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While the first BMW Hommage concept—revealed at the Villa d’Este Concours earlier this year—wasn’t universally lauded by critics, the latest version of the car, dubbed “Hommage R”, should fair a little better.
That’s thanks in no small part to the addition of the classic BMW racing livery, seen on so many BMW racers throughout the years, and a defining feature of the BMW Motorsport brand.
Consisting of bright white paintwork and with stripes painted in the classic red, blue, purple of the BMW M logo adorning the flanks and hood, it looks much more purposeful and pleasing than did the Hommage, which was finished in Golf Yellow and suited the original 1971 model much better. The gold wheels work well here, too, just as they did all those years ago.
The Hommage R, however, draws its inspiration from the 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL, which happened to be the same year BMW of North America was founded, and the first time the manufacturer won the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race, beating out such perennial winners as the Porsche 911 RSR and Ferrari 365. The Hommage R is the perfect 1-2 punch, then.
“Motor racing is all about the ability of cars to mesmerize,” said BMW Group Design president Adrian van Hooydonk. “As such, it represents the heartbeat of BMW.”
No power figures have been announced, but there are a few functional tidbits that BMW has divulged.
There’s an integrated roll-cage fashioned from carbon fibre, for example, and the interior is fashioned almost entirely from the same material, as are the seats; even the instrument panel forms part of the structure.
It’s got one of the widest front fascias in the line-up, for example, and the rear end features a racing-derived carbon rear splitter, and the rear wing is befitting of the item found on the old car, which earned it the “Batmobile” label back in the day.
In addition to the new car, BMW has also developed a racing helmet that projects a heads-up display right onto the visor, where it relays information such as vehicle speed and which gear is engaged. However, in order for this to work, a special race suit was developed in partnership with Puma that can relay information through the steering wheel, into the race suit, and through to the helmet’s HUD. It seems the developers of the sci-fi film Tron from 1982 weren’t that far off…
