BMW 1800 TI / SA vs. BMW M3: fathers and children
Content
The sportiest modern BMW sedan meets its ancestor. More than 40 years ago, the humble four-door model played the role of today's M3. They called it 1800 TI, a sporting spectacle.
1965 Rock idols The Rolling Stones have just sung Satisfaction, the GDR is introducing birth control pills, and the German government is cutting income taxes. The first ultra-fast train, reaching speeds of up to 200 km / h, runs between Augsburg and Munich.
Somehow, by the way, BMW is bringing a sports car to the stage in the guise of an ordinary sedan. True, Julia T.I. Alfa Romeo appeared a little earlier, but it only got really serious when the Bavarians also wrote TI on the back of their car. His full name was 1800 TI, which should mean Touring International.
By the way, what kind of tourism!
TI model with 1,8 hp 110-litre four-cylinder engine. village, became a threat to the elite with a three-pointed star on the hood. The attractive sedan was so fast that only much more expensive six-cylinder models in Germany could compete with it. Mercedes. And, of course, a few items. Porsche. In its racing version, TI quickly established itself as a competitor to Alfa GTA and Lotus Cortina. At TI 1800, Hubert Hein had spectacular fights - against Andrea Adamic with Alpha and John Whitemore with Lotus, he created real side-sliding masterpieces. Hein drove his BMW like every race was his last.
As a logical consequence of this self-sacrifice, BMW has introduced a more refined version of the TI, aimed at customers with a driver's license. Officially, it was called TI / SA (pronounced "te-i-es-a", but everyone called him just "Tiza"). However, the letters SA (from Sportausfuehrung = sporting performance) did not appear anywhere on the car itself, so the TI / SA was the classic sheepskin wolf tone.
Stimulants
Its alloying is the fruit of conventional automotive medicine, and the recipe includes a higher compression ratio, larger twin Weber carburetors instead of the stock Solex, a camshaft with sharper cams and 300-degree overlap, larger valves. Added to this is a five-speed transmission with tight gears, wider wheels and thicker stabilizers - and now the foundation for a successful sports career is already in place. Guaranteed power 130 hp The manufacturer promises a stock exhaust system, and racing bikes with a hellishly noisy sports muffler from the list of additional equipment reach 160 hp. This is enough to put all the participants in the legendary 24-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps.
A total of 200 TI/SA units were produced – 100 for Europe and 100 for America. The auto motor und sport team borrowed a pre-production copy for the March journalistic rally in Austria and were so impressed that the test car remained in the editorial office until they were able to accurately measure all of its characteristics. Sensational values were obtained - 8,9 seconds from 0 to 100 km / h and a top speed of 193 km / h, direct super numbers for a four-seater sedan with a working volume of 1,8 liters. TI/SA just blows away the Mercedes 230 SL, which hits 100 km/h in 9,7 seconds.
In issue 24 for 1964, Manfred Jantke wrote: “In the class of tourist cars up to 2000, 25 cubic meters. See this BMW is the absolute leader at the moment. " With his help, Hubert Hann managed in ten minutes and XNUMX seconds to capture the northern section of the Nurburgring, which at that time had not yet been "neutralized" by a series of reconstructions. Auto-moto and sports photographer Hans Peter Zeufert accompanied Hein on such a raid, and, according to eyewitnesses, his complexion surprisingly blended with the surrounding greenery.
44 years later
Grandfather meets his grandson named M3. His amazement is endless - four cylinders have become eight, displacement has more than doubled, and power has more than tripled. However, the prosperous years added a little fat – the 1800 TI / SA weighed exactly 1088 kg, while in the M3 with four doors the scale needle freezes at 1605 kg.
But while the old man, who does not even have a power steering, trembles with horror in front of his springs at the sight of all the wonders of climatic navigation and complete electrification, the young man can rightfully boast of the protection he offers to his passengers. In 1800 TI, it consists of only seat belts and is only installed by dealers if desired. In the event of an accident, after which the M3 passengers got out of the car shaken but unharmed, they died on the spot in the old TI.
Naturally, in each of the tests for the dynamics of the road, the young hall does not leave even a shadow of a chance for the veteran athlete. However, with him the scenario is somehow more exciting - TI / SA cannot be controlled with two fingers, a male grip is needed. Power and craftsmanship replace servos, ABS and ESP. And slightly softened by a sports filter, the sound of air being sucked through two powerful carburetors immediately penetrates under the skin, and then you literally feel how the fuel mixture is twisted. Due to the steep camshaft bumps, nothing interesting happens below 4000rpm, things only heat up at 5000rpm, and we don't want to step on the veteran for more, as his overhauled engine is still in development.
Impressions
To understand our then ideas about strength and speed, it is necessary to go back in time. Here in front of us someone phlegmatically stumbles Opel Olympia - we blew it up in second gear. And what about the gentleman in the soft hat in the Mercedes 220 SE? He won't know what happened to him until he sees the gold letters TI next to the backdating. On secondary roads, the sporty BMW has no serious rivals, because the 100 km / h limit seems infinitely far away.
These days the M3 can't achieve that kind of superiority. The reason for this is the rules and the situation on the roads, as well as the fact that very fast cars are already in large numbers. Only one thing has not changed – according to Manfred Jantke, BMW TI / SA is one of the pinnacles in the annual auto motor und sport testing program. Just like M3 today.
text: Getz Layrer
a photo:Hans-Dieter Zeufert
technical details
| BMW 1800 AWD / SA | BMW M3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Working volume | - | - |
| Power | 130 k. From. at 6100 rpm | 420 k. From. at 8300 rpm |
| Maximum torque | - | - |
| Acceleration 0-100 km / h | 8,9 with | 4,9 with |
| Braking distances at a speed of 100 km / h | - | - |
| full speed | 193 km / h | 250 km / h |
| Average consumption fuel in the test | - | - |
| Base Price | 13 marks | 64 750 euro |
