BMW M5 E-Book

James Taylor

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

BMW's M5 was a simple concept: a production 5 Series saloon re-developed for high performance by the Motorsport division. The M5 was the car that really initiated the legend of the M-cars from BMW; the letter M had been applied to a high-performance BMW as early as 1978, but that year's M1 was an exotic supercar. It had the right image, but the M1 was never going to bring in major profits. The M5 was much simpler in concept. It was and remains a production 5 Series saloon, redeveloped for ultra-high performance. Manufacturing costs were minimized, allowing BMW to price the car more attractively and still bring in healthy profits. This new book charts the development of the M5 across five generations. For all fans of the BMW M5, this book provides essential background, and is packed with the facts and details that make the M5 legend come alive. The M5 is still in production and remains the benchmark high-performance saloon wherever it is sold. This is essential background reading for all BMW M5 fans and motoring enthusiasts and is superbly illustrated with 211 colour photographs.

Leseprobe

BMW M5

The Complete Story

James Taylor

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2015 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2015

© James Taylor 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 046 1

CONTENTS

Introduction and Acknowledgements

CHAPTER 1 THE M5 IN CONTEXT

CHAPTER 2 THE E28 M5 (1984–1987)

CHAPTER 3 THE 3.6-LITRE E34 M5

CHAPTER 4 THE 3.8-LITRE E34 M5

CHAPTER 5 E39 M5 – THE FIRST V8

CHAPTER 6 THE E60 AND E61 V10 MODELS

CHAPTER 7 THE F10 TURBOCHARGED CARS

CHAPTER 8 SO YOU THINK YOU WANT AN M5?

Index

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book is intended as a companion volume to the one I wrote a year or so ago on the M3 models. It has been a very rewarding book to write, although a little frustrating at times when information proved to be unavailable, or to be available in multiple conflicting versions!

The M5 has always been one of my very favourite cars – a relatively ordinary-looking four-door saloon with the acceleration of a supercar and (in most cases) a cocoon of luxury and high equipment levels as well. What more could you want from your everyday transport? Well … affordability, perhaps. That was one reason why I never did follow up that very tempting but slightly unloved E34 3.6-litre model I looked over at Munich Legends a few years ago. Sadly, things like mortgages and children tend to demand both money and time!

However, for those blissfully unencumbered by such worries, I hope this book will provide the essential background to their enjoyment of one of the world’s most complete cars. I have tried to explain not only the What but also the Why and the How as a way of illuminating the essence of these cars and explaining why they are so appealing.

As for the M3 book, my friend Nick Dimbleby rediscovered some splendid pictures he had taken of M5s, and many of those illustrate the E28 and E34 chapters of this book. Many other pictures have reached me through BMW GB and BMW in Germany, South Africa and the USA, all of whom helped with information in some areas. Photographers Dave Smith and Dominic Fraser provided some top-quality photographs, and Munich Legends kindly allowed me to take pictures of cars they had in stock. Some pictures have come from Wikimedia Commons, and I’m grateful to the enthusiasts who have made them available for use in a publication like this; those photographs are individually acknowledged in the text. Special thanks go to Bob Harper at BMW Car magazine and to Richard and Vicky Dredge at Magic Car Pics for finding pictures I couldn’t source elsewhere, and at zero notice. I’m grateful, too, to Barbara Cleveland at Brooklands Books for allowing me to plunder that company’s massive library of magazine articles for information.

I’ll make one other point before you get into the meat of the book. We have used the title of BMW M5 – The Complete Story because it fits in with a series produced by Crowood Publishing. The story is as complete as I can make it, but it goes only up to the end of 2014. There will be more to tell one day, because the M5 remains in production, and I hope I will be able to update this book with more of the story when the time comes.

