BMW struck a deal with Broadspeed to develop its new 3.0 CS for Group 2 competition, reportedly with a clause stating that the car must lap 2 per cent quicker than Ford’s Capri. Two prototype E9s were duly delivered to the British race team and engineering firm in September 1971. But only one, chassis 2211343 offered here, was transformed into true CSL specification.

With input from the Cooper Car Company, the car was stiffened, fitted with lighter aluminum doors, bonnet, plus boot lid, and equipped with gas-filled Bilstein dampers. Ready for winter testing at Paul Ricard, ex-Ford driver John Fitzpatrick—the 1966 British Saloon Car champion—and BMW Works racer Dieter Quester failed to match the times of the Capri so the contract came to a hasty end. Broadspeed continued the project, however, with the car tested at Silverstone by future three-time Formula 1 World Champion Niki Lauda. As written in the July 1972 issue of Motor Sport Magazine, he compared the CSL favorably to his Formula 2 car of the time.

Broadspeed entered chassis 2211343 into the April 1972 round of the European Touring Car Championship at a snowy Salzburgring, where Fitpatrick battled through the spray to finish 3rd as the best-ranked BMW. The 3.0 CSL soon returned to the factory in Munich and was painted with the now-iconic BMW Motorsport stripes. It is believed that this car was the first to be finished in the famous livery.

Chassis 2211343 was sold in June 1973 to the Vasek Polak team in Hermosa Beach, California to be raced by BMW Service Advisor Bruce Ponder, who notably guided the car to victory at Riverside in 1974. The CSL then moved to Malmoe, Sweden in 1999 and, issued with FIA papers, contested the 2002 Le Mans Classic before being acquired by the Germany-based consignor in 2008.

The father of all racing CSLs, chassis 2211343 is an immensely significant piece of BMW motorsport history and accordingly boasts a compelling backstory.