The BMW M1

At the beginning, in 1975, the BMW's project were to create a competition mid engine car, like the Lancia Stratos, in order to run the Group IV races. This project were too big for the Motorsport division, but too small for BMW, so the conception were managed by Lamborghini. After the creation of the prototype, Lamborghini couldn't go further for economic reasons, so BMW choosed to give the construction to Baur, in Stuttgart.
The BMW M1 were designed by Giugiaro and Motorsport had developped a wonderfull engine for the diva : a 6 cylinders in line, of 3,5 L with 4 valves per cylinder and 277 bhp (at 6500 rpm). All these qualities were unsufficient and the M1 sales were weak due to an excessive price (450 models only) and results in competition were poor.

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