James Taylor Oxfordshire, February 2015

CHAPTER ONE

THE M5 IN CONTEXT

So what exactly is a BMW M5? Defining it as an ultra-high-performance medium-sized saloon car made by BMW really tells very little of the story, because the M5 has become something of an automotive legend. Today, the very name of M5 evokes a whole set of responses from motoring enthusiasts, but among them are invariably ideas of luxury, exclusivity, prestige, excitement and fun. That the latter two play a big part in the reasons BMW sells its M5 in such large quantities is encapsulated in a devastatingly accurate if slightly tongue-in-cheek comment made in Evo magazine for October 2011: ‘The main reason the M5 exists is to bait sports car drivers, avoid the law and keep the driver amused.’

Even though the M5 set the precedent for other car makers to follow, it was not in itself the first high-performance saloon car. Long before its introduction in 1984, specialist tuning companies in Germany had been creating saloon cars with sports-car performance and handling by modifying existing production models. The two leading companies in the field were Alpina, who had focused on BMW products from the mid-1960s, and AMG, who worked on Mercedes-Benz models from 1968. Their cars were subtle (unless the customers demanded otherwise), superbly engineered, and formidably expensive.

Yet these largely bespoke and relatively rare creations made clear that high performance need not be limited to an impractical, two-seater sports car. They awakened the interest of many potential buyers who needed a four-door saloon for family and work commitments, but did not want to sacrifice the performance and handling of the sports cars they might have enjoyed in younger days. Most importantly, many of them had reached a stage in life where they could afford to have such a machine built specially for them.

This image dates from the 1980s, when the Motorsport division was becoming established as a builder of high-performance road cars. Below the M logo, it claims that M is ‘the strongest letter in the world’, and at the bottom describes the Motorsport division as a ‘trend-setter in the high-performance league’. BMW

The M cars were not the first high-performance BMW saloons; specialist tuners had got there first, and the most respected of them was Alpina. This is a 1987 Alpina B7 Turbo, which boasted 300PS – more than the E28 M5 of the day. ALPINA UK

Nor was BMW the only marque to benefit from the attentions of high-performance specialists. AMG’s work with Mercedes-Benz went back to the late 1960s, and this is one of their mid-1980s offerings, contemporary with the original M5. MERCEDES-AMG

Even though Alpina was a small-volume operation, it was undeniably successful, and BMW enjoyed a close relationship with the company from the late 1960s, when Alpina began to field BMW cars in motor sport. Less visibly as far as the public was concerned, BMW itself also began in 1974 to make its own high-performance specials for VIP customers, using its Motorsport division to fit engines from its large cars (in those days the E3 saloons and E9 coupés) into the medium-sized E12 5 Series saloons. Brakes, suspension and other elements were uprated to suit, and the swept volume and outputs of those engines gradually rose as new versions were introduced in production. There were more of these ‘Motorsport 5 Series’ cars than is generally realized, and although no incontrovertible records survive, it is widely believed that 895 were built between 1974 and 1980 – an average of about 127 cars a year.

By the end of the 1970s, BMW senior management was beginning to wonder whether this sideline could be turned into a more mainstream profit-earning activity, and plans were put forward to begin regular production of a high-performance 5 Series derivative with a standardized specification. As before, the car would pass through the Motorsport division’s workshops to be fitted with its high-performance components. However, there was a clear element of risk in this plan, because building a standardized car in quantity and trying to sell it was quite a different proposition from responding to VIP customer demand by building bespoke conversions.

Treading gingerly at first, BMW added the letter M to a high-performance version of the E12 saloon that was called the M535i. The deep front air dam gave away that this was a special version of the car, and the upholstery with its tricolour stripes can just be seen through the windscreen. BMW

The first M535i was a success, and was followed by an M535i version of the E28 models. This, though, was largely a cosmetic exercise … the real thing was now ready for release. NICK DIMBLEBY

In South Africa, BMW satisfied the local market for a high-performance E28 with a special version of the M535i. South Africa would go on to play an interesting part in the story of the M5 models. BMW SOUTH AFRICA

