This stunning looking BMW CSL was entered into the 1976 24hrs of Le Mans by BMW Motorsport as a Group 5 entry. Group 5 rules (which were new for 1976) allowed substantial modifications to be made compared with the road going car on which the race version was nominally based. Extended wings/wheelarches, large rear spoilers, a wider track, lightweight tubular chassis and substantial engine modifications including turbocharging were all allowed. The main principle that had to be adhered to was that the silhouette or outline of the car seen from the side had to be preserved. In practice this meant the angle of the windscreen and rear window, the roof line and the bonnet and boot lid had to match the road going car in profile. As mentioned above the wings could be modified however which allowed Porsche to develop a more aerodynamic nose for it's 935 which was based on the 911.
Group 5 racing ran from 1976 until it was replaced along with Group 6 by the new Group C racing category. The Porsche 935 was completely dominant in the category, mainly because few manufacturers took much of an interest in the series apart from BMW in it's early years. Superb looking Group 5 Ford Capris, Lancia Beta Montecarlos and even oddballs such as a Triumph TR8 with massive fender flares and wings appeared but the 935 remained the car to beat.
The BMW 3.0 CSL Turbo Group 5 car had a 3.2 litre straight six engine with 4 valves per cylinder, twin overhead camshafts and a large turbocharger, and produced 750bhp in race tune.
American artist Frank Stella was asked to design the livery for this car, the second BMW Art Car. He produced look similar to sheets of graph paper intersected with curved thicker black lines, a design which he said was influenced by the highly technical nature of a racing car.
This car qualified in 8th place overall for the 1976 Le Mans 24hrs, with a practice time of 3:53.4 (mins:secs), and was the 2nd fastest Group 5 car on the grid behind the Martini Porsche 935 which qualified 3rd overall with a time of 3:41.7 The car was driven by the British/American driver pairing of Brian Redman/Peter Gregg. Hervé Poulain who had driven the original Art Car entry in 1975 was entered to drive the car but in the end did not start the race. In the race itself, the Stella painted CSL failed to shine, and retired at the 4 hour mark with an oil leak.
Following Le Mans, the car was entered in one further event, the 6 hour race at Dijon in France in September 1976. Swedish driver Ronnie Peterson started the race from pole position (having just edged out the Porsche 935 of Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass in qualifying) but the car failed to finish the race, retiring after only 33 laps (the winning Porsche 935 completed 311 in the 6 hour race) thanks to final drive failure. The other driver Gunnar Nilsson did not get to drive the car as it retired during Peterson's first stint at the wheel. At Dijon the car wore the number 21, while at the earlier Le Mans race in June, the car wore the number 41. This model depicts the car as it looked for the 6hrs of Dijon, but it also has the "Gr 5" classification sticker on it below both doors from the Le Mans race. The car today is part of BMWs museum collection and is numbered "21", but does not have the Le Mans sticker on it in the photos I have of it. Hence I believe Minichamps wished to made the model as it had raced at Le Mans, but failed to put the correct race number on the car. A small error, but one I guess that could be corrected easily by removing the Le Mans stickers from below the doors (that's if one wished to accurately depict the Dijon 6hrs version of the car).
The model comes with it's own perspex display case and a sturdy base to which it is normally attached by four screws. It also came with an all colour booklet showing the history of BMW's Art Car collection which is a handy source of reference for these models. At present (Sept 2006) I believe it is only available from BMW dealers through the parts department.
As I'm in the middle of a house move (as of August/September 2006) all my models are in storage hence I'm not able to accurately rate this model for this review. To do so properly I like to have the model to hand so I can inspect it properly in order to give it a fair rating. Once our house move is complete I aim to get my models out of storage ASAP and add a full rating of this model to this review.
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