CHASING PERFECT
This street-spec BMW 3.0 CSL IMSA is road racer perfection. Go on, tell us we’re wrong...
Let’s not overcomplicate this, shall we? Cast your eye over the image before you and let your mind drift away into a world of infinite possibilities. A world where this car actually exists. Unfortunately, this isn’t BMW’s latest retro homage, it’s the work of annoyingly talented vehicle artist Khyzyl Saleem. Khyzyl recently posted how the IMSA 3.0 CSL Batmobile is: “One of the most beautiful racecars ever created.” And lo, the seed was planted in his head, and this render of a road-legal interpretation was born. We’d proffer that this is one of the finest, most lustworthy BMW renders ever created. So, here it is, massive, for your viewing pleasure.
You’ll probably already know a bit about the CSL’s history, especially the IMSA version, but it’s worth a refresh. BMW’s then motorsport director Jochen Neerpasch was tasked with developing a factory team to run the CSL in the IMSA Camel GT series in the States (it had, after all, won a European Touring Car Championship and class win at Le Mans before, so it had form). Long story short, it worked, tremendously, the cherry being a heroic win at the 12hrs of Sebring in 1975. Only five were ever built, none that looked like this, and that’s a shame because it’s pretty much perfect: side-exit exhausts, BBS wheels, huge rear wing. Check, check and very check.
Well that’s quite a sight, isn’t it? If the Aston Martin Valkyrie – a track-focused hypercar with a 1,160bhp output and 11,100rpm redline – has so far seemed too otherworldly to get excited about, then here it is looking utterly spectacular on a regular old road.
“I’ve shot on that road,” declared staff writer Tom Harrison as soon as he saw these pictures. “I would not want to drive a Valkyrie down it, that’s for sure.”
Looks like some Sparco-shoed aliens have descended from another planet in their V12-powered UFO to sniff out Britain’s famous B-roads. Viewed from behind, the car looks especially mesmerising, with huge gaps where normal cars have ‘bodywork’ and a diffuser that could make reverse parking a financially ruinous venture.
“Following successful circuit testing, Valkyrie has been navigating the roads
nearby Silverstone,” says Aston. “The team from Aston Martin and Red Bull Advanced Technologies will now begin real-world testing to take our hypercar a step closer to first deliveries.”
If you’re expecting a delivery toward the end of this year, we implore you to get your car out of its garage and drive it out in the open to give unsuspecting road users the same excitement we experienced on seeing these photos.