It might be revered in racing circles but, when it comes to rallying, the BMW M1 isn’t the type of car you expect to see ripping up the stages.
And that’s probably why it had little success during a very short career in the early 1980s.
Nevertheless, one glance at the magnificent beast is enough to make you smile. And you just know it would provide an aural assault too, as Bernard Darniche uses his right boot to balance 430bhp delivered by the mid-mounted, 3.5-liter straight-six.
Throw in a Motul Rothmans livery, as seen in this edition of Girardo & Co. picture of the week, and what’s not to like?
The crowd on this Tour de Corse stage on the car’s World Rally Championship debut in May 1982 are certainly enjoying the spectacle – look how many are using their precious film to preserve a lasting memento of Darniche attempting to negotiate a hairpin bend.
Developed by French preparation firm ORECA, the M1 actually made a strong start. All those horses on tap made it by far the most powerful car in the field. And while the 10,000 corners of Corsica may not have been its ideal environment, Darniche – five times a winner of the event, including the previous year’s edition – harnessed it well.
The French veteran had risen to fourth overall before an oil pipe blew when a gearbox mounting broke on the penultimate test of the first leg.
But the car was heavy, wide, cumbersome and unreliable.
The Lancia 037 made its WRC debut on the same event and went on to win the following year’s manufacturers’ championship. In contrast, when required to re-homologate the M1 into Group B for 1983, BMW shelved the project.
