Ace vid

 

Nitriding - of course!

The BMW's small ends would visibly (!) oval during qualifying laps at 1300bhp!

Makes F20c No4 small end failure look a bit basic, really!

 

Yep, BMW racing blocks were basically old M10s (the same 4-pot which powered the 2002!!!) which had been left outside for a few months.

It's one of those stories that when you hear it, you can't possibly believe that it is true... but it is!

 

not that surprising..

when turbos are concerned.. brute strength wins over any form of engineering elegance..

there are stories of cortina engines being set in blocks of concrete running mega boosts..

 

Alex von Falkenhausen's engine lasted from '61 until what, early nineties?

Not a bad design, really.

The engine was originally designed as a 1,000cc for the BMW 700LS - they'd stretched the wheelbase & boot already to take it.

But it was an evil-handling deathtrap & was cancelled.

Von F was ordered to stroke the engine for the new 1500 neue Generation saloon, which would clean up once they'd taken care of the new Borgward Isabella...

Von F refused & re-scaled the entire engine at greater cost, so it would be future-proofed & not at its design limit. 3.3 lites as a six was about it.

Remember BMW was a basket case, back then.

 

I've also heard about using inline 4's (turbo'ed) for drag racing.
Filling up the gap between the cylinder wall and the block with resin.

 

Indeed. The M10 saw service in every '02 (including the Turbo), some 5-Series and many 3-Series. It was last seen powering the E30 318i in the mid-80s, but was replaced by the (similar) 8-valve M40, which was a disaster zone in comparison. That didn't last long, and 16v fours became the norm (the M42 and M44, based on the M40 and M43 8-valvers respectively, were both 16-valve engines - found in the 318iS models and the E36 318ti Compact).

BMW was going to Mercedes, of all people, until a major board meeting in 1959, when Herbert Quandt managed to step in and buy most of the shares (with various backers). Since then, the company hasn't look back - it's still owned by the Quandt family. The M30 big-six lasted almost as long as the M10; it was still going in E34 535s!

 

If they were lucky; Quandt's ultimatum was:

a) his plan.

b) liquidation.

BMW were also somewhat 'assisted' when the Bremen Senate appointed BMW's CEO, Johannes Semler, to 'advise' them through the 1960/61 liquidity crisis of Borgward. He'd be unbiased, then!

The advice seemed to be to nationalise the (fully privately-owned) business (without compensation!) and to f uck around until it all was hopeless. The plans for the Frua-styled new Isabella were boxed up & sent to Munich first off!

It seems politicos have always tended to be arrogant & very stupid.

 

That is astounding!!!

I saw Piquet running a BMW turbo 'grenade' engine in qualifying at Brands back in the early 80's.....it trailed thick black smoke and looked more than a handful

Good for 1 or 2 full chat laps and then the engine block had to be thrown away - all that heat and stress undid all the 10,000's of km's of road use that went before

None of your environmentally responsible bollocks back then.

Happy days.

 

Oh THIS thread...