Burkard Bovensiepen (87), inventor of Alpina BMWs… and the CSL

Alpina founder Burkard Bovensiepen passed away on October 12^th, following illness. Bovensiepen was instrumental in creating BMW’s famous lightweight CSL ‘Batmobile’. He was 87.

Alpina these days is officially integrated within BMW, after decades as the independent luxurious alternative to BMW’s own M models. The velvety smooth ride Alpina summoned up in combination with big rims and low-profile tyres, was simply unrivalled. Because of this, Alpina became more than a tuner, but effectively a constructor within its own right.

Alpina features

With its own distinct 20-spoke wheel design, the characteristic Alpina lettering on the flanks and the distinct use of green and blue as its own colours, Burkard Bovensiepen built Alpina as a brand of its own. The Alpina plaque inside the cars is merely a signature, the character is in the complete package. And so convincing a package it is, that after years of working together, BMW simply bought the rights to Alpina.

2002 TI

Remarkably, Bovensiepen’s early days were those of a BMW tuner, extracting more horses from the Bavarian engines from 1963 on. Bovensiepen did not invent the Alpina name, which was already a part of the family concern, producing typewriters among others. Burkard Bovensiepen would apply the Alpina name to identify his BMW adaptations. His work would lead Bovensiepen almost naturally to motorsport, where his changes were much appreciated.

First, the BMW 1600 and later the BMW 2002, equipped with Alpina kits, proved highly popular as budget alternatives with which a private driver could take on Porsches. The two-tone black-and-orange 2002 TIs Bovensiepen ran himself on the European circuits and rallies, quickly made Alpina a feared name among its rivals. A young Hans-Joachim Stuck was part of the BMW Alpina squad.

Building the CSL

Bovensiepen’s finest moment would come early seventies, when he suggested BMW should think of a lightweight, homologation special on the basis of its 2800 CS coupe. Alpina’s original work produced the first 3.0 CSL, which BMW M’s Jochen Neerpasch had later refined into the ‘Batmobile’, in mid-1973. Alpina would run the CSL in bright ‘Jägermeister’ orange in the European touring car championship, with amongst others an Austrian talent by the name of Niki Lauda.

In 1973, Alpina lost one of its star driver – Hans-Peter Joisten – in a horrible crash in the Spa 24 Hours. On top of that, the energy crisis was looming and a bit of a war with BMW started, with BMW opposing the use of its name on Alpina products and communication. What had up until then proudly been BMW Alpina, now became Alpina. After threatening with a move to Opel, the matter was resolved amicably in 1975.

DTM

Meantime, Alpina continued campaigning the CSL successfully, through to the end of the seventies. After that, Alpina would focus on building out a portfolio of Bs, highly tuned road-going BMW models. It wasn’t until 1987 that Alpina would re-emerge in racing, with the green E30 M3 in the DTM championship. Burkard’s son Andy would race it. Alpina built up the car themselves with a BMW Motorsport racing kit. They equipped the car with a catalytic converter, the first in the DTM to do so.

In 1988, Alpina fielded two bright green M3s for Christian Danner and Peter Oberndorfer – both Bavarians. Oberndorfer’s second place at the Nürburgring was a rare highlight. At the end of 1988, Alpina’s DTM adventure is over.

GT3 coupé

With the B6 GT3 in 2009, we would see a rare return to racing for Alpina. At a time when BMW opted for the Z4 as its GT3 contender, Alpina fielded its own version of the 6-series coupé in the German ADAC GT series. The car, masterminded by Andy Bovensiepen, used Alpina’s own 4.4-litre V8 engine. In 2011, Alpina won the ADAC GT Masters series.

By 2016, BMW replaced the Z4 GT3 with the M6 GT3.