HISTORY OF THE 1979 PROCAR SERIES

Since, except for some rare occasions, the in sprint races victorious Group 5 Zakspeed Ford Capri Turbo was not entered in endurance racing, there was nobody to stop the Porsches 935 pulverising the rest of the field. So spectators as well as organisers expected that BMW should enter up from 1978 a Group 5 version of their M1 in order to counter the Porsches. Unfortunately the new 1978 FIA rules stipulated that one was only allowed to make a Group 5 silhouette version from a street car once at least 400 streetcars of a specific type had been built. At BMW they had, however, delivery problems, since Lamborghini - responsible for the manufacturing of the rolling chassis of the BMW M1 - was unable to respect the time schedule for delivery. That implied that the 400 units were only reached mid-1979. At that moment Porsche had already withdrawn its works versions of the 935, letting its costumers defend the WCM title. So, at BMW, they were not real hot to build any longer a works Group 5 version of their M1: if such car should have beaten the Porsches spectators should conclude that such was an easy game in absence of Porsche works cars.
The new rules instantly killed any chance of the M1 racing competitively.  For competition 49 race versions of the 277 bhp streetcar were built, but all as 477 bhp Group 4 cars, having not the smallest chances to beat the 935s, even not those driven by privateers after Porsche withdrew from official competition. That all "forced BMW to make some big decisions to ensure their glorious new road car would not become a white elephant. With no immediate openings for the M1 other than maybe the ACO's Invitational class at Le Mans and a handful of non-championship race's, BMW Motorsport supremo, Jochen Neerspach, cut a deal to run Group 4 cars in a one-make series that would support many of the European Formula 1 rounds. Known as the Procar Championship, this high profile league ran between 1979 and 80, bridging the gap between the FIA homologating the M1 into Group 4 on December 1st 1980 and providing BMW Motorsport with a couple of years in which to perfect their new machine. 50% more expensive than the standard road car," Contrarily to the Group 4 M1s, raced at IMSA and at the WCM, weight of the Procar M1s was 1005kg, i.e. 70kg more than the IMSA or WCM versions.  "Set up changes saw Unibal joint suspension instead of the road cars rubber bushed components whilst custom springs and dampers, fully adjustable anti-roll bars and a quicker steering rack were other notable changes. All servo-assistance was removed from the brakes and an adjustable brake balance set up installed. Replica road wheels of 11 and 12.5-inches were fitted at the front and rear respectively. Mechanically, the Group 4 M1's featured a heavily modified engine with a race tuned alloy block, these 3.5-litre motors developing 470bhp at 9000rpm – an amazing 193bhp up on the production car. Slide or guillotine type throttle slides were used in place of individual butterflies whilst the five-speed gearbox boasted a separate oil cooler and a choice of alternative ratios."

Real first PROCAR race as curtain raiser to the F1 Belgian Grand Prix on May 12, 1979. Clay Regazzoni (#28) hides the Marlboro M1 of Niki Lauda, and is followed at the left by the #1 of Mario Andretti, the #44 of Markus Höttinger, and at the right by the M1 of Jacques Lafitte.

