One to Buy: ex-Osella Squadra Corse 1979 BMW M1 Procar
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Although BMW had originally conceived the M1 as a homologation special with which to challenge Porsche in the Group 4 and 5 racing classes, a troubled relationship with the firm’s Italian production partners led to the car arriving late.
With no prospect of achieving homologation in the hoped for time-frame, Jochen Neerpasch (the head of BMW Motorsport) convinced the FIA and Formula One Constructors’ Association (FOCA) to agree to a one-make M1 Procar series that supported eight European rounds of the 1979 Formula 1 championship. An extra event was also held at Donington.
Five cars at each race would be allocated to the weekend’s quickest F1 drivers and the rest of the field would be made of of other professionals and privateers. The M1s in question were effectively prepared to Group 4 specification with a host of mechanical and aerodynamic upgrades over the standard road-going variant.
Two of the M1 Procars campaigned throughout 1979 were run by Osella Squadra Corse on behalf of BMW Italia. Chassis 4301059 was allocated to Bruno Giacomelli while chassis 4301040 was mostly campaigned by highly rated youngster, Elio de Angelis.
The undoubted highlight of de Angelis’s ‘79 Procar campaign was victory in the opening race at Zolder in support of that weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. Despite having qualified down in 15th position, de Angelis stormed through the field to take a famous win. Although Eddie Cheever took the wheel of 4301040 in Monaco (and recorded an eighth place finish), de Angelis drove 4301040 in its other four Procar outings of 1979 but only managed one finish (tenth at Donington).
For 1980, chassis 4301040 was sold to Kenpar Miller and Dave Cowart who had an amazingly successful season in the IMSA championship where they racked up a dozen GTO class wins on their way to that year’s title.
Today, this beautifully restored race-ready M1 Procar is on offer at Rory Henderson’s showroom in South West London.
