1972 BMW CSL Group 2

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Chassis No. 2211373



Original Schnitzer Works car • first GT car ever to obtain the FIA Heritage Certificate • fully documented history • perferctly restored and race-ready


Originales Schnitzer Werks-Auto • voll dokumentierte Historie • erster Tourenwagen dem ein FIA Heritage Zertifikat ausgestellt wurde• komplett restauriert und rennfertig • ideal für Veranstaltungen wie dem Oldtimer GP, DRM Revival oder Langstreckenrennen

Model history:

Created in the early 1960s, the Touring car class quickly became very popular with manufacturers and fans alike. It was the perfect opportunity for manufacturers to prove their worth on the track, and for fans to see the cars they drove to the track compete in anger. In the first years the eligible cars were popular four door saloons like the Alfa Romeo Giulia and the Ford Cortina, but with the ever changing rules they were replaced by two door cars like the Alfa Romeo GTA and BMW 2002. What remained was the minimum production requirement of 1000 cars for homologation purposes. By the turn of the decade Alfa Romeo was the dominant force in the European Touring Car Campionship (ETCC), but in the background a rivalry grew between Ford and BMW that would headline the championship in the years to come.

What was considered a touring car in those years? Porsche tried to get their 911 homologated, but that was rejected on the grounds of having too little backseat space. Similarly cramped coupes like the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA or BMW 2800 CS were accepted though, although it must be said that Porsche did not make things easier for themselves to also have the 911 homologated as a GT. Basically if a car had enough space to seat four people and was built in sufficient numbers it was eligible. To regulate the wide variety of cars, each displacement bracket had a minimum weight so the smaller cars had a chance of winning against the big ones. From season to season changes to the classes and homologation requirements were made. One of the most important ones was the acceptance of extensive modifications after a part's production run of just 100.

Right around the birth of Touring car racing, BMW turned a new corner away from the large and expensive V8 engined saloons to smaller and most importantly more affordable four and six cylinder engined cars. Of course the cars were by no means cheap, but it did open a whole new market for the German manufacturer. The new cars engines were also much more suited to motorsport and from 1964 the Munich based manufacturer was present in the ETCC. Alongside the Touring car program, BMW also took up construction of bespoke racing engines for single seaters and sports prototypes. Finally there was also considerable backdoor support to local tuning company Alpina, who joined the works team in the ETCC. After the dismal state the company was in at the 1950s, it was quite remar
The car shown in current condition
kable that BMWs and BMW powered racers were winning races all over Europe not a decade later and there was more to come.

Ford of Europe, located in Cologne, Germany, joined the ETCC in 1970 with the all new Capri coupe, which combined a very light construction with a powerful V6 engine. As an answer to the 'Mini-Mustang's' arrival, Alpina developed a racing version of the somewhat similar BMW 2800 CS. Breathing through three huge Weber carburetors, the 3-litre six cylinder engines produced 300 bhp, but it was not enough to bring the heavy coupe up to pace with the Ford. Serious development work was needed to the extent that a new homologation was required. Weight was shaved off and the Webers replaced by a Kugelfischer fuel injection system boosting power to 335 bhp. Alpina was capable of a lot, but producing 1000 cars to pass the homologation requirements was a bit much. At this point BMW stepped in and took over the development and production from Alpina to seriously take on Ford.

To leave nothing to chance, BMW lured Ford racing director Jochen Neerpasch to Munich who set up the now legendary BMW Moporsport department. Using the new 3.0 CSi model as a basis, BMW Motorsport created the 3.0 CSL for Coupe Sport Leicht or Coupe Sport Lightweight. Where possible the trim and sound-proofing was removed and the bonnet, doors and boot were are aluminum. In the first production cars a 180 bhp three litre engine was installed, but from 1973 the CSL came equipped with an even more powerful 3.2 'six'. Today the 3.0 CSL is most famous for its extensive set of wings, which earned it the nick-name 'Batmobile', but none of the road cars ever came equipped with the aggressive spoilers. A necessity on the track, they were deemed illegal for road use. Opening the boot after delivery revealed eight carefully packaged pieces with instructions on how to turn the bare CSL into the Batmobile.

