Ten F1 heroes who raced in BMW M1 Procar (List) | GRR
Imagine taking the current F1 grid and slapping the drivers into a support race at each European race on the Formula 1 calendar. It would be amazing, wouldn’t it? Well, as bonkers as it sounds, that’s exactly what happened for the 1979 and 1980 seasons. The series? BMW M1 Procar.
BMW M1 Procar was short-lived but the racing it offered up sublime. Races were held at Monaco, Zolder, Silverstone, Zandvoort, Monza, Donington Park, Brands Hatch, Imola and many more. And the cars? Well, they were monsters. The work of BMW’s Motorsport division and its boss, Jochen Neerpasch, the racers were based on the M1 road car but with huge wings, massive flared arches, racing brakes, gearboxes and suspension, and 470PS (345kW), 9,000rpm 3.5-litre straight-six engines. They weighed only 1,020kg, too, nearly 300kg less than the road going machines, and would top out at 193mph.
In truth it wasn’t as though every name from the F1 grid competed, because they didn’t, but the grid was packed with sportscar, touring car and F1 talent. The full list of entrants is far too long to detail here (it’s a ridiculous who’s who of 1970s motorsport), so here are some of the most famous names. And if you haven’t watched our film ‘M1 Procar: Two Years of Heaven’, you really, really should.
Niki Lauda
Where else could we start than with the great Niki Lauda? The three-time F1 world champion and winner of 25 Grands Prix won the inaugural M1 Procar championship in 1979. Then a two-time F1 champ, Lauda retired in three of the series’ eight races but won three and took a second place finish in the final round at Monza.
Nelson Piquet
Another three-time F1 title winner, Nelson Piquet took part in just four Procar races in 1979, winning his first at Dijon. In 1980, though, racing Procar ‘full time’, Piquet won the final three of nine races in the championship, securing him the title.
Hans-Joachim Stuck
Hans-Joachim Stuck’s F1 career wasn’t that great, but Stuck shone in sportscars, winning Le Mans three times (he also finished on the podium on a further five occasions), the Nürburgring 24 Hours three times, became the World Sportscar Champion in 1985 and DTM champion in 1990. If it wasn’t for Niki Lauda he would have won the 1979 M1 Procar championship, too, coming home in second place just five points behind the Austrian. In 1980 he finished third.
Alan Jones
It’s fair to say the 1980 F1 world champion Alan Jones kept himself busy in his free time, competing in six M1 Procar races in ‘79 with a best finish of second at Dijon and in every race of the 1980 season. He never won a race, but three podiums and top ten finishes in every race but one gave Jones the runner-up spot behind Piquet.
Clay Regazzoni
Clay Regazzoni might not have won an F1 title, but with two stints at Ferrari, one as Lauda’s team-mate, a third place F1 Championship finish in 1970 (he also won the European F2 title in that same year) and a second in F1 in 1974, it’s fair to say he was very, very fast. He proved his speed in M1 Procar too, finishing third in 1979, 12 points behind Stuck.
Emerson Fittipaldi
No, Emerson Fittipaldi’s M1 Procar run was not a long one. In fact he only took part in one race, in Monaco in 1979. But he did finish in third, behind Lauda and Regazzoni, and as a winner of the 1972 and ‘74 F1 World Championships, the 1989 IndyCar Championship, and the 1989 and ’93 Indy 500 he’s probably not that bothered about his Procar record.
Mario Andretti
Another man who probably isn’t too worried about his M1 Procar record is the legendary Mario Andretti. The 1978 F1 champion, 1995 Le Mans runner-up, 1969 Indy 500 winner and 1984 IndyCar champion took part in the very first Procar race at Zolder in 1979 and the second-to-last race in the series at Zandvoort in 1980.
Alain Prost
Yes, fierce Frenchman, ‘the professor’, Alain Prost, took part in one race of the 1980 M1 Procar season while also trying to concentrate on making a mark in his first year in F1. In his sole Procar adventure he finished in sixth position. As you’ll likely know Prost went on to four F1 titles, three for McLaren and one for Williams.
Jochen Mass
We couldn’t ignore one of our Members’ Meeting House Captains now, could we? Jochen Mass won just won Grand Prix in his nine-year Formula 1 career, the 1975 Spanish GP, but not only did he win the 1989 Le Mans 24, he has supported Goodwood’s events for nearly two decades. A retirement and a 7th place in Hockenheim in the 1979 M1 Procar championship does a disservice to this legend’s pace.
Carlos Reutemann
Our final entrant on this list is Carlos Reutemann, a veteran of 11 seasons in F1 with teams including Ferrari, Lotus and Williams, and a man who raced in both the both M1 Procar seasons. Granted, in ’79 he competed just once, with an eighth place at Silverstone, but he was a tad busy trying to find his feet at Lotus in Formula 1 having jumped from Ferrari. The following year proved more successful, jumping into a Procar for all but one of that year’s races. Come the end of the championship he’d finished in the top ten every time, retired only once and won a Brands Hatch, enough to secure him fifth place in the standings.
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.