Talk: Jochen Neerpasch

«The M1 should have been developed further»

Jochen Neerpasch looks good. He’s 83 now, but you’d never give him that. And he is more active than many a youngster, certainly because he continues to be right in the middle of his beloved motorsport, serving as a mentor to the BMW Junior Team, helping Neil Verhagen, Max Hesse and Dan Harper and their M6 GT3 get on the right track.

Jochen Neerpasch’s career is unparalleled. Born the son of a garage owner in Krefeld, the trained machinist came to Porsche at an early age – and raced along the way. It started on Borgward, later he became one of the few drivers who mastered the evil Cobra, he drove the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1966) with Jacky Ickx in a Ford GT40, took the class victory there in 1968 in a Porsche 908 – and was allowed to stand at the top of the podium at the 24 Hours of Daytona in the same year.

But Neerpasch was destined for greater things. At the end of the 1960s, he built up the racing department for Ford in Cologne and led the team to victories in the European Touring Car Championship and the World Rally Championship. In 1972, he became Hans-Joachim Stuck’s manager – and one year later took the big step of becoming Chairman of the Board of BMW M GmbH, which was founded in 1972. And everything he touched there turned to gold: the first junior team, the touring cars, the M1, the Procar series. Other milestones: racing director of Mercedes, discoverer and promoter of Michael Schumacher.

radical: What makes a good olive?

Neerpasch: Oha, you’re referring to 1992, when we had everything together at Mercedes, the right car, the right engine, and with Michael Schumacher also the right driver. I am absolutely convinced that Michael would have become world champion back then. But then the plug was pulled on the project at the last moment. Out of anger and disappointment, I actually moved to the south of France with my wife, where we grew olives. But I was never a good farmer, for me the focus was always on racing.

radical: That’s still the case.

Neerpasch: Yes, I’m working for BMW again, looking after the BMW Junior Team. We had that before, in 1977 with Surer, Cheever and Winkelhock. But what we do now is different, Harper, Hesse and Verhagen live directly at the Nürburgring in a house, they do everything together, really everything. The idea behind it is that they can learn from each other all the time, that they only make a mistake once. This seems to work very well, they have already won their first races in the “old” BMW M6 GT3, are making great progress as a team and individually. And now they are right up there with the new BMW M4 GT3. That makes me proud.

Jochen Neerpasch likes to be called “the silent one”, he has never made a fuss about himself. That’s probably why he always says “we”, even though it was or is actually he who had the idea – and then carries through with the project. So it was Neerpasch who selected the three young drivers, analysed data from more than 1000 pilots for them, and now leads them to the top with his rather unique experience as a racing driver and manager. And the junior team was also involved in the development of the new M4 GT3. Neerpasch: “This is a very fantastic car.”

radical: We are on a quest for the BMW M feeling. What do you think makes the M models stand out?

Neerpasch: It’s the overall package. I drive an M5 Clubsport myself, and it’s a very excellent vehicle that remains controllable and predictable at all times, even at the limits of the racetrack. And if I know what the vehicle can do on the track, then I also have confidence on the road. With these vehicles, you notice that the developers and engineers also race themselves, so they know exactly what’s important. It’s always an interplay, it doesn’t have to be the most powerful engine, it just has to fit with the chassis, steering, gearbox. That’s why I always want to have the latest product, because the cars are simply getting better and better.

We don’t know, we’ve never experienced it ourselves, but they say: Neerpasch has a very heavy foot. When he talks about the limits, he really knows where they are. There are pictures of him in a Cobra 427, back then, as an active racing driver, quite crossways, but: smiling. This smile also makes him incredibly likeable, he has it on his face as he strokes his young, playful dog: “He only joined us a week ago.”

radical: Will this M feeling then also be transformed to electric cars in the future?

Neerpasch: I’m a bit “old school” in that respect, combustion engines are very close to my heart. At the moment, it seems to me that no sensible racing is possible with electric cars, the ranges are too short, the weight too high. For me, that’s not motorsport, and it will probably take a little longer before it’s possible at the highest level. But it’s an exciting phase – and M will have the right answer at the right time.

Yes, Jochen Neerpasch’s gut feeling. He always had an excellent sense of what worked, especially when it came to marketing. He invented the stripes for the M logo, he turned the M team’s clothing into cult objects: “It was a coincidence, a friend of mine still had a larger batch of anoraks, we then put the M logo on them – and suddenly everyone wanted them.” Those were wild times back then, the 70s at BMW, so let’s take a look back.

radical: How did it all start back then at M GmbH?

