Rahal Letterman Racing, based in Hilliard, Ohio and co-owned by three-time IndyCar Champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and CBS LATE SHOW host David Letterman, has been competing for more than a decade compiling 20 victories, 30 poles and one series championship (Bobby Rahal in 1992 in CART) and an Indianapolis 500 championship (Buddy Rice in 2004).

In 2008 Rahal Letterman Racing again won Rookie-of-the-Year honors at the Indianapolis 500 and partnered with Andersen Racing to run two entries in the Indy Pro Series. In 2009 the team has joined BMW North America to campaign the new BMW M3 as BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team in the American Le Mans Series and will as serve as the organizers of the Formula BMW Americas championship.

Rahal Letterman Racing

Bobby Rahal

Robert ‘Bobby’ Woodward Rahal, born January 10, 1953 in Medina, Ohio, has established himself as a legend in the world of American auto racing as both a team owner and driver, winning three Indy Car championships as well as the 1986 Indianapolis 500. He added to that legacy in 2004 by winning the Indy 500 as a team owner, becoming just the second person ever to win the famed race as a driver and an owner. Rahal was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2004.

As a driver, Rahal raced in Indy Car, Can-Am, Formula One and even NASCAR, winning 25 Indy Car races. He joined with Carl Hogan to create Rahal-Hogan Racing in 1992 and won the Indy Car championship in the team’s first season. Following his retirement from racing in 1998, Rahal held managerial positions with the Jaguar Formula 1 team and acted as an interim president of the CART series. He currently resides with his family in New Albany, Ohio.

rahal.com

Jim Prescott
BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team Manager

To oversee the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team—both on and off the track—Bobby Rahal chose longtime right-hand man, and childhood friend, Jim Prescott. Prescott previously directed the high profile Toyota Championship Program, inclusive of famed racer Danica Patrick, and acted as Rahal’s crew chief for sixteen of his seventeen CART seasons.

Jay O’Connell
RLR Technical Director

In his third year as technical director for Rahal Letterman Racing, Jay O’Connell will continue his undeniable success in open-wheel and sports car racing, by strengthening the operations of the ALMS team engineering department and its programs.

After graduating from Cornell University in 1988 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, O’Connell worked with Ford Racing CART and Jaguar Racing Formula 1 until 2002. Most recently, O’Connell redesigned the Panoz LMGT2 chassis, which won the 12 Hours of Sebring, and headed a team of twenty-five engineers working on the 2007 Shelby GT500 as SVT Chief Vehicle Engineer for the Ford Motor Company.

With a priority to maximize the competitiveness of the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team, the addition of Jay O’Connell will truly make it a force to be reckoned with.

Dirk Müller

Dirk Müller, born in Burbach, Germany, is considered one of the world’s greatest GT drivers—although he’ll admit to getting a delayed start in ‘karting,’ compared to many other professionals today. Regardless of any late blooming, Müller has now established an extensive background in sprint and endurance racing throughout North America and Europe, including five previous American Le Mans Series seasons that led to a GT Driver’s Championship during his 2000 season.

Other accolades include, but are in no way limited to: a Formula 3 victory at the Nürburgring in 1998 and 2004, the 1998 GT1 win at Daytona 24 Hours and Porsche Carrera Cup Championship, the 2004 European Vice Championship (ETCC), the 2005 Vice World Championship (WTCC), with a position as the Champion FIA GT (GT2) in 2007.

And if that wasn’t experience enough, Müller has had his foot through an M3 door before, as co-driver in a victorious 2004 season of the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

dirk-mueller.com

Bill Auberlen

Bill Auberlen, 40, of Redondo Beach, California, first started his career in the 1970s riding motocross, before moving on to compete with the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) GTU in 1987.

Auberlen took his first drive for BMW of North America in 1996 when he joined the previous M3 racing program, then in its second year of competition. He would go on to become the team’s most successful driver, winning driver titles in both 1997 and 2004.

When taking the track at Sebring International Raceway for the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 21, 2009, Auberlen will carry the distinction of having raced every generation of BMW M3 campaigned by BMW of North America.

