The BMW M1 is what happened when BMW got mad at the winning ways of Porsche, went partying with the Italians, then woke up with one hell of a hangover and a half-assed idea that they decided to finish off properly. Sound strange? The whole story of the M1 is. BMW’s only supercar looks like a 1980’s 6-series from the rear, a Pantera from the sides, and a 1990s 8-series up front, and that’s not by accident. Angry that they didn’t have a legitimate sports car to go stomp a few Porsches with, BMW made a deal with Lamborghini in the mid-1970s to help develop a mid-engined sports car. Lamborghini was all too happy to help, but shortly after taking on the project, the Italians went bust. A legend is that some folks from BMW had to break into the Sant’Agata Bolognese workshops and steal the body molds (designed by Guigiaro) away before they were auctioned off for scrap. Bringing the project back under full BMW control, 433 street-going homologation models and 20 race cars were built.

The racing program itself was problematic: just before the M1 was ready to race in Group 5, FIA changed the rules and rather than wait until the homologation number was met, BMW convinced FIA to allow their own racing series, Procar, to exist. Running for the 1979 and 1980 seasons, it was a one-model race series and the cars were potent, to put it mildly. Mounted midship was BMW’s 3.5L inline six cylinder. In the road cars, it made 272 horsepower, but in the Procar series, the engine was capable of 898 horsepower when turbocharged. In the videos below, you get to hear the noise that is made when Germans cut loose and party with the most unconventional Italians…and it sounds good.