It seems that BMW has yet to give up on stunning the world with its gloriously beautiful creations, and we sincerely hope that they never stop. This time around it’s the BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage R. Stunning really is an understatement.
Bimmer rolled the CSL Hommage out in May at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa de’Este held on the gleaming shores of Lake Como in Italy. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes, this concept CSL is back with a breath of life and to complement this revival, an equally stunning paint scheme is put atop the car that would render purist in tears.
The Hommage R was brought out in tandem with the win at Sebring and Laguna Seca in 1975 (that’s like a stone’s throw away from Pebble Beach) and it’s also the same year BMW made its way to the States. Forty years later, the beautiful Hommage we see here is the brand’s 40th anniversary present to itself, so to speak.
Bimmer has a mantra that goes with the car which sounds something like this, “Eyes on the road, hands on the wheel”. That’s the name of the game and BMW has done much to heed just such. The driver is equipped with an FA-22 Raptor style helmet that features a HUD or heads up display, which ensures the driver is focused at the job at hand and needs not deviate his glance anywhere else but forward.
Puma jumped on the bandwagon too with their racing suit that features illuminated piping integrated into the sleeves of the suit which feed info back to the driver. Even the wood-esque dashboard conveys and displays relevant info to the driver.
The CSL moniker here suggests an extensive use of light-weight materials and you wouldn’t be wrong to assume just such. BMW has piled on lashings of CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced plastic) in a war against unsprung weight and a lower centre of gravity. With this in mind, the Hommage R is poised to live up to its reputation. Even the seats are made from carbon composites with the six-point harness finished in the M Division colours.
Speaking of colours, it is an unabated joy to see the racing colours splashed onto cars these days. The Hommage R is finished in a brilliant shade of white with Bimmer’s “Go Faster’ Division colours adorning that beautifully glorious, mesmerising and shapely body. A true expression of the Hommage R’s athleticism and power. The 25 on the doors and the BMW name spelled out on the windscreen takes you back in time to that momentous victory back in 1975.
The Hommage R means business. With an imposing front end that breathes through those huge signature pair of kidney grilles, it looks right at you with those blue lit X-shaped LED headlights and that immense carbon spliter finished in black with the iconic BMW tricaloré.
The huge matte-gold 21-inch light-alloy wheels with black inlays and the side mounted exhaust pipes add a special flourish as you walk around the back to discover the vast rear wing or spoiler which has LED lights running from end to end. Glare too at the gargantuan diffuser that keeps this chap planted to ground at full whack.
BMW has been criticised for losing its touch of building drivers cars recently, but that’s simply moving with the times and with the Hommage R, they prove that they still have the ability to make purist or anyone for that matter, hot under their collar with evocative designs and concepts. We can’t lie and say that we’d loathe to see these magnificent creations make to the production line because truth be told, it’s just breathtaking to look at.
IMAGE GALLERY