"Aesthetically, BMW were forced to retain much more of a resemblance to the production M1 than would have been the case for Group 5, just bulbous wheel arch extensions, a deep front spoiler and high rise rear wing being fitted. Meanwhile, the cabin was totally stripped of all luxuries, the side and rear glass being replaced with lightweight plastic windows." Spring 1978 the first Group 4 M1 was showed to the press at the Munich Olympic Stadium. Later a rear aerofoil was added. Reaching a top speed of 310kph (193mph) with an acceleration from  0-60mph in 4"5 a high locked slip-diff and an up rated Fichtel & Sachs clutch were necessary.
Making a deal with Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley, Neerpasch obtained that prior to eight European F1 Grand Prix there could be organised a circa 30 minutes race with identical M1s. The F1 racers having qualified among the top-5 could enter the Procar races with one of the works M1s. Those cars received the same race number as the driver's F1 car and were equipped with a sun stroke with the racer's main sponsor. Works cars were white with a triple transversal stripe sky blue, night blue and red) going from the left nose to the rear bottom. Contrarily to the other M1s the works cars started always from the five first places on the grid, whatever were there realised times at qualifications. Of he selected F1 racers Austria's Niki Lauda was the lonely one to drive his own M1, instead of the offered works car, a set-up of Project Four from Woking (GB). All other customer cars - except the one of Osella Corse - were built by Ron Dennis, the boss of McLaren. Racers of those cars were notorious touring car drivers, most of them having already raced a Group 4 M1 at the DRM (Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft) or at a round of the WCM.  
Not all F1 racers could start in the Procar series, due to the fact that all M1s were equipped with Goodyear tyres, whilst such F1 racers as Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari) or René Arnoux and Jean-Pierre Jabouille (Renault) were obliged to use exclusively Michelin tyres. Of the 36 F1 racers having seen in competition at the 1979 Worlds no less than 13 qualified them for one or more 1979 Procar races: Clay Regazzoni and Niki Lauda for all 8 rounds, Jacques Lafitte, Nelson Piquet and Alan Jones for 6 rounds, Didier Pironi for 3 rounds, Mario Andretti, Carlos Reutemann, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Patrick Depailler for one round. Two other 1979 F1 racers - John Watson and James Hunt - could drive a works car at the off-championship round (the Gunnar Nillson Trophy at Donington on June 3). Other 1979 F1 racers as Elio de Angelis (4 rounds), Marc Surer (4 rounds), Jochen Mass (1 round), Bruno Giacomelli (7 rounds), Hans-Joachim Stuck (7 rounds) raced customer cars. Never earlier in history, and never later, 18 Grand Prix racers entered the same season as they were involved in F1, a one make series. That certainly contributed to the historical role the BMW M1 Group 4 cars played in the history of autosport. Never a Grand Prix racer, invited to drive a works car, refused despite the fact that the prize money - $ 5,000 US for the winner, $ 3,000 US for the runner-up and $ 1,000 for the third - was low as compared to F1 standards. End of the season prizes were a BMW M1 for the two first, a BMW 528i for the third and the fourth and a BMW 320i for the fifth and the sixth.

THE STRONGEST ENTRY FIELD EVER (EXCEPT FOR GP RACING ITSELF)
It's nearly surrealistic to realise that the Grand Prix divers who entered the 1979 Procar season won 11 F1 World Championships: Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet each 3, Emerson Fittipaldi two, Mario Andretti, Alan Jones and James Hunt each one. The F1 entrants won no less than 133 Grand Prix: Niki Lauda 25, Nelson Piquet 23, Emerson Fittipaldi 14, Mario Andretti, Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann each 12, James Hunt 10, Jacques Lafitte 6, Clay Regazzoni and John Watson 5, Didier Pironi 3, Elio de Angelis and Patrick Depailler 2, Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Jochen Mass one. Together they entered ... 2416 Grand Prix. No one make series organiser would ever dream about such exceptional entry field. It's something that never ever will still be realised. 
After the two first rounds (Zolder and Monaco) there was some unrest among the drivers of consumer cars, complaining that the works cars were noticeable quicker than the rest. So, at round #3 in Dijon, BMW decided to take of the rev limiters from 8500rpm to 9200rpm. Up from round #4 at Silverstone the factory entered a sixth works car going to a promising young driver: Hans-Georg Burger (who should be killed one year later in a race accident) realised a third and a sixth place with that #90 works car, Tiff Needell a ninth place, whilst Michael Bleekemolen and Teo Fabi let note a DNF. Of them Bleekemolen and Needell should do only one Grand Prix in later years, whilst Teo Fabi did later 64 Grand Prix, finishing twice at the podium.
Up from Hockenheim (round #5) noisier exhausts were allowed. Among the customer cars we found several experienced racing stables. Tom Walkinshaw Racing entered two cars, one for Dieter Quester in Gösser Beer colours and one for himself and for Frank Sytner. Squadra Osella Corse entered two cars too: one for Elio de Angelis and one for Bruno Giacomelli or Eddie Cheever. Eggenberger entered at all rounds a car for Helmut Kelleners. Manfred Cassani did the same for Hans-Joachim Stuck. Max Heidegger had one car for Marc Surer, David Hobbs and Markus Hotz. GS Tuning entered at all rounds a car for the series' revelation Markus Höttinger.

Despite the fact that a BMW M1 Group was sold at $ 60,000 US several racers came tp the Procar series with their own car. Among them we find Manfred Winkelhock, Wolfgang Schütz, Albrecht Krebs, Sepp Manhalter (whose car was tuned by Schnitzer) and Franz Konrad. Astonishing quick was the Dutch Alimpo Sport M1 driven by Toine Hezemans. 

