This year it is 50 years ago that BMW Motorsport GmbH was founded at our Eastern neighbors. Initially the focus was on BMW’s racing program, later the field of activity was expanded to the specific and very sporty M models. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, BMW Motorrad has released an M 1000 RR 50 Years M anniversary edition.
BMW Motorsport GmbH was founded in 1972 as a special division of BMW to unite all BMW motorsport activities under one roof and to build high-performance racing cars and racing engines for motorsport.
The BMW 3.0 CSL (CSL = Coupe Sport Leichtbau) debuted as the first racing car of BMW Motorsport GmbH in 1973. Robert A. Lutz, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG for Sales in 1972, stated at the time: “A company is like a man. When it does sports, it stays fit, enthusiastic, more effective and more powerful.”
BMW’s racing history goes back much further than 1972. Even in the early decades of BMW’s history, the company was already involved in various forms of motorsport, for example with unforgettable names such as Ernst Jakob Henne and Georg ‘Schorsch’ Meier. In 1939, for example, ‘Schorsch’ Meier was the first non-Brit to win the Senior Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man with his supercharged BMW.
And in 1976, exactly 37 years later, Helmut Dähne and Hans Otto Butenuth celebrated fifth place in the Production TT. In this class up to 1000 cc they set the fastest time with their BMW R 90 S, but due to a handicap rule in force there they were in fifth place in the standings behind two 250cc and two 500cc machines. Nevertheless, despite the fastest time, this fifth place was celebrated as a victory.
75 years after ‘Schorsch’ Meier’s success in the Senior TT, Michael Dunlop took another victory in 2014 with the BMW S 1000 RR. And in the years that followed, the RR left its mark on the Tourist Trophy with further victories.
But the BMW M colors are also represented on BMW motorcycles off the beaten track. For example on the BMW GS factory bikes with which Hubert Auriol and Gaston Rahier dominated the Paris-Dakar Rally in the early 1980s.
Still, it took quite a while in the motorcycle department before the M was linked to motorcycles. That only happened in 2018, when the first ‘M special equipment’ and ‘M performance parts’ were launched.
Two years later, in 2020, the very first M model was launched at BMW Motorrad, the M 1000 RR, the most extreme superbike developed by the Germans as a homologation model of the World Superbike World Championship. The M 1000 RR made its debut in that World Superbike Championship last year, with Michael van der Mark riding alongside Tom Sykes.
Visually recognizable by its ‘Sao Paulo’ yellow paint and the special ’50 Years BMW M’ logo, the M 1000 RR 50 Years M features the
M Competition Package, M Performance Parts, the exclusive M Carbon package, a lighter anodized aluminum swingarm, the unlock code for the M laptimer, the M Endurance maintenance-free chain, an accessory set for the passenger and a cover for the pillion seat .
The BMW M 1000 RR 50 Years M can only be ordered between May 21 and November 30, 2022. With a price tag of € 44,780.37, it is not exactly the special offer of the week, but then you immediately have the complete package, the only thing that can be added is the alarm system of 250 euros.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.