BMW M1 Specs

The specifications of the BMW M1, the E26: the road car of 1978–81 beside the Procar racing car and the AHG Studie conversion, its price new in West Germany, and BMW's claimed top speed and 0–60 time set against what the testers measured.

A red road car from above its left side at the Volante Oldtimermuseum, Kirchzarten, Germany, in September 2016: the slatted engine cover, the vent behind the door and the round fuel filler on the flank, in a wide-angle view.© Jörgens.mi, CC BY-SA 3.0

The auto katalog 1980, which auto motor und sport published in 1979, gave the M1 a column of figures supplied by BMW, beside its price for West German buyers. Those figures, and the fuller tables of BMW's anniversary account of 2008, are the M1's specification; where a magazine measured something for itself, its figure stands beside BMW's. The comparison below sets the road car beside the Procar, the racing version built to BMW Motorsport's Group 4 description, and the AHG Studie, a dealer's conversion of the road car. Each value is the one its lead source gives, and a small asterisk marks a figure that other sources give differently.⁠source 1source 2source 3

The road car, 1978–81

Every market got the same road car, with the steering on the left. Its frame is a space frame of rectangular steel tubes, with the glass-fibre body bonded and riveted to it, and the engine stands upright behind the seats, lengthways in the frame, with the gearbox (transmission) and final drive in one unit behind it. BMW gave the weight distribution as 44.1 per cent at the front and 55.9 at the rear, and the centre of gravity as 460 mm (18 in) above the road.

BMW's tables of 2008 give the gear ratios as 2.42, 1.61, 1.14, 0.846 and 0.704 to 1, with first on a dog-leg, out to the left and back, and a final drive of 4.22 to 1 through a limited-slip differential that locks at 40 per cent. Each wheel hangs on a pair of wishbones, with a Bilstein gas damper inside a coil spring that adjusts for height; the brakes are ventilated discs all round, with fixed calipers, a servo and a separate pair of calipers at the rear for the handbrake. The road car's suspension, BMW said, was the racing car's, with softer bushes and its own spring and damper settings.

The wheels are cast-alloy Campagnolos, an inch narrower at the front than at the back, on Pirelli P7 tyres, and every period source gives the tyre sizes the comparison shows. BMW's catalogue data of 1979, its tables of 2008 and all three British tests, of 1981, 1984 and 1997, give the same engine speed for peak power. The weights in print are close: the catalogue's kerb weight, the same figure in Jeremy Walton's test for Motor Sport, and a little more for the car Roger Bell drove for the same magazine in 1997.

Item	Road car	Procar	AHG Studie
Price new	100,000 DM	150,000 DM	Not in the sources read
Built	1978–1981	1979–1980	Not in the sources read
Designers	Giorgetto Giugiaro (body); Paul Rosche (engine); Gian Paolo Dallara (chassis development)	Giorgetto Giugiaro (body); Gian Paolo Dallara (chassis development)	Not in the sources read
Coachbuilders	Marchesi (frame); T.I.R. (body); Ital Design (body to frame, trim); Baur (final assembly)	Not in the sources read	AHG (conversion)
Built at	Modena (frame, body); Stuttgart (final assembly); Munich (engine, inspection)	Project Four, Woking; Tom Walkinshaw, Kidlington; Osella, Turin; BMW Motorsport, Munich (testing and set-up)	Bielefeld (conversion)

Item	Road car	Procar	AHG Studie
Engine	M88	M88	Not in the sources read
Engine maker	BMW Motorsport	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Capacity	3,453 cc	3,498 cc	Not in the sources read
Engine position	Mid	Mid	Mid
Valve gear	DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder	DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder	Not in the sources read
Bore × stroke	93.4 x 84.0 mm	94.0 x 84.0 mm	Not in the sources read
Compression ratio	9.0:1	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Fuel system	Mechanical Fuel Injection	Mechanical Fuel Injection	Not in the sources read
Cooling	Water-cooled	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Cylinder layout	Inline	Inline	Inline
Cylinders	6	6	6
Aspiration	Naturally Aspirated	Naturally Aspirated	Not in the sources read
Fuel	Petrol	Not in the sources read	Petrol
Ignition	Electronic	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Lubrication	Dry Sump	Dry Sump	Not in the sources read

