BMW continues to reveal its entrants for the Pebble BeachConcours d’Elegance with the M4 GTS already confirmed to make its debut. From the original concept revealed at the Concorso d’Eleganza in Italy, BMW has detailed some additions to the 3.0 CSL Hommage. Firstly the paint scheme is straight from the race track and they’ve given it the an amended name. It will be called the 3.0 CSL Hommage R in this form.

The grille is slightly changed and it also sports some more racing derived lightweight alloy wheels. The rest of the exterior remains almost identical to the previous concept car. The interior gets some proper race treatment and futuristic technical elements. BMW may have taken things to the extreme however as part of its innovative technology relies on the driver wearing a special helmet and race suit.

The race suit works as a connection system between the driver’s head-up display that is screened onto the driver’s visor. When both hands are on the steering wheel, the suit is able to send a signal to the head-up display to show on the driver’s helmet. Track information, gear selection and other types of relevant data are likely to be displayed on the driver’s visor and scattered around the dashboard. The problem is race driver’s spend most of their time with at least one hand off the steering wheel, fiddling with settings and brake bias.

The seat shells follow a rising diagonal path rearwards, a line extended behind the seats into the rear by a structural carbon-fibre element that increases the torsional rigidity of the BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage R. It is also said to improve the driver’s connection with the chassis.

Previously:

BMW has a history of revealing concepts at the Concorso d’Eleganza in Italy and for this latest event itrevealed a modern take on the classic 3.0 CSL. The BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage as it is called is merely a case study, but aims to maintain the key pillars that the original was built to – Coupe, Sport and lightweight.

In order to make the 3.0 CSL Hommage as light as possible there is a vast amount of Carbon Fibre Reinorced Plastic (CFRP). The material is both strong and extremely light, but no figures have been given on the cars weight.

3.0 CSL Hommage Styling

Karim Habib, Head of BMW Design, explains the thinking behind the design of the BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage: “For BMW designers like us, the BMW 3.0 CSL is a style icon. Its combination of racing genes and elegance generates an engaging aesthetic that continues to win hearts even today.

The BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage celebrates many of those characteristic features, but without copying them. Indeed, some of the parallels are not immediately obvious. We wanted people to sense the family resemblance rather than see it straight off.”

From the side the heritage is clearly seen and the wing is a dead giveaway to the original. From the front though the designers have gone to work trying to make something futuristic and may not have pulled it off. The rear is a definite nod to the BMW i8, especially in the lighting department.

Hybrid Power

Power details for the 3.0 CSL Hommage are lean, but BMW says that it would be powered by a straight-six cylinder engine with eBoost. That’s BMW’s name for hybrid power but no word has been given on specific outputs yet.

Pared down to a minimum, the interior of the BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage puts its lightweight design on show and renders its racing character. All interior elements are there out of absolute necessity, every part has a structural or drive-related function. In the all-CFRP interior, the only wood-like presence is the “instrument panel” – a cross-member and purely structural element. This is a clear reference to the interior of the earlierBMW 3.0 CSL, which featured all-round wood trim throughout the interior.

Racing features include bucket seats, a six-point belt and red anodised safety features such as the outlet nozzles for the extinguishing foam, the fire extinguisher itself, and the two switches on the centre console for the emergency shut-off and fire extinguishing mechanism. The only elements in the rear of the vehicle are two helmets integrated into the transmission tunnel. These are held in place by a belt when not in use. In the place of a rear seat bench, there are only covers for the eBoost energy accumulators.