The Incredible Heidegger story
"The story of the small BMW 2002 team that won at LeMans!"
words by Max Heidegger, 2004


Daniel Brillat in LeMans pit lane 1975.

1974 Liechtenstein,

"Max Heidegger AG" was a 5 year old BMW and Alpina dealership that also ran a performance shop and developed the M10 for Formula 2 racing and prepared cars for racing they were quickly building quite the reputation.

"A french racer, Daniel Brillat called me and asked me if we can build him a Group 2 race car to contest the 1975 24 hours of Le Mans. He gave me his budget and which companies sponsored him, which included the french tire brand Cleber-Colombes (Kleber) and Esso for the fuel. Since his budget was not very high, I asked him to give me sometime to weigh all possibilities to fulfill his dream.

We soon found out that it was going to be impossible to compete the cars of the factory BMW and Ford teams. The BMW CSL's and the Ford Capri's were not within our reach by a long shot! Our budget was too low and the only car I could imagine we could afford to field would be a 2002. We defiantely needed BMW's support, I was not so hopeful as we would be racing against their factory CSL's. Thankfully we had already been a BMW dealership for several years as well as a aftermarket tuning company. It was going to be a huge challenge as the budgets and efforts of the factory team were so large and professional.

When I first suggested to Mr.Brillat he was skeptical. I explained to him, Let's build a car that was on one side pretty fast but on the other side was also very reliable. Additionally, we had a lot of experience in 2002 racing cars and we were are a company specialized in producing M10 Formula 2 engines. All this combined made easy decision for us, and gave us the best chance to compete and finish the 24hour race within our budget. Basically, our thought was "many roads lead to Rome!". I explained to Mr.Brillat that a good BMW 2002 with an Heidegger F2 engine would be a small, light, pretty fast and reliable race car and pretty much all that he and us could afford! Instead of trying to compete head to head with the factory efforts and trying to build a big powerful car like theirs we would do the opposite! Small, light and reliable! Our hope was that the factory teams would fight each other till the bitter end and the ensuing 24hrs of attrition of this fight would be the only chance of our small team finishing in a respectable position. Basically, our race could only be good if the big guys would get each other into trouble. So with Mr.Brillat's agreement we went ahead with the project!

I had heard that BMW Motorsport GmbH had developed a prototype! A 2002 with a F2 engine, but the car was long forgotten. Undeterred I called BMW Motorsport asking them if they had the car and if they would sell the car to me. Naturally they asked me what plans we had for the car. When we told them we wanted to modify the car to race it in the 24 Hours of Le Mans they had very big laugh about it and told us they would call us back. After that incredibly the next morning we got the approval that we were waiting for! Immediately I contacted mr.Brillat and told him the good news! I also let him know the bad news, mainly because the kind of adjustments we would have to do on the car, because Le Mans has special rules and requirements. He quickly gave us his first payment, so we could start our "Mission Impossible".

We got the BMW from Munchen soon after. We began work immediately and stripped it totally and examined every part on it. Next we made a list of all modifications we would do: brakes, fuel system, steering, wheels, bodywork, electrical, drive train etc... and of course modifications to the engine.We bought and made all the needed parts and start building.

A short time later the car was done and everything was rebuilt, the car was ready! We went to France for the tire tests with Kleber. Cleber-Colombes, later bought by Michelin, had almost no experience with a small light car like this, but the tests went extremely well and everybody was very satisfied with the results.
To us the tests and the co-operation with Cleber-Colombes was challenging, we worked well together and tested many different tires and adjusted the car to the best set. Mr.Brillat was very satisfied with the car! According to him the car drove like a go-kart, only a little faster(a frequent comment from '02 drivers even today)...I mean, imagine... 2000lb car with a engine that produced 260 hp at 8500 rpm was certainly not bad at all!

Testing for LeMans...

One week before the race, to got everything in order to be as ready as we can, we needed to be perfectly prepared. We sent our cheif mechanic with another top mechanic with the car to the race. Unfortunately, I was not able to join them. They were in charge over the whole operation. At that time I was extremely busy in my own company to go. I had to keep everything together! Everybody wished them all the luck in the world as they left for France.

They said that when they arrived at the circuit, people laughed at them and began to ask silly questions and make jokes. There was even one person that asked us if in Liechtenstein they really knew what Le Mans was all about. Of course we knew, but we had no choice than to race what we had with the given budget. They would soon find out how much we knew!

The Heidegger in action passing the main tribunes

Finally the day of the race came so we could finally start our adventure! LeMans is a fast race that is hard on engines and the end of the 24 hours cannot come fast enough! We started the race strong holding our place after all the factory cars, but as the hours went by the more my predictions came true.The speed of the factory BMW's and Ford's was very high for us and we could not compete with their speed. But as the night fell, all 4 factory cars were already retired from the race! While our little flying machine was still screaming around the circuit consistently. Imagine the sound of that 4 cylinder F2 engine flyin down Muslanne straight straightaway! The factory teams closed their pits boxes and went to their hotels. To them the 24 hours of Le Mans was over. Not to us...

The little BMW did not have it easy by any means!

After about 20 hours past, the gentlemen of BMW that had once doubted us now saw that our little car
was still in the race with the chance to win the race! They opened up their pit boxes again and after 23 hours they got the champagne and the beer out of the cooler, just in case...

Like a fairy tale in the end we won the race and our impossible dream came true. The team of Mr.Brillat, his friends and our mechanics were extremely happy to say the least. I myself can't describe the feeling. When I heard this fantastic news, for minutes I couldn't believe it. Looking back this probably is the most important victory in our racing history. We arrived in Le Mans as the little David, but we came home as the incredible happy victorious Goliath! Victory is ours!

The mighty 2002 under the expert guidance of Daniel Brillat crossing the finish line!

The impossible had happened, our small private team and our small, fast and reliable car, outlasted and won over the monstrous efforts of BMW and Ford.

We became the only 2002 to ever race and win LeMans... to us and the 80,000 people that were there the day of 15th June 1975 will be forever in our minds and hearts"

-Interview taken by Tim. 2004

Tim's Project
I first read this story on a site that document one enthusiast's dream to create a copy of the famous 2002. You can see Tim's story on his site (click on the pictures of his car to go to his site). He did allot of research and actually met and interviewed Max Heidegger at his dealership in Liechtenstein. Max even helped him complete his project. He was very successful! His car is beautiful! It has already won many concours awards and is making fans all around the world.

Tim enjoying his car! Glad to see it driven hard!

This story is a prefect example of the true character of this great car. It is a true underdog. It gives the driver so much to work with and is very rewarding to drive. I routinely set faster times than many newer faster cars at auto-x's and track events. I must say it gives me so much satisfaction to do that! There are a couple of BMW Club racers in america that routinely beat up on much faster and newer cars. This story has inspired me to honor it by painting my car to resemble the the Heidegger car. I needed a good reason behind the paint on my car and this is the perfect story since my car will also be used in competition and will routinely face more powerful cars and is being fielded as in the story by a person with big dreams, small pockets but plenty of heart and talent!

I can only hope my luck and results mirror the story!
-PG