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Peugeot began its reign in motorsports since the very beginning with the entering five cars for the Paris-Rouen Trials in 1894. These motorsport trials are largely recognized as the first motor sports competition. It was not until 1912 that Peugeot made its most notable contribution to the world of motor sports when one of the entered cars won the French Grand Prix. This winning Peugeot car was advanced and influential for later designs as the Peugeot featured a dual overhead cam configuration with four valves per cylinder. The Peugeot innovation made it such that the engines could be smaller and kick out maximum horsepower versus relying on larger heavier engines to get the desired horsepower.

1913 marked an excellent year for Peugeot in racing as they won the Indianapolis 500 and the French Grand Prix. Interestingly enough, when one of the Peugeot racers remained in the US during WWI, parts could not be acquired from France for the 1914 season. The owner of the car, Bob Burma, had the Peugeot serviced under the mechanic, Fred Offenhauser. The familiarity with the Peugeot engine was the basis of the Miller racing engine which led to the Offy racing engine.

The racing team had a great deal of success wit hthe Peugeot 504 and the four wheel drive turbo charged 205 model. The 205 model is by far the best selling Peugeot model of all time, with the discontinuation of the model happening in the near future. The Peugeot 206 rally car enjoyed successes in championships beating the well known Subaru Impreza. The 206 was retired from rally racing after being nearly unbeatable during its reign as a racing force. The 206 was replaced in rally racing with the 307, which is nowhere near what the 206 established. In the races, transmission troubles gave the car poor results, which made it a far cry from the 206.

In the 1990s, the Peugeot 406 saloon was largely referred to as a sedan in many countries. The Peugeot 406 competed in the touring car championships worldwide with success in France, Germany and Australia. The mid-1990s were characteristic of the 406 losing popularity because of lackluster performance in racing. The lack of success was largely based on suspension problems, and the Peugeot 406 earned a poor reputation. After the fact, the Peugeot 406 was declared to be underpowered and the team was underfunded. Had the Peugeot team been better funded, the Peugeot 406 could have a better standing reputation today. In 2001, Peugeot entered three 406 models in to the British touring car championship to compete with Vauxhall Astra coupes. The Peugeot 406 was at the end of its production life cycle and was not competitive with the newer, more technologically advanced vehicles in the race. The Peugeot 307 replaced the 406, with the 307 having lackluster success as well. In all reality, had Peugeot stuck with the 206, they might still have a dominant rally racing prowess.

The British have an atypical view of the automobile. In fact, you can almost call it a national admiration for automobiles, especially vintage cars. With their attitude towards autos, it’s not hard to appreciate the esteem for which the British hold for the Bentley Motor Car Company. Although Bentley has had a number of trials and troubles in its nearly 90 year history, British fans remain loyal. The best example is that of the national excitement displayed by the British when a Bentley race car finished third at the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports automobile endurance race in France. Never mind that Bentley is now owned by Volkswagen and that the engines used in the Bentley race car was the save as the Audi R8s that took first and second. It was the first time that a Bentley had place in the top three in 71 years and the British fans gave little regard to the ownership or engine used.

W.O. Bentley began his career as an apprentice to a railroad engineer around the 1900 turn of the century. But he had a passion for racing and immediately got into it with the motorcycle circuit, which was a common engagement among young British men prior to World War I.

After the end of World War I, Bentley became determined to develop his own auto manufacturing company, thus the beginning of Bentley Motors, Ltd. Established in 1919, the company was held with very little capital for the next decade. At the time, the only Bentley for sale was attractive to a small niche market.

Being a racer at heart, Bentley’s first cars were high performance race cars and became immediately established as winners in the world of European racing. Bentley racers won the 24 Hours of Le Mans 4 times between 1923 until 1931 when the company went a different route. Bentley realized early that there was little market and profitability in building race cars, and to succeed his company would have to make consumer minded vehicles that would offer functionality, style and most importantly, pay the bills.

The Bentleys for sale during this era where rolling chassis fitted with fancy coachwork bodies, built to suit the wealthiest of clients. With its new line of Bentleys for sale, Bentley quickly became a major competitor of Rolls-Royce as the next British luxury car maker. However, the Great Depression got in the way of progress and W.O. put up Bentley for sale. Although Bentley himself was planning to sell the company to another firm, the deal was grabbed by Rolls-Royce in 1931.

