BMW has been celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their M series cars all year and the festivities will continue at Monterey Car Week 2022. A collection of rare M cars will be on display, from the 1973 3.0 CSL to the 2016 M4 GTS, and will take part in the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The limited production M4 CSL and the new 2023 M8 Competition coupe, convertible, and Gran Coupe will be showcased at Monterey Car Week 2022.
BMW aficionados attending the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will see numerous offerings as motorsports fan celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Representing BMW in Group 8 (1972-1982) is the 1975 3.0 CSL IMSA Group 4 ‘Batmobile’. The 3.0 CSL was conceived as the first homologation special designed for the newly formed BMW Motorsport GmbH factory racing effort under the leadership of team manager Jochen Neerpasch. While it did not carry an M badge, it is generally considered to be the first BMW M product and raced with the now iconic M tricolor stripe motif.
The 1981 IMSA M1 Group 4 is also racing in Group 8. The BMW M1 was conceived when M boss Jochen Neerpasch announced his intention to challenge Porsche in Group 5 sports car racing with a vehicle designed specifically for competition. The M1 made its first appearance at Le Mans in 1979. The car driven in that race had been given a distinct paint finish by American artist Andy Warhol immediately before the race was set to begin, applying the number 76 literally minutes before the start. Drivers Herve Poulain, Marcel Mignot, and Manfred Winkelhock finished sixth in a rain-soaked effort that would be the M1’s best finish at Le Mans.
In Group 10 (1981-2005 Le Mans Prototypes), a pair of BMW V12 racecars will hit the track. A McLaren F1 GTR, chassis 17R, that was driven by Nelson Piquet, Danny Sullivan, and Johnny Cecotto in the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans is set to make an appearance at Laguna Seca.
The McLaren will be joined by the BMW V12 LMR that was developed with Williams F1 to compete in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans. The LMR won its debut race at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March of 1999 and gave BMW its first overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans later in 1999.
After the Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion, BMW will participate in the first-ever Corkscrew Hillclimb. Racers will line up at the traditional start/finish line but race counter-course, ascending the iconic ‘Corkscrew’ turns and finishing at the top.
The 2023 M4 CSL, which has a 40bhp increase over the current BMW M4 Competition and is also 240 lbs lighter, will be on display at Monterey Car Week 2022. At the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife circuit the M4 CSL posted a lap time of 7:20.2, the fastest time ever for a series-production BMW.
Also on display is the 617bhp BMW M8 that’s been upgraded with new double-bar kidney grilles, new, larger, 12.3-inch central control display screens, and new colors and trims inside and out, including track-ready optional M Carbon bucket seats.
