VIN: the Walter Wolf / Schnitzer Motorsport BMW M1 Procar chassis 4301016
History of chassis 4301016
Chassis 4301016 was dispatched to the Baur coachworks on November 29th 1978 for completion as a show car.
When Canadian oil magnate and F1 team owner Walter Wolf requested an M1 Procar for road use in early 1979, chassis 4301016 was allocated to him.
In terms of his custom-built road cars, Wolf was best known for a succession of uniquely configured Lamborghini Countach that pre-dated the official wide-bodied Countach S.
In F1, having initially backed Frank Williams, Wolf’s own team (Walter Wolf Racing) made a big splash in its maiden F1 campaign with Jody Scheckter scoring three wins and bagging an amazing second place finish in the 1977 Drivers’ Championship.
To mimic Scheckter’s F1 car, chassis 4301016 was painted dark Wolf Blue. It was initially completed to semi-Procar trim with a standard 277bhp road engine, no rear spoiler, some additional interior equipment and more compliant suspension.
BMW Motorsport boss Jochen Neerpasch handed the M1 over to Walter Wolf at the inaugural Procar race in Monaco over the weekend of May 26th and 27th. However, Wolf was disappointed to discover his new mount only had a standard M1 engine instead of the proper 470bhp Procar unit.
BMW reputedly went on to fit a slightly de-tuned 450bhp motor, but Wolf didn’t keep his latest machine long and by the end of 1979 chassis 4301016 had been sold to Schnitzer Motorsport.
Although Schnitzer was one of the most highly regarded BMW preparation outfits around, they had played no role in the 1979 Procar Championship.
That would change for 1980 when Schnitzer ran a pair of customer-owned cars on behalf of Sepp Mannhalter and Walter Brun and also ran a pair of their own newly prepared examples: chassis 4301016 and 4301226.
Schnitzer took chassis 4301016 up to full race trim in anticipation of the 1980 season, but the car (now Wolf Blue with gold front spoiler and wheelarch flares) was only used a handful of times. We are currently researching the history of the Schnitzer M1 Procars from 1979 and will publish the details of both vehicles in due course.
For 1981, Schnitzer switched their attention to a new in-house engineered Group 5 M1 that the team ran in the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft for Hans-Joachim Stuck.
Chassis 4301016 was sold to a collector in the USA.
In 1988 it returned to Europe and in more recent years has been restored.
Notable History
Wolf Blue
M1 Procar road version built for Walter Wolf
26/05/1979 handed over at Monaco GP
Original 277bhp engine replaced with 450bhp unit
Late 1979 sold to Schnitzer Motorsport
Raced in a couple of Procar events
Sold to USA
1988 returned to Europe
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: BMW - https://www.bmw.com
