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180 km/h with the new BMW 700 RS

Name: BMW 700 RS 1961
Brand: BMW

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Created on August 1, 1961

Text:

Peter Ward

Photos:

Archiv

BMW 700 RS (1961) - Hans Stuck at the start of a hill climb in 1961

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BMW 700 RS (1961) - Aerodynamically shaped rear end

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BMW 700 RS (1961) - Economical fittings and a 'springy' Nardi steering wheel in the cockpit

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BMW 700 RS (1961) - Lightweight tubular frame over which an aluminum body was fitted

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BMW 700 RS (1961) - King-shaft twin-cylinder engine with fan cooling

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Summary

In 1961, BMW surprised everyone with a small sports car with 100 hp per liter of displacement. Based on the successful BMW 700 Coupé, the 700 RS was uncompromisingly designed for performance and racing. The specialist magazine 'hobby' reported on this sports car in 1961. The restored and newly edited photo report is available here.

This article contains the following chapters

Dual-circuit brake and tubular trellis frame

Estimated reading time: 5min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Since 1928, cars have been built in Munich - and earlier in Eisenach - which, with few exceptions, have sporty characteristics. The white and blue horsepower wizards (Alex von Falkenhausen and his engine experts are now) have always developed high-performance engines that have proven their maturity in international competitions. Just think of the 80 hp sports car of the pre-war years, which dominated races at home and abroad in its class. The Munich factory's greater sporting activity - it never built racing cars, like Mercedes and Auto-Union - was in motorcycles. As early as 1929, Ernst Henne achieved fantastic world best performances with a supercharged BMW, which increased with constant regularity in the course of technical progress to reach a peak of 280 km/h in 1937. Listen and be amazed: even then, the liter output of the supercharged 500 cc engine was an honest 200 hp! Yes, the Munich-based company knew how to inject considerable horsepower into their engines.

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