In 1975, a French race-car driver/art auctioneer named Hervé Poulain decided to bring together his two loves, commissioning the renowned Alexander Calder to paint his (Poulain’s) BMW 3.0 CSL—which the Frenchman then campaigned in the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance classic.
Thus began what’s now known as the BMW Art Project, a unique collaboration between the international art community and the Ultimate Driving Machine. In the past 35 years, artist from Roy Lichtenstein to Andy Warhol to David Hockney have transformed an equally varied range of both production and racing BMWs into rolling works of art.
The latest in the eclectic line of BMW Art Cars: This year’s BMW M3 GT2 racer, as re-imagined by iconoclastic American artist Jeff Koons. According to BMW, Koons began by collecting graphics of race cars depicted in vibrant colors and giving the impression of great speed, then used them to create a “digital collage.” The result inspired the artist to develop the unique graphic scheme of the M3 racer, featuring a bold pattern of flowing shapes in bright yellow, red, white and blue.
The design concept for the vehicle was first shown at this year’s New York International Auto Show.
“These race cars are like life,” said Koons. “They are powerful and there is a lot of energy. You can participate with it, add to it and let yourself transcend its energy. There is a lot of power under that hood, and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car—it’s really to connect with that power.”
As with many of the past Art Cars, the Koons GT2 will be equally at home in the gallery and on the race course. It’s scheduled to make its world debut in June at the Centre Pompidou cultural complex in Paris, where Koons will be on hand to sign the vehicle, as Lichtenstein did in the same place with his Art Car in 1977.
This year’s model will then make its racing premiere at the 2010 Le Mans competition, slated for June 12-13. And this is no mere promotional stunt. Underneath Koons’ vibrant hues, remember, will be BMW’s latest road-racing masterwork, the M3 GT2, based on the high-performance BMW M3 production coupe.
The heart of the racer is a powerful V8 engine derived from the one in the road-going M3, where it makes 420 hp. That’s not too shabby, but in the Le Mans racer, this has been stretched to 500 horses. With the extensive use of carbon fiber helping cut the race car’s weight to just a bit over 2,500 lbs, that powerplant takes drivers from 0-60 in just 3.4 seconds.
It’s also taken other GT2s—like the team owned by Rahal Letterman Racing—to impressive success in the Amerian Le Mans Series. Last year, Rahal Letterman’s first with the GT2, the team won one race and saw five podium finishes to give BMW third place in the series’ manufacturer point standing.
Certainly, BMW is hoping for that kind of success with the Koons GT2 in France, as well. According to Jim O’Donnell, president of BMW North America, “We look forward to BMW’s return to Le Mans—and perhaps even sharing a toast with Jeff at the finish line.”
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