If it weren’t for that Top Gear special episode with and about Romania, few people outside the Eastern European country would’ve found out about the wonderful road known as the Transfagarasan. For those who forgot about the mountain road crossing the Carpathian Mountains, BMW of Romania got Jochen Neerpasch there behind the wheel of a 3.0 CSL.
First and foremost, the car is a perfect replica of the original Batmobile, built upon an E9 donor vehicle. Outfitted with a 3.4-liter engine, the 3.0 CSL has more than 300 horsepower to offer from the M30 straight-six boasting a cast-iron block, aluminum head, and SOHC valvetrain.
Neerpasch has also tested the M5, M5 Competition, M2, and Z4 M40i on the second-highest paved road in Romania, but the 3.0 CSL is the one he’d take for a Sunday drive. The reason is simple given this man’s experience in professional racing and go-faster BMWs.
Born in 1939, the former racing driver started out with Borgward in the 1960s. Jochen leveled up to a Porsche 907 to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1964, then won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1968. His biggest break came in the 1970s when he took Hans-Joachim “Strietzel” Stuck to BMW to found the motorsports division and engineering company.
BMW Motorsport GmbH came out with the 3.0 CSL under the leadership of Neerpasch, introduced in 1972 as a homologation special. No more than 1,265 were built, and CSL stands for coupe, sport, and leichtbau for lightweight. Probably the finest M there’s ever been, the Batmobile also happens to be one of the most visceral to drive on public roads.
BMW of Romania mentions that Jochen didn’t drive a competition-ready 3.0 CSL in more than 40 years, making the Transfagarasan experience all the more memorable for the 80-year-old legend. On that note, all there’s left to do now is to press play, take in the man’s story, and enjoy the ride!
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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