After further developing a carbon fibre shader for the BAC Mono Project I wanted to apply it to a fully unwrapped model, where the limitations of the Corona Tri-planar map aren't as apparent. I have been following the work of Speedkore who rebody both modern and classic cars with carbon panels and when I saw their 1974 BMW 3.0 CS built for Robert Downey Jr. I decided to use Simon Grover's 3.5 CSL model. It meant I was able to develop a brief under the guise of "How would Speedkore rebuild this race car?"

I tried to keep to the design style that Speedkore use on their classic car rebuilds - Cohesive bright/metalwork finish, HRE Wheels, Michelin Tires and tinted carbon in place of painted/vinyl graphics. I kept the white paint but edited out the sponsor logos, as good as the model looked in raw carbon it strayed too far from the look original 3.0 CSL. I cleaned up the bodywork of excess fixings and replaced the hood/trunk pins with some Ring Brothers style versions I had modelled for a different project. I also added a few extra bodywork parts (front splitter, side sills and diffuser) so that there was a cleaner rake angle. Other additional parts include a Recaro Pro Racer seat, reconfigured roll cage, projector style headlights and a hood cut-out to expose the engine intake trumpets.

I used a heavily modified version of HRE 501's for the wheels, trying to imitate the original style style of the BBS Wheels. I had wanted to do a full carbon barrel but they looked lost so kept the very front of the lip metal adding a nice divide between the tire and barrel. I purchased Alexandre Guere's Michelin tire to use and blended the material with the clean version for the sidewall and used version for the tread surface.

To light the project, I imported the cove and bounce plane from The Isleworth Commission. I then used another couple of corona lights to bounce light off the cove itself instead of relying on additional bounce planes. I do plan on reusing the model in a different environment as I found the car was somewhat lost in a white studio environment. I really like white paintwork but I found it incredibly difficult to create an interesting final result.

BMW CSL 3.5 by Simon Grover - https://www.behance.net/gallery/98756619/FREE-Model-BMW-CSL-35