Stars in the circus ring - or: rejoicing too soon
BMW is celebrating 50 years of Motorsport GmbH - extensively and everywhere. There's nothing wrong with that, after all, the accolade bestowed by the 13th letter of the alphabet has produced some of the most desirable BMW models of the past. A small birthday celebration also took place as part of the supporting program of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, the highlight of which was the "BMW M Race of Legends".
Or rather, it was supposed to be. Because all those who had expected museum pieces moving at racing speed or other celebrities in automobile form based on the name were bitterly disappointed. Instead of the 3.0 CSL, M3, M1 and "Eifelblitz", twelve brand-new BMW M2 CS cars were curving around the circuit, each driven by a racing driver of at least 50 years of age with varying degrees of BMW connection.
The parade was somewhat reminiscent of the opening race of the Grand Prix circuit on May 12, 1984, in which 20 world-class racing drivers of the time let their hair down in identical Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16s (apart from the paint color and starting number). That will hardly have been the Bavarians' intention. But at least, according to the press release, the birthday M2s "paid tribute to the racing history of BMW M GmbH with an iconic BMW M racing design from the 1970s". Realists simply saw M-colored stripes on a white body.
Yes, that's what one of the Group 5 three-wheelers from the seventies looked like - in its most boring form. Would it really have been too much effort to wrap each car in a different historic look for such a big anniversary of such a famous brand if the real racing cars were not brought into the ring? It seems as if the interest in one's own history only extends as far as it can be used for advertising purposes and to sell new cars.
After all, Dirk Adorf, Bill Auberlen, Johnny Cecotto, Eddie Cheever, Harald Grohs, Olaf Manthey, Jochen Mass, Arturo Merzario, Steve Soper, Prince Leopold of Bavaria and Eric van de Poele actually drove a race in the 30 minutes that the track was theirs and didn't dawdle around in a car-friendly manner. M Managing Director Franciscus van Meel also took the opportunity to join the field of old champions. However, some other famous BMW drivers were missing.
Dieter Quester, for example, who almost exclusively drove Bavarian products during his motorsport career, was unfortunately not present. Perhaps the organizers were too afraid that he would slide across the finish line on the roof again. That would have demolished the beautiful new M2 - but it would have been much more reminiscent of the wild old days than the paintwork.
We would like to thank Kai Gattermann for the photos of the BMW M race.
