I must be crazy. At a time in my racing career when I should be finding good homes for my cars and slowing down I purchased a new car.

The car I found is one of the 3 GS Tuning Team cars from the 1976 DRM series in Germany. The DRM (Deutschen Rennsport Meisterschaft) was the predecessor to the current DTM series. It began in 1972 as a series for Group 2 touring cars and Group 4 GT cars. Races were divided between over 2 liter and under 2 liter divisions, with separate championships for each.

The car was driven during the 1976 season by Jorge Denzel. Jorg began racing in 1970 and moved to the DRM series in 1975 driving a BMW 2002 and finishing 10th in the championship. For 1976 he hoped to build on his success and so he moved to this BMW 2002TI prepared by the well respected GS Tuning company.

He had an up and down year with several DNF’s and several top 10 finishes. His best finish was 3rd at the final race of the year at Hockenheim. He ended up 15th in the championship. You can view the results from the full 1976 season here: http://touringcarracing.net/Pages/1976%20DRM.html

After 1976 the FIA changed the rules for Group 2 so the car was put into long term storage. It was seen again in 1995 when it was sold out of the collection of Mr. Klaus Rath to Mr. Rudiger Julius. Mr. Julius began a restoration and had a new Wagenpass issued for the car in 2004. The car was sold again in 2002 to Christoph Haas who drove it in a few hillclimbs between 2003 and 2012. In 2015 it was sold again to Christian Traber who commissioned a complete restoration of the car. Mr. Traber raced the car a few times between 2016 and 2019 and vintage racing events at SPA and Monza.

I saw the car advertised last year in Switzerland. When I first saw it the price seemed a bit high so I didn’t pay much attention. A few months later I saw it again and the price had come down to the point that I sent an inquiry to the owner.

I also began to research the history of the car and the more I discovered, the more I became interested in adding it to my collection. After some back and forth negotiation we settled on a fair price and the car became mine.

The car is currently sailing up the west coast of Baja California headed to Long Beach. From there it will sail up to Seattle and should arrive the end of February.

The car came with 2 sets of wheels and a few spares. It also has a current FIA HTTP. It has several unique features including axel driven alternator, 4 wheel disc brakes, rack and pinion steering, and 10X15″ wheels. It weighs 895 kg, or about 1900 pounds. The M12 develops about 320 HP so it should be quite a quick car.

I hope to race it 4-5 times this season. I have entered it in the Rolex Reunion races, as well as the Sonoma Speed Festival. Hopefully you can come out to one of these events and see the car in person.