In racing, BMW is usually recalled for a long
and illustrious run of outstanding touring cars or
as engine suppliers, above all for F2 and F1.
The forerunner of most F2 engines, and more
distantly the F1 turbo, was introduced as a 1.5-litre
road car unit in 1962; among its racing
derivatives, the M12 2-litre F2 engine was the
category's mainstay for a decade, with more
than 500 being made between 1973 and 1981.
The company's own first F2 ventures had come
ealier, in1967 stemming from an entry into
hill climbing with an adapted F1 Brabham in 1966.
That car was powered by a 2-litre engine
with the notoriously unreliable Apfelbeck radial-valve
head. For the F2 that came into force in
1967 a 1.6-litre version was devised and used
in Lola T100 chassis run by John Surtees'
Lola team. These cars had a white and blue colour
scheme, carried BMW badges and scant
evidence of Lola origins. Hahne (BMW) appeared
in twelfth place on the 1967 F2Champion-
ship table.
For 1968 a pair of Lola T102s was built expressly
as the BMW team cars; there were no
other T102s, and these were commonly entered
as 'BMW T102', so they can be regarded as
BMW's. They served the team well, as dit the
Len Terry design that followed. These cars
were built by Dornier. At the end of the 1970
season the team was wound up as the company
directed its attention to other types of racing,
an to supplying the engines that were to dominate
F2 for a long period.
T 102
This car followed the then-usual
Lola bathtup monocoque pattern, with suspension
on Lola lines and differing from the T100
in details such as the tubular engine sub frame.
Outwardly the cars were slim, as far as the back of the cockpit; behind
it; Ludwig Apfelbeck's
masterpiece projected untidily above the body lines. In that
form the car was not successful.
Before the end of the 1968 season BWW discarded
the Apfelbeck device, and modified
the T102s with more compact power units and tidier rear ends. In this
form they were used
in 1969, when they came good (in April, Hahne was second overall in
the AvD Trophy but
first non-graded driver, thus earing a first European Championship
maximum points score
for a BMW F2 driver).
F269-270
Len Terry was commissioned to design
a successor to the Lolas and he
instinctively followed the path of orthodoxy.
Unlike the Lolas a full monocoque was uesd,
wearing normal and streamlined bodies, the former
sometimes with an enormous rear aerofoil
and the latter with detail changes as the sought
handling improvements. The engine was a
conventional four-valve straight four, initially
rated at 225bhp, with 240-250bhp being claimed
in 1970. Three cars were built in 1969 and two
more for 1970, when BMW also bought a
March 702 'for test purposes'.
These BMWs were effective on fast circuits because
of engine power rahter than slippery shapes.
Ickx, Quester, Hahne and Siffert all won races
with them in 1970, when in non-graded terms
Quester scored best in the European Championship,
where he was fith. Final races were at
Neubiberg (Munich) in October 1970, and Macao
later that year.
