A & M Motorsports

1972. It was the year BMW Motorsport was created, intent on dominating the racing circuit, beginning with the European Touring Car Championship and the European Formula 2 Championship. To do this, the engineers created the 3. 0 CSL, known as the Batmobile for its radical aerodynamic wing. Soon after came the first vehicle bearing the M-stripes and the M-badge. It was called the M1, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro in Turin, Italy. In 1979 and 1980, Formula 1 legends Nicolada Nelson Piquet led a field of competitors in identical M1s in the Procar series. In 1979, Andy Warhol's colorfully painted M1 art car took sixth place in the overall rankings after 300 laps at Le Mans. And in 1981, the M1 won the GTO class in IMSA competition in the USA. The heart of the M1 was its engine, based on the six cylinder in the racing CSL. It powered a whole generation of future M cars, including the first M6, also known as the M635 CSI, a spelt nimble GT coupe. In 1982, BMW made its Formula 1 debut with Nelson Piquet at the wheel and the most powerful F1 engine ever produced, more than 1200 horsepower, going on to win the Formula 1 championship the following year. The original M3 also was created to score victories at the track. With the M3, we created the first touring car at that time with a welded roll cage system, which was much stiffer than the al That gave us a big advantage, and still today, I mean, you find that concept in our cars. We have very stiff bodies. It's a basis for a good suspension. It's a good basis for performance. Roberto Riviere won the inaugural World Touring Car title in 1987 in an M3. An M3's dominated the European touring car group A championship, racking up over 1500 victories, including a string of grueling 24-hour races, making it the most successful touring car of all time. I think the A30 M3 was so successful because it only had a four-cylinder engine, but it was the first of that high-revolution concept engine. So it had more than 200 horsepower, and it had such a precise suspension and such good controls, and aerodynamically, it was so great. That, I think, made it an absolute success, not only on the racetrack, but also on the road. And still today, I mean, we have a big community out there who love to the E30 M3. The second generation M3 entered racing in the 1995 season. This new M3 had a six-cylinder engine and competed in as close to stock production trim as possible. Except for pistons, camshaft, and wider tires, virtually everything was original BMW production parts. The 1982 Brabham BMW Formula 1 car had been the first race car to use digital engine management, and the technology was later transferred to M cars. Yet in 2000, it was the M3 and M5 engineers who developed the advanced engine electronics for the BMW F1 race cars. The extraordinary V8 engine in the current M3 is a descendant to the V8 which powered the M3 GT-R, built for the American Le Mans series in 2001. We developed that car only in six months to put it to Sebring for the first race. And after some little hiccups in the early stage, then it was very successful. So we could win the manufacturers title, the drivers title, the team title. In the United States, team PTG campaigned the M3 for 11 years, winning 14 championships, including back-to-back wins at the 24 hours of Daytona and the Sebring 12 hour race, and three professional GT manufacturers championships. The new fourth generation M3 will compete in the American Le Mans series starting in 2009. Team Rehaul will campaign the M3's on behalf of BMW Motorsport and BMW of North America. The return of BMW marks the 10th anniversary of the BMW V12's historic victories at the 12 hours of Sebring and the 24 hours of Le Mans. Those M-jeans and racing genes super abound in the heads and hearts of our employees. A lot of those people really are racers, they are motorsport enthusiasts, so they make sure with all their racing experience and their know-how, their technical competence, that we get the best of all worlds. We get the race car And that is what I think those people bring into every M car and every M driver really can experience in an exciting way.