To date, BMW has never built an M7, but they did build this. Campaigned to victory during the 1986 South African Touring Car Championship season by BMW South Africa with Tony Viana at the wheel, this is one of only two works BMW 745i race cars in existence, and one man is the proud custodian of both.
Enter Paolo Cavalieri, founder and owner of Pablo Clark Racing, one of South Africa’s top racing teams, who kindly invited us out to Zwartkops Raceway just outside of Johannesburg for an encounter with a true SA motorsport legend. Paolo was a teammate of Tony Viana’s in-period, and he’s also responsible for restoring both racing 745is to their former glory.
The first was built to Group 1 specification — a class which it dominated during the 1985 season with Tony Viana at the wheel — which currently resides at the Pablo Clark Racing headquarters. There’s some fascinating history to that car, it had an almost complete road-spec interior, and the steering wheel was worn away from Tony Viana’s wedding ring, as he wasn’t a fan of using racing gloves.
The next year, BMW South Africa let loose and returned with an even more honed version, designed to competed in the Wesbank Modified series. This is the star car of our film, boasting a fibreglass wide body, massive front splitter, and an enormous wing out back. Despite its unusual underpinnings — who would have thought a luxury barge would be rapid on track — the 1986 745i yet again proved itself a fearsome competitor, winning the championship thanks to Tony Viana’s expert driving.
Off the racetrack, these also spawned an ultra-limited run of South Africa-specific 745i homologation special road cars, of which only 278 units were made including just over a dozen manual cars. Now a 745i was also sold in Europe, but that car was fitted the turbocharged M102 inline six that wouldn’t fit in right hand drive cars. Which brings us to the most interesting aspect of these SA Specials: the engine.
BMW South Africa imported the M88/3 straight six engine from the M1 supercar and plonked it into this executive luxury saloon, turning it a true track monster. However, as Paolo reveals in our interview, it wasn’t a straightforward process. Check out our full film to learn more about these South African motorsport icons.
Photos by Mikey Snelgar, film by Stefan Kotze
