The Unlikely Story Of How This Ford Gave Birth To BMW M
BMW’s M division is one of the most successful and legendary names in in the car world, but it all started out with a Ford.
In the late 1960s, Ford was at the top of the world in terms of car racing. Their edict of Total Performance set down a few years earlier had come to fruition with four back-to-back-to-back-to-back wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, they had taken over Formula 1 with their Cosworth DFV V8, and they had seen success in just about every series from stock car racing in America to rallying in Europe.
In 1969, Ford’s UK division was working on developing the company’s rallying program, while Ford’s German division came forward to work on their touring car program. Ford UK’s work produced the little Escort, which went on to become possibly the most successful rally car of all time. Their German counterparts meanwhile turned Ford’s sporty two-door coupe Capri into the more briefly dominant Capri RS 2600.
What did BMW do to beat the Capris? They poached the man behind them.
In secret, BMW hired Neerpasch away from Ford in the midst of that devastating 1972 season. Neerpasch then used BMW’s money to bring his top talent along with him.
And this was the official birth of BMW M. It was Neerpasch and his technical director Martin Braungart who got the now-legendary Motorsport division going at BMW and the results were immediate. BMW won the European Touring Car Championship in 1973 with the 3.0 CSL, a heavily reworked version of the 2800CSs that Neerpasch’s Capris used to destroy.
(Jalopnik.com)
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