BMW Art Car for 24 Heures du Mans 2010

Team BMW Motorsport will compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a work of art on four wheels: the no. 79 BMW M3 GT2 has been designed as a ‘rolling sculpture’ by Jeff Koons.

The American artist – one of the best-known and renowned artists of his time – presented his first preliminary design concept at a press conference in New York today, which was attended by prominent guests including BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen, and BMW works driver Andy Priaulx (GB).

The 17th BMW Art Car sees BMW continue a long tradition, which dates back to 1975 and celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. Auctioneer and racing driver Hervé Poulain (FR) came up with the idea of allowing famous artists to design BMW racing cars. Alexander Calder (US) got the ball rