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Product:
BMW
M1 Procar BASF 1980
Manufacturer: Fly
(A1301)
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In 1978 BMW produced the M1 super car that was going to take on all comers and continue the dominant racing pedigree of the mark. However they failed to homologate enough M1s to partake in the then prestigious Group 5 category. To compensate for BMWs huge investment they agreed with the F1 boss Max Mosely to run an F1 support series known as the Procar Championship in 1979 and 1980.
A super car or not? The Procar M1's used the 24-valve inline 6-cylinder M88/1 engine with 500 hp and a top speed approaching 200 mph. When turbocharged, the engine was capable of almost 1000 hp!
BMW produced 40 cars for the Procar series and grids
of 25-or-so M1's would line up against each other.
Five spaces on the grid were available for the fastest
Grand Prix drivers of any weekend - they drove BMW
Motorsport prepared cars with the remaining entries
being prepared by Osella in Turin and Project Four
in Woking.
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Because of contractual obligations to other tyre
manufacturers (namely Michelin), some drivers like
Villeneuve, Schekter, Jabouille and Arnoux never
raced in the Goodyear-backed series, and despite
the diminutive prize fund compared to most Grand
Prix driver salaries, no F1 qualifiers ever turned
down the chance to race these spectacular machines.
Each car was built to an identical specification
with just a few blanket modifications being made
during the course of the 1979 season. Noisier exhausts
were introduced at Hockenheim whilst after Dijon,
the rev limiters were taken up from 8500 to 9200rpm
- this after some unrest at the pace of BMW's works
cars that were noticeably quicker than rest.
By the end of 1979 three of the eight rounds had
been won by Niki Lauda who finished the championship
in first place, Hans Stuck finished second, whilst
Clay Regazzoni finished third.
The Procar series continued fundamentally unchanged
in 1980 although there were now more feature races
being held away from F1 events. The second and final
Procar Championship fell to Nelson Piquet finishing
ahead of second placed Alan Jones and Hans Stuck
in third. Thereafter, BMW's F1 programme stepped
up a gear and Procar was no more.
The Procar series is arguably the single greatest
one make championship ever to have existed. The
combination of contemporary Grand Prix drivers,
exotic locations, crack teams and of course the
M1, makes it quite unmatched in history.
The Model
Fly's initial BMW M1 is modelled on the car that
raced in the 1980 series and was driven by the German
Hans-Georg Bürger. This car is infamous due
to its livery which was garish red with the distinctive
branding from the main sponsors BASF. Not a class
winning combination - the number 80 livery, as modelled
by Fly, race in the Brands Hatch round qualifying
9th completing only 6 laps (out of 20 laps) before
gear linkage failure bought it to a grinding halt.
The model looks great on the eye in terms of shape
and livery - I could not find any logo omissions
and the colour looks spot on.
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However all is not perfect - the model has no protective
lacquer and the tampo printing is not as crisp and
complete as we have come to expect. This is a shame
and spoils a superb looking car.
However it should be remembered that these slight
flaws are only really noticeable on close-up inspection
and not while you are whizzing round your track
which is where this car belongs. The hubs look great
and extremely accurate.
The cockpit is up to Fly's extremely high standards
- Fly are the class leaders in the production of
exceptional cock pit detail. Separate harnesses,
graphics on suits and helmets, brilliant looking
seats, roll cage, gear lever, fire extinguisher
and dash board. It is well worth spending a few
minutes appreciating these details.
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Under the Bonnet
Four screws hold the chassis and body together although
the back end of the chassis also fits in to a ledge
on the body - this hampers independent body movement.
A sidewinder configuration with huge fat tyres and
a solid front axle and a nice and flat tray that
has a bit too much lateral flex in it - a couple
of brace along the sides of the chassis should help
that. The front axle has a lot of vertical movement
in it, too much for my liking. Fly ensure the car
can cope with the bumpy tracks that I can only assume
dominate the Spanish market. A bar magnet provides
significant down-force just in front of the motor.
Also they have continued the recent development
of including a holder for Scalextric digital components.
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There is quite a lot of sideways slop in the rear
axle but that is easily remedied and will help performance.
The guide has no slop in it whatsoever and this
is in my opinion a great step forward. However it
is really tight and it is worth adding some oil
to the guide post and wriggle it around for a while
to ensure the guide will rotate freely.
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On The Track
On to my newly configured track where a lap time
of 8 seconds is very good for a non-magnet car and
7 seconds is good for a magnet car.
Straight out the box with no alterations the car
is steady, holds the corners well (as you'd expect
with a big magnet in place) but is slow down the
straights. The magnet is in my opinion just too
much even on Scalextric Sport track - it would be
even more hampered on Ninco, Classic or SCX track.
It was also noisy but this improved after about
20 laps and some oiling. I managed a best of 8.1
seconds which is slow.
Whip the magnet out and on to the track - more enjoyable
but not a lot of grip from the rear tyres and once
you get your tail hanging out as the guide is so
tight it would not swing back round easily. I oiled
and wiggled the guide - that cured the indefinite
tail hanging out. It was much quicker down the straights
but grip was not great and you had to tip toe round
corners trying to ensure you stayed in a straight
line in order to make the best lap times. If you
went in to corners too fast the sloppy front axle
gave no support and the car did tip out. I managed
a best of 9.4 seconds which is off the pace. A well
prepared Scalextric Viper (front engine but with
NSR tyres and well sorted goes round in 7.8 seconds).
OK to the tinkering - first things first - grip.
I trued the rear tyres carefully and patiently which
took me about 10 minutes. I also shimmed out the
rear axle and glued the motor and rear bearings
in. I also trued the front tyres and reduced the
vertical movement in the front axle by fitting some
plasti-card over it. I cleaned the rear tyres and
set off again. What a difference - the car was still
quite noisy although after a good few nights of
running it round it has quietened down considerably
and now gives of the classic Fly sidewinder whirr
sound.
Cornering was much more stable and the grip increased
dramatically allowing you to drive the car extremely
aggressively. It was very forgiving and if over
done it would hang its tail out but with a quick
dab of the throttle it would straighten up. Unless
you went mad it was actually quite difficult to
de-slot. I managed a best of 8.3 seconds which was
a vast improvement. However I felt the car could
do more.
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I changed the rear tyres for a pair of NSR supergrip GT tyres, glued and trued, added some chassis stiffeners. I did not add any extra weight as I did not think it needed any. On the track again and I quickly got the car to provide consistent 8.0 second laps with a best of 7.8 seconds. It was a really enjoyable drive. There is more to come from the model and I have yet to sort out getting the body and chassis to flex independently - if this is sorted I think the lap times will drop by another few tenths of a second.
Conclusion
This car makes for a great looking model that could be improved with more attention to the finer tampo printing. The car needs some tinkering to get the most out of it but once done it is a real fun drive. Recreating the Procar series will be easily achieved within a few releases and would make for a great series for your own or club track. Overall Fly have produced another winner and I'm sure the M1 will be one of this companies most popular models
Tucker Rating
| Quality |
Work
Req. to run |
Performance |
Desirability |
Total |
% |
| 8 |
8 |
8 |
9 |
33 |
83% |
| Good
= High |
Little
= High |
Good
= High |
Desirable
= High |
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