BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage Concept~ Reinterpretation of a Legend

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When it was introduced in May, BMW's 3.0 CSL Hommage was met with mixed reactions — the car's lines just didn't seem to flow correctly. It definitely didn't feel like a fitting tribute to the original 3.0CSL of the early ’70s, one of the prettiest and most celebrated variants of one of the best cars BMW has ever made.

But rather than giving up and moving on, BMW is back with a second version of the car — the 3.0 CSL Hommage R — which is debuting at the famed Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance this week. And strangely enough, against all odds, I think they may have actually managed to fix it.

The R version was designed to celebrate BMW North America's 40th anniversary and the original 3.0 CSL's successes on the track in 1975. Gone is the garish yellow of the earlier concept car, replaced with a very traditional BMW racing livery — white, trimmed with the red and two shades of blue of the company's Motorsport division. Instead of fighting the car's odd lines, the new colors complement them, paired with angry-looking gold wheels that are track-ready.

Inside, there's not much going on — that's because most of the instrumentation is designed to route through to the driver's helmet visor. It sounds like science fiction, but at this point, it isn't; augmented reality is popping up on a regular basis nowadays, and even automakers have started showing working concepts.

Clearly, this isn't a production car — but now that BMW has made two versions of it, odds are growing that we're looking at some very real design language we can expect to see in future models that are rolling off the line. Now that they've gotten it right with the R, I'm okay with that.

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