BMW 2002 Hommage celebrates turbo cars
Design study honours motor-racing glories
Special car for Pebble Beach Concours
MUNICH, Germany, PEBBLE BEACH, Caifornia – BMW Group is presenting the BMW 2002 Hommage at the Concours d’Elegance in Pebble Beach to shine a spotlight back over its successful history with turbocharged engines.
In 1973 the BMW 2002 turbo became the first series-produced vehicle in Europe with turbo technology. In so doing, it turned the BMW 02 into a full-blooded sports-car.
“Looking back,” BMW says, “the advent of BMW turbo engine technology pointed the way not only for development of the sportiest BMW sedans but also milestones such as the first Formula 1 World championship title for a turbocharged car with Nelson Piquet in 1983.”
Karim Habib, head of design for BMW Automobiles, told The Corner in a media release: “The 2002 Hommage celebrates the extraordinary feats of engineering on which BMW turbo technology is based and re-interprets them in the form of a design study.
“With its iconic orange/black paintwork the car has a colour scheme and livery recalled by many motorsport fans with the triumphs of the 1970s.”
The car unveiled at Pebble Beach writes the next chapter in a story begun by the BMW 2002 Hommage, which the company presented at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in May.
“The sporting silhouette of the BMW 2002 Hommage,” BMW says, “lies low to the road. Its compact proportions – long wheelbase, short overhangs and prominent “shark nose” – promise a driving experience of irresistible dynamics and agility.”
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Aerodynamic details such as a large spoiler front and rear complement the profusion of air intakes and exits to optimise airflow around the car, BMW says, and will maximise downforce in every driving situation.
Particularly striking are the pronounced wheel arches which, BMW says, recall the homologated version of the BMW 2002 turbo which needed broad extensions bolted to its body to accommodate a significantly wider track.
The Hommage car integrates this detail.
In perhaps the most literal reference of the original 2002, that of 2016 has a unifying “waterline” to connect many of the car’s formal elements. “This unbroken carbon-fibre line,” BMW says, “wraps around the car from front to rear to create horizontal distinction between upper and lower body surfaces.”
Two-colour, light-alloy, milled multispoke 20″ wheel rims round off the styling as the car meets the road; a modern take, BMW says, of the racing rims of bygone eras. Gold rake callipers, each bearing an M logo, “add an extra stamp of class”.
The front of the BMW 2002 Hommage, BMW explains, is a confident and extravagantly dynamic affair, its styling bridging a gap of 50 years in combining the characteristic horizontal grille graphic of the 02 series with modern BMW design elements.
The bonnet, we are told, references the “spear” contour stretching down the centre of the 02 models that swells slightly into a surround for the BMW logo as it approaches the kidney grille.
“Further precise lines lend structure and definition to the matt surface,” BMW says. “Occupying centre stage at the front is the familiar BMW kidney grille but as low, connected, unit with a fresh slant on the grille’s historical rendering as a cohesive design element.”
Like the BMW 2002, the BMW 2002 Hommage has two individual round headlights but their reflective gold colour, the automaker explains, is a pointer to the 50th anniversary of 2002’s launch. The headlights also recall the yellow commonly found in the headlights of racing cars back in the day.
An unbroken horizontal black band unites the design elements of the front and underlines the car’s athletic wide stance. The front turn indicators – like those of the car’s forebear – are away from the headlights, embedded in the wraparound carbon-fibre ‘waterline’ element.
The “turbo” lettering in mirror writing on the front apron casts the mind back to the original decals of the 2002 turbo.
The muscular wheel arches bookend the rear and accentuate the track, a precise spoiler lip brings a modern edge and a carbon diffuser integrates the now familiar double twin tailpipes and wraps up the rear styling with a sporting flourish.
BMW’s fresh interpretation of the BMW 2002 adopts the form of a compact sports coupe in the classical tradition of BMW Hommage cars but, more than that, the 2002 Hommage, BMW says, represents a clear statement of how pure driving pleasure is defined in 2016.
