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| BMW
2002 classic race car |
Broadcast
date : 7th January 2007 |
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In the late 1960s and early
1970s, BMW began forging a performance image for its cars that
had been dormant for decades.
At the forefront of this assault was the famous 2002 coupe, a
car that was raced here in long distance events by the likes
of Coenrad Spamer, Frank Rundle and Carl-Heinz Peters.
Internationally, the 2002 was already the car to beat, while
the famous Batmobile, the be-winged monster based on the
three-litre CSL coupe, would go on to greater race track
glory.
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By the late ‘70s the company had introduced its knife-edged
M1, BMW’s first, and some would argue only, supercar.
The M1, like the Batmobile, is ultra-rare in South Africa,
with only a handful examples of each residing here.
Yes, this was a street-going car back in 1972, although in
Germany the car had to be sold with the wing-pack in the boot.
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As for the smaller coupe, this re-creation of a famous racing
2002 is all new on the SA historic racing scene, now in 2006.
The idea with this car was to build more than just another
2002 race replica.
It’s an exact replica of the 1971 Alpina 2002 with flared
wheel arches, orange paint with matt black boot and bonnet
lid, BBS wheels, and even a gaudily contrasting green front
spoiler.
The car was built by Mike O’ Sullivan’s Mosport race-car
workshop, based at Kyalami. And it involved piecing together
bits and pieces from all over the world.
Clive Massel and the Mosport team spent months on researching
every detail of the car, so that it would be historically
correct, true to a heritage that had launched the careers of
some great racing drivers.
The 2002 uses a four-cylinder engine that’s perhaps the most
famous in BMW’s history.
These engines started out as 1600 units in 1966 in the 1602,
and ended up in Formula One cars, which, turbocharged by BMW
Motorsport, were developing over 1300 horsepower in 1985!
Mosport’s Mike O Sullivan is not only a great motorsport
engineer, but a great racing driver as well. He has raced
everything from Rover V8s through BMWs and Fiats, to Subaru
Imprezas, and whenever Mike is on the grid, sparks will fly.
He and his brother Paddy have built and driven some of the
country’s most memorable race-cars and continue to do so,
with some exciting projects always under development.
This is the car that superseded the BMW 2002 as far as the
factory racing effort was concerned in the early 1970s.
Known as the Batmobile for obvious reasons, it’s based on
the BMW CSL Coupe, and this South African replica is owned by
Uli Sanne, and runs an M88 24-valve six-cylinder 635 engine.
The 24-valve engine was a development of this six-cylinder
unit, used on the BMW M1.
This M1 Coupe was recently restored by BMW South Africa’s
Special Vehicles department run by Danie Human, and it has an
interesting history.
It was used as a pace car for an international sports car race
in the late 1980s, and famously left the track on the old
Kyalami circuit at Barbeque corner, confusing the drivers of
Porsche 956’s and the like.
This four-spoke steering wheel will quicken the pulse-rate of
any Beemer enthusiast. It is present and correct on one of
just two road-going CSL Batmobiles in the country, this
pristine example owned by champion veteran tennis player Frank
Puncec.
The CSL is a lightweight three-litre car with a rated 206
horsepower or 154 kiloWatts, which was astounding back in 1973
when it was launched.
Yes, all those stripes, wheel-arch eyebrows, bonnet strakes
and wings were factory-fit equipment.
The final version of the much-loved 2002 was this Tii, also
owned by Clive Massel. It featured a fuel-injected engine and
was a potential Alfa beater in the early 1970s, despite its
typically restrained German interior.
Today 2002’s are becoming increasingly collectible, and,
with race-cars like the Alpina flying the flag once again,
enthusiasm for the car can only deepen, thanks to Massel and
his Mosport crew.
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