Before we jump into this amazing video, allow us to present you the history of the BMW M1 Procar.
In 1977 and 1978, BMW found themselves between a rock and a hard place with trying to meet Group 4 and 5’s homologation requirements to allow the M1 racers to compete. Due to the issues the with Lamborghini (BMW contracted Lamborghini to build the car before Lambo went belly-up and filed bankruptcy) and changing requirements for Groups 4 and 5, BMW’s M1 had no series in which to compete.
Jochen Neerpasch, the founder and then head of M Division, with help of Max Mosley, got smart and decided to build a home for his M1 project if they couldn’t adapt to the Group 4/5 requirements – thus the Procar Series was born for the 1979 season.
The Procar Series was a one-make series for the M1 that preceded each of the Formula One races and included Formula One drivers coupled with drivers from a wide array of other racing series. BMW had also set up a specific deal with Formula One drivers allowing the top 5 fastest drivers to compete in the Procar series each Saturday before a Sunday Formula One race.
The series was a moderate success, attracting the attention of classic drivers such as Niki Lauda, who won the inaugural race, accomplished BMW driver Hans Stuck, and then the list of other drivers that more or less summed up some of the best of the 1970’s Formula One drivers with the likes of Emo Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Nelson Piquet and Mario Andretti, just to name a few.
The Procar series sadly only lasted for two seasons and drew to a close at the end of the 1980 Formula One season.
The video shown below is not really new, but it just came to our attention and decided to share it with you. We’re positive some of you might have already seen it.
[Source: AutomotiveAddicts ]
Author: Horatiu B.
Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/10/16/video ... m1-procar/