BMW 3.0 CSL

Overview

A variation of the 1971 3.0 CS and 3.0 CSi, the 3.0 CSL was specially approved for competition and made its debut in 1972. Destined primarily for the European Touring Cars Championship, it became one of the top competitors as early as 1973, winning not only the European title, but also a class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the hands of Dieter Quester and Toine Hezemans, 11th overall. It was to be the best result achieved at Le Mans by the 3.0 CSL, which also won at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps twice (1973 and 1976).

This performance coupé from the 1970s was a touring car superstar and the heroic piece of machinery which put BMW back among the all-time racing greats. The 3.0 CSL is also, by a huge margin, the most handsome touring car of its era and a car that paved the way for the first M cars and BMW’s glory that soon followed.

In 1971, BMW introduced the upgraded versions of the E9 coupé road car, the carbureted 3.0 CS, and the direct injection 3.0 CSi. The duo was powered by a bored-out version of the M30 and served as a subsequent foundation for the Bavarian Batmobile. Also in 1971, they gathered around manpower to establish BMW Motorsport GmBH, a small division of dedicated engineers who ventured into transforming the E9 into a racing car. Soon, the 3.0 CSL was born as a Group 2 homologation special.

The abbreviation stood for Coupé Sport Liecht, basically meaning a lightweight sports coupé. The stripped-down car was slender indeed, being 440 lb lighter than the 3.0 CS and weighing around 2,568 lb in total. For customers who didn’t want to give up on luxury, the optional City Package 3.0 CSL was a more comfortable, but also heavier optional variant and most of these cars ended up being right-hand drive.

The production was commissioned to Karmann and spanned from late 1971 to 1975 with a total of 1265 examples built, and none originally intended for the North American market.

Much as the regular E9, the 3.0 CSL had steel unibody construction. However, the comprehensive weight-saving operation started from the car’s skeleton. Wherever possible, they used thinner steel in the unibody, shaving off pounds from the very core. Having a lighter and still equally rigid chassis was a good foundation for a superb plate-wearing sports car, but bear in mind that the full-on Group 2 version radically differed from its street legal counterpart.

The M30 engine of the 3.0 CSL had three iterations, each catering to a set of regulations and BMW Motorsport’s racing goals. Initially, they didn’t apply any changes to the carbureted straight-six and with that in mind, the first 169 cars had the same twin-Zenith 35/40 INAT M30 pumping out 180 horsepower as the 3.0 CS. Soon after, in order for the car to qualify for the over-3-liter class, they performed a slight increase in the engine’s displacement, to 3,003 cm3. The bump was achieved by increasing the bore of the pistons. These variants of the 3.0 CSL were the ones based on the 3.0 CSi, so the car had Bosch D-Jetronic direct injection and produced 197 horsepower at 5,500 RPM and 201 lb-ft of torque at 4,300 RPM. The next alteration for the 3.0CSL came in 1973 when the M30 got another bump in displacement, to 3,153 cm3. The ultimate variant of the homologation special made a switch to Bosch L-Jetronic and produced 203 horsepower at 5,600 RPM and 211 lb-ft at 4,200 RPM and it also got generous aerodynamic improvements.

Once homologated, the 3.0 CSL was ready to hit the racetracks for the 1973 season and in the meantime, they managed to sign Jochen Neerpasch, an accomplished race director at Ford. Neerpasch soon became an instrumental figure in BMW’s rise to motorsport stardom and the 3.0 CSL was his first major success.

The race car was thoroughly reworked to be way more powerful, more aerodynamically efficient and considerably lighter. Since BMW’s increase in displacement put the 3.0 CSL in a no-limit class, the initial cars had a 3.2-liter engine which was soon increased to a 3.5-liter unit, both sporting a Getrag five-speed gearbox. The ultimate iteration of the race car sported a 24-valve 3.5-liter M49/2 straight six

In its debut 1973 season, BMW showed dominant performance in the European Touring car championship, winning both the driver and the manufacturer title, courtesy of Toine Hezemans. Moreover, BMW Motorsport scored a victory in its class at the 1973 24 Hours of Le Mans in a car driven by Hezemans and Dieter Quester.

After Ford’s ETCC victory in 1974, BMW returned to the throne, winning every title from 1974 to 1979. On US soil, it was famously driven by Ronnie Peterson, Sam Posey and Brian Redman and it triumphed at Sebring, Daytona, and Talladega, the holy trinity of racing circuits on this side of the Atlantic.

Apart from the factory BMW Motorsport team, the 3.0 CSL could be seen driven by Schnitzer and Alpina. Throughout the years, many world-class drivers enjoyed success in the 3.0 CSL, including Hans-Joachim Stuck and Chris Amon who drove for BMW Motorsport, and Jacky Ickx, James Hunt, and Niki Lauda who drove for Alpina on numerous occasions.

The most memorable liveries of the 3.0 CSL are BMW Motorsport stripes on both white and black cars, bright orange Jägermeister wrap with a zesty green air dam and a rear spoiler, and Schnitzer’s green Gösser car with BMW Motorsport striping.