BMW in motorsport
BMW-powered sidecars have won numerous World Championships, notable competitors being Rolf Steinhausen, Klaus Enders and Max Deubel.
[1] The 2014 Isle of Man TT saw Michael Dunlop campaigning BMW machinery in the Superbike, Superstock and Senior TTs.
[1] Dunlop took victory in the three main solo races, securing BMW's first win in the Senior TT since that of Georg Meier in 1939.
Dunlop again took victory in the 2016 Superbike TT during the process of which he also set a new outright lap record for the Snaefell Mountain Course at 130.306 mph.
[3] BMW have won 25 Isle of Man TT Sidecar Races and an additional 8 victories in the solo classes.
In fact, the BMW 328 proved unbeatable in international sports car races in the two-liter class.
The original 1500 cc 4-cylinder BMW M10 engine block was modified to a four-valve design which won championships in Formula 2.
In the DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft), the following BMW drivers have won the DTM drivers' championship: BMW would also win the Manufacturers Championship in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft from 1984 until 1990 seven times in a row, still an unbroken record in that racing series.
The race track is the perfect place to demonstrate the impressive sporting characteristics of our vehicles against our core competitors in a high-powered environment.
"[6] In 1987 Roberto Ravaglia drove a Schnitzer E30 M3 to victory in the World Touring Car Championship, winning the title by a single point.
Previous WTCC winner Roberto Ravaglia also ran two cars for the BMW Team Italy/Spain, with Alessandro Zanardi and Antonio García as the drivers.
BMW Team Italy/Spain retained Alessandro Zanardi, but now had Marcel Costa driving the second car, later to be substituted for Duncan Huisman.
Priaulx again won the title in 2007, but BMW were beaten by SEAT in the following two seasons, despite adding Augusto Farfus to their roster.
Better luck was had in the Independents Trophy category though, with Sergio Hernández taking the championship behind the wheel of a BMW 320Si.
However, after the death of the initial F2 series in 1955 and its resurrection the following year, BMW's management decided not to participate in expensive open wheel racing.
However, Mitter was killed in the 269 during practise for the 1969 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring where F2 could race along F1 due to the length of that track.
For the 1970 F2 season, BMW debuted the 270 chassis, and campaigned with Jo Siffert, Hubert Hahne, Dieter Quester, and Jacky Ickx.
Notable drivers who have started their Formula One careers with BMW include Jenson Button, Juan Pablo Montoya, Robert Kubica, and Sebastian Vettel.
The following season, BMW supplied engines to the ATS team; the factory-backed Brabham took four victories on its way to Piquet's championship win.
Chassis built by Williams powered by a BMW M70 V12 engines were entered by long-time partner team Schnitzer Motorsport.
Constant disagreements over the cause of technical failures in the car led BMW to discontinue development of the P84/5 V10 as the season progressed, leading to no victories for the team's new driver line-up of Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld.
Wanting a split from their failing relationship with Williams, BMW's executives decided that adding an F1 team to the company's motorsport division, thus removing the necessity for a partner, was the only viable solution.
The team also achieved several podium finishes like Heidfeld's at the first race of the season in Australia and a second place for Kubica in Monte Carlo.
[8] The team was sold back to the previous owner, Peter Sauber, who kept the BMW part of the name for the 2010 season due to issues with the Concorde Agreement.
BMW claimed a spectacular 1-2-3 podium sweep at the Red Bull Ring in Salzburg, Austria with Bruno Spengler leading home Marco Wittmann and Timo Glock.
The latter car, designed by Williams Grand Prix Engineering and entered by Schnitzer Motorsport, won the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans overall against factory competition from Audi, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and others.
They developed a Group 5, 560 PS (412 kW) turbocharged silhouette version of the RA40 Toyota Celica and raced it with modest success.
The best finish of the Celica LB Turbo was a fourth at Nürburgring in 1977, but with dismal reliability the next year Schnitzer withdrew and returned their focus to BMWs.
In 2008, a split between the committee and the organising club (CTCRC) saw it lose its championship status and a breakaway PBMW Cup was formed.
Automatic Racing had entered a BMW M6 into the 2008 Rolex Sports Car Series season, driven by an all American team consisting of Jep Thorton, Tom Long, Joe Varde and David Russell.
