Batmobile lives again

BMW’s 3.0 CSL is back with plenty of power and aerodynamics, writes Nile Bijoux.

BMW has brought back the 3.0 CSL, also known as the Batmobile, as part of the 50th anniversary of the M division. The original E9 CSL came out in the 1970s, and while it wasn’t actually badged an M car, it was the one that started it all. BMW built the car as a homologation special to make the car eligible for the European Touring Car Championship and, as such, only 1265 were ever built.

BMW gave it a thinner steel body, aluminium doors, bonnet and bootlid and perspex side windows, all to reduce weight, along with that iconic body kit. Fun fact: the wing wasn’t legal in Germany at the time, so BMW sold the CSL with the wing in the boot for owners to install themselves.

This new 3.0 CSL continues many of those themes, with carbon fibre reinforced plastic on ‘‘virtually all bodywork sections’’, like the roof, bonnet, boot lid, front and rear aprons and side panel attachments. . . and sills, rear diffuser, wing and spoiler. It’s all handmade, too.

Styling changes include a slightly smaller kidney grille with a satin silver surround, recesses in the nose for cooling the engine and brakes, and throwback bonnet-mounted air fins.

Laser headlights from the M4 CSL come with yellow race-inspired accents, and there are bulging fenders to house 20-inch lightweight wheels.

Finally, there’s a gorgeous rear wing, enclosed at the sides like the original, and paired with a carbon diffuser under the rear end as well as an E9-flavoured roofmounted spoiler.

Under the bonnet is a reworked version of the 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight six found in the M3 and M4, but now benefiting from BMW’s DTM-winning racer.

It gets a rigid crankcase, a forged lightweight crankshaft and 3D-printed cylinder head core. The cooling system and oil supply are also designed for ‘‘extremely dynamic driving situations’’.

All in, the engine now produces a healthy 412kW/550Nm, the most power ever from a road-going BMW straight-six. It revs to 7200rpm and sings through a titanium exhaust backbox.

That power is sent to the rear axle through a six-speed manual exclusively, which boasts a specific shift knob.

BMW says its white surface, the engraved gearshift diagram and the No 50, is reminiscent of the beginnings of BMW M GmbH in the 1970s.

The transmission gets a new shift assistant, which uses a connection speed control to ensure slip-free clutch engagement after downshifting when braking for corners. It can be activated or deactivated by the driver.

All 3.0 CSLs get carbon-ceramic brakes, an M rear differential, trackoriented adaptive M suspension, and carbon bucket seats inside. Like the M4 CSL, the rear seats have been ditched in favour of a place to store race helmets.

Interested? BMW is only building 50 across the world and each one takes 30 trained M technicians to build. They go through eight production cycles taking up to 10 days each, and will be built at the same factory as 7 Series and Rolls-Royce components.

Price is an unknown at the moment, but expect it to be a lot. Plus, BMW told Stuff that the car is ‘‘a limited edition, lefthand-drive model for specific markets and hence will not be introduced here by BMW New Zealand’’.