My revamped csl

[TonyR]

Some of you might rember this car. I bought it new end, Black, end of 2003 and used it as track car in 2004 before converting it into a race car in 2004 which ran in Britcar. I built another red car for Britcar and this sat as a spares car until I turned it into a road version of the race car circa 2007, I had to sell it shortly after to fund my new business. The Gorilla on here bought it (Danny).

Roll on 2014 and I'm back in the pennies. I contact Danny and he's interested in selling, so I bought it back fm him last October. By then I had a few things including an M3 GTS. I decided what I had done to the car originally was too much and that I wanted it to look OEM with a level of finish like that of the GTS.

This turned into an almost nut and bolt restoration. Engine needed rebuilding as bearings were about to go for what looks like oil starvation and the vanos was not working right. Complete rebuild with Schrick cams added was the first job.

Next, the intrax 4 ways were rebuilt to the latest ARC spec and lots of suspension components and bushes replaced. Drexxler 3.9 diff was rebuilt too.

A few electrical issues were then sorted.

Next, we had to look at the bodywork and weight of the car. Despite using grp Flossman style panels, as a caged car she weighed in at 1400+ kgs. The wheels were hideous split rims that were custom made back in the day and heavy. The look was also too extreme, like a road legal DTM car. We started to replace stuff:

1. New Flossman road style rear carbon bumper with csl Carbon read diffuser inserted
2. Custom carbon front bumpe
3. Flossman Carbon faired rear arches
4. Geoff carbon steel csl boot and bonnet
5. BBS FI wheels with 265 front and 295 rear tyres
6. Lexan rear and side windows
7. New windscreen
8. Carbon mirrors, side vents and kidney grilles

We set about doing a lot of work to the car body. I wanted to get rid of the side rubbing strip as that was a bit 90s for me. That was really hard but the result was worth it. Te whole car was stripped to bare metal, any issues resolved and a comprehensive respray done. I wanted it to look amazing and unique so went for an utterly individual look in Rosso Bia, which is the launch color of the Aventador SV. Nine coats of different paint mixes needed with glitter and everything! A massive job.

Next, attention turned to the shabby interior. We repartitioned the rear lik the m3 GTS, refinished all the carbon everywhere inside and out, repainted the cage and any exposed parts. Next was a full retrim. Every trim panel was clocked in dark grey by Banbury Flocking and the Recaro SPG trimmed entirely in alcantara. A new steering wheel with spacer and gear tronics paddles was added. Any diff pumps in the boot were hidden in the wheel well and new boot floor obtained. The end result was amazing.

Awful lot of work and attention to detail. All the work was done by Simpson Motorsport including the fantastic paint job. Trimming by Nick Artusa, flocking by Banbury flocking and full car paint protection film by Nick Phelps at CG Performance

Think we ended up around 390bhp and 1300kgs.
























How it looked in 2007





In 2004: