Motorsport has been core to BMW’s identity since the company’s inception. Just six years after production of their first motorcycle began in 1923, works rider Ernst Henne began racking up land speed records aboard supercharged BMW completion bikes. Between 1929 and 1937, he accrued a staggering 76 records, while BMW’s four-wheeled creations were no less successful. Within a decade of building their first production automobile, in 1937 BMW scored an outright win at the RAC TT with their 328 sports car. This was swiftly followed by a win at the 1938 Alpine Rally and RAC TT, a class win at Le Mans in 1939 and victory at the 1940 Mille Miglia. The Bavarian marque wasn’t messing about.
Following the war, BMW’s Motorsport endeavours resumed, with privateer teams such as Alpina and Schnitzer campaigning race-winning BMW-built machines that were tuned to the respective teams' own specification, and it wasn’t long before BMW decided to create their own factory racing division. Spearheading the charge was a man by the name of Bob Lutz, who had left Adam Opel AG at the start of 1972 to become BMW’s Sales and Marketing director. And what better sales strategy is there than the old adage “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday”?
Jochen Neerpasch, a former Porsche works driver, was appointed managing director for the new Motorsport division, headhunted from the Ford Racing department in Cologne along with his colleague and Ford technical whiz Martin Braungart. Together, they would be responsible for developing, building, and racing BMW’s new competition-bred machinery.
This brings us to our star car, chassis E9/R1, which was not only the first of just 21 ‘Werks’ CSL racing cars constructed, but also the very first ‘BMW M’ car ever created. Of those 21 cars, only 11 were actually raced by the factory team, and E9/R1 played an instrumental role in the development of these cutting-edge track monsters. Built during the cold winter months that ran from 1972 to 1973, it was used as the test and development car for the works team, especially in regards to honing the iconic Batmobile Aero Kit prior to its homologation in July 1973.
Extensive testing took place at Paul Ricard and Hockenheim with Hans Stuck and Harald Menzel sharing driving duties during this winter, and once completed, the Motorsport division built three more cars (chassis 2275999, 2275998 and 2275997) to be used in the ETCC and DRM championships. E9/R1 accompanied the other chassis to the first ETCC race at Monza in 1973 as a test car, before entering the fray in the DRM Championship with Stuck and Menzel at the wheel.
Due to the FIA’s strict homologation rules, E9/R1 ran the beginning of the 1973 season without any aerodynamic aids; whilst BMW had met the FIA quota to produce 1000 road-going CSL models, further FIA homologation was required for the use of the high-downforce ‘Batmobile’ aero package, which included front and rear spoilers, fins on the bodywork, and a more potent 3.5-litre engine.
However, the history books reveal just how eager BMW was to see their Batmobile do battle. After qualifying on the 30th of June at the DRM Mainz-Finthen race without the Batmobile kit, at Midnight the FIA finally homologated the upgrade package, with BMW’s factory engineers wasting no time in taking the cars to the local BMW dealership. There, they worked through the night to upgrade their CSLs to Batmobile spec, leaving just enough time for one of the Mechanics to drive it back to the circuit on public roads just before the start of the race.
Resplendent in its new bodywork, E9/R1 and Stuck showed great promise on race day, but their fairytale beginning was cut short when a water pump failure took them out of the race. Undeterred, teammate Menzel put the car on the top step of the podium at the Nurburgring after winning the support race for the German Grand Prix on August 5th, starting a domino effect that saw E9/R1 rack up further outright wins at the following round at Kassel-Calden and at the ADAC-500 km Eifelpokalrennen at the Nordschleife on September 2nd.
Following a successful 1973 season, Motorsport GmbH sold E9/R1 along with its sister car, chassis 2275997, to American racing outfit Hurtig Libra Team to use in the forthcoming 1974 IMSA championship for the princely sum of DM 99,000. It proved to be a wise investment for the team, whose success with E9/R1 and its sister car during the 1974 season no doubt spurred on BMW Motorsport GmbH to compete themselves in the 1975 IMSA Championship season.
The Hurtig Libra Team sold E9/R1 to Daniel Muniz in Mexico City following the 1974 season, and the car was later retired from competition. In the 1980s, E9/R1 was acquired by noted BMW collector Richard Conway before changing hands again to a private BMW collector and leading expert on BMW competition cars in the mid-1990s.
More recently, over the past decade E9/R1 has been treated to an expert restoration dedicated to preserving the originality of this immensely significant car. For the first time in over three decades, E9/R1 made a public debut in pre-homologation 1973 specification at the 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it ran up the hill. In August 2025, E9/R1 was entered into its first concours event at the Salon Prive Concours D’Elegance at Blenheim Palace. Displayed proudly in its full Batmobile specification, E9/R1’s undeniable historical importance was recognised with the highly prestigious ‘Most Iconic Car’ award.
It’s hard to overstate the significance of this incredible piece of motorsport history. Without a doubt one of the most significant BMWs to ever leave Munich, E9/R1 is the original BMW ‘M’ car, the first WERKS CSL to wear the iconic Batmobile kit, and the first of twenty-one works CSLs ever built. E9/R1 set the stage for BMW’s domination of the ETCC including six championship wins, a Nurburgring lap record, Le Mans class win. Now Dylan Miles is offering the unmissable opportunity to add this unicorn to your stable, presented in immaculate condition with unparalleled provenance and known ownership from new.
Period photography courtesy of BMW Classic and the owner.