ROUND #1 ZOLDER (BELGIAN GP) TO ELIO DE ANGELIS (May 12)
Fastest M1 qualifier on Friday was the young Markus Höttinger (#44), followed by Hans-Joachim Stuck (#77) and Bruno Giacomelli (#70). The five fastest F1 racers after the F1 qualifying were Jacques Lafitte (Ligier), Clay Regazzoni (Williams), reigning world cham-pion Mario Andretti (Lotus), Nelson Piquet (Brabham) and Niki Lauda (Brabham). Of them Lauda started on his own #5 Project Four #5. The non-F1 racers wished to give full evidence that they could beat the F1 stars, what resulted in a really crazy race commented after by Dieter Quester by the words: "In diesem Feld hat es einige Wahnsinnige!" Already at the opening lap we lost Nelson Piquet and Franz Konrad. At lap 7 Niki Lauda disappeared on tech woes. In front Markus Höttinger and Hans-Joachim Stuck had already passed the five F1 front runners. They were setting the pace until lap 13 when both collided. This accident brought Elio de Angelis and Toine Hezemans on the lead for the 7 last laps. Eventually De Angelis won, 5 seconds ahead of the Dutch racer. As too many racers were continuously racing at the rev limiter, most cars suffered from high vibration, resulting in retirements. Only 7 of the 19 cars at the start reached the finish after 33 minutes.

ROUND #2 MONTE-CARLO (MONACO GP) TO NIKI LAUDA (May 27)
Again 19 starters for the prestigious round on the famous Monaco circuit. Only now it appeared that the selected F1 racers received a starting bonus of 10,000 DM each. Of the F1 racers having qualified for round #1 only Regazzoni and Lafitte qualified again. New F1 racers at the start were now Emerson Fittipaldi, Patrick Depailler and Jean-Pierre Jarier. Niki Lauda failed to qualify in the top-5 of the GP race, but could start as he was driving his own car. Hans-Joachim Stuck and Niki Lauda were now the fastest M1 qualifiers, but they had to start behind the five works cars. A spin at lap 2 rejected "der Lange" into the very last position. Eight laps later Stuck was already seventh, but a broken oil line made him going off the track in lap 10. Out "Strietzel". In front Lauda and Regazzoni were involved in a gruelling combat for victory and when Regazzoni missed a gear Niki Lauda could catch the lead to hold it until the chequered flag. Now 11 of the 19 starters reached the finish line after 26 minutes and 15 laps.

GUNNAR NILLSON TROPHY AT DONINGTON TO NELSON PIQUET (June 3)
On June 3-4 an off-championship meeting was organised at Donington in favour of Gunnar Nillson's Cancer Fund. Crowd was up to 20,000 as there was a F1 race where five starters had five laps to realise the fastest lap. Alan Jones, in his Williams FW07 was quickest, followed by James Hunt in a Wolf WR8, Mario Andretti in a Lotus 79 and Nelson Piquet in the outlawed Brabham BT46 Fan Car that John Watson used at the Swedish Grand Prix. The F1 contest was followed by several demonstration races. One of them was a BMW M1 meeting, not counting for the 1979 Procar series. Here Jones, Hunt, Andretti, Piquet and John Watson could drive the M1 works cars. Niki Lauda was absent. In total 16 M1s showed for a 30 laps race (38 minutes), won by Nelson Piquet ahead of Bruno Giacomelli and Manfred Winkelhock. Among the starters we found Tom Walkinshaw who finished eighth in his Toleman Group M1. Fastest qualifier was Toine Hezemans. After the race James Hunt - the 1976 F1 world champion - declared that he retired definitively from F1 racing.

ROUND #3 DIJON (FRENCH GP) TO NELSON PIQUET (June 30)
Crazy as he always was, Jean-Marie Ballestre - an ex-Nazi! - initially refused the M1 race being started. There was no fuel for the M1s in the pit lane and the qualification times were not officially noted. Marc Surer was fastest ahead over Hans-Joachim Stuck and ex-F1 racer Jean-Pierre Beltoise (Matra). The last named came at the start with Manfred Winkelhock's yellow M1. Dieter Stappert, BMW-responsible for the 1979 Procar series, tried to convince Ballestre, however at no avail.  Only after a heavy discussion with Bernie Ecclestone the race could be started, despite the refusal of crazy Ballestre, being the race director of the French Grand Prix. Clay Regazzoni, Alan Jones, Didier Pironi and Nelson Piquet finished in the top-5 of the F1 qualifications, so that they could drive the works cars. Niki Lauda was also among that top-5 but preferred to drive his own Project Four Marlboro M1. In total 18 cars took the start for a 20 lap race. Nelson Piquet was leading Alan Jones and Didier Pironi from start to finish. Lauda had a horrible start, but realised to move up into eighth position. Jacques Lafitte, who missed the top-5 at the F1 qualification race, had to follow the race from the grand stands. 