Sports Car may be defined as a car with a sporty look, meaning an automobile which is short in height as compared to other cars to the extent that it almost touches the ground, having a powerful engine and light weight. A typical sports car has two seats, two doors, rear-wheel drive and with high speed. It is in fact a speedy car that needs to be handled quite efficiently and accurately. There are a number of popular companies that manufacture a perfect sports car like Ferrari, BMW’s mid-sized sports car, Porsche, Lotus etc. However a sports car consists of a light-weight powerful engine with ultra modern suspension and a firm chassis due to these features the sports car that is light weight performs more accurately as compared to heavy sports cars. Initially the cars were just considered an important mode of transport for carrying people and goods from one place to the other, and were manufactured to provide its core utility of transporting the people with comfort. Later on these cars soon became a craze amongst the people and a great fascination to drive it with speed and race, apart from its basic usefulness. This was the new era to welcome the sports cars. The trend of sports car started after the Second World War when a new class of sports car was introduced. Initially a very expensive luxury car meant only for the rich and the famous personalities was seen on race tracks are now available with road functionalities and with reasonable pricing structure. There were just a few cars in the historical phase but now these cars are easily obtainable to a normal individual. Enzo Ferrari was the first person design the sports car, in 1929. Then he was followed by many other car designers who started a new age of Sports Car. Ferrari’s entire unit used advanced technologies and modifications and emerged out in the whole world to create a history by manufacturing the Formula One Racing Car, which is an obsession now and will remain in future. The most eligible and fantastic drivers for formula one are Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari, who promoted the Ferrari Sports Car to success. Then came the F430 became quite popular due to its performance and affordable pricing structure, after which Superamerica became the most desired of all the Sports Cars. Any individual is first attracted by outer looks and then by its performance, same applies for cars too, so the designers and the manufacturers with a lot of hardwork and efforts introduced a car for racing against its competitors, this further triggered the development of cars for the next generation. It was a great risk to manufacture a speedy car with powerful engine with advanced technologies to improve its speed performance. Highly powerful engine with great speed was fixed into the light weight body of the car which was a great risk to the drivers as it needed to be handled most efficiently. Then came the thought for its safety where the designers worked hard and adopted certain modifications to set limitations on the speed and things like emergency brakes and suspension restrictions were added. However with the advanced technologies and great techniques a perfect sports car was ready on tracks. Day-by-day the possession for Sports Car has become a rising trend in the market. It may be due to one or all of the following reasons to drive a person to posses a Sports Car. – Its Fabulous Looks: The trendiest design of the Sports Car may e one of the reasons that more and more buyers are going crazy for it. – Functionality: Functionality and the car performance should be the most vital aspect to be considered while purchasing a Sports model. Sports Car is designed to give the best performance with regards to speed. Thus the experience a driver gets while driving a Sports Car is beyond words. – Pleasure and Thrill: Driving a Sports Car is an amazing feeling as it gives you immense pleasure and the thrill you are craving for. The fun while racing a Sports Car is just incomparable with racing any other car. – Status Symbol: Possessing a Sports Car often gives you an image of a high class status symbol, as it looks more of a luxury item than an automobile for transport. You seem to look like an adventurous personality who likes to explore new things. – Depreciation Value: Any car when purchased decreases in its value with increasing time period but surprisingly for Sports Car this is completely opposite, the value of the Sports Car increases with increasing time period! In simple words owning a sports car reflects the car owner’s personality and also shows how adventurous and trendy you are.

BMW – a reputation built on quality without compromise

 As an experienced driver, you know the importance of keeping your BMW in tip-top condition. Regular servicing will extend your car’s life and identify defects before they become catastrophic.

When you consider the history of BMW and how the Company has built its global reputation for prestige and performance excellence, booking a BMW service that is conducted with care and precision is vitally important in retaining the characteristics of this prestige car.

BMW facts you may not know

BMW has its roots in pre-First World War German aviation.

Gustav Otto, son of the inventor of the four-stroke internal combustion engine, set up an aircraft factory and training school in 1910. However, after persistent quality problems with production, his business was bought by a consortium in 1916. The company became known as Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW) and began manufacturing aircraft under licence from Albatros Werke. It soon became the largest aircraft manufacturer in Bavaria, but at the end of the First World War demand collapsed.

Meanwhile, in 1913 an engine designer Karl Rapp had set up an aircraft engine manufacturing company, but vibration problems with their own engines meant that they switched production to Austro-Daimler V12 engines, under licence. A man called Franz Josef Popp was put in to supervise the manufacturing. He managed to persuade Karl Rapp to employ a talented design engineer from Daimler, Max Friz. Friz quickly designed a new engine and made such an impact with the investors, that Karl Rapp was ousted from the business in 1917. At this point the company name was changed from Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH to Bayerische Motorenwerke BmbH (BMW).