Differing in detail from the road car, the racing CSL was ready for action in 1973. Throughout six cylinder engine was increased in size from the initial 3.2 litre to 3.5 litre and the four speed gearbox replaced by a Getrag five speed box. Compared to Alpina's first efforts power was up by 75 bhp and weight down over 150 kg. Fielded foremost by the BMW Works team, by Alpina and Schnitzer, the 3.0 CSL fought an epic battle with the Ford Capri throughout the season. At the end of the season, it was Works driver Toine Hezemans who took the driver's title and BMW claimed the manufacturer's crown. Exemplary for the series' popularity were the guest drives of Formula 1 drivers Lauda, Hunt, Stuck and Amon. The latter two scored a victory in the Nürburgring round of the season after six brutal hours on the Nordschleife. Over the winter both BMW and Ford made use of the opportunity to modify their cars in accordance with the 100 examples minimum production rule. Both manufacturers developed twin cam, four valves per cylinder head, resulting in a power hike to well over 400 bhp. Ford also worked on aero improvements to match the Batmobile's downforce. The global oil crisis had reached a new high and this was reflected in the grid for the first race of 1974, which was noticeably smaller than for previous editions. Both works teams skipped the first round to debut their latest material in the second. Ford had managed to close the performance gap, but at the cost of decreased reliability. Drama struck for BMW in the Nürburgring race where all ten entered CSLs failed to finish, leaving an easy victory for Ford with a Zakspeed Escort. BMW decided to bail out on the championship leaving the championship for Ford and its driver Hans Heyer.

At the end of the season Ford followed BMW's lead, leaving the 1975 ETCC to the privateers. Now in the hands of the Schnitzer and Alpina teams, the 24-valve CSLs were again the force to be reckoned with Alpina's driver taking the crown. With sometimes less than a dozen cars entered, the 1975 season showed how quickly a championship could go sour within a year or two. To cut costs the rules were changed for 1976 and with homologation regulations tightened the four valve head and big body kits were banned. Equipped with the 3.2 litre engine and 4 speed gearbox, the CSL remained highly competitive until the end of the decade, even against a new generation of racing cars. The 24-valve cars went to United States and were re-homologated to run as Group 4 and 5 cars in the popular IMSA GTO championship.


Specific history of this car:

This 1971 BMW Belgium Racing Group 2 CSL, chassis number 2211373 is one of the very first 139 lightweight prototypes manufactured in Munich in late 1971. It was sold to Schnitzer and delivered on 21 October 1971 to be built into a Group 2 racer for the 1972 season. Alan Peltiers father, Albert "Poppa Peltier" bought this Golf Yellow racer on behalf of BMW Belgium and ran it under the sponsorship of his own company - Precision Liegeoise. Driven by the young Alan Peltier and Jean Xhenceval the car finished sixth overall, the highest placed BMW in the 1972 ETCC championship (against the Works Ford Capri team whose drivers included Sir Jackie Stewart).

1972
European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) - "BMW Belgium/Precision Liegeoise" driven by Alain Peltier, Jean Xhenceval and John Fitzpatrick
Monza, 2nd overall
Salzburgring, 6th overall
Brno, 5th overall
Nürburgring, result unknown
24 hours of Spa, DNF
Zandvoort, DNF
Paul Richard, 6th overall
Silverstone, DNS
Jarama, 3rd overall

Championship result 6th overall (highest placed BMW behind the factory Fords). Other races uncluded :

• North Sea Trophy/Nivelles, 3rd overall
Coupes de Spa, 2nd overall
1972 Monza with Peltier and Xhenceval
Coupes Benelux, 4th overall

1973
ETCC and other " Precision Liegeoise" driven by Alain Peltier, Vincent Gaye and Hugh de Fierlant
24 hours of SPA, DNF
Paul Richard, DNF
Coupes de Spa, DNF

When Poppa bought Alan the 1973 ex-works CSL of Amon/Stuck for the 1974 season, the old and the new car was liveried up in the blue of Gitanes cigarettes. It was now used as the spare car, with the same works wheel arches and full aeroset. While Alan and Jean-Louis Lafosse campaigned the ex-works car in 1974, the spare was hired out to paying drivers like Hugh de Fierlant to help with the racing costs, in ETCC, DARM BPCC and Coupe L'Avenir.

