The Rarest BMW Of All Time Was Inspired By A Bugatti: Nazca C2

Ask anyone who is not wearing Khakis about a BMW supercar and you will likely hear something along the lines of the BMW i8, a real looker with a Prius-inspired powertrain. But the OGs know that the answer is M1. 

A V12-powered flop(for BMW, we love it) that peaked with every other wedge-shaped supercar that came out of the 80s. It was also the first “M” car, a word that is now synonymous with beaver tooth grills and 4000-pound coupes. 

BMW M1 was expensive to design, and operate and couldn’t really keep up with the rapidly evolving technical racing regulations. Which resulted in only 430 being made and each one incurred a loss, a disaster through and through. 

After a decade or so BMW finally decided to once again warm up to the idea of a mid-engine supercar after the legendary Bugatti ID 90 concept was released. The ID 90 was designed by none other than Giorgetto Giugiaro whose mastery of shaping cars with endless curves and clean simple lines defines the word 1990s supercar.

The ID 90 probably caught the eye of someone at BMW who was ready to put the bad memories of the M1 behind. and welcome the decade with something that would triumph even the Bugatti ID 90. 

Not long after the Bugatti debuted, BMW shook hands with Giugiaro and asked him to turn BMWs vision of the ultimate 90s supercar into reality AKA Project Nazca.

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THE BMW NAZCA M12 Was Designed BY A 26 Year Old

First shown at the 1991 Geneva Motor Show, the M12 laid the groundwork for the Nazca C2. It was inspired by Group C race cars and penned by Fabrizio Giugiaro at Italdesign when he was just 26 years old, a prodigy in all regards. 

The M12 wasn’t a parts bin special. It did borrow its 300 hp 5.0 V12 and a Getrag 5 speed from cars like the 850i, but that's about it. Everything else was simply bespoke. The M12 had an ultra-lightweight construction thanks to an aluminum spaceframe and large single-piece carbon fiber body panels for the bonnet and engine bay. 

It tipped the scales at 2425 pounds and underwent extreme aerodynamic testing returning a slippery cd=0.26 and could do about 180 mph. M12 was 1.99 meters wide and featured signature gullwing windows blended with conventional doors. Only a couple of M12 were made and recently this unicorn was spotted in Croatia looking as handsome as ever
 

BMW NAZCA C2 

Nobody knows why BMW went with a second concept car not even a year after the M12 debuted. Maybe it looked too similar to Bugatti’s version or BMW had some extra cash lying around to once again enlist Italdesign, whatever the reason was, the aftermath became one of the most iconic real-world and video game cars of all time, the Nazca C2. 

It looked way leaner and meaner than the M12 thanks to a 200-pound diet and a bespoke new front fascia that now had hidden lights which led to an even better aero and an increased top speed of 193 mph. The C2 has not one but three different spoilers along with a new splitter to enhance its race car pedigree. Similarly, track width was also increased to aid in high-speed stability. 

The V12, thankfully, made it into the C2 but was now reworked by another legendary tuned Alpina and came with 350 horsepower.

BMW Nazca C2 Spider

This was the third, final, and the most powerful among the trio of BMW-Italdesign Nazca concept cars. It was launched during the Montecarlo GP. The C2 Spider has no roof and a much more powerful V12. It also had a body-colored roll bar for added stiffness and protection The V12 in C2 Spider now displaced 5.6 Liters and had an upgraded six-speed manual transmission. The V12 made around 375 hp and was borrowed from another great Beemer, the 850 CSi. 

The only reason we could come up with as to why BMW never put the NAZCA into production is perhaps the fact that the scars it bore from the M1 disaster were still fresh or that by the time the 90s started BMW already had some legends in its portfolio.

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