“We are committed to motorsport, we intend to stay committed and our cars are the better for it”
BMW

BMW T1 Motorsport is a supercar devoted to BMW’s Motorsport success…

After many years of success on the motor track and plenty of models who won any kind of sport event in the world, BMW hasn’t produced anything like a car to celebrate it, yet? Why? When cars like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche didn’t exist yet, BMW already won plenty of victories at that time and proved to be a great company inspired from the competition.

In the late 1930s BMW 328 was a car capable of beating anything in the 2-liter capacity, no matter what the terrain is. The Model scored more than 100 victories in a very short time. It was BMW again who was capable of beating cars with three times its litre capacity in the early 60s, thanks to 700 coupe. Even later on, it was BMW who seized the world’s first championship recorded by a turbo-charged engine, it was BMW who delivered 6 litres of VI2 energy to motivate McLaren in epic confrontation with Porsche and Mercedes in global GT racing and win Le Mans on its debut and wrote down the record for speed by a serial car in 1998.
Unfortunately, this is information close only to people familiar with the sport history of the Munich Company. For the people who are not interested from that, BMW is just one car manufacturer. Manufacturer famous with the production of good quality motorcycles, cars and mountain bikes.
So I decided, car to commemorate the BMW’s Motorsport glory is needed…

EXTERIOR

When I first started the project, outside the basic needs such as a car insurance plan, spare parts, etc., I already had few things in mind: The car will be in plain white colour, it will be with racing stickers including the M-Power motorsport stripes. Exhaust pipes on the back-top of the car just above the suspension and the engine bay – like the Formula 1 cars.
Hundreds of the exterior sketches were produced between October 2004 and mid December 2004, before starting the clay model.

Long time I was persistent about keeping the car more “GT-like” instead of the classical supercar proportions. I wanted to have the rounded headlights that remind of the old BMW’s some time ago. At the other hand, I wasn’t very sure this is the right thing to go for, If doing a proper sports car. Something, that had to be decided after number of different packages and just before the clay stage starts.
In the days of hesitation, I was sitting in the coffee shop, reading another book about the BMW’s Motorsport history, inspired, I did one quick sketch of the front and from then on, I had to chase these proportions till I get there.
Another thing was also clear: I had to go for the supercar. The front became more pointed and flat. The cabin and mainly the front windscreen went much forward.
At certain stage I had in mind having the engine at the front of the vehicle with rear wheel drive (the typical BMW layout), but now there was no time for this: mid-engine V12 supercar was the aim. That explains why the model differs from the majority of the initial sketches. Unfortunately, just before the degree show I did not have the practical time for sketching and make nice renderings of the final design of the car with all the details and number of new features.

INTERIOR

General:
The words that can describe the interior of the BMW T1 Motorsport are: high technology, mechanics and simple…
The interior of the car was my minor project
After several brainstorm sketches, I came up with an interior inspired by mechanical components used over the chassis of the car. I managed to integrate the ideas within the actual inside of the vehicle.
The interior is meant to follow the motto of the Munich company: “The Ultimate Driving Machine”. Minimising all the control tools as possible to ensure the best experience for the driver.

The Panel:
One thing that needs to be mentioned about T1 Motorsport is the top panel feature – the “roof” of the car. It Is like a panel/hatchet that lifts-up (at the same time when opening the doors sideways) to ensure much easier access to the inside of the vehicle. When entirely opened there is nothing like pillars or roof segments to obstruct the entrance – it is like a cabrio.
To make the whole carbon-fibre chassis working as a single rigid shell, when closed this panel integrates completely with the chassis & the body of the T1 Motorsport. The pane is hinged at the front of the chassis – just above the front axis of the vehicle. Two cushions are responsible for lifting & retracting the panel. They are placed on the inner side of each of the front wheels – where the higher window graphic of the side windscreen dives into the front wheel arch.

Other features:
Other features such as pop-up air conditioner controls are used – to minimise & organise the control tools in the interior. They also resemble various mechanical components.
The hand brake looks like a cardan that passes through an open frame in the central console of the vehicle. The central console itself is organised into one see-through display that contains all the graphics needed to adjust, set-up or control the car. Behind this panel some more mechanics of the car can be noticed. The engine start/stop button is actually a touch-screen button which is a neon-blue graphic of the BMW badge, glowing on the central console panel.
Each seat is fixed for the base of the chassis by twisted tube coming out from the “floor” of the base of the car and “holding” the seat at the lower front of it – between the legs of the passenger. This is also where the seat pop-up controls are set.
The interior is in white-blue colour scheme.

MODEL

People rustling, designers rushing, cars crumbling… the date is 05th June 2005. Coventry Degree show is up for the public…
Even the nice suits and the squeezed smiles of the students can’t hide their fatigue. It’s been a long year of hard labour and now is the time for the students to show what kept them busy throughout the year…
Surely time is never enough and some models were unfinished, while the design of others was compromised considering the time left till the degree show. Nevertheless, every student gave his best!
Me, for instance, I was putting the stickers on my car while speaking to the design chiefs at the same time. I believe, they excused me for this inconvenience…

The quarter scale model displayed is the final piece of design shown at the exhibition. The real car is about 4620x2140x1140mm with 20” wheels at the front and 21” wheels at the back.
The scale model is from fibre-glass, painted in the purest white colour with the BMW M-Power stickers on top. Fitting the stickers wasn’t an easy job considering the body of the car. I had to make few templates from vinyl stretched onto the surfaces of the car and then replicate the templates with the real ones.
Fortunately, it was all fine at the end and I had beautifully looking model at the degree show, although the model was painted less than 24h prior to the degree show.
I would like to take this chance to thank all my friends and colleagues for helping me all through the years in Coventry University.

TO EDIT:
After producing a lot of sketches I started with the package of my car. This is where I translated my sketches into reasonable piece of work I can go ahead with. I had to justify my car with basing it on some already existing sports cars layouts. I also had to establish the basic components of my package drawing, together with all the dimensions, positions, mechanics, ergonomic and feasibility issues.
With the BMW T1 Motorsport I was updating the package and the clay model at the same time. This mutual feedback between the clay model and the packages helped me so much when considering the real proportions of the vehicle. Something I am very proud of – I did not exaggerate with anything on the quarter scale model to make it look good. This is a common practice when doing the quarter scales. What I did was calculating and setting up the right proportions.
In other words – the foundation of my design.

As the interior of my car was my Minor project, I had to do a package of the interior as well. There is an image in the gallery that illustrates the function of the top panel of the car, where the front windscreen is integrated. The wider the doors are opened, the higher the panel lifts up to ensure easy access to the interior of the vehicle. When the carbon-fiber panel is closed, the whole carbon-fiber monocoque chassis works as a single shell.

The clay modelling was the most interesting part, and the one that gives pleasure most. I was quite experienced already working with clay, the five years of sculpture classes in my High School gave me an extraordinary preparation for this. After endless packages on the computer, I had my proportions well established. From the beginning of the clay stage I never allowed myself to change the overall proportions of the car.
The things that took time were the details. I changed the side intakes several times, till I go back to nearly what I started with. The rear of the car also suffered from several modifications, but the overall proportions never changed. It all turned out to be a complicated body with many curves, twists and mixtures between rounded and crispy edges. So I was challenged to put all this together and make one good looking automobile.
Of course, I had to do compromises and discard some good designs – very common thing for every designer.
As the clay model, I did the casting and the whole work on the model myself. Casting the body sides of the car separately was a hard work and pleasure at the same time. I managed to keep the beautiful shapes on the sides of the car diving into the intakes, just before reaching the rear wheel arches of the vehicle.

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