So BMW moved cautiously at first, choosing to test the market with a Motorsport-prepared version of the E12 5 Series in that model’s final year of production. It called this new model an M535i, the initial M signifying the involvement of the Motorsport division, and it entered production in April 1980, lasting until May 1981 (although versions built from completely knocked down (CKD) kits in South Africa were available for longer). The M535i boasted the most powerful version then available of the M30 ‘big-block six’ engine, a 3.5-litre size, which was otherwise found only in the big 735i saloons and the 635CSi coupés. The cars were built from partially assembled 5 Series models that were taken from the main assembly lines at Dingolfing and completed by the Motorsport division at Garching. Customer response was very promising, and BMW decided to field an M535i again as part of its new E28 5 Series range that was introduced in 1981.

This second M535i was not introduced until autumn 1984, and it benefited from BMW’s experience with the first version. The E12 M535i had been supplied uniquely in white and sometimes had racing stripes in the BMW Motorsport colours – fashionable for the time, perhaps, but not really what the customers wanted. So the E28 M535i was visually toned down, and was recognizable only by its special body-kit of spoilers and sill extensions, and by its special wheels. Under the bonnet once again was BMW’s largest and most powerful 6-cylinder engine, although in this case that same engine was also available in the mainstream 535i model. Otherwise, the car’s only special features were a more sporty suspension and sports-oriented front seats. These models were not completed by the Motorsport division, but were built with all the mainstream E28 models on the assembly lines in Dingolfing.

This second M535i, however, had a rather different purpose from the first. It was intended as a curtain-raiser for a proper Motorsport-developed car based on the E28 5 Series. As Chapter 2 explains, the date of the new model’s announcement was arranged to cause maximum disruption during the launch period of the new Mercedes-Benz medium-sized saloon, but the first examples of the car were actually completed in October 1984, at the same time as the new M535i was announced. Rumours of an ultra-high-performance model were then allowed to circulate for a few months until the new M5 was revealed at the Amsterdam Motor Show in February 1985.

There was a huge difference between the M535i and the M5. Most important was that the M5 had been extensively re-developed by the Motorsport division, and it featured a version of the 3.5-litre M88 engine that had been seen in the M1 supercar at the end of the 1970s. Suspension, brakes and steering had all come in for attention, too. Unlike the M535i, which in E28 guise was largely a cosmetic exercise, this was the real deal. In line with customers’ wishes, it was also discreet, and although it had spoilers both front and rear to improve its high-speed aerodynamics, these were nowhere near as brash as those on the M535i. The M5 was a car that would barely attract a second glance from the man in the street; in every sense of the word, it was a car for the cognoscenti.

BMW has always been keen to draw on its heritage. This picture was taken to publicize the first versions of the E34 M5, seen in the foreground. Behind it is an E28 M5, and in the background the red car is an M1, the first road-going production car from the Motorsport division. BMW

These are the five generations of M5 covered in the current book. From left to right in the back row are the E28, E34, E39 and E60, and in the foreground is the F10 model. BMW

That first M5 has since been followed by four more cars with the M5 name, each one based on the latest generation of BMW’s medium-sized 5 Series saloons and each one discussed in more detail later in this book. Note that although there have now been six generations of 5 Series – E12, E28, E34, E39, E60 and F10 – there have only been five generations of M5, because there was no M5 derivative of the E12 range. Over those five generations, the M5 has not only become a legend of its own, but was also responsible for kick-starting the whole BMW M phenomenon. Today there are high-performance M derivatives of most of the BMW model-ranges and the M brand is a major generator of revenue for its parent company as well as a valuable ingredient in its high-quality, high-performance brand image.

