BMW and System One have an inextricable historical past. Most regularly, the connection will get diminished to BMW’s historical past of supplying engines. Removed from an unfair categorization. However there’s one other method BMW “provided” System One within the early 2000s: System BMW. A separate entity with beforehand restricted OEM involvement (though BMW did provide engines), the OEM took the reigns with sights set on growing even higher drivers.
System BMW: Speedy Modifications and New Faces
As we talked about, System BMW already obtained its engines straight from the mothership. With BMW Motorsport’s intervention in 2001, issues modified a bit. BMW now supplied whole vehicles for the sequence. Secondly, the automaker reconfigured how the ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil Membership, actually “Basic German Car Membership”) labored. It prioritized drivers aged 15 or older with no worldwide racing expertise apart from karting.
The System BMW program is touted by BMW as being “excess of merely a step up from karting.” System BMW gave drivers entry to distinctive schooling alternatives that different junior racing sequence didn’t. A bodily health coach, PR coaching and entry to manufacturing unit drivers and F1 bosses made System BMW stand out. An actual paddock — full with a hospitality tent for socialization, consuming, and entertaining — gave System BMW an much more genuine really feel. “It actually set a brand new benchmark when it comes to what a junior race sequence may present,” Alex Schmuck, who was System BMW USA Motorsport Supervisor.
Crossing the Pond
After two years, BMW started eying the UK and US markets. System BMW USA turned a factor, debuting on the Lengthy Seashore Grand Prix on April 13, 2003. This system represented a possibility for youthful drivers to get behind the wheel of one thing extra akin to an actual F1 automotive, as BMW’s ADAC rides pushed the boundaries for the category. Carbon-Kevlar and composite tubs had been used together with a Motorsport-derived seat. Weighing simply over 1,000 kilos, the 140-horsepower four-cylinder bike engine mounted behind the motive force was greater than sufficient for motivation. However, in fact, these developments got here at a worth. BMW themselves estimated prices for a typical driver to be round $200,000 per race season, considerably greater than different junior race sequence.
Whereas a tricky promote, BMW did handle to snag some massive fish. Bobby Rahal, who seemingly wants no introduction, and Tom Milner, who ran a factory-backed M3 within the American Le Mans Collection, had been onboarded, which could have cajoled different smaller groups to get entangled. Additional blessings got here from a sanctioning cope with Championship Auto Racing Groups, or CART, the then-leaders of open-wheel racing. Even Roger Penske and Rick Hendrick, dealership and race group homeowners, obtained concerned, buying vehicles however permitting BMW to choose the motive force.
System BMW’s Finish
From the sequence debut at Lime Rock in 2004 till the ultimate races of the sequence in 2009 — when it was then often known as System BMW Americas to point the inclusion of a brand new race weekend added in Mexico — System BMW formed a technology of F1 drivers and hopefuls. All races ultimately led to a world sequence that pit one of the best from in all places towards one another. Winners obtained to check out a full-fledged F1 automotive.
This system developed a number of drivers that later ended up on the F1 grid, together with Nico Rosberg, a future F1 world champion, and Ho-Pin Tung who raced with each Williams and Sauber BMW groups. In the end, 2009 noticed the tip of System BMW as the worldwide recession worsened and BMW pulled out of all System One efforts.