ROUND #4 SILVERSTONE (BRITISH GP) TO NIKI LAUDA (July 13)
At the start we found 20 cars. Having realised the pole at the F1 qualifications Alan Jones could start from the pole with Nelson Piquet on the front row, Niki Lauda and Carlos Reutemann on the second row and Clay Regazzoni on the third round. Next to him we found Hans-Joachim Stuck who was fastest qualifier in the M1 session, ahead over Wolfgang Schütz and Helmut Kelleners. For Reutemann it was the first time of his life he had to race a touring car with a roof. Piquet started with the completely unchanged works car he had driven to victory at Donington and Dijon, whilst Lauda had the advantage of having tested his Project Four Marlboro M1 several times at Silverstone. Already in the first curb Regazzoni made a spin, taking Reutemann with. Manfred Winkelhock, making his first Procar race, could not avoid a collision and was immediately out. The two others could continue their race. In front Nelson Piquet was under high pressure of Niki Lauda, who realised to take over at the fifth lap out of 20. But man of the race was Markus Höttinger who realised to move up from one of the last places on the grid into fourth position behind Stuck. During the very last round he even succeeded to pass Stuck, taking a podium place.

ROUND #5 HOCKENHEIM (GERMAN GP) ALSO TO NIKI LAUDA (July 28)
At Hockenheim Alan Jones was again the fastest qualifier in F1, so that he could start from the pole in the M1 race. Other qualified F1 racers were Jacques Lafitte, Didier Pironi, Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni. A sixth works car went to Hans-Georg Burger, the #90 which Tiff Needell drove into ninth position at Silverstone. In this car Burger caused a stir by setting the best time at the M1 qualification, followed by Hans-Joachim Stuck and Helmut Kelleners. Fastest away are Jones and Piquet. Already during the first lap Jochen Mass makes a spin with the Albrecht Krebs Warsteiner M1. Due to a false start of Toine Hezemans there is a massive collision with the cars of Elio de Angelis, Dieter Quester and Wolfgang Schütz. All four cars are out. At lap 5 out of 15 Niki Lauda goes out on the lead, followed by Hans-Joachim Stuck and the duo Pironi/Bürger, struggling for the third place. During the following lap Bürger can pass Pironi. The four first places change no more and after 33 minutes Niki Lauda wins his third Procar race, 3 seconds over "der Lange" and eight over Hans-Georg Bürger having proved his talent as excellent driver.  With three rounds to go Niki Lauda has already 63 points, against 41 for Clay Regazzoni.

ROUND #6 ZELTWEG (AUSTRIAN GP) TO JACQUES LAFITTE (August 11)
Of the five F1 racers eligible for the M1 works cars Alan Jones was against the fastest at the F1 qualifications, followed by Jaques Lafitte, Niki Lauda, Clay Regazzoni and Didier Pironi. After his splendid performance with the #90 works car, Hans-Georg Bürger receives his second seat. Now Hans-Joachim Stuck is fastest qualifier among the customers, followed by Markus Höttinger and Bürger. At the start we find not 19 but 18 cars. During the qualifications Jochen Mass was eliminated by a blown motor and time was too short to make his Warsteiner M1 ready. Alan Jones set the pace until lap 3, but was then passed by Jacques Lafitte.
Shortly after Jones falls out with a broken motor. So did also Niki Lauda with a defect transmission. So Regazzoni has a chance to reduce his 22 points arrear on Niki Lauda. With the two young lions (Markus Höttinger and Hans-Georg Bürger), with his F1 opponent Didier Pironi and with "der Lange" he is fighting for the second place. Positions switch now from lap to lap. During the final lap Regazzoni's car suffers from traction problems and is passed by Markus Höttinger and Didier Pironi. Before his home public young Markus Höttinger - a medicine student - fights like a devil, only 4 seconds down to Jacques Laffite. He'll fail to close the gap and will finish at the same distance as a superb second. Pironi will finish as third, ahead over Regazzoni, Manfred Winkelhock and Hans-Georg Bürger.
In the overall ranking after six rounds out of eight, Clay Regazzoni is now twelve points down to Niki Lauda. There can be no longer any doubt that the two young lions - Höttinger and Bürger - are ready to enter competition at the highest level. Both will be offered a wheel for the F2 European Championship of next year. The specialised autosport press has no longer any doubt about it: in 1981 they'll be both regular F1 racers.   