In 1975 the old car was given to Serge Power who had been Precision Liegeoises main race mechanic from 1972-1975. Again, while Alan was campaigning the 24-valve Alpina-

Spa-Francorchamps 1973 with Vincent Gaye and Hugh de Fierlant

Faltz car owned and co-raced by Muller in 1975, Serge rented out the old blue CSL, getting to Jarama with Bernard Carlier and some national races with Reine Wissel.

1974-75
"Gitanes no.2/Serge Power" driven by Hugh de Fierlant, Bernard Carlier, J.C. Doret and Reine Wissel
Zolder DRM Gp2/4, 2nd
Zolder GP AVD Group 2/4, 4th
Zolder BPCC?, result unknown
JARAMA ETCC 5th

It was then sold on to Raymond Raus for the 1976 season, and downgraded accordingly with wet sump, four speed gearbox, eyebrow arches, and painted red with black.

1976
"Autos Raymond" driven by Raymond Raus
Zandvoort GP/Bekers der Toekomst, 3rd
Zolder, 1st
Zolder ADAC Pokal Rennen, 6th
• Zandvoort/Trophy of the Dunes Group 2/4 2nd
• Zandvoort/Bekers de Toekomst (Coupe L'Avenir) 3rd
Raymond Raus finished 2nd overall in the 1976 Belgium Touring Car Championship

Raymond came second that year in the Belgium touring car championship with this "Autos Raymond" lightweight. In 1977 he won most of the races in the championship and became 1977 Belgiium Tourenwagen Champion. He and Frans Lubin also drove the car at the ETCC Zandvoort round where it came 6th beating the Luigi UFO CSL, Serges new Decorbel CSL and Finottos CSL as well as the Works Jaguars, not bad for a national touring car competitor.

1977
"Autos Raymond" driven by Raymond Raus, Frans Lubin and Serve Maasen
Zolder/Bekers de Belgie, 1st.
Ecurie Goodyear/Ecurie du Nord, 2nd
Super Tourenwagen, 3rd
ETCC Zandvoort, "Tonka Toys" 6th
Zandvoort GP Group 2/4, 3rd
Zandvoort/Bekers der Toekomst, 1st
Raymond Raus was the champion of the 1977 Belgium Touring Car Championship.

Raymond switched over to a Kremer Porsche for 1978 and the old CSL probably never raced again. It was rallycrossed a couple of times by Huug van Es in Holland. When accquired by a British restorer in 2005 the car was still full of Zanvoort sand and sat on the same slicks it raced on in the late 1970ies. When found, the CSL still proved to be in superb condition and accordingly, it has been fully restored back to its powerful, semi-dry-sump, five speed version of 1973. Every panel was still original yellow, as 1971, except of the nose which is blue, as 1974 and the changed wings which are red (as 1976).

The engine is an original (early 1973) 3.3-litre short stroke Works Schnitzer type engine, with 80mm stroke x 95.5mm bore, complete with Schnitzer dry-sump, Schnitzer oilpump. In mid 1973 when the factory brought out the new 3.5-litre long stroke engine (84mm), most engines were changed to the larger capacity because the type of long distance racing in the ETCC suited the new engine with its greater torque. We were told that this is the only short stroke screamer still in existance to our knowlege. The cylinder head is one of the originals (number 288).

The cam is a full 330 degree hardened racecam. Valves are big and sculpted, fed by an original Schnitzer magalloy slide system with a race-cammed injection pump. Crank and rods are lightened and balanced.

The original Corbeau GT seat and belts have of course been replaced but carefully saved, and also Alains original fire extinguisher! The original black headlining is still in, as are the door panels c/w long distance kneepad and ashtrays! The original aluminium side exhaust pipes are restored. The rear screen is original plastic as are the rear quarters, also all alluminium panels are the originals. The original "S" emergency pull has been kept. The car is as original as any racing saloon car will ever be.

Today the Schnitzer car is painted as in 1973 in Golf Yellow with flourescent orange highlights. It also is one of the very first cars to have a FIA Heritage Certificate (No.31), which fully documents the history and authenticity of the car. Furthermoe the car accompanies a large history file and current FIA papers.

This is a rare opportunity to purchase a completely authentic ex-Schnitzer car with full documentation and in race ready condition. The Schnitzer BMW CSL for sale is today eligible for some of the most pestigious events as Le Mans Classic, the German DRM Revival, CER and similar.