2/7 BMW V12 LM98 Presensation

// This is a direct reupload of the post I made for Instagram and Facebook
/// This post was made before I took part in the restoration of Chassis #001, which mean the livery shown here for both LM98 and engine drawing of all fours, is outdated

BMW V12LM98 Presentation Part 2/7

In the 90s, BMW's endurance presence was marked as the engine supplier for one of the decade's icons: the McLaren F1 GTR. With a Le Mans win in 95 (albeit, helped by a Courage sponsor 👀) and dominance in BPR in 95 and most of 96, the arrival of the 911 GT1 showed that time were changing. This led McLaren to heavily rework the F1 GTR into the LT, with BMW Motorsport support.

The 97 FIA GT season began well with three wins, but Mercedes soon caught up. Porsche, hindered by lobbying efforts that slowed turbo engines, saw Le Mans as its only competitive outing despite a double DNF (LM won by a car that also caused restriction on turbo powered car 2 years earlier in IMSA, history is a donut).
Le Mans '97 brought BMW a respectable third place, and this is my guess, BMW likely recognized the F1 LT's limitations and saw the LMP category as the best chance for an overall win, especially after seeing the factory GT1 getting slang twice by the privateer Porsche WSC-95.

In 98, BMW partnered with Williams and G-Force to build the new car, refined its V12 and tasking car design to… the marketing team ? Which would explain the "mustache" front end (which aren’t vents, no air goes through them), with engineers having to make the aero work from here. Rafenelli took over operations from Schnitzer. In pre-qualification, BMW placed 11th and 20th, securing a spot for June.

Qualifying saw the #2 in respectable P6, just 3s off the pole Mercedes, with #1 in P12. At the start, Pierluigi Martini in the #2 jumped the sleeping Porsches and Mercedes and secured P3 before the first corner, while Tom Kristensen in #1 held P8 after lap 1.

The race ran smoothly until the flower themed Courage #24 closed the door on the #2 at Indianapolis, causing front-end damage. After a slow repair, the #2 returned quite down in the standing, only to retire due to rear drivetrain vibration around an hour later. Around 6pm, the #1 pitted with the same issue and announced the retirement 1h later, ending the race after 60 laps.
Thus ending BMW's 1998 campaign.