BMW Set to Race with the Alpina 2002ti
Most of the time, press releases from any car company offer really boring sales and marketing data, but then you get little gems like this: “Today BMW announced that it will run its newly restored 1970 BMW ALPINA 2002ti in the annual Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca next week. The car will be raced by Road & Track Executive Editor and vintage racer Sam Smith.”
I highlight that only to give some ribbing to Sam, who I was supposed to meet up with a few weeks ago at Road America. Suffice it to say, it didn’t happen because he was having car issues on the magnitude of transmission explosions … but enough about Sam. Let’s get to the car.
The 1970 BMW Alpina 2002ti was sold to a dealer in California who then promptly sold it to a race team who campaigned the car for a full two seasons before its retirement in ’72. The car then was out of sight for the next 24 years, sitting and collecting dust in a storage unit before BMW found it and bought it back.
The car then went through a thorough restoration, but was painted a period-incorrect color for a BMW celebration in 1996. Through the years many drivers got the chance to drive the little racer including Tommy Milner, Nick Craw and Danica Patrick.
This year, the little Bimmer saw another complete restoration with the help of Alpina, and this time the car’s paint was restored back to the period-correct livery. The car will be racing next week at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion that sees historic racers come from all over the country, and that’s where Sam will pilot the car. Hopefully Sam has better luck than at The Hawk at Road America. Good luck, Sam. Don’t blow up the gearbox.