Cars - BMW Z1

	Cars - BMW Z1

The BMW Z1 is a two-seat roadster developed by BMW Technik GmbH and produced from July 1988 to June 1991. The Z1 featured unusual doors which, instead of opening outward or upward, dropped down into the door sills. Only 8,000 copies of the Z1 were produced.

History

The first example of a Z1 was released by BMW to the press in 1986 and later officially presented at the 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show. Initial demand was so fierce that BMW had 5,000 orders before production began. Unfortunately, demand dropped significantly around 1988 and BMW ended production in 1991. There is speculation that this drop in demand was due to the introduction of the Mercedes-Benz SL (Brossaud, 1) and the early inflated demand from speculative investors . In 1988, however, BMW was quoted as saying that they had 35,000 orders for Z1s.

The BMW Z1 was designed over a three-year period by an in-house division of BMW Technik GmbH. Early development of the Z1 is attributed to Dr. Ulrich Bez but control of the project was turned over to Dr. Klaus Faust when Bez left for Porsche in October, 1988.

BMW considered building an all-wheel drive model but this was later scrapped. (Brossaud, 1).

The BMW Z1 was used to develop and debut several technologies. Z1 designer Harm Lagaay mentioned that Z1 production helped generate patents for BMW's high-intensity discharge lamp, integrated roll-bar, door mechanism, and underbody tray.

Z line

The Z in Z1 originally stood for Zukunft (German for future) and would later be used on other cars in the line: the Z3, Z4, and Z8). All of these vehicles (including the Z1) are sporty, two-door roadsters.

Construction

Chassis

The chassis was specially designed for the Z1 and features a number of innovative features: removable body panels, continuously zinc welded seams, a composite undertray, and the unusual dropped doors. Parts of the car (including the engine, gearbox, and front suspension) were borrowed from the BMW E30 325i, but the Z1 remains largely original.

The body was reportedly made from three (or five, depending on the source) different types of plastic and could be removed completely from the chassis. The side panels and doors are made of General Electric's XENOY thermoplastic. The hood, trunk, and roof cover are GRP components made by Seger + Hoffman AG. The car is painted in a special flexible lacquer finish developed jointly by AKZO Coatings and BMW Technik GmbH.

During the Z1s launch, BMW suggested that owners purchase an additional set of body panels and change the color of the car from time to time. The car could actually be driven with all of the panels completely removed, similar to the Pontiac Fiero. BMW noted that the body could be completely replaced in 40 minutes, although Z1 owners have reported that this may be optimistic.

The entire vehicle was designed with aerodynamics in mind. In specific, the entire undertray is completely flat and the muffler and rear valance were designed as integral aerodynamic components to decrease turbulence and rear lift. The front end reportedly induces a high-pressure zone just forward of the front wheels to increase front-wheel traction. The Z1 has a drag coefficient of 0.36 C_d with the top up or 0.43 C_d with it down.

Doors

One of the most interesting features of the Z1 is its unusual doors. These doors retract vertically down into the car's body instead of swinging outward or upward. The inspiration for these doors came from more traditional roadsters which often feature removable metal or cloth doors. Because removable doors did not fit within BMW's design goals, the retractable doors were installed instead.

Because the body offers crash protection independent of the doors, the vehicle may be legally and safely driven with the doors up or down.

The windows are attached directly to the frame of the vehicle (instead of the doors) and may be operated independently of the doors, although they do retract automatically if the door is lowered. Both the window and door are driven by electric motors through toothed rubber belts and may be moved manually in an emergency due to a freewheel on the motors.

Driveline

As mentioned above, both the engine (the BMW M20B25) and the five-speed manual gearbox (the Getrag 260/5) were sourced from the E30 325i. The 2.5 L (2494 cc) 12-valve SOHC engine sits tilted 20 degrees to the right to accommodate the low hoodline. The engine produces 170 hp (126.8 kW) at 5800 rpm and 222 Nm (163.7 ft.lbf) of torque in its original form, although several tuners have programs for increasing the performance of the Z1 by either upgrading or replacing the engine (see modification, below). A common complaint is that the gearbox isn't well-matched to the engine or the car's sportiness (Brossaud, 10).

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for BMW Z1 ]

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