BMW has a long and very successful history in motorsport. Although not everyone may follow it, new technologies BMW has developed for this highly competitive field often trickle down to regular series production cars. To help celebrate the German automaker's 75 years in motorsport competition, it has teamed up with the BMW Car Club of America Foundation and LeMay - America's Car Museum (ACM) to launch a new exhibit called "Heroes of Bavaria – 75 Years of BMW Motorsports." The 165,000-sq.-ft. museum is in Tacoma, Washington.

It was also recently recognized as one of MSN's 10 Best Automotive Museums in the world. The exhibit just had a sneak peak on May 12 and will open to the general public shortly, alongside a second unique exhibit called "The Icon: 50 Years of the 2002," which celebrates the legendary BMW 2002. "The Heroes of Bavaria exhibit celebrates the history of BMW racing by featuring noteworthy race cars beginning with the infamous 328," said ACM Curator of Exhibitry Scott Keller. "The two-liter 328 – arguably one of the most successful sports cars of the 1930s – is just one example of BMW's motoring legacy, having achieved a class win in the celebrated Mille Miglia in 1938 and an overall victory in 1940."

If you opt to make the trip, you'll also see the first 1961 BMW 700 RS, a one-off 1972 3.0 CSL Group 2 Rally Car, and even a couple of BMW F1 cars. All told, 16 rare and one-of-a-kind retired BMW race cars will be on display, only a few of which are pictured here. The cars themselves are owned by either private collectors or come from BMW North America's BMWUSA Classic Collection. Needless to say, none of them are currently for sale.