'Dribble', we think is the word. BMW has taken the absolutely exquisite 3.0 CSL Hommage Concept it previewed at the Concours d'Elegance in Italy this May and given it a twist to turn it into the Hommage R - a car to celebrate 40 years of both BMW North America and the CSL's exploits on track in 1975. This Hommage R will also be shown at a Concours d'Elegance event, this time the current Pebble Beach show. How we wish we lived in California right now...
Exterior
The exterior of the beautiful CSL Hommage has switched from the Golf Yellow of the original to a BMW Motorsport, tricolour-striped Brilliant White affair, bearing the number 25. All sound familiar? That's because the E9 3.0 CSL Batmobile of the Seventies wore pretty much the same livery for the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) campaign of 1975. And BMW has brought both of them together for these photos. We are seriously drooling, now...
Such homage does the Hommage R pay to the original racing CSL that it has 'Bavarian Motor Works' decals on the windscreen and rear window, features swathes of exposed carbon to show off its lightweight build - just like the 1970s 'Bat' was a featherweight - and its headlights even feature a blue-lit 'X' motif, to evoke the taped headlights of the IMSA machine. About the only area it differs is it has matt gold 21-inch alloys, whereas the 1975 competitor had 16-inch BBS two-piece rims in silver.
Interior
If you can tear yourself away from gawping at the Hommage R's exterior - or even from idolising that 1975 racing CSL - then the big news is inside. The aim of the project was to achieve the best possible fusion of car and driver, so BMW turned its attention to the human occupant and making them the centre of attention. To that end, even the driver's helmet has head-up display. No, seriously, information is relayed straight to the visor, ensuring the eyes are on the road and the hands are on the wheel at all times. Even the race suit features illuminated piping, which shows the progress of information from the steering column to the driver.
The side-section of the carbon fibre seats is shaped to match the anatomy of a seated driver, while the six-point safety harnesses feature BMW Motorsport's tricolour stripes as seen on the outside. Carbon fibre is the main constituent of the cabin as it's everywhere - including the roll cage - but, again harking back to the E9 CSL, there is some wood. It's a cross-member through which information on track layout can be illuminated, and for the show car it has Laguna Seca's circuit on show... including the braking points.
Mechanicals
Still absolutely no word on these as yet, although the 3.0 of the CSL Hommage R's name looks like it might be accurate - one released image of the car being prepped with the bonnet up shows a straight-six engine in the bay, with the words 'BMW TwinPower Turbo' on the cam cover. Whether that's the regular, 326hp engine found in the current 340i model or (oh, please be this!) the 431hp motor of the M3/M4, it should make the CSL Hommage R rabidly quick - especially given its lightweight build ethos. All that remains now is for BMW to do the sensible thing and greenlight production. Immediately.
Anything else?
That No.25 classic CSL you can see is the car which won the 12 Hours of Sebring and a number of other races, including Laguna Seca (24km down the road from Pebble Beach), on its way to winning the IMSA manufacturers' championship in its debut year.
And if you're in any doubt how much this means to BMW, let the company's senior vice-president of design, Adrian van Hooydonk, explain: "Motor racing is all about the ability of cars to mesmerise, about the unbridled joy of driving. And as such, it represents the heartbeat of BMW. Back in 1975, as today, winning races came down to how man and machine could work together. Technical innovations have taken the effectiveness of this partnership to ever great heights. And with the BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage R we're aiming to show how much closer the driver and car can grow in the future."