Founders, development geniuses, racing drivers: meet the people behind the most powerful letter in the world.
A company is like a human being. As long as it goes in for sports, it is fit, well-trained, full of enthusiasm and performance.
former Board member at BMW and founder of BMW M Motorsport GmbH
LUTZ AND NEERPASCH – THE FOUNDING FATHERS.
LUTZ AND NEERPASCH – THE FOUNDING FATHERS.
Robert A. Lutz, then a member of the BMW AG board of directors and a former fighter jet pilot, loved fast cars, motorcycles and motorsport. On 1 May 1972, he founded BMW Motorsport GmbH – later BMW M GmbH. Out of pure passion, one might say. The plan was to concentrate the increasing motorsport activities of BMW AG in a new subsidiary and maximise performance on the racetrack. Jochen Neerpasch, former works driver at Porsche and race director at Ford, became head of the specialist team, which initially consisted of 35 employees.
Jochen Neerpasch and the creative engine developer Paul Rosche quickly became an unbeatable team. Neerpasch regarded his new field of activity in Munich not merely as a racing department, but above all as a think tank. This attitude was probably one of the reasons why victories in motor racing were not long in coming. The first in-house development, the BMW 3.0 CSL, won numerous championships right from the start. In addition to the remarkable list of titles, the first 1977 BMW Junior Team can also be credited to Neerpasch. In this team, young talents received initial professional motorsport training.
STUCK, LAUDA, TODT – BIG NAMES, BIG SUCCESSES.
STUCK, LAUDA, TODT – BIG NAMES, BIG SUCCESSES.
Just one year after the company’s founding, the racing world was seeing red or blue more and more often – especially on the bodywork of the CSL Coupé, which, with Chris Amon and Hans-Joachim Stuck at the wheel – unsurpassably crossed the finish line first after 42 laps in the 6-hour race at the Nürburgring. The future Formula 1 world champion Niki Lauda set a new lap record in the same race with the second 3.0 CSL entered by Alpina.
The factory entries with the BMW 3.0 CSL turned into triumphant victories for the fledgling BMW Motorsport GmbH. The European Touring Car Championship was only the opening act – the M car went on to claim five more European Champion titles. The company’s ambitions in motor racing even went so far that they entered a World Rally Championship with an optimised BMW 2002, Achim Warmbold from Duisburg at the wheel. A certain Frenchman named Jean Todt took on the job of brilliant navigator.
RAUNO AALTONEN – FAST BUT SAFE.
RAUNO AALTONEN – FAST BUT SAFE.
1977 saw the inception of BMW driver safety training, an important building block for optimal control of the powerful BMW M vehicles. Since rally drivers were already among the best racing drivers at the time, BMW hired Finnish driver Rauno Aaltonen as chief instructor. He was considered a meticulous technician, was acting European champion and had previously won the legendary Monte Carlo Rally.
WINKELHOCK, CHEEVER, SURER – THE FIRST JUNIOR TEAM.
WINKELHOCK, CHEEVER, SURER – THE FIRST JUNIOR TEAM.
That year also saw the launch of a wonderful idea that is relevant to this day and has produced more talented drivers than almost any other manufacturer: the BMW Junior Team. The first line-up sent to the starting line by talent scout Jochen Neerpasch is legendary: Manfred Winkelhock, Eddie Cheever and Marc Surer. And the trio caused quite a stir: Surer won the very first race in the German Racing Championship. Winkelhock came third. From then on, the Juniors shook things up – a springboard for the drivers’ careers.
PAUL ROSCHE – THE PROMISE.
PAUL ROSCHE – THE PROMISE.
BMW announced its entry into formula racing on 24 April 1980. Two years later, the moment had arrived: the Brabham BT50 Turbo powered by BMW and driven by Nelson Piquet clinched its first Formula 1 victory in Montreal in June 1982. Crucial to this victory, and all those that followed, was the new technical director Paul Rosche. He had been developing racing engines for BMW since 1969 and had set himself no less a goal than the Formula 1 title. The man nicknamed ‘Nocken-Paule’ (Cam Paul) would later fulfil his promise.
He laid the foundation for Formula 1 success back in 1980 when he began developing the first F1 engine for BMW Motorsport GmbH. The engine, designated M12/13, was a four-cylinder series block with a displacement of 1.5 litres. With special fuel and an exhaust gas turbocharger, it initially delivered 630 hp. Later, Rosche’s team of developers extracted an unmeasured but calculated 1,400 hp from the engine. Rosche said casually: ‘Who’s to say precisely, the test bench’s measuring scale stops at 1,280 hp.’
