The third incarnation of the annual New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing at Hampton Downs this weekend is paying homage to a different sort of racing legend - a manufacturer.
BMW's rich history in saloon car racing is being acknowledged and fans will be pleased to know racing hero ChrisAmon has more than just a tenuous link to one of the cars.
He and fellow tin-top legend Hans-Joachim Stuck raced the BMW 3.0CSL on display over the weekend to victory in the 1973 German Touring Car Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.
Amon had spent his racing career until then in single-seater Formula or CanAm cars, so driving a saloon car with a roof on a racetrack was a bit of an adventure for him.
"It was the only real touring car racing I ever did," Amon said. "It took me a race or two to get used to it [but] I really enjoyed it."
Although the car was built as a road-going model, the CSL Amon and Stuck won the six-hour endurance race in - affectionately known as the Batmobile - wasn't stock. "They would have had to weigh about 1000kg and looked a bit chunky but were a seriously quick piece of gear really."
The car has been brought out by BMW from its Munich motorsport museum for the launch of the new BMW 1M series. The CSL will be joined by other historic BMWs at the festival over the next two weekends.
