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32767 view(s)  In 1979 and 1980, Formula One Grand Prix spectators got a very special treat ... Procar racing on Saturday.
The race car drivers were the fastest qualifiers from Friday. The race car used for Saturday's event was the specially prepared BMW M1.
BMW Motorsport produced 50 identically equipped M1's for the Procar race.
In a way, the Procar series was the forerunner of the popular IROC (International Race of Champions) series held in the USA, where champion drivers race identically equipped cars.
The Procar series was created by Bernie Ecclestone (the "godfather" of Formula One), Jochen Neerpasch of BMW Motorsport and Max Moseley.
Except for Ferrari and Renault, all the F1 drivers competed in Procar. Niki Lauda won the 1979 Procar championship, while Nelson Piquet finished first in 1980.
Other F1 competitors included Mario Andretti, Eddie Cheevers, Emerson Fittipaldi, Alan Jones, Jochen Mass, Dieter Quester, Carlos Reutemann, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Marc Surer.
The Procar M1's used the 24-valve inline 6-cylinder M88/1 engine with 500 hp and a top speed approaching 200 mph. When turbocharged, the engine was capable of almost 1000 hp!
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Models for BMW M1
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| Manufacturer |
Model |
Scale |
Dimensions (LxWxH) |
Wheelbase |
Front spur |
Rear spur |
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| #076 Andy Warhol Art Car BMW Gmbh 1979 |
 Participated in:
Le Mans 24 hrs, Le Mans
For anybody who declares soup cans to be works of art or suggests closing a whole department store and keeping it as a museum, considering a car as a rolling work of art is more typical than unusual.
The M1 was the fourth of the by now famous Art cars. Where previous Art Car artists (Calder, Stella, Lichtenstein) created their designs on 1:5 scale models, called maquettes, and had technicians reproduce their designs on the real cars. Warhol insisted on painting the real M1 himself.
He is reported to have spent all of 23 minutes painting the car, running his fingers through the paint to leave a personal touch.
On the subject of his sweeping brush and finger strokes, he said: "I tried to portray speed pictorially. If a car is moving really quickly, all the lines and colors are blurred."
When asked if he was pleased with the end result, he replied, "I love the car; it's better than the work of art itself."
Warhol's rolling work of art had its first and only race outing at the 24-hour race at Le Mans in 1979, driven by Manfred Winkelhock (Germany) and the Frenchmen Hervé Poulain and Marcel Mignot. It placed sixth overall and second in class. |
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Liveries