ROUND #7 ZANDVOORT (DUTCH GP) TO HANS-JOACHIM STUCK (August 25)
At the Friday F1 qualifications is Clay Regazzoni is fastest qualifier behind Jody Scheckter (Ferrari) and Gilles Villeneuve 'Ferrari). As both are not allowed by Michelin to enter the Procar series, Jones will start once more from the pole position in the Procar race.  Then follow Alan Jones, Jacques Lafitte, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet. Before his home public young Michael Bleekemolen will receive the #90 works car for promising youngsters. Fastest qualifier among the customers is Hans-Joachim Stuck in Manfred Cassani's Uher M1. He has nearly a complete second in hand over Markus Höttinger in the GS Tuning Castrol M1. Then follow Manfred Winkelhock and Marc Surer.
Scheduled as a race over 20 rounds, it will be a race in two parts. Indeed, after only five laps racers are victim of cloudburst. As it is raining the proverbial cats and dogs the race is interrupted during 45 minutes. Earlier Markus Höttinger pushed Nelson Piquet out (after 3 laps), whilst Elio de Angelis did the same with Michael Bleekemolen on the very slippery track. So we'll have a restart with only 13 of the 17 entered cars as Höttinger, Piquet, de Angelis and Bleekemolen are all four out. Niki Lauda, made during the first half of the race a spin in the chicane, damaging seriously his Project Four Racing Marlboro M1. During the rain pause mechanics tried to repair what they could, but already at the second lap after the restart the car was withdrawn with wet  soaked electricity. That gave Clay Regazzoni - twelve points behind - a unique opportunity to reduce his arrears in the point standing. If he can finish in the top-3 he can even catch the lead in the provisional ranking.
In front Hans-Joachim Stuck pulls away from Jacques Lafitte and Manfred Winkelhock, who'll finish in that order. Behind them there is a close combat among Marc Surer and Clay Regazzoni for the fourth place. Eventually Regazzoni will loose that combat. On finishing fifth overall he collects only eight points and is now, with one last round to go, four points down to Niki Lauda.  The local hero, Toine Hezemans, disappoints by finishing only sixth, nearly a half minute down to the winner. On Sunday Alan Jones will win his third consecutive Grand Prix. Earlier he won also at Hockenheim and at Zeltweg.

Eighth and last PROCAR round at Monza. The starting grid with Alan Jones (far right) and Clay Regazzoni on the front row, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet on the second row, Mario Andretti and Hans-Joachim Stuck on the third row.

ROUND #8 MONZA (ITALIAN GP) AGAIN TO HANS-JOACHIM STUCK (September 8)
The last round will bring the decision who of Niki Lauda or Clay Regazzoni will win the 1979 Procar series. At the Friday F1 qualifications Alan Jones was fastest, followed by Clay Regazzoni, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Mario Andretti. The #90 works car goes now to Teo Fabi. At the customer cars qualifications Hans-Joachim Stuck is 1.2 seconds faster than Manfred Winkelhock, followed by Helmut Kelleners and Marc Surer.
It will take "der Lange" only three laps to pass the four works cars plus Lauda's having started in front of him. Regazzoni follows then as second, Lauda as third. All thrill is over after six laps when Regazzoni has to retire with a blown engine. That brings Lauda in second position. He lets "der Lange" fly away and will reach the chequered flag in second position, twenty seconds down to Hans-Joachim Stuck, winning his second consecutive round with a customer car.  Due to the retirement of Regazzoni "der Lange" finishes as second overall. That implies that he, just as the series winner Niki Lauda will receive as prize a BMW M1 (in reality the cars go to Bernie Ecclestone, owner of Lauda's F1 Brabham car, and to Manfred Cassani, owner of Stuck's car). Poor Regazzoni wins with his third place a BMW 528i (going in reality to Frank Williams). By finishing at an unbelievable good fourth place Markus Höttinger - third at the last round in dr. Helmut Marko's car) will receive the same prize. Finishing res. as fifth and sixth Toine Hezemans (also fifth at the final Monza round) and Nelson Piquet win a BMW 320i (in practice Piquet's car goes to Brabham team-owner Bernie Ecclestone, just as Lauda's BMW M1).

The 1979 Procar series was something surrealistic having been achieved by no other automobile manufacturer than BMW. Letting the best racers of the world driving identical one make cars is something as a dream which very probably will never more be possible. For Jochen Neerpasch and BMW it was the best thinkable publicity for their 450 built M1 streetcars, which were all sold in no time. At the end of the season everybody was extremely curious about the 1980 season. Autosport enthusiasts all hoped that the series should continue, and now perhaps with even the Ferrari and Renault F1 drivers at the start.

For the last time in racing history the BMW Motorsport truck brings the six works M1s to the circuit. We discover the #6 of Nelson Piquet, the #28 of Clay Regazzoni, and the #90 for Teo Fabi. The history (1980) is continued in part 2.