Photos: BMW goes back to the future with the M1 Hommage

To mark the 30th anniversary of its M1 supercar, BMW took the covers off the M1 Hommage at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2008, an annual historic car concourse held at the Hotel Villa d'Este on the shores of Italy's Lake Como.

Derek Fung

Derek loves nothing more than punching a remote location into a GPS, queuing up some music and heading out on a long drive, so it's a good thing he's in charge of CNET Australia's Car Tech channel.

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Derek Fung

April 29, 2008 9:09 p.m. PT

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Four cylinders ...
That's the name of BMW's headquarters in Munich — "Vierzylinder" in German — which can be seen in the background of this shot.

BMW is conspicuously silent on the engine motivating the M1 Hommage, but we wouldn't be at all surprised if it's either the M3's V8 or the M5's V10.

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Back to the future
As its name suggests, the M1 Hommage mixes cues from the present BMW style guide with items from the original M1, such as the proportions, mid-engine layout, louvres both in the bonnet and above the engine, and BMW badging on each rear wing.

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Evolution of a theme
The M1 Hommage soaks up some rays next to the original M1, which is parked in the middle. That car drew its inspiration from Paul Bracq's BMW Turbo concept car, initially designed for the 1972 Summer Olympics.

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Flame grilled to perfection
"Flame surfacing" is a term attributed to BMW's styling chief, Chris Bangle. It describes the surface sculpting used by BMW, and now used in varying forms by other makers, to catch light in various, interesting ways.