If you wanted to see a factory BMW road racing machine in 1989, you pretty much had one place to go and that was the Daytona Battle of the Twins race. This is a factory Handrich & Mayer BMW machine ridden by Germany’s Herbert Enzinger on the banking at Daytona International Speedway leading a pair of Ducati-mounted riders that includes Pablo Real (No. 29) and Bernard Andre (No. 92) plus BOTT legend Malcolme Tunstall (No. 5), who was riding a Ducati-powered Bimota. The factory contingent for BMW that year included Enzinger and David Emde. Seigo Kikuchi was also on a satellite BMW supported by BMW Japan. Enzinger topped the riders of the German marque, finishing seventh, while Emde and Kikuchi finished 10th and 11th respectively. Interestingly a couple of years later Enzinger was the test rider who helped develop a water-cooled BMW for possible entry into World Superbike. The prototype was promising, but ultimately BMW decided against proceeding with the project, primarily it’s been said, because they couldn’t safely coax enough horsepower from the engine to overcome the aerodynamic disadvantage of the Boxer engine configuration.

This is a factory Handrich & Mayer BMW machine ridden by Germany's Herbert Enzinger on the banking at Daytona International Speedway leading a pair of Ducati-mounted riders that includes Pablo Real (No. 29) and Bernard Andre (No. 92) and BOTT legend Malcolme Tunstall (No. 5), who was riding a Ducati-powered Bimota. (Larry Lawrence photo)