Photo: BMW
It was 1975 when BMW’s 3.0CSL Group 4 race car won the 12 Hours of Sebring in the US and yesterday, after nearly 40 years, the number 25 car rose victorious, once again, at the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, this time from the sidelines, claiming the Best-in-Class title.
That wasn’t the only 3.0CSL car that climbed on the podium, the Group 2 winner of the 1973 European Sedan Championship coming in second at the Concours. Both of them were joined by the original BMW Art Car, created by Alexander Calder in 1975.
However, the three weren’t there just to look good. They were also introduced to showcase BMW’s history and, especially, the legacy of the Motorsport division.
The 3.0CSL was the first car developed by the specialist division and the first one to wear its official stripes (red, purple and blue), the racing model ending up being called the ‘Batmobile’ by the fans thanks to its extreme aerodynamic body kit. In the end, the Coupe Sport Leicht (lightweight in German) model became one of the most successful cars in the Group 2 to Group 5 European touring car racing championships of all time.
In the US it was the same story, the 3.0CSL being introduced by BMW of North America in the 1975 and 1976 IMSA Camel GT Series as a Group 4 car, winning the Sebring, Riverside, Laguna Seca, Daytona and Talladega in its maiden year, thanks to its legendary drivers like Hans Stuck, Sam Posey, Brian Redman, Ronnie Peterson, Benny Parsons, David Hobbs, Dieter Quester and Peter Gregg. After its successful win at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the number 25 car entered the private collection of BMW North America.
The BMW Team RLL team principal, Bobby Rahal, came to the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in another pristine BMW 3.0CSL car, this time one for ‘civilians’, even though Bobby can hardly be called that. As BMW had to sell a couple of street legal cars to be able to homologate the legendary model for racing usage, a limited number of road-legal versions were sold over the 1970s, one of them being driven by Rahal to the event.
However, the three weren’t there just to look good. They were also introduced to showcase BMW’s history and, especially, the legacy of the Motorsport division.
The 3.0CSL was the first car developed by the specialist division and the first one to wear its official stripes (red, purple and blue), the racing model ending up being called the ‘Batmobile’ by the fans thanks to its extreme aerodynamic body kit. In the end, the Coupe Sport Leicht (lightweight in German) model became one of the most successful cars in the Group 2 to Group 5 European touring car racing championships of all time.
In the US it was the same story, the 3.0CSL being introduced by BMW of North America in the 1975 and 1976 IMSA Camel GT Series as a Group 4 car, winning the Sebring, Riverside, Laguna Seca, Daytona and Talladega in its maiden year, thanks to its legendary drivers like Hans Stuck, Sam Posey, Brian Redman, Ronnie Peterson, Benny Parsons, David Hobbs, Dieter Quester and Peter Gregg. After its successful win at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the number 25 car entered the private collection of BMW North America.
The BMW Team RLL team principal, Bobby Rahal, came to the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in another pristine BMW 3.0CSL car, this time one for ‘civilians’, even though Bobby can hardly be called that. As BMW had to sell a couple of street legal cars to be able to homologate the legendary model for racing usage, a limited number of road-legal versions were sold over the 1970s, one of them being driven by Rahal to the event.
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