THE ITALIAN RIVALS The chassis was dimensioned to handle the many forces that the racing version would get – because only small parts separated the street car from the racer. Giorgetto Giugiaro at ItalDesign sharpened the profile of the concept car so that the M1 could wedge itself between exotics such as the Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari 512 BB. The body was made entirely of fiberglass and was built outside the city. 
Only the heart came from Germany. Where the Italian competitors were equipped with V12 engines, BMW's legendary engine designer, Paul Rosche, chose to further develop the 6-cylinder in-line engine from the 3.0 CSL "Batmobile" developed for IMSA races and later Le Mans. CLAES SAW A WHITE M1 AS A 15-YEAR-OLD While we wheel calmly off into the balmy summer evening, I am told the story of how one of these ultra-rare sports cars ended up in Denmark. Most surprisingly, the owner Claes is actually a Porsche man with a hard-boiled Porsche 996 GT3 as a track day car, but in 1981 the seeds for the M1 dream were laid. As a 15-year-old, he saw a white BMW M1 with the classic M lettering rumbling down the Strandboulevard in Copenhagen. A crush that flared up many years later when he saw a racing M1 conquer the Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. Click 'NEXT PAGE' to read on
