BMW pays Hommage to 3.0 CSL

BMW’s design team has banded together to create an audacious anniversary version of its classic 3.0 CSL Batmobile.

Dubbed the 3.0 CSL Hommage, a teaser image of which was released last week, the design concept was unveiled at the Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza at Lake Como overnight.

Designed as a tribute to the classic Batmobile homologation special, BMW has hurried to point out that the 3.0 CSL Hommage hasn’t been conceived as a future production model.

Sources explained that the 3.0 CS and CSL coupes have long been regarded as turning points in BMW’s history, in both on-track success and in design. BMW’s designers still turn to the CS and CSL for inspiration on all modern two-door coupes.

The third 'Hommage' concept car from BMW’s designers follows the M1 Hommage from 2008 and the 328 Hommage from 2011, both of which were unveiled at the same event.

“Our Hommage cars not only demonstrate how proud we are of our heritage but also how important the past can be in determining our future,” said BMW’s Senior Vice President of Design, Adrian van Hooydonk.

“The BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage represents a nod to the engineering achievement exemplified by the BMW 3.0 CSL in its lightweight design and performance.

“With intelligent lightweight construction and modern materials, the 3.0 CSL Hommage brings the character of that earlier model into the 21st century, showing it in a new and exciting guise.”

The original 3.0 CSL used an aluminium boot, quarter panels and bonnet, plus plexiglass windows to pull its weight down by 200kg compared to the standard 3.0 CS.

The modern version replaces these materials with carbon-fibre to improve its power-to-weight ratio, though BMW has taken great pains not to admit precisely what output the turbocharged in-line six-cylinder engine the concept car has beneath its bonnet.

It almost certainly uses electric boosting power, though, because one of the interior gauges is to measure its e-boosting levels.

Whatever else the 3.0 CSL Hommage delivers, it’s certainly distinctive in its feel, with modern interpretations of the original’s air deflectors, wheel-arches and spoilers.

It might not have the same purity as the tiny-pillared original, with its landmark glasshouse, but the aerodynamics are more modern and better proven to maximise downforce and minimise drag.

The enormous air deflector at the front pumps air into the engine bay, while there are small rear-vision cameras that replace the usual side mirrors.

It still uses Air Curtain and Air Breather aero tools that are now on most BMW production models, while the traditional kidney grille has been stretched and pulled, but still stands tall and leans forward, as it does with all sporting BMW variants.

“For BMW designers like us,” said BMW’s head of design Karim Habib, “the 3.0 CSL Hommage is a style icon.

“Its combination of racing genes and elegance generates an engaging aesthetic that continues to win hearts even today.

“The 3.0 CSL Hommage celebrates many of those characteristic features, but without copying them.

“Indeed, some parallels are not immediately obvious. We wanted people to sense the family resemblance rather than see it straight off.”

Sitting on 21-inch alloy wheels, the 3.0 CSL Hommage remains a three-box shape, which was groundbreaking in coupes at the time of the original, and keeps its logo in the base of the C-pillar.

BMW designers emphasised lightweight in the interior, too, with a fully CFRP cabin and the only parts in it being there out of absolute necessity. The tiny instrument member is the only standout material, because it looks like the wood trim from the original and is equally short.

As for multi-media screens, the only display on the concept car is its central screen on the steering column to tell the driver about speed, revs, gears and gearshift points.

The doors are heavily sculpted outside, but so minimalist inside they have a pull strap to close them.