One to Buy: ex-Gustav Fischer 1978 BMW E21 320 Group 5 (SOLD)
Once aerodynamic addenda went mainstream in top flight motor racing during the early 1970s, the years that followed saw some wild appendages begin to appear. Nowhere was this more evident than the production-based Group 5 class that came into effect for 1976.
Sometimes dubbed a Silhouette formula on account of regulations that required little more than a passing resemblance to the production-based donor platform, Group 5 went on to be dominated by German manufacturers Porsche and BMW in part a result of the high profile DRM series played out on domestic circuits around the country.
Group 5 cars also raced at World Championship level and the Le Mans 24 Hours where they often rivalled out-and-out Sports Prototypes for single lap pace.
Although BMW occasionally raced turbocharged Group 5 versions of their E21 3-series against the mighty Porsche 935, these handsome GT machines normally contested the udner two-litre category where they proved dominant.
This particular Group 5 320 on offer at Duncan Hamilton ROFGO in Micheldever, Hampshire, was raced in period by Gustav Fischer, Gerd Reiss and Kenneth Leim. It competed in the DRM and World Sportscar Championship from 1978 to 1982, after which it contested domestic events in Sweden.
It is fully race prepared and would make an ideal mount for all manner of historic events, or simply an evocative centrepiece for any collection.
Reprinted below is Duncan Hamilton ROFGO’s description for this significant 1970s racing car:
This stunning BMW 320 Group 5 was built for well-known German BMW and DRM racer, Gustav Fischer in late 1977 early 1978. Under the Valvoline Deutschland Team banner, Fischer would go onto compete in the 1978 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) season against the mighty Porsche 935s and Zakspeed Capris – taking in the great circuits such as Avus, Mainz-Finthen, Zandvoort, Kassel-Calden, Hockenheim GP meeting, Zolder, and Norisring. Despite having the best current equipment, Fischer wasn’t as competitive as hoped, and after some unreliability, he sold the car to Gerd Reiss who would enter the car under his private ‘Team Immobilien G. Reiss’ - the livery it wears today.
After his DRM campaign, Reiss sold the car to Swedish ace Kenneth Leim. Leim would enter the car into the World Sports Car Championship for the 1982 season, with 1000km entries at Monza, Silverstone, Nürburgring, Spa and Mugello – sharing with fellow Swede Kurt Simonsen.
The car subsequently went back to Sweden from where Christer Simonsen (Kurt’s son) bought the car to take on the Nordic Special Saloon Championship, within which he was an overall front-runner, right through until the end of the 1985 season.
Finnish racer Eero Vesenterä would be the next owner and for 1987 and ’88 he would continue to run at the front in the competitive Nordic Series where many of these now obsolete Group 5 cars would find a home. At the end of the ’88 season, the car was sold to John K. Westman, who continued to enter the Nordic Series plus the domestic Finnish races – finally retiring the car in the early 1990s. It was 1996 that British BMW guru and racer Alex Elliott travelled to Finland to buy two Group 5 BMWs, including this car. The car was near complete with chassis, body, suspension, brakes, exhaust, interior etc all there, but minus engine, and now plain white. Even the original seat was still with the car. From 1996 to 2011, the car remained in the UK in the same state and engineless, until the current owner bought it and started planning a comprehensive and exacting restoration to 1978/'79 spec.
The stunning restoration was carried out over a three year period by Tony Hansford and his skilled team at H-Engineering, with every detail considered. The Group 5 320 in the factory BMW Museum was analysed and compared to ensure that original details were correct, and that in any cases where new items had to be manufactured, they were materially and visually correct. The correct 2-litre M12 race engine was of course reinstalled into the car, plus the ultra-rare 5-speed Getrag gearbox and magnesium differential. The finished article is not just period correct and beautifully detailed, but truly race-ready to modern standards. It is also complete with a new FIA HTP.
The car was rebuild for CER and Le Mans Classic and is only for sale due to the owner’s racing plans changing. Within the racing spares package is an extra set of correct BBS magnesium wheels with good wets fitted, a 4-speed gearbox (8hrs maximum), and an iron Le Mans differential (8hrs maximum) – The more valuable 5-speed gearbox (0 hours) and a period magnesium differential (0 hours) are currently fitted to the car.
Price on Application
