VIN: the Cassani Racing BMW M1 Procar chassis 4301072
History of chassis 4301072
Chassis 4301072 started life as a BMW Motorsport press department car during which time it was road registered.
A few months later it was sold to Manfred Cassani who campaigned two M1 Procars in 1979.
First to arrive was chassis 4301062 which Cassani prepared for Hans-Joachim Stuck. This car was raced in blue and white Uher livery.
Chassis 4301072 spent most of 1979 as Manfred Winkelhock’s mount for the Procar series where it was campaigned under the Winkelhock Racing banner. For the majority of 1979, it appeared in the yellow and black colours of Winkelhock’s backer, Kreistelefonbuch.
At the time, Winkelhock was one of Germany’s hottest driving talents. In 1977 and 1978, he raced for the BMW Junior Team driving Group 5 320s in the DRM. 1978 also saw Winkelhock promoted to BMW’s Formula 2 campaign.
BMW retained Winkelhock’s services for 1979, which turned out to be his busiest season yet. He made a one-off appearance for Cassani with a BMW-powered Ralt in Formula 2, but spent most of the year racing M1s and Group 5 320s. His best Procar results in chassis 4301072 were a brace of third place finishes at Donington and Zeltweg. He finished joint 13th in the standings on 20 points.
For the end-of-season non-championship Kyalami 1000km, Winkelhock teamed up with fellow Cassani driver, Hans-Joachim Stuck. Driving 4301072, they placed second overall and second in the Group 1B class.
In addition to Winkelhock, Cassani ran chassis 4301072 for Clay Regazzoni and Jean-Pierre Beltoise in 1979.
Beltoise placed sixth in the Procar race at Dijon where 4301072 appeared as a BMW France entry.
Regazzoni drove the car in a couple of DRM races when Winkelhock was busy on factory duty in the Division 2 class.
As well as Kreistelefonbuch and BMW France, 4301072 also raced with Warsteiner backing.
In 1981, Cassani sold chassis 4301072 to Fritz Wagner who used it for historic events from 2005.
Fritz Wagner retained the car as part of his collection until 2015.
Notable History
BMW Motorsport press car
Manfred Cassani Racing (Team Warsteiner / BMW France / Team Winkelhock)
03/06/1979 PRO Donington (M. Winkelhock) 3rd oa (#81)
24/06/1979 DRM Norisring (C. Regazzoni) 9th oa, 2nd RT class (#81)
30/06/1979 PRO Dijon (J.P. Beltoise) 6th oa (#81)
13/07/1979 PRO Silverstone (M. Winkelhock) DNF (#81)
22/07/1979 DRM Diepholz (C. Regazzoni) DNF (#81)
28/07/1979 PRO Hockenheim (M. Winkelhock) DNF (#81)
12/08/1979 PRO Zeltweg (M. Winkelhock) 5th oa (#81)
26/08/1979 PRO Zandvoort (M. Winkelhock) 3rd oa (#81)
09/09/1979 PRO Monza (M. Winkelhock) DNF (#81)
30/11/1979 IND Kyalami 1000km (M. Winkelhock / H.J. Stuck) 2nd oa, 2nd 1B class (#8)
Sold to Fritz Wagner and retained until 2015
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: BMW - https://www.bmw.com
