2003 BMW M3 CSL

A new sports car now embodies the very core of the BMW brand in its most original style the M3 CSL. Taking up the heritage and legendary success of BMW's famous lightweight coupés which gained fame in touring car racing back in the '70s, the engineers of BMW M have once again created a purist, thoroughbred sports car consistently designed and built to the highest standard of excellence.

In recognition of the fact that the weight spiral constantly going up can only be brought to a halt by radically reducing all moving masses, BMW M?s engineers, in developing this new car, have turned a thrilling lightweight concept into reality. For the new BMW M3 CSL is not only more powerful than the already very dynamic M3, but is also a lot lighter and therefore even more nimble.

In developing the M3 CSL, however, BMW M did not focus on the radical reduction of weight alone. On the contrary the task the designers and development engineers gave themselves was to create a car full of purist driving dynamics, a car absolutely pure in every respect, down to the very last component. And the result, finally, is unique, absolutely unmarred driving dynamics and a purist character.

The BMW M3 CSL thus combines supreme agility with the ultimate driving experience. With its outstanding power-to-weight ratio of only 3.85 kg/bhp, this new car moves into an entirely new dimension. So the engineers at BMW M are quite sure that this sports car is able to break the 8-minute sound barrier on the legendary Northern Circuit of Nurburgring, the ultimate benchmark in driving dynamics.

Source - BMW