Marc Surer: Reunion is a pleasure 🎥
HISTORY AND MODERNITY In the run-up to the Nürburgring 24 Hours, two generations of the BMW Junior Team and their race cars met. Today's youngsters experienced history, Marc Surer experienced modernity. Marc Surer and the BMW Junior Team tested historic race cars. Neil Verhagen was able to take a seat in the March BMW in which the then 28-year-old Basel [...]
Marc Surer and the BMW Junior Team tested historic racing cars. Neil Verhagen was able to take a seat in the March BMW in which the then 28-year-old from Basel won the 1979 Formula 2 European Championship.
Dan Harper (GB), Max Hesse (D) and Neil Verhagen (USA) were allowed to test two historic March-BMW F2s and a BMW 320 Group 5 for filming. Marc Surer, who formed the legendary BMW Junior Team in the 1977 German Racing Championship with Manfred Winkelhock, who was killed in a Group C accident in 1985, and Eddie Cheever, sat at the wheel of the modern M4 GT4.
Hesse took the wheel of the Group 5 touring car, Harper and Verhagen steered the Formula 2 race cars in which Surer and Bruno Giacomelli (I) raced.
"Still everything stored on the hard disk"
Surer previously undertook a functional test with all the historic cars. For the test at the Nürburgring, he then climbed into the modern BMW M4 GT4 with which the current BMW Junior Team will compete in its first 24-hour race this weekend.
Marc Surer: "For me, it's always déjà vu to get back into the old cars. You don't need more than two laps, then it's as if you'd never been away. You feel at home and do everything automatically. It's all still stored on the hard drive."
Premiere without driving aids
For Harper, Hesse and Verhagen, the adjustment was bigger.
Marc Surer: "In some cases, they had to use the clutch, give intermediate throttle and shift gears in a racing car for the first time in their lives. For me, it was easier with all the modern driving aids. It was a pleasure to drive the car."
Hats off to the racers of the 70s
It goes without saying that the three current BMW juniors were impressed by their employer's historic racing cars. The German describes his impression on behalf of all of them.
Max Hesse: "The sound and handling of the BMW 320 are simply great. You could immediately feel how light the vehicle is. I only drove a few fast laps and take my hat off to the guys who raced these cars in the '70s. It was weird at first. You open the door and see a steering wheel without any buttons. There's just a switch to start it - and then the gearshift for the manual transmission. It was just incredibly fun."
Best known concept
The Swiss role model not only enjoyed driving, but also meeting his successors.
Marc Surer: "The new BMW Junior Team is a similar mix of characters and nationalities as we were back then. The concept immediately sounded familiar to me - selecting drivers because they are good and have prevailed in their classes, not because they have a lot of money. It's great that a system that made our careers possible for me and my colleagues back then still exists today."
