that the GT regulations had changed by the time the required 400 cars had been built (mostly by Bauer) who took over from Lamborghini. But the car still achieved wide recognition as a racer in a torrid one-make race series called Procar, which supported F1 in 1979 and 1980. (Of which the thing sucked because of lack of any development)
Ironically, the M1 was far better developed than many of the road-going Ferraris and Lambos of the time (in their dreams). Its composite body over a steel frame had a kerbweight around 1,450kg, and ventilation, door sealing and cooling all shamed the handmade Italians'.
The engine was a 277hp, 24-valve straight six of 3.5 litres, built by Motorsport. The car could just beat 256kph and its 0-100kph sprint time was a respectable 5.5sec. Most of the 450-odd M1s built between '78 and '81 survived, and few non-race versions have needed restoration. They change hands in auctions at around 4.9 million baht.
BMW tried the supercar thing again much more recently with the all-alloy, front-engined Z8 roadster, an attempt to re-create the charisma of the 1955 BMW 507. The idea emerged with Z07 concept at the Tokyo Show in 1997, and we were driving production cars by early 2000. The car was wickedly quick with a 400hp 5.0-litre V8 to propel it, though the 1,600kg body seemed surprisingly hefty for its all-aluminium construction.
It wasn't a success. The price was too high at approximately six million baht, and without electronic aids there was too much wheelspin and understeer. Most of all, it looked like a retro car with too many overtones of the much cheaper Z3 roadster and in 2003 it died. But BMW was already thinking of trying again. AUTOCAR/BANGKOK POST SERVICE
Well they got this rubbish printed in Bangcock, let's see if it makes the German and Italian Press
)
