After 17 months and over 3,000 hours of building & restoration, Billy Glavin Jr. is set to run the BMW during Daytona Historics as apart the Classic 24-Hour weekend on Friday and Saturday.
Daytona Beach, Fla. (5 November 2020) – There have been some long days and nights at Jr III Racing (“Junior-Three”) this year, with the team having expanded from a full time vintage operation to also make a full time campaign in the professional ranks with its IMSA Prototype Challenge program in 2020.
Meanwhile back at the Charlotte-area shop, there has been another category of operation being launched under the Jr III Racing banner, as the team has completed its first full restoration project.
And it is truly a special one, as the team unveiled the ultra-rare No. 99 BMW M1 (Chassis #4301075 ) Procar on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway as part of HSR’s Classic 24-Hour weekend. The BMW M1 was the center piece of the innovative BMW Procar Championship, which raced as a support series for Formula 1 from 1979-1980 and featured a field full of champions from a wide range of categories.
Purchased in the spring of 2019 by William Glavin Jr. (Team Owner of Jr III Racing) the No. 99 BMW M1 (Chassis #4301075) will take to the track in competition for the first time in decades this weekend wearing its proper 1979 Livery.
The project marked another chapter of continued growth and diversification for Jr III Racing, which has developed the talent and tools required for a top-level restoration and preparation facility.
The bare-metal restoration was initiated in the team’s Mooresville, NC headquarters in May of 2019, which started with a full disassembly. The M1 had all original components media blasted ahead of a careful inspection for each component of the car and then fully restored and finally reinstalled by hand - a tedious but important process that took Jr III Racing about 17 months to complete.
The monocoque was refinished in OEM Glasurit paint which matched the Alpine Weiss base color with the red and blue colors of the Dutch Flag painted on as stripes.
“I am very proud of the work my team did in the restoration process of the BMW M1 Procar,” said Team Owner Billy Glavin. “This car required high quality, detailed work that not many shops would be capable of doing all in-house. With the help of local Mooresville (NC) vendors, we were able to complete a full bare-metal restoration in our shop. We wanted to keep the original design and integrity but bring it up to modern standards and to increase the reliability and safety of the car. It truly is a piece of racing history. We are excited and proud to show what Jr III Racing is capable of.”
Prior to being owned by Glavin Jr., the M1 Procar’s racing history began in 1979 when it was purchased by F&S Alimpo Sports/BMW Nederlands BV to compete in the inaugural season of the BMW Procar series with Toine Hezemans as the full-time driver. The car went on to finish second in the first-ever Procar race at Circuit Zolder followed by a fourth-place finish at Circuit de Monaco in its first season.
The No. 99 BMW M1’s original run ended after suffering suspension and chassis damage at Silverstone Circuit in 1979. The car was then sent to Project Four in the United Kingdom to serve as a backup chassis for BMW Nederlands. In 1981, the chassis was brought to the United States by Donald Duncan who restored the car with hopes to race it in IMSA. Unfortunately, that program never materialized and was subsequently sold.
Following a year and a half and over 3,000 hours of labor, the No. 99 BMW will return to the racing surface with Glavin Jr. behind the wheel at Daytona International Speedway.
“It has been a labor of love put into this BMW M1 by Billy (Glavin) and his team,” said car owner Glavin Jr. “The Jr III Racing guys put in hours and hours of work. Buck Stevens, of JRS Competition Finishes, who did the paint work did an amazing job putting the final touches on it. I am absolutely thrilled to be able to bring a car like this back to its original pedigree and 1979 condition. It was so important to me that we were able to restore and care for an important piece of BMW history, and the Jr III Racing shop did just that.”
In addition to the M1 Procar, Jr III Racing will be running four vintage cars during the Classic 24-Hour race weekend including a very special 1992 BMW M3 DTM, one of 15 that were built by the factory.
The No. 9 BMW M3 DTM has a storied history as it was driven by the legendary Emmanuel Pirro for the 1992 DTM season. Additionally, the No. 9 BMW M3 holds the record for the fastest BMW e30 M3 to ever lap Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit in Bathurst, Australia during the 1993 Bathurst 12 Hour. Following its record-breaking run with Jo Winklehock behind the wheel, the car received a full restoration in 2011 by a collector in New Zealand.
The No. 9 BMW M3 DTM was delivered from New Zealand to the Jr III Racing shop in October where the team began preparations for its debut at Daytona International Speedway. Team Owner Billy Glavin will strap into the car as it makes its first racing appearance in the United States.
The Jr III Racing fleet will take on the HSR Daytona Historics weekend with two opportunities to stand on the podium with Race One on Friday, November 6th and Race Two on Saturday, November 7th.
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Paige N. Grimmer | Digital Content Curator
Sunday Group Management
Mobile: (317) 599-6687
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