"It was the only real touring car racing I ever did," Amon said. "When I was approached about it, I was a bit reluctant having never driven a touring car before.
"I've got to say it look me a race or two to get used to it, because compared to a Formula One or sports racing car they roll a lot and you're very tempted to over drive them because you feel you're not going fast enough. Once I got used to it I really enjoyed it."
Although the car was originally built as a road-going model for homologation purposes, the CSL Amon and Stuck won the six-hour endurance race in wasn't stock.
Affectionately known as the Batmobile, it had all the normal gumpf associated with a passenger car ripped out and aluminium boot, bonnet, doors and Perspex windows fitted.
Now much lighter, an aero package fitted, and a pretty handy straight-six engine developing about 250kW, the car could travel up to 280km/h. Not too shabby in the 1970s for a 3.6-litre in-line engine.
"They would have had to weight about 1000kg and looked a bit chunky but were a seriously quick piece of gear really," Amon said. "They had a totally different feel to a Formula One car. They had a lot of body movement but in a straight line, especially at Le Mans in the 24-hour [race], I'd be trundling down the straight at 280km/h. That's seriously quick."
The Kiwi suggests he and Stuck could have won a lot more races in the car had it held together longer.
"Stuck and I had a lot of races and I have to admit that we didn't finish quite a few for one reason or another. But we did win the six-hour at the Nurburgring against the Cologne Capris and they were quick. When everything was going right, we had the legs on those," said Amon.
The former works Ferrari driver still holds the Formula One lap record at Spa, as they no longer raced F1 cars on the old circuit (14.5km) after 1970.
He set a blistering 3:27.4 lap in a March 701B-Ford at an average speed of 245km/h and said the BMW wasn't far off that pace. That is some achievement considering it was a tin top with the aerodynamics of a brick compared to a Formula One car.
"In the middle of the night with the BMW in the 24-hour race, I think I lapped Spa in about 3:48 or 49secs," Amon explained. "So it was about 20-odd seconds slower than a Formula One car."
Amon is at pains to reiterate that, although the car is not a runner, it is the same car he and Stuck raced in 1973. It won't race around Hampton Downs because of the risks if it either blows up or has an altercation with a wall.
"Spares and bits are pretty thin on the ground and I guess it's the only one they have at the museum and they don't want it pounding around a circuit," Amon said. "It was great to sit in it again and it brought back some fond memories."
The car has been brought out by BMW from its motorsport museum in Munich to New Zealand for the launch of the new BMW 1M series and is complete with its original No 12 and factory livery.
The festival will be held over the next two weekends and the CSL will be joined by other historic BMW cars like the ex-Peter Brock/Jim Richards BMW Mobil M3, the ex-Denny Hulme B&H BMW M3, JPS BMW 635CSi and JPS BMW M3. There will also be a German Touring Car (DTM) on display.
- APNZ
