BMW DESIGN SECRETS

AN ORANGE FLASH OF INSPIRATION

Former design chief Paul Bracq explained how orange became a BMW signature. Bracq once had a studio by an airstrip used by the French Air Force, whose training aircraft had dayglo orange wingtips. After it swapped to using decals, he asked for the surplus paint. When he designed the ’72 BMW Turbo, he had it painted the Ruby Red of his Porsche 356 with the deformable plastic bumpers in the old orange paint to emphasise their safety credentials. BMW called the E25 Turbo a ‘safety car’, but Bracq is clear that it was always intended for production.

WHY WASTE A GOOD IDEA?

At a quick glance, this is obviously the Pininfarinadesigned Alfa Romeo 164. Except that it isn’t: take a second look and there is a BMW twin-kidney grille on the front. The Italian design studio would often offer a design around to a second client when the first turned it down. Had BMW selected Pininfarina’s suggested design for the new 6 Series in the early 1980s, then Alfa Romeo might have been out of luck.

WHEN F1 MET Z1

BMW Technik’s 1980s chief Harm Lagaay realised that the 1.5-litre unit used in the contemporary F1 car, being based on the ’02 M10 block, could fit in a road car. Okay, it needed revving to make its 800bhp, but it was ideal for a Pikes Peak racer. Sketches of the singleseat, F1-engined Z1 were drawn and a wind-tunnel model made, but the idea didn’t progress further.

BACK FROM THE DEAD

In the ’90s, BMW engineers were examining how to use composites in production cars by stamping out panels in a special glassfibre. At the same time, designer Andreas Zapatinas was sketching a 2002-style two-door. The ideas met in a 3 Series Coupé rebodied as a light (sub-1000kg), no-frills car. It evolved further into this lifelike ‘2K2’ by Chris Chapman – whose winning design for the 1 Series tipped its hat to this model.

SUPER-LUXURY SALOON BEFORE ROLLS-ROYCE

Back in the 1990s, BMW started looking at how it could move its model range – and especially the 7 Series – upmarket. The designers sketched out what the range might look like for the ‘Zukünftige BMW Familie’ (ZBF, or future BMW family). This drawing, by Joji Nagashima, flaunts a V12 badge with pride on its huge, imposing grille – almost feeling like a ‘9 Series’ or something even grander. This concept became known as the ZBF after it was built into a fully drivable one-off.