Rosche fulfilled his promise in 1983: BMW Motorsport GmbH and Nelson Piquet celebrated winning the world championship in the premier class.
NELSON PIQUET – WORLD CHAMPION IN 630 DAYS.
NELSON PIQUET – WORLD CHAMPION IN 630 DAYS.
Nelson Piquet clinched the first F1 title for BMW Motorsport – and did so in record time. After only 630 days in Formula 1, the Brazilian won and made history. He took the lead in the first race and ultimately won the Formula 1 World Championship – for himself, for Brazil, for the Brabham team and, of course, for engine partner BMW.
But the title race was a thriller: it took twelve races after his first victory for Piquet to win again. From then on, he drove consistently and collected points. At Monza and Brands Hatch, he crossed the finish line first in his Brabham BMW Turbo BT52. In the final race at Kyalami, third place was enough for him to secure overall victory.
The end of the turbo era in Formula 1 also marked the end of the first involvement by BMW in the premier class.
RALF, NICO AND SEBASTIAN – THE F1 COMEBACK
RALF, NICO AND SEBASTIAN – THE F1 COMEBACK
At the turn of the millennium, BMW made a strong comeback: they returned to Formula 1 as the engine supplier for the BMW Williams F1 Team. And a German driver caused a sensation in the early stages of the season – Ralf Schumacher finished third in the German-British team’s first Grand Prix race, making it the most successful Formula 1 debut for an engine manufacturer since 1967. The motorsport bosses in Munich were Dr Mario Theissen and Gerhard Berger. At the end of the season, Schumacher was fifth. The team finished third in the constructors’ championship, an excellent result for its first season.
The long-standing BMW M tradition of promoting young talent took place at that time in a specially created junior class: Formula BMW. The newcomers not only raced in a specially built Formula racing car, they were also trained in everything a modern driver needed to know. The first Formula BMW champion was Nico Rosberg, who later became Formula 1 world champion. Sebastian Vettel, Nico Hülkenberg and Adrian Sutil also gained the skills for their future careers through this development programme.
MARCO WITTMANN – FROM ROOKIE TO CHAMPION.
MARCO WITTMANN – FROM ROOKIE TO CHAMPION.
From ‘Rookie of the Year’ in 2013 to DTM Drivers’ Champion in 2014. Only sport can give you stories like this: BMW works driver Marco Wittmann was crowned champion in only his second season in the DTM. The then new BMW M4 DTM also contributed to this success. Wittmann celebrated his first victory in the Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM at the 2013 season opener at Hockenheim. From the third race on, he never relinquished the lead in the drivers’ standings. At the Lausitzring, he clinched the title ahead of the season’s finale. At the age of 24 years and 294 days, Wittmann was the youngest DTM champion in the service of BMW M. .
Wittmann also continued a special tradition for the brand: whenever BMW M entered the DTM with a new model, the drivers’ title went to BMW M. After Volker Strycek’s success in 1984 with the BMW 635 CSi, this was also the case in 1987 with Eric van de Poele and the BMW M3, as well as in 2012 with Bruno Spengler’s triumph in the BMW M3 DTM.
FRANCISCUS VAN MEEL – THE FUTURE.
FRANCISCUS VAN MEEL – THE FUTURE.
A return for good reasons: Franciscus “Frank” van Meel is the current man at the helm of the brand with the most powerful letter in the world. He had already led the company to a successful future from 2015 to 2018. In 2021, the father of six returned with a clear vision and passion. In 2022, on the 50th anniversary of BMW M, the managing director expressed his wish for ‘many unforgettable celebrations with our fans, because M has only become so big thanks to this extraordinary community.’
VALENTINO ROSSI – SADDLE TO SEAT.
VALENTINO ROSSI – SADDLE TO SEAT.
Valentino Rossi, nine-time motorcycle world champion with an unprecedented career in MotoGP, swapped two wheels for four in 2021: since the 2023 season, he has been a BMW M works driver for Team WRT. He has been competing in the GT World Challenge Europe and the FIA World Endurance Championship, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with his BMW M4 GT3 — and from 2025 onwards he will do so with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Among the notable successes in his young motorsport career on four wheels is his victory in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup on his home circuit in Misano, which he has secured for BMW M Motorsport in three consecutive years. At the same time, BMW M honoured his motorsport career and his eternal start number 46 with the special edition BMW M4 CS Edition VR46, a gift for Valentino Rossi’s 46th birthday.
