Amon reflects on his 1973 CSL victory lap

BMW's specially modified 3.0CSL. Photo / Supplied

BMW celebrated the 1M's arrival by touring a very special 3.0CSL - the car raced to victory by Kiwi Chris Amon and Hans-Joachim Stuck at the 1973 German Touring Car Grand Prix at Nurburgring.

The 3.0CSL was specially built in 1972 to make the car eligible to race in the European Touring Car Championship.

BMW cut soundproofing, used aluminium for the doors, bonnet and boot lid to trim weight and fitted Perspex windows, although 500 cars destined for Britain did have soundproofing, electric windows and stock bumpers.

Amon says "I have some nice memories of the CSL." But when he first drove it in early 1973 he thought, "This is awful." Until then he'd raced mostly in single-seaters or sports cars. "So it was a real shock to get in something that rolled and moved about as much as a touring car. However, after getting used to that aspect I really enjoyed driving them."

"My driving partner was Hans Stuck. We had some epic battles with the factory Cologne Capris during the season. As a racing category they were pretty quick too, I remember at Spa that year on the old circuit we were lapping within about 20-something seconds of a F1 time in a four-minute lap. That would have been an average speed in the 130mph (210km/h) range."

"I had a CSL as a road car that year, which was a lot of fun. "Plenty of go and no stability, traction control or ABS in sight. I remember wet roundabouts were great."