The tail badge of the M1 pioneered the device of the letter M with the tricolour Motorsport stripes still in use today. BMW

A special ProCar racing series was organized to showcase the BMW M1. Here, the cars are seen in the curtain-raiser event for the Grand Prix in Monaco. BMW

The M1 set the scene and in many ways tested the capabilities of the Motorsport division, but it was also a blind alley in development. Only its engine continued in later M models, and even then after much modification. BMW

THE M5 AND MOTOR SPORT

Even though the M5 came from the Motorsport division of BMW, it was never promoted as a competition machine. That task was largely left to the smaller M3, which from 1986 took over the duty of upholding the BMW name in touring-car racing from the 2002 models and went on to become the most successful touring-car racer of all time. BMW did look at creating a racing version of the M5 sometime around 2005, as Chapter 7 explains, but nothing came of it.

Nevertheless, some privateers have campaigned M5s. Former Formula 1 champion Alan Jones led a team that raced an E34 model in the 1992 Bathurst 12-Hour Production Car endurance race in Australia, and finished first in class and second overall. Then between 1997 and 2005, André Carlier campaigned an E34 M5 in the Belcar Championship (the Belgian national sports-car series) with some success.

The Motorsport division of course had a long and distinguished record in competition, as this advertisement from the 1970s makes clear. BMW

The smaller M3 models upheld the BMW name in track events, but the M5 never represented the factory in touring-car racing. BMW

THE M5 OVER THE YEARS

The most special feature of every M5 has always been its engine, even though the Motorsport division has always developed the suspension, steering and brakes as well so that the high-performance 5 Series is a fully balanced and properly engineered car rather than a mere conversion of the mainstream production model.

In the beginning, the E28 M5 came with a road-going derivative of the M88 engine developed by the Motorsport division for the M1 supercar. This was a 6-cylinder engine with four valves per cylinder, and with 286PS in European form (power was less with the catalytic converter required in North America) was phenomenally powerful for its time. It was also so far ahead of potential rivals from the major car manufacturers that there was no need to do much more than uprate it a little with a longer stroke for the second-generation M5 in 1988. So the E34 version of the M5 had 315PS, despite the power-sapping effect of its standard catalytic converter, and that was enough to keep BMW ahead of the game until 1990 when, as Chapter 4 explains, some serious opposition surfaced from Mercedes-Benz and Opel.

BMW’s response was to re-engine the E34 M5 with a larger-capacity 3.8-litre version of the 24-valve 6-cylinder (known as an S38 since it had been fitted with catalytic converters), now delivering 340PS. The company also decided to make the M5 available with a second body style to ensure it still had a product that was not rivalled by other makers, and a Touring estate version of the 3.8-litre E34 reached the showrooms in 1992. By this stage, however, it was clear that the S38 6-cylinder engine had reached the limit of its development, and for the next M5 there would have to be a completely new engine. The threat of change did not sit easily with enthusiasts of the M brand, many of them devoted to the smooth and refined power delivery of the Motorsport ‘six’.

It was inevitable that the replacement engine should be a V8. BMW had already developed a range of V8 petrol engines for its top models, and these made their appearance in 1992. Further-developed versions arrived two years later, and it was from the larger-capacity version of these that BMW M developed its next M5 engine. Nevertheless, it was not until 1998 that the third-generation or E39 version of the M5 entered production. The mainstream versions of the E39 5 Series saloons had already been on sale for nearly three years, but the delay may not have been caused entirely by the need to develop a new engine. As Chapter 5 explains, the launch date of the E39 M5 may well have been chosen to cause maximum disruption to Mercedes-Benz product plans again.

Alpina meanwhile continued to produce formidable upgrades of the BMW saloons, and this one was a B10 model built for the UK in 1988. Alpina conversions were expensive, often more bespoke than the M cars, and qualitatively different. ALPINA UK

The second-generation M5 was derived from the E34 model 5 Series. Although this is a US publicity picture, the car is actually a European-specification model without the side marker lights demanded by North American regulations. BMW NORTH AMERICA

Caught on the hop by rival cars from Mercedes-Benz and Opel, BMW re-engined the E34 M5 to keep it competitive. This is one of the later 3.8-litre models. BMW

By this stage, BMW was well aware that it could sell all the M5s it could make, and that the assembly facilities at its Motorsport plant in Garching were too small to meet likely demand. So the E39 M5 was designed to be assembled with the mainstream E39 models on the production lines in Dingolfing – using, of course, components designed by BMW M. The E34 M5s were therefore the last of the M5s to be completed by hand, and the new M5s were volume-produced cars. That made them no less exclusive than before, however, and the new V8 engine – enlarged to a capacity of nearly 5 litres to compete on size at least with the rival Mercedes-Benz E500 saloon – delivered a huge 400PS to give blistering acceleration.