Neerpasch: You have to distinguish between racing and road cars. When M started, there was only a small sports team of maybe five people who drove a 2002 rally. We then pushed the 3.0 CSL, but at the beginning we didn’t stand a chance against the Capri. (Editor’s note: you have to know that Neerpasch knew the Ford very well, the Capri for the European Touring Car Championship was his child – he had worked as race director for the Cologne team). It wasn’t until we gave it the rear wing that we were significantly faster – and were able to win the title as early as 1973. With the road cars, it was actually the case that we first had to make some 5s faster for the personal protection of the then Chairman von Kuenheim. Then, with the appropriate add-on parts, we produced our first series product. This is how the typical design language came into being – our products should be immediately recognisable. But that was also the idea from the very beginning – M GmbH should not simply spend money on racing, but also earn money. As a small team, we also had the advantage over the big BMW AG of being much faster and more flexible.

radical: Was there no wrangling over competences?

Neerpasch: The M1 is a good example of this. It was actually planned as the BMW 8 Series. But at some point it became clear that a coupé made entirely of steel would be much too heavy, so we were allowed to take it over. And that’s how the collaboration with Lamborghini came about – we had no expertise in the construction of mid-engined vehicles, for example. The Italians also did a very good job, we would have liked to have the cars produced in Sant’Agata, where there was also capacity for the 400 units a year that we wanted to build. But Lamborghini always had one foot in the abyss at that time, we didn’t know at the end whether the money we sent to Italy was really used for M1s. Or whether it was just used to plug other holes. That’s why we then pulled the plug – which made the M1 a logistical disaster, the roads became much too long, the vehicle too expensive. And so we didn’t get the number of units we had envisaged, which we would also have needed to do motorsport at the highest level. I was no longer there when BMW AG took over the M1 and the power over motorsport matters (editor’s note: Neerpasch left M GmbH in 1979, started at Talbot in 1980). But in retrospect it has to be said: the M1 should definitely have been developed further. It would have had the makings of an icon, on a par with the Porsche 911. Imagine what a great vehicle it could be today. After all, the concept was exactly right: we designed a racing car – which could then also be made roadworthy. What was also important for us at that time with the M1: the costs. When we built a 3.0 CSL into a racing car, it always cost us 400,000 to 500,000 marks. With the concept of the M1 we could have brought these costs down to about 150000 Marks. But that’s just it.

radical: You also invented the legendary Procar series.

Neerpasch: We set up the project together with Max Mosley. But that was only possible because Bernie Ecclestone helped us. He was quite an act, the little man. When we told him about the project, that we wanted to set up a grid with customer cars and some Formula 1 drivers in the run-up to the Formula 1 races with the M1s, he promised us that he would make it happen. And Bernie has always, really always kept his word, you have to give him credit for that. He also convinced Mario Andretti with cash to sit in one of those M1 Procars. He drove a few laps and was immediately hooked – and after that everything was child’s play. Except for the Ferrari drivers, who weren’t allowed to, it was in their contracts. Today, something like that would no longer be possible, all the drivers have such clauses in their contracts. But it was a good time.

radical: The idea for the Art Car also came from you.

Neerpasch: No, no, it came from Hervé Poulain, a French art dealer and racing driver. And actually he wanted to sell it to Alpine, but they didn’t understand the project. Then I didn’t have much to do, we just had to provide a 3.0 CSL for Le Mans in 1975 – and Alexander Calder painted it with his typical mobile. Calder then stood in the pits for 24 hours and watched his mobile; that was nice, a good action. Frank Stella, who designed the Art Car in 1976, also took up this idea of speed – and was also at Le Mans to admire the driving art.

When you’re through with the questions, have plugged in the tape recorder and just sit and chat for a while, you’d better not have done that, turn off the tape recorder. Neerpasch is a wonderful storyteller, has a terrific memory, knows how to entertain in his calm, level-headed way. And then, suddenly: “Come on, boys, we’re going to eat some Weisswurst.” His time in Bavaria seems to have had a strong influence on the “Prussian”.

This text first appeared, in a slightly different form, in the “auto-illustrierte”. We have more personalities in our archive, most recently: Marco Marinello.