The first BMW Art Car was proposed by the French racer/auctioneer Herve Poulain who wanted to invite an artist to create a canvas on a car…
In 1975, Poulain commissioned his American artist friend Alexander Calder to paint a BMW 3.0 CSL which Poulain raced partnered by pro’s Sam Posey and Jean Guichet in the 1975 Le Mans classic.
The car ran in the ‘Touring’ class, failing to finish with a CV joint failure on lap 73.
‘Art Car’ BMW 3.0CSL, Le Mans 1975 (unattributed)
BMW won the class, a little 2002Ti completed 252 laps, Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx won the race in a Gulf GR8 Ford DFL, the first Le Mans win for Bell and for the long distance variant of the great Ford Cosworth DFV V8.
Derek Bell in the victorious Gulf GR8 Ford DFL he shared with Ickx. Behind is the 2nd placed Ligier JS2 Ford DFL of Lafosse/Chasseuil (unattributed)
Since Calder’s work many other renowned artists have created BMW Art Cars including David Hockney, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. 17 Art Cars based on both racing and production vehicles have been created.
The most recent car is Jeff Coon’s 2010 model M3 GT2. The 4 litre V8 engined car competed in the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours driven by Andy Priaulx/Dirk Muller/Dirk Werner but did not finish.
BMW’s Thomas Girst says the purpose of the project has changed over time: ‘In the beginning the cars were raced. There wasn’t much public relations around them…Since then some of the Art Cars have been used in advertisements to show that BMW is a player in the arts…Part of what we are doing now is raising awareness of alternative and renewable energy sources’.
Credit…
peteray/ward.com, wikipedia, Team Dan
Tailpiece: 2010 BMW M3 GT2…
primotipo... 