2275986

[kladd]

As the current and longtime owner of 986, I feel the car's history is underrepresented.

I'm attaching a chart from a Bimmer Magazine article circa February 2017 and written by Jackie Jouret and Tom Plucinsky. It shows race results for both the 1975 and 1976 IMSA series. All 4 IMSA cars are represented, I have highlighted 986 results,

Thanks
Kevin

 

[BinksE9]

Love those cars, to see those race in the day was just awesome. Welcome

 

[HB Chris]

As the current and longtime owner of 986, I feel the car's history is underrepresented.

I'm attaching a chart from a Bimmer Magazine article circa February 2017 and written by Jackie Jouret and Tom Plucinsky. It shows race results for both the 1975 and 1976 IMSA series. All 4 IMSA cars are represented, I have highlighted 986 results,

Thanks
Kevin

Kevin, Nice to hear from you, post more pics and history of your CSL.

Chris

 

[Markos]

Wow very cool! I would love to see some engine shots. Does the car have an M49?

Also, am I seeing integrated jacks underneath? Do you know when those were added?

 

[DWMBMW]

Pic from Monterey car week in 2016.

 

[autokunst]

Wow very cool! I would love to see some engine shots. Does the car have an M49?

Also, am I seeing integrated jacks underneath? Do you know when those were added?

Different car, and surely different history - but Bill Glavin's #3 E9 had similar integrated jacks. Pretty slick. I thought I had photos of the interior side, but I can't find them.

 

[tferrer]

very cool!

 

[kladd]

If you are interested in this history then watching the youtube video "go like schnell" is absolute must.
Following was gleened from above mentioned Bimmer Magazine article:

988 and 987 were the two cars which ran daytona 24 and sebring 12 in early 1975. 986 didnt come to the US until March and was to be the backup car.

In preparing/qualifying for Road Atlanta all 3 cars were badly crashed. Many including me believe this was caused by the activation of a bleeding edge electro-mechanical ABS system located in the boot. This ABS system was subsequently removed from all IMSA cars (except the static display car in Germany (984?)).

986 was deemed the least damaged and after 5 days of frantic repairs was put on a transporter and sent to Laguna Seca with the team. There it finished 2nd in the first sprint race and 1st in the second with Stuck behind the wheel and wearing #25. 988 and 987 were sent back to Germany for repairs.

985 was air freighted to California and collected by the team. For the rest of the 1975 season it was Stuck in 986 wearing #25 and Posey in 985 wearing #24 but there were exceptions. For the finale in Daytona the BMW team actually ran 3 cars with one of the damaged CSL's returning from Germany.

 

[Bmachine]

This is truly fascinating history. To own a car driven to victory by no less than Hans Stuck is absolutely amazing.
Thank you for sharing

 

[BMW Pete]

Great to see you on here @kladd .

Last time I saw your CSL it was at the 100 year celebration in 2016, which produced one of my all time favorite pictures and one I find hard to believe we will ever be able to do again, so glad we did.

 

[rsporsche]

What a great picture Pete ... that would have been amazing to see. glad you had it to share with us - THANKS !!!

 

[kladd]

Hi everyone and sorry to be away so long.

I just discovered a series of interviews on Youtube. The interviewer is Joe Rodriguez and the interviewee is Jack Deren. In the BMW world Jack is probably best known for being crewchief of the IMSA GTO class winning Red Lobster M1 car driven by Kenper Miller and David Cowart circa 1981. Anyways, there are 3 videos totaling about 3-1/2 hours.

Jack has had an amazing career. He started by working for Roger Penske. Also Mario Andretti and many other legends. Was there for the entirety of the CanAm series. Lots of IMSA experience with Camaro's, CSL's, M1's, March, etc. Then vintage racing. Jack is the guy who restored 986 under Kenper Millers ownership in the 90's. The first decision was what livery. 986 has competed in IMSA with the numbers 5, 25, 48, and 59 that I know of. And in addition to Motorsport white it has also been painted blue and also red. Jack told me the decision was actually easy and 986 was restored to its 1976 livery wearing #59. Modifications made by Jack during Kenpers ownership were not removed. So the car is not totally true to its 1976 configuration.

The 3-1/2 hours of video will be boring to most, but as a friend and fan of Jack and owner of 986 I hung on every word (well maybe not the first 10 minutes). I learned a few things about 986.

Here is an overview of the mechanical history of 986.

BMW Motorsport ran 986 in 13 IMSA races in 1975 as #25 starting in March/April. Mid season it received an upright version of the M49.

Peter Gregg ran 986 for the entire 1976 season as #59. The front wheels were widened as was the front spoiler. Air jacks were installed. Also two different body configurations were developed. The narrow configuration used narrower rear tires and was for high speed tracks such as Daytona and Talladega. The wide configuration was for slower twistier tracks such as Lime Rock, The rear fenders were readily changeable via Dzus fasteners.

Kenper Miller ran 986 for most of the 1977, 78, and some of the 79 IMSA seasons. Jack was crewchief. The cars rollcage was tied into suspension pickup points. Illegal in FIA but legal for IMSA. The troublesome throttle cable was replaced with a mechanical system. The nose of the car was made removeable to facilitate engine swaps.

to be continued...