BMW 3.0 CSL "Batmobile" E9 - automotive icon

Before the M-Car, there was the Batmobile, and the BMW 3.0 CSL (E9) was a winner on the track, laying the foundation for today's BMW performance road cars A new video from BMW Group Classic gives an overview of this iconic car.

Launched on the race circuit in 1973, the 3.0 CSL was a racing version of the E9-generation 3.0 CS, BMW's large coupe of the day; designed for the FIA Group 2 class, 1,000 road cars were also built for homologation purposes.

The CSL earned the nickname "Batmobile" because of its huge rear wing and other add-ons that made it look like a certain superhero vehicle. Power came from an inline 6-cylinder engine (3.2 liters displacement) that produced 206 horsepower in the road car's final evolution.

In its first season, the racing version won the European Touring Car Championship. The CSL also recorded BMW's first major sports car race victory in the U.S. (the 1975 12 Hours of Sebring), and another became the first BMW Art Car to be painted by Alexander Calder.

The 3.0 CSL was also one of the first cars to feature BMW's now-familiar M racing stripe. The red represents racing, the blue represents BMW itself, and the purple represents a fusion of the two.

It should be noted that the racing version shown in this video is a replica, built for historic racing to avoid risking the highly prized originals in BMW's collection. However, one would not be able to tell the difference through the screen.