BMW M1
In the late 1970s, Lamborghini and BMW worked together to build a production racing car in sufficient numbers to comply with motorsports regulations. The car that was built and sold to the public would be the M1. The M1 would be BMW’s only mass produced mid-engine car. A total of 456 M1 coupes were hand-built from 1978 to 1981 by the Motorsport division of BMW making it one of BMW’s models. The car is built from a tubular space frame with a plastic body. The design was done by Italian automobile designer Giorgetto Giugiaro.
BMW M1
BMW isn’t known for many mid-engine cars, combine that with the low production numbers and that makes this model collectable and historic. Some of the heritage of this car is being continued with the new i8 eDrive model that will be introduced as a production model in 2014.
Performance
BMW M1
The BMW M1 road car is powered by a DOHC 3.5L (3,453cc) inline six-cylinder engine with four-valves per cylinder (BMW M88/1) that produces 273 horsepower and 243 lb-ft of torque. The M1 can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph under six seconds and has a top speed of 161 mph. This engine is mated to a five-speed manual transmission. The M1 has a curb weight of 1544kg (3,404lbs).
Motor Sports
The turbocharged racing version of the M1 is capable of producing up to 850 horsepower. The BMW M1 competed in the BMW M1 Procar Championship, which was a one make championship using racing modified cars.