BMW 328 Hommage
The BMW 328 is considered the most successful and best-looking sports car of the 1930s.
The BMW 328’s success was the result of its design parameters – through the use of systematic lightweight construction, aerodynamic lines, optimum engine types and outstanding suspension technology, it laid the foundation stone for a new vehicle concept, by which performance only leads to success if combined with perfect harmonisation of all parameters and maximum efficiency. With these characteristics, the BMW 328 was even then the embodiment of what the BMW brand still stands for today – dynamics, aesthetics and a high level of innovation.
The BMW 328 was also a special BMW insofar as the lightweight construction principle was systematically implemented on a BMW automobile for the very first time. Wherever possible, the lightest and at the same time most robust materials were used, thereby keeping the gross vehicle weight down to just 780 kilograms.
In order to translate the idea of lightweight construction into this day and age, major parts of the exterior and interior of the BMW 328 Hommage are made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP). Whilst in the old days they favoured the materials aluminium and magnesium, CFRP is now considered to offer the best ratio between weight and stability. The high-strength fibre fabric is lighter than aluminium, but also more stable.
Wherever the material has been used on the BMW 328 Hommage, it is also visible. In this way, the BMW 328 Hommage not only reflects the lightweight construction principle functionally, but also visually. The BMW Group leads the way in the production and use of CFRP in automotive construction and already possesses many years of experience in the series production of CFRP roofs and structural components for the BMW M6 as well as CFRP roofs for the BMW M3.
Not only do the exterior and interior CFRP elements of the BMW 328 make an exceptional statement. The up-to-date implementation of the original vehicle character is also expressed in the choice of other materials used on the inside and outside of the vehicle. Fine leather, matt and high-gloss black polished alu-minium as well as the CFRP interior visualise in the BMW 328 Hommage the pure and functional roadster character of the sports car of that day. Inside the vehicle there are also numerous details derived from motor racing, offering a hint of the BMW 328’s most successful motor sports career. For instance, the premiere of the vehicle in 1936 did not take place at a motor show, but on the race-track. In its first race, the BMW 328 declassified the entire higher-powered competition and dominated the racetracks of Europe during the years that followed.