Joey Hand

Joey Hand, 30, of Sacramento, CA, proves that there must be something in those West Coast waters that spawns a need for speed. Hand, who has been participating in the racing circuit since infancy, started with the local dirt tracks of stock cars alongside his father and brothers. Ten years later, at the age of twelve, Hand had his first experience ‘karting,’ which would carry him into early victories before a formal move into formula cars with Formula Mazda, in 1998, and DSTP Toyota in 2001.

By 2004, Hand’s numerous accomplishments as a young driver led him into the M3 racing program for the next two seasons. Coming from a background in open-wheel racing, Hand quickly adapted to the M3 and endurance racing, where he drove to five wins and seventeen podium finishes for BMW of North America in three years—many of those races partnered with Auberlen.

To date, Hand has participated and won in competitions such as the Grand American Racing Series, ALMS, SPEED World Challenge, the Grand American Road Racing Series, and the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series.

joeyhandracing.com

Tommy Milner

Tommy Milner, 23, of Leesburg, VA, began racing in 2004 as a Formula BMW USA Junior driver, making his debut in the American Le Mans series only two years later in 2006. By the following season, Milner joined Rahal Letterman Racing by burning rubber to five podium finishes and a fourth-place victory with GT2 points as a co-driver in the team’s Porsche. When Rahal Letterman declined to compete in the 2008 Series, Milner joined then- and current, teammate, Joey Hand, in the Panoz effort to again take a podium position during the season’s final race.

As son of the Prototype Technology Group owner, Tom Milner, Tommy was able to participate with PTG at the start of his career, and qualified on pole position during his professional debut.

With such an ambitious start that has, thus far, culminated behind the wheel of a BMW M3, Milner may just give, even his own teammates, a run for the checkered flag.

tommilner.com

The BMW M3 Race Car

BMW presented the racing version of the new BMW M3 at the Chicago Auto Show. Powered by a 485 bhp eight cylinder engine, this impressive race car has been designed to compete in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) beginning in 2009. The car is based on the fourth generation of the BMW M3, the high-performance sports car produced by BMW M GmbH.

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen says: “With the sporting genes of the production BMW M3 being clearly evident, developing a racing version of the car was the next logical step. The fact that the road-going vehicle is fitted with a V8 engine as standard provided us with an ideal base. However, the BMW M3 is more than a race car, it has achieved legendary status amongst race fans across the globe. I am convinced that this unique story of the BMW M3 racing cars will now be expanded upon by the addition of further chapters.”

The BMW M3 Race Version: Sportiness personified.
In the course of developing the race version of the BMW M3, BMW’s engineers were faced with an ambitious task: to improve upon the sportiness of an already sporting car. A better base would, though, be difficult to find. In standard form the vehicle delivers powerful dynamics and sporting aesthetics. Thanks to an eight cylinder engine producing 414 bhp, BMW’s customers are provided with a unique driving experience.

Those engine blocks, cast in BMW’s light alloy foundry in Landshut – the very source of BMW’s Formula One castings – selected for race duty need to withstand even more power: the BMW P65 race engine delivers 485 bhp.

In order to enable the BMW M3 to make full use of this performance on the race circuit, the experts in Munich have not concentrated solely on the engine, but have race-tuned the chassis as well. The race version of the BMW M3 is wider and significantly lighter than its production equivalent, enabling it to perfectly transmit the power of its V8 to the track. Widespread use of carbon-reinforced plastic (CRP) provides proof of substantial weight reduction. As with the production version, the race car’s roof is manufactured from this high-tech material.

The race version of the BMW M3 is clearly aimed at the top echelon of motorsport. As such, it is no surprise to discover that in the course of its development, begun in mid-2007, numerous Formula One techniques were applied. These include computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and wind tunnel analyses, both of which have ensured the best possible aerodynamic package for the BMW M3.

Intelligent control systems have been incorporated throughout the BMW M3. The POWER400 control unit actuates all the accessories fitted to the car, such as lights, wipers, etc., via two bus systems. Traditional relays and fuses are thus eliminated, ensuring considerable weight saving, improved reliability and ease of application. The functions of the BMW P65 engine are managed by an ECU 408 electronic control unit, developed in-house by BMW Motorsport. The software and applications, too, have been developed by the experts in Munich.

Technical Specifications of the M3 Race Version.

BMW P65 Engine. 

Electrics/Electronics.

© RIF

Courtesy BMW Motorsports and Rahal Letterman Racing