Racing News

    BMW of North America unveiled a special livery for the BMW Team RLL Z4 GTLMs that pays homage to the BMW 3.0 CSL that won the 12 Hours of Sebring forty years ago. The new livery was revealed at “Cars and Coffee at the Concours”, part of the Amelia Island concours weekend in Florida.

    BMW North America was founded in 1975 to distribute BMWs in the US. To help establish the marque’s brand identity in the US BMW campaigned a pair of CSLs in the 1975 Camel GT Series driven by Brian Redman, Hans Stuck, Ronnie Peterson, and Sam Posey.

    Both cars retired at Daytona, but the team came back to win at Sebring in the #25 car driven by Redman and Allan Moffat (substituting for Peterson, who could not drive in a non-FIA race), along with Posey and Stuck, who got into #25 after their #24 car was retired.

    Redman, Posey and Stuck were on hand at Amelia Island along with 1972 -1980 BMW motorsport manager Jochen Neerpasch and current BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt when veteran BMW racer and current Team RLL driver Bill Auberlen drove the car onto the show field.

    The Team RLL Z4s, running numbers 24 and 25 this season in tribute to the CSLs, will compete in the new livery at the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 21.—Brian S. Morgan