The UK was always a very strong market for the M5, and this is a UK-market version of the third-generation of E39 model. BMW UK

For the next iteration of the M5, however, BMW took a different approach. As Chapter 6 suggests, BMW felt for a number of reasons that a larger-capacity engine was not the way forward. So it focused on a completely new V10 engine, loosely inspired by the BMW V10 engines used in Formula 1 racing and able to provide a V8 derivative for the M3 models as well. The V10 engine arrived in the fourth-generation or E60 M5 in 2004, and in a Touring estate (E61) version of the same car introduced in 2007 to compete against high-performance estates from rival makers. It was a formidably complicated and high-revving power unit that, as always, delivered what M5 buyers wanted – this time, 500PS. Controversial in its time, the V10 was nevertheless nowhere near as controversial as the engine that followed it in the fifth-generation M5.

There had been an estate (‘Touring’) version of the E34 M5, and although no estate version of the E39 entered production, BMW did field an estate version of the fourthgeneration M5. this was an E61 (the saloon was an E60), but was not a strong seller. BMW

The fifth-generation M5 was the F10. Here it is as a 30 Jahre M5 Edition, celebrating thirty years of the M5 in 2014. This special edition had a massive 600PS from its twin-turbocharged V8 engine. BMW

That fifth-generation car arrived in 2011 as a derivative of the F10 or sixth-generation 5 Series. This time, there would be no Touring derivative, as the estate models of the previous M5 range had not been strong sellers. The general trend in the motor industry during the first decade of the twenty-first century was to downsize engines as a way of reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions, and BMW achieved this for the M5 by using a smaller-capacity engine than before and adding turbochargers – a first on an engine from the M division. The new engine was again a V8, developed from the mainstream BMW engine of the same 4.4-litre capacity, but making full use of twin turbochargers to provide the torque delivery and acceleration expected in an M5. This engine delivered no less than 560PS – 10 per cent more than the V10 it replaced – and in a special edition M5 released in 2012 revealed that it could be tuned to deliver as much as 600PS.

At the time of writing, BMW is no doubt already developing its sixth-generation M5, and of course a new engine will be central to it. Speculation is always prone to becoming outdated overnight, but it might not be fanciful to suggest that the next M5 engine could run on diesel fuel. Spectacular progress has been made in the last decade or so with diesel engines, and the best ones excel in fuel consumption (an important consideration today, even for an M5) and in torque delivery, which of course provides the acceleration that is fundamental to the M5 ethos. Maximum speed is, after all, less of a consideration at a time when Germany’s top saloons are governed to a maximum of 250km/h (155mph) and increasing numbers of mainstream cars can reach that speed with ease.

AN M5 TIMELINE

1984 (October)

Production begins of the E28 M5

1986 (November)

First M5s (E28 models) for North America

1988 (June)

Last E28 M5s built in Germany

1988 (September)

Production begins (in Germany) of the E34 M5

1988 (November)

Last E28 M5s assembled in South Africa

1991 (November)

Last E34 3.6-litre M5 for Europe

First 3.8-litre E34 M5 built

1992 (March)

Production begins of the E34 M5 Touring

1993 (March)

Last E34 M5 (3.6-litre) for North America

1995 (July)

Last E34 M5 built

1998 (October)

Production begins of the E39 M5

2003 (June)

Last E39 M5 built

2004 (September)

Production begins of the E60 M5

2007 (March)

Production begins of the E61 M5 Touring

2009 (December)

Last E60 M5 built

2010 (February)

Last E61 M5 Touring built

2011 (November)

Production begins of the F10 M5

2012 (March)

First F10 M5 models for North America

FIVE GENERATIONS OF M5 – A PERFORMANCE COMPARISON

All figures are for European-specification saloons.

