Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
and Adrian B. reckons this Batmobile repli-racer, resplendent in BMW’s official
motorsport colors, is one of the prettiest race cars around. The good news is
that the driving experience measures up to the visual promise
For a moment
I’m Hans-Joachim ’Strietzel’ Stuck, full-chat in a CSL Batmobile, arguably the
archetypal saloon racer (both car and driver!) from the mid-1970s and a
combination that cemented BMW’s reputation as a purveyor of involving, well-
engineered performance cars. In my mind’s eye the inside front wheel is pawing
the air, the tail squatting and squirming a stance that is so typical of cars
of the era as I feed in the power while a gaggle of Porsches snap at my heels.
In reality I’m guiding a replica Bat fairly gingerly onto the main straight at
Zwartkops, feeling out the grip from the Avon slicks and watching the lanky
needle of the huge VDO rev counter climb towards the 7,000 mark. The
straight-six is really starting to sing and what was an odd, off-beat and
almost rotary-like three-into-one exhaust thrum in the pit lane has risen to a
stirring and evocative wail.
This
replica pays homage to the Group 5 CSL as shared by Stuck and Sam Posey in
America’s 1975 International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Camel GT series
It sounds brilliant from within the
tube-festooned interior, the experience aided by the absence of side windows –
something that will be corrected soon. I imagine it sounds equally stirring to
a group of interested observers leaning on the pit wall, especially with the
dual fat pipes exiting on the right of the car, sending sound waves over the
rise of the circuit’s infield and up towards the pits complex. The red line is
marked at 8 000rpm, but I’d agreed beforehand not to exceed 7,000 and achieving
lap times is not the object of the exercise anyway. As always, my goal is to
get a feel of the machine and appreciate it in context of the era in which it
competed.
This replica pays homage to the Group 5 CSL
as shared by Stuck and Sam Posey in America’s 1975 International Motor Sports
Association (IMSA) Camel GT series, a season in which Stuck won four races but
BMW was still pipped by Porsche for the championship. The surviving original
race cars are worth telephone number figures, but because of its handsome
shape, impressive reputation, relative simplicity and availability of donor
cars (coupes going back to 1968 will work perfectly as a starting point) it is
a favorite with BMW aficionados who want a race replica...
If
it was Italian, we’d be swooning, and mouthing ‘bellissimo’. But seeing this is
a South African take on a German theme we’ll stick with ‘beautiful...’
Indeed, the car you see here is not South
Africa’s first lookalike. A black Batmobile is being raced by BMW enthusiast
Uli Sanne and nearly two decades ago, Andre Honiball (he of Fat Arnies
restaurant fame) built a car very similar to this, painstakingly getting hold
of detailed plans and faith- fully recreating the car from a CS donor or E9 in
BMW-speak. Over time, ownership changed and so did the car, but when motorsport
enthusiast extraordinaire Paolo Cavalieri decided he wanted one for his
collection, it seemed a logical starting point. As it turned out, that car was
pretty much past its sell-by date as the years and rust had taken their toll:
nice from afar, but far from nice. After much soul-searching a decision to
source a new donor car was taken a 2800 CS to be precise and salvage what was
still usable from the racer. Not inconsiderable wads of cash had changed hands
before the two cars were ready to be handed over to classic BMW specialists
Evolution 2 Motorsport, where a long and laborious transformation took place.
Key man in the project was Wynand Durand,
whose youth along with earrings and lip piercing belie his ability to
fabricate, weld and improvise. He’s made dozens of individual items from
scratch including the aluminum brackets for mounting the 15-litre dry sump oil
tank in the boot, and a complete drive system to run the alternator off the
left-hand driveshaft – as per the original race car. The rest of the luggage
space is dominated by a fuel tank that holds over 100 liters of Avgas. With a
background in building show cars and one-off specials, Wynand’s flair and
skills were very much evident when he joined the team two years ago, though he
is very quick to insist that the finished car was a team effort that also
involved a number of respected suppliers to the local motor sport industry.
Under the watchful eye of Evo2 boss man Alec Ceprnich, the project took shape.
Batmobile
repli-racer wears its kidneys with pride a faithful rendition of the original
As it turned out, the tired old Bat
contributed some worthy parts that would otherwise have been difficult and/or
expensive to source. These include the rare center-lock 16-inch BBS wheels, of
which there are a total of six – the mix fortunately including a spare for
front and rear. It also offered up most of the brake hardware, some of the
suspension components, the rear wing and the differential which sadly broke
during testing. Significantly, it also provided a set of molds for the special
bodywork though it is slightly narrower than the real McCoy and anoraks will no
doubt notice the tires sit considerably closer to the outer edges than they did
in the actual race car. This will be corrected says Ceprnich. Still, it makes
the replica look especially beefy, as does the protruding ‘cow catcher’ front
spoiler, though period cars are more often seen with a slightly less elaborate
nose with a spoiler that drops straight down from the grille.
Power
oversteer is available on demand. Big rear wing stops it from getting too lurid
in the high speed stuff
A scale model provided the template for the
roll cage, with the full-size chrome-moly version replicated and welded into
the CS’s shell by Van der Linde Systems, a company that needs no introduction.
It also provided the exhaust system: got to love that white powder-coat finish
of the manifold and the lovely curves of the rearmost trio of pipes as they
balloon upwards to achieve the same lengths as the front three… The Van der
Lindes – South Africa’s fastest family also fettled the cylinder head of the
M88 DOHC 3.5-litre engine, which found its way under the Batmobile’s bonnet
having started its career in an early M5. Fittingly, the M88 is derived from
the M49 racing engine, which when kitted-out with Kugelfischer mechanical fuel
injection is exactly what a pukka race CSL would’ve used. This one is fitted
with Bosch Motronic injection that is similar to standard with some trademark
red intake trumpets sprouting from a big Airbox. It is all controlled by a
Motec race management system that allows for a degree of fine tuning as well as
the ability to monitor a number of functions.
A crankshaft from the later S38 engine
(which replaced the M88) is fitted, to which standard rods are attached,
topped-off with special Wiseco pistons. What reaches the road is about 250kW
and 360Nm of torque more than enough to make for an authentically exciting
driving experience. So that there is little chance of over-revving on an
upshift anyway a battery of tiny LED lights directly above the steering column
start to blink an intense blue hue as the 7 000 mark comes up, and as it turns
out, I use a maximum of 7 006 rpm in my brief stint at the wheel.
