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      02-22-2022, 03:39 PM   #1
ayao
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1M makes appearance in 2022 Car UK magazine

My local library offers free electronic magazine subscriptions with your library card, which has allowed access to a whole bunch of domestic and international car mags.

The February 2022 issue of Car UK caught my eye -- they did a retrospective of milestone ///M cars coinciding with the 50th birthday of the BMW's M division.

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Part of the 36 pages dedicated to this section includes a "The icons of M's first 50 years" with a lot of insightful narrative.
-They start with the 1979 M1, both street version and Procar
-1984 E28 M5 ("super saloon")
-1983 M-supplied engine for Gordon Murray's BT52 F1 car
-E30 M3
-CSL versions (1972 3.0 and E46 M3)
-1998 clownshoe M coupe
-and then finally, the 1M!

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"1M Coupe (2011-2012)

PARTS-BIN PERFECTION

For a car that nails the M division brief so perfectly – rear-wheel drive, locking diff, manual gearbox – the 1-series M coupe is a surprisingly off-script M car. It’s M division gone A-team, like a crew barricaded themselves in Garching overnight armed only with angle grinders and welders, then blasted back out in the next morning in the car built from gut-feel and stuff they'd found laying about inside.

The 1M’s an unusual M car for several reasons. It’s suspension wasn’t evolved from the 135i that sat one step below, and nor was it bespoke. Instead it was nabbed from the E90-era BMW M3.

This was born from pragmatism, but it became crucial to the factory hot-rod's appeal in making the front and rear track 74 mm and 46 mm wider respectively. A wider track beefed up the dynamics, but it also meant the chunky 19-inch rubber had to be shrouded in steroidal arches like the 2002 Turbo.

And really the 1M’s spiritual predecessor is the 2002 Turbo, not the E30 M3, because the 1M drive is so defined by its turbocharged thump. Fitted with the 135i’s 3.0-litre straight-six bi-turbo engine boost to 335bhp (as per Z4), this was the first rear-drive turbo M car and the first ever to eschew a more exotic S-coded engine. The N54 engine helped keep cost down and there was nothing else to grab off the shelf, but boy did it kick.

Thing is, for all the apparent spontaneity, it’s plausible there was a 1M master plan after all. BMW M had only just fitted turbo engines to its then-new and highly controversial SUVs, and the whole point of the ‘proper’ M cars was high revs, throttle response and naturally-aspirated thrills all the way. So maybe the 1M was quickly developed as a sacrificial offering to both distract us from transporter-loads of SUVs and soften us up for the incoming turbocharged M5 and M3.

It certainly worked, because they 1M is a riot to drive. The N54 engine is velvety smooth, surfs around on a 369lb ft wodge of torque from 1500 RPM, revs to 7000 RPM and gives the chassis a proper workout. Really stress-test that chassis and you’ll find it less benign than an M3’s – the wheelbase is shorter than its big brother's, and the suspension uses only fixed-rate dampers, so it rides B-roads toughly. The rest of its dynamic repertoire is similarly uncompromising, with meaty steering, bags of bite at the front, and a pair of Michelin Pilot Sport rear boots that grip like a free-climber and let go just as fast.

It’s the feistiness that makes the 1M so compelling, but, as project manager Frank Isenberg (who went on to lead development of the M2) once admitted to me, its character really stems from mixing all of the 1M’s attributes together, lighting the fuse, than standing back. Flawed? Arguably yes, but that raw kind of spontaneity shines through in the 1M. It’s why a rough diamond is one of M’s all-time greats. -BEN BARRY”


i think he nailed it.
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