ModelPS0–60mph0–100km/hMaximumDerestricted maximum

E28

286

6.2 sec

7 sec

153mph (246km/h)

E34 3.6

315

6.3 sec

155mph (250km/h)*

E34 3.8

340

5.7 sec

155mph (250km/h)*

E39

400

4.8 sec

155mph (250km/h)*

186mph (300km/h)

E60

500

4.8 sec

155mph (250km/h)*

205mph (330km/h)

F10

560

3.7 sec

4.3 sec

155mph (250km/h)*

205mph (330km/h)

* Electronically limited.

BMW CAR AND ENGINE CODES

Car codes

Beginning in the early 1960s, BMW assigned a project code to each new car it prepared. Those codes had a number preceded by E, and that letter stood for Entwicklung, which is the German word for ‘development’. This book refers in particular to the E28, E34, E39, E60 and E61 models, each of which gave rise to an M5 derivative.

Although a few of the early 1960s cars had three-figure numbers (the 2000C and 2000CS coupés, for example, were E120 types), at some point BMW decided not to go beyond 99 in its numbering system. The numbers were not used in strict ascending order, and not every number between 1 and 99 is known to have been used – although some could have been used for projects that did not prosper.

Once the sequence of E numbers had been exhausted, BMW decided to start a new numbering sequence beginning with F, which appears not to stand for anything in particular but is simply the next letter of the alphabet after E. The first of these new projects was the F01 7 Series model that entered production in 2008. So far, the only F code associated with the M5 is F10, which was for the sixth-generation 5 Series that entered production in 2009.

Engine codes

From the 1960s, BMW gave each of its engines an alphanumeric code beginning with the letter M. This stood for Motor, the German word for engine. As with its car projects, the company decided not to go beyond 99 in the numbering sequence, and from about 2001 most new engine projects were prefixed with the letter N. Like the F in the car codes, this was simply the next letter of the alphabet after the one already in use.

The engines built by the Motorsport division originally had numbers in the M sequence, a notable example relevant to this book being the M88. However, from 1986, Motorsport engines were given their own type numbering sequence with an S prefix (which stood for Sport, the same word in both German and English). The first engine to carry this was the S38, a version of the M88 developed for the US market with catalytic converters. All subsequent Motorsport engines have included a suffix that indicates their swept volume. In this book, there are references to the S38B35 (i.e. 3.5-litre), S38B38 (i.e. 3.8-litre), S62B50, S85B50 and S63B44TU. That TU suffix is a further recent addition that stands for Technical Update (BMW has taken to using American English in many areas, and this is an example). In cases where the M division engine is derived from a standard production engine, the S prefix is added to the number used for that engine, so the S62 is derived from the M62 and the S63 from the N63.

There have additionally been other engine prefix codes, but these have not been relevant to the M division’s cars. Early BMW Minis had engines with a W prefix, while the new modular 3-cylinder engine family introduced in 2013 for the Mini and the i8 hybrid sports car has a B prefix.

The importance of North America

It is easy to imagine that the majority of M5s have always been sold in their native Germany, where long stretches of Autobahn without speed restrictions make their USe at high speeds an everyday possibility. However, that is simply not the case; the biggest sales of M5s have actually been in North America, with the lion’s share being made in the USA.

