One to Buy: 1 of 1 ex-Niki Lauda 1980 BMW M1
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As the most successful F1 driver on the grid with 17 victories and two Drivers’ titles, Niki Lauda would already have been among the favourites to walk away with the 1979 Procar Championship.
However, during the early 1970s, Lauda had demonstrated he could also cut the mustard in other disciplines, racing everything from Mini Coopers to Group 6 Porsche Prototypes and brutish Group 2 Touring Cars.
Driving various iterations of BMW’s iconic E9 for the quasi-works Alpina team, Lauda had established an enviable tin-top record that most notably included victory in the 1973 Nurburgring 24 Hours. Since 1975 though he had exclusively raced F1, initially for Ferrari and later Brabham.
Despite a lack of recent Sports car or GT experience, Lauda deservedly took the ‘79 Procar crown driving Ron Dennis’s Marlboro-backed Project Four entry; even though he failed to finish three of the eight rounds, wins at Monaco, Silverstone and Hockenheim along with a second place finish in the season finale at Monza meant Lauda finished the campaign with 78 points, five clear of factory driver, Hans-Joachim Stuck.
As 1979 Procar champion, Lauda was gifted a uniquely appointed BMW M1 road car, chassis ‘4301214’, which will be going under the hammer at Mecum’s Kissimmee sale on January 17th.
Configured in white with body coloured wheels and blue upholstery, chassis 4301214 was also equipped with the rarely seen Procar-style front apron. In addition, the car was emblazoned with hand-painted BMW Motorsport tricolours by renowned German artist, Walter Maurer, who famously created several M1 art cars in period.
Chassis 4301214 was exported to the United States in 1987 and heads to auction with a little over 20,000km on the odometer.