Item	Road car	Procar	AHG Studie
Power	277 PS	345 kW	350 PS
Torque	330 Nm Torque, Road car Several figures in print. 330 NmOne good source: BMW AG (BMW Group PressClub USA), "Icons for Connoisseurs – Thirty Years of the BMW M1" (press release), 27 Mar 2008, at 5,000 rpm⁠source 2; auto motor und sport, auto katalog 1980, Ausgabe Nr. 23 (Stuttgart, 1979), at 5,000 rpm⁠source 1 239 lb-ftOne good source: Jeremy Walton ("J.W."), "Road Impressions: BMW M1", Motor Sport, Apr 1981, p. 83, at 5,000 rpm, 'reported'⁠source 5	390 Nm	Not in the sources read
Top speed	262 km/h Top speed, Road car Several figures in print. 262 km/hOne good source: auto motor und sport, auto katalog 1980, Ausgabe Nr. 23 (Stuttgart, 1979), maker's claim, 1979⁠source 1 264.7 km/hOne good source: BMW AG (BMW Group PressClub USA), "Icons for Connoisseurs – Thirty Years of the BMW M1" (press release), 27 Mar 2008, measured by "Germany's leading car magazine", autumn 1979, as BMW reports it⁠source 2	310 km/h	Not in the sources read
0–60 mph	5.4 s	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Red line	7,000 rpm Red line, Road car Several figures in print. 7,000 rpmOne good source: BMW AG (BMW Group PressClub USA), "Icons for Connoisseurs – Thirty Years of the BMW M1" (press release), 27 Mar 2008, maximum engine speed⁠source 2 6,750 rpmOne good source: Jeremy Walton ("J.W."), "Road Impressions: BMW M1", Motor Sport, Apr 1981, p. 83, limited to 6,750 rpm; rev counter red from 6,750⁠source 5 6,900 rpmOne good source: Roger Bell, "Discovering BMW's lost leader", Motor Sport, Jul 1997, p. 88, rev limiter in Motor's test, as Bell reports it⁠source 7	9,000 rpm	Not in the sources read

Item	Road car	Procar	AHG Studie
Steering	Rack and pinion	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Gearbox	Manual	Manual	Manual
Gears	5	5	5
Layout	RWD	RWD	RWD
Driven wheels	Rear-mounted transaxle	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Front brakes	Ventilated disc, 300 mm	Ventilated disc	Not in the sources read
Rear brakes	Ventilated disc, 297 mm	Ventilated disc	Not in the sources read
Front suspension	Independent, double wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar	Independent, double wishbones, adjustable anti-roll bar	Not in the sources read
Rear suspension	Independent, double wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar	Independent, double wishbones, adjustable anti-roll bar	Not in the sources read
Tyres	Front 205/55 VR16, rear 225/50 VR16	Goodyear, 10.0/23.5-16 front, 12.5/25.0-16 rear	Not in the sources read
Wheels	Campagnolo alloy wheels, front 16 x 7 in, rear 16 x 8 in	11 x 16 in front, 12.5 x 16 in rear	BBS three-piece, 8 x 16 in front, 9 x 16 in rear
Clutch	Dry twin plate	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read

Item	Road car	Procar	AHG Studie
Body	Coupe	Coupe	Coupe
Body material	Fibreglass	Fibreglass	Not in the sources read
Doors	2	2	2
Seats	2	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Chassis material	Tubular steel	Tubular steel	Tubular steel
Chassis	Space frame	Space frame	Space frame

Item	Road car	Procar	AHG Studie
Length	4,360 mm	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Width	1,824 mm	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Height	1,140 mm	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Kerb weight	1,300 kg	1,020 kg	Not in the sources read
Wheelbase	2,560 mm	2,560 mm	2,560 mm
Ground clearance	125 mm	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read
Fuel tank	116 L	Not in the sources read	Not in the sources read