Trivia: 1998 BMW V12 LMR

The engine was impressive in its own rights, too. The V12 that made 550hp only had 600 components and weighed 474 pounds. BMW ran it for 50 hours straight when testing for the race. It gave them no problems at all.

Aerodynamics, of course, were excellent. When meeting or exceeding 162 miles-an-hour, the car produced downforce that exceeded the curbweight of the vehicle.  So the old theory that the car could drive upside down on a ceiling was touted by the team (but honestly, find me a driver that will do this. And CGI Schumacher doesn’t count.)

So all of this should have translated into a victory, right?

Sadly, no. We’ve all heard that the devil is in the details and BMW learned this the hard way in June of 1998 when the car was forced to retire only 4 hours into the race. The wheel bearings suddenly lost all lubrication when the component  that was supposed to keep all four corners lubricated failed. The team had never experienced the problem in testing. Race over. Crestfallen, the team could only think of 1999.

Pictures of the car are hard to come by, but it has one of my all-time favorite racing liveries.  On the engine cover the team included a blueprint like diagram of the V12, headers and suspension.  Really good stuff.