BMW's M division is one of the most successful and legendary names in the automotive world, but strangely enough, it all didn't start with a BMW, but with a Ford.
By the late 1960s, Ford stood at the top of the motor racing world. Their Total Performance strategy, mapped out a few years earlier, was sealed with four consecutive victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and dominance in Formula 1 with their Cosworth DFV V8. Ford achieved success in just about every series, from motorsport in the US to rallies in Europe.
In 1969, the British division of Ford worked on the development of the company's rally program, while the German division of Ford worked on their touring car program. The work of Ford UK resulted in the small Escort, which arguably became the most successful rally car of all time. Meanwhile, their German counterparts made a sporty two-door coupe named CapriWith the Capri RS 2600, Ford enjoyed brief success in the racing world.
From street car to race car
The Capri RS 2600, which debuted in 1970, was the brainchild of Jochen Neerpasch, who had recently become head of the Ford Motorsport department in Cologne. Previously, he was a factory-backed driver for Porsche and managed to finish third in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1968. After this achievement, Neerpasch planned to retire because he considered racing to be very dangerous.
The changes Neerpasch made to turn the standard Ford Capri into his racing cannon will sound familiar to every dedicated BMW M car enthusiast.
The engine gained more power thanks to boring out the displacement from 2,6 liters to 2,8 liters and ultimately 2,9 liters with a dry sump and fuel injection. The interior was stripped to lose weight, and the hood and doors were replaced with fiberglass versions. The suspension, brakes, and wheels were all improved.
Ford Capri RS 2600 racing
Neerpasch and his team continued to develop the Capri, extracting more power from the engine and removing more weight from the car. Eventually, the car produced 280 hp according to race specifications while weighing only 950 kilograms. The minimum weight imposed by the official race organizers at the time was 900 kilograms, so the Capri ultimately became both one of the most powerful and one of the lightest cars in its class, and this did not go unnoticed.
The Capri was a resounding success. Ford won the German Touring Car Championship, it won the European Touring Car Championship, and it completely humiliated the competition in the Group 2 endurance races. At the height of its success, Ford, with the Capri, even beat cars in the significantly higher specification Group 4.
At the Nürburgring 1000km race that year, the Capris Neerpasch drove were only slower than the best sports car prototypes of the day. And those were the Ferraris with Formula 1 engines.
Ford Capri at Spa 1972
To get such a light and powerful car approved for racing, Neerpasch had to produce road versions of the car. That became the Ford Capri RS 2600. Although the decision was made not to go so far with stripping the interior, the large bumpers were omitted to save weight, and the street version received new wheels, a lighter interior, a more powerful engine, a new transmission, and a thoroughly revised suspension.
The RS 2600 received Bilstein shock absorbers, Ferodo brakes, and the front crossmember was re-bored to give the car negative camber. A thousand of these cars were supposed to be built for the car to race, but due to high demand, more than 3.000 were sold. It was the same homologation requirement that forced BMW to produce the brand-defining E30 M3, and the story of that car was virtually the same: demand exceeded legal requirements.
“If you had a BMW 1602Ti that drove on the road back then, it wasn't hugely different from a touring car racer,” Hans Stuck recalls years later to Motorsport Magazine, talking about his days as a driver for both Ford and BMW in the 70s. “They were much, much closer to a street car than a race car is today. Moreover, there weren't that many speed limits in Germany back then, so there were plenty of places to practice.”
Classic BMW in M colors
The official birth of BMW M
While Ford was busy filling its trophy cabinet in Cologne with the successful Capri, a few hours away in Munich, BMW was struggling to compete with their two-door racing coupes. Their 2800CS, which also raced in Group 2, delivered almost as much power as the Capri but weighed hundreds of kilos more. Ford felt almost sorry for BMW and won 13 of the 16 races in 1972. But what did BMW do to beat the Capris? They secretly entered into talks with Neerpasch and poached him from Ford. With the money they paid him, Neerpasch also took a number of good colleagues with him.
And this was the official birth of BMW M. It was Neerpasch and his technical director Martin Braungart who set the now legendary Motorsport division at BMW in motion, and the results were immediately visible. BMW won the European Touring Car Championship in 1973 with the 3.0 CSL, a heavily modified version of the 2800CS that relegated the previous season's Capris. These races were spectacular, with full factory teams from Ford and BMW racing against each other. Many of the best Formula 1 drivers of the era drove the cars: Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jacky Ickx, Chris Amon, Rolf Stommelen, Jody Scheckter, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Jochen Mass, and Hans Stuck all drove BMW CSLs and Ford Capris during this period. BMW recorded victory after victory.
Neerpasch's biggest advantage was homologating the car with an aerokit that was completely bizarre for its time, featuring a massive rear wing. The street version of a CSL cost almost as much as an Aston Martin at the time. Getting a CSL roadworthy with the “Batmobile” package cost an absolute fortune, nearly two and a half times the price of a V12 Jaguar E-Type. That gives an idea of how expensive the entire homologation process was for BMW. Ford could not match those homologation costs, failed to come through with its own wing package, and the BMWs completely overshadowed the Capris.
Illegal street version of the CLS
The remarkable thing about the street version of the CLS is that it wasn't legal at all! In 1973, even when BMW started selling the Batmobile version, Neerpasch's rear wing did not have type approval for road use. BMW had to deliver the cars with the rear wing stored in the trunk. The buyers then had to mount it themselves.
So essentially, Neerpasch homologated his race car with parts that weren't even homologated for the road. No wonder the man had a reputation for breaking the rules, and no wonder the car managed to rake in six European Touring Car Championships in the 70s.
The project probably reached its peak in 1977 when Neerpasch's team fitted the CSL with a turbocharger, boosting the power to just under 800 hp. At that time, BMW did not even have a gearbox capable of handling this power.
Neerpasch's influence on M as a brand was not limited to the work he did in setting up the race cars. Another article in Motorsport Magazine from 1980, which discussed the predecessor of the M5, the M535i, called Neerpasch 'clever' and described how he had used the formula for the modern M car as a means to earn some money for his racing team.
And that has been the core of BMW M ever since. They turn street cars into winning race cars and then earn money back for BMW by letting racing shine on some motorsport-tuned special edition street cars. But BMW's M division actually started at Ford. The mentality, the talent, everything. Neerpasch developed his formula for turning a street car into a winning race car at Ford, and BMW adopted this and had him develop the M.
BMW M-series colors
De BMW M division It was officially founded in 1972 and started with only 35 employees. The development of motorsport vehicles eventually found its way from the racetrack to street cars. The first use of the famous M-stripe colors was seen on the E9 3.0 CSL Batmobile race car.
The three stripes carried the racing tradition of BMW's famous race cars since the 70s, which have become iconic for the M brand to this day. The three M stripe colors—blue, purple, and red—were not chosen at random; their colors hold significant meaning and history.
The blue represents the city of Bavaria by using Bavarian blue on the flag. After all, BMW stands for “Bavarian Motor Werks”; this well-known shade of blue is also the same blue used in the BMW emblem.
The red color represents the red of Texaco in the logo. BMW collaborated with oil company Texaco during the early race days.
The purple color represents the merger of the two companies as partners in motorsport. When the blue overlaps the red, the color purple is obtained. This is a simple and elegant way to represent the partnership between two brands.
