1979 BMW M1 Procar – Ex Niki Lauda PROCAR Championship Winner

This BMW M1 Procar was conceived by Jochen Neerpasch, head of BMW Motorsport in Munich in 1978 around the time production had started for the BMW M1 road car. This lightweight competition version of the production M1 was built in very small numbers, just over fifty cars were constructed for the one make series that would feature identical M1 ProCar models competing against one another in a new race series (Pro-Car) a support race for the European rounds of the Formula One World Championship races.

The format was that BMW would supply one of these cars to each of the fastest six drivers from the Formula One qualifying session who would then take part in the Pro-Car race the day before the Formula One Grand Prix against a large grid of identical M1 Pro-cars piloted by the top drivers from the World Sportscar Championship and Touring car Championships

The racing was intense, highly competitive and drew huge crowds with the star studded line up of Formula One drivers such as Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Alan Jones, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, all of whom were Formula One World Champions

This particular car was campaigned by the ‘Project Four’ team run by Ron Dennis and driven by three time World Champion Niki Lauda for the inaugural season of the ProCar Championship in 1979, winning races at Monaco, British and German Grand Prix that clinched him the title of the series and he and the car became the Pro-Car champion for 1979.

For the 1980 season this Project Four car was then driven by Hans Joachim Stuck, twice winner of the Le Mans 24 Hour race, who scored wins with it at the Monaco Grand Prix and Norisring, earning him a podium finish with third overall in the 1980 Pro-Car Championship

At the end of the 1980 season the car was sold to EMKA Productions, the well known privateer racing outfit and record company of progressive rock legends Pink Floyd. The car raced in the World Endurance Championship throughout the 1981 and 1982 seasons, often driven by Pink Floyd manager Steve O`Rourke and drummer Nick Mason.

The car achieved several podium finishes during this period the car competed twice in the Le Mans 24 Hour race, again piloted by a star-studded line up of drivers including five time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Derek Bell and the late Formula One legend Eddie Jordan.

The car was retired from competitive racing at the end of the 1982 season, remaining in the private collection of Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmore until the late 1990`s when it was acquired by the current owner a noted BMW collector

Without doubt the most important BMW M1 Pro-Car extant, the combination of its iconic Marlboro livery, 1979 Pro-Car Championship win with Lauda, extensive and successful competition history with a succession of ‘A List’ drivers and long term rock and roll ownership history makes this the pinnacle of the Pro-Car models