From very early on, the USA was identified as a major potential market for the M5, and it has taken more examples of the cars than any other. This is a US-specification E28 M5, with the impactabsorbing bumpers and side marker lights required in that country. BMW NORTH AMERICA

The worldwide success of the M division has led to a proliferation of other M models. This is a 2014 M6 coupé, based on the 6 Series cars … BMW

… and this is a 2014 X6M, much appreciated in the USA as a high-performance derivative of the X6 SUV model, but treated with caution in Europe where there is less enthusiasm for SUVs. BMW

For that reason, the specification of every M5 has been carefully calculated to suit American market demands, even if it also suits European and other tastes as well. From the early days of the E28 M5, BMW has been prepared to build special models to suit US customer demand – and, of course, to avoid sending models to North America that its market research suggests will not sell well.

The trend was apparent from the earliest years of M5 production. Although production of the E28 M5 for North America did not begin until 1986, more than a year after production for Europe had got under way, the North American cars eventually accounted for well over half of all those built: 1,340 out of a total of 2,241, or about 60 per cent. The position was less clear-cut during the E34 era, when BMW’s M5 sales took a battering from the new Mercedes-Benz models in the USA and the later 3.8-litre cars were not homologated for North American sales at all. Even then, North America took 1,691 examples of the 8,383 3.6-litre cars built, or a healthy 20 per cent.

The position was largely restored with the E39 models, when North America took 9,992 of the 20,482 cars built, which works out as about 49 per cent of the total. Of the E60s that followed them, there were 9,491 for North America out of 20,589, or just over 46 per cent. It is too early yet to give figures for the F10 models, but there is no reason not to suppose that North American sales will account for a little less than half of all the cars eventually produced.

A CHANGE OF NAME

BMW Motorsport gmbH changed its name to BMW M gmbH in 1993, just after the last E34 M5 models had been built for North America.

There were several bUSiness reasons for the change, but one was undoubtedly the strength of the M brand. Another was that BMW had longer-term plans to give the M division a wider remit. In future, it would be responsible not only for motor-sport activities but also for much of the bespoke work on production vehicles – including, of course, the M5 itself.

THE M5 ‘RING TAXI’

BMW does a lot of its high-speed testing at the Nürburgring, the race track high in the Eifel mountains between Cologne and Frankfurt in northern Germany. The Nordschleife (Northern Loop), built in the 1920s, is 12.9 miles (20.8km) long with 73 corners and has more than 1,000ft (300m) of elevation between its lowest and highest points. Much of the area around this track is forest.

In 1986, BMW provided an M5 that would offer visitors to the Nürburgring high-speed rides around the track – driven, obviously, by a professional. The rides became so popular that the tradition continues to this day, although of course that original M5 ‘Ring Taxi’ has been superseded by later M5s.

From BMW’s point of view, the Ring Taxi works as a very effective public relations tool, demonstrating the performance and handling of its flagship performance machine while also giving passengers the chance to experience the Nordschleife, famously nicknamed as the ‘Green Hell’ by racing driver Jackie Stewart. By late 2014, the BMW Ring Taxi had taken more than 90,000 passengers around the circuit, covering more than 650,000km and 30,000 laps. However, even the best drivers make mistakes, and in August 2014 footage appeared on YouTube showing the Ring Taxi sliding into the safety barrier on a corner. Fortunately, nobody was seriously hurt in the incident – although no doubt somebody’s pride took a dent.

CHAPTER TWO

THE E28 M5 (1984 –1987)

It is at least arguable that the introduction of the first M5 was intended as a spoiler for the new Mercedes-Benz medium-sized saloon. In the early 1980s, BMW was still running second to Mercedes in the race for domestic German sales in the medium-sized saloon sector, but the Bavarian company had set its long-term sights on beating Mercedes at their own game, and much of its product strategy was aimed at that end result.

BMW had introduced its new 5 Series model in 1981, and this medium-sized saloon range was not due for replacement until 1988. Meanwhile, the Mercedes model-replacement cycle had reached a different stage, and the long-running W123 series cars were scheduled for replacement in 1984. BMW would have nothing new in the sector to counter this, and the new Mercedes was likely to make a sizeable dent in sales of the mid-range BMW. Unless BMW could steal some of its thunder.