However, in December 1918, BMW was forced to close down by the government at the end of the First World War. However, in less than three months BMW was allowed to reopen and began designing a new array of engines, although the company was forced to cease aircraft engine production. At this point, an Austrian financier, Camillo Castiglioni, had become the majority shareholder in BMW.

In the summer of 1919, BMW began building brake assemblies under licence from Knorr-Bremse AG, and around a year later Castiglioni sold his shares in BMW to Knorr-Bremse.

Following the sale of his stake in BMW, Castiglioni became interested in purchasing BFW which he completed in 1922. On the back of this, he moved to purchase back the BMW name and engine building division from Knorr-Bremse. He was successful, and with the merger of BFW and BMW, under the BMW name, he also secured the design and management skills of Max Friz and Franz Josef Popp, plus valuable engine drawings and patents.

BMW began production of replacement engines, whilst Castiglioni did a lucrative deal with the Czechs to licence the production of BMW aircraft engines for use by their military.

During the 1920s, BMW supplied Russia with aircraft engines and Castiglioni, as well as being the majority shareholder, siphoned off a brokerage fee on every transaction to his ‘private’ companies.

Along with military engines, BMW began to successfully manufacture small agricultural engines and motorcycles, starting with the R 32 in 1923. These formed the basis of the project to design a BMW production car in 1925. Then in 1928 the company expanded into full car production with the purchase of the Eisenach Car Factory that made the Dixi (or Austin Seven manufactured under license). The car became known as the BMW 3/15 and it was not long before BMW was producing its own designs.

However, Castiglioni’s business dealings got himself and BMW into trouble. After selling a majority shareholding to Deutsche Bank in 1926, to raise personal funds, his irregular commission payments were duly revealed. He settled out of court with a large payment back to BMW and stepped down from the board. In 1929, he sold the remainder of his shared to Deutsche Bank to prop up his finances.

The Castiglioni affair had also cost BMW. The Russian government became aware of the ‘commission’ payments and demanded compensation. BMW handed over a licence to produce the BMW VI engine for free and relations with the Russians came to an end in the early 1930s.

After successful expansion of the motorcycle and car businesses in the 1930s, BMW was forced to abandon civilian production by the National Socialist Party during the Second World War and focus on the production of aircraft engines. This included the use of forced labour.

Towards the end of the war, BMW was hit hard by allied bombing and when the war ended, the sites in eastern Germany were seized by the Russians. Meanwhile, whilst BMW survived in the West, they were banned from manufacturing engines for three years and BMW car plans and their chief designer Fritz Fiedler were taken to England to begin Bristol Cars. And so it was not until 1948 that production of BMW motorcycles recommenced and not until 1952 that car production was started again.

The initial post-war car models, such as the 507 and 503, were not highly profitable and in 1959, BMW discussed selling the business to Daimler-Benz. This was an unpopular move with the workforce, and fortunately Chairman Kurt Golda increased his stake in the company to secure BMW’s independence.

During the 1960s the release of more sporty models spelt success for BMW. The BMW 1500 (that followed the BMW 700) led to the BMW 1600 and BMW 1800 models and in 1967 two door and convertible models that became known as the BMW 02 series. These developments eventually led to the creation of the famous BMW 3 series.

The company expanded, with new production facilities and a new headquarters in Munich.

Going into the 1970s, the BMW 5 series replaced the sedans, the coupes were replaced with the BMW 3 series and a new BMW 7 series was launched, thereby giving BMW three distinct sports sedan ranges that continued into the 1990s.

BMW became a global brand in prestige car manufacturing and sales increased 18 times. Production expanded from Germany and has spread to across continents, including facilities in the UK, America, South Africa and India. The company has also formed partnerships over time with Russian and Chinese producers.

In the mid 1990s, BMW bought Rover from British Aerospace. However, the company struggled to find a role for the English brands and make a profit. In 2000 it disposed of Rover to Phoenix Venture Holdings and sold the Land Rover brand to Ford. However, BMW retained the Mini, Triumph and other brands. BMW has since successfully rekindled the Mini brand and also gone on to secure full use of the Rolls Royce brand (in 2003).

From its humble origins as pre-First World War makers of aircraft and aircraft engines, BMW has survived as a result of post-war entrepreneurial spirit and grown rapidly to become a major global player in the prestige car market.

Book your BMW service with confidence

So when you book your next BMW service, you can be confident that Service A Car understands the heritage of BMW and conducts BMW servicing with the passion and precision your prestige car deserves.

Happy motoring,

Howard.

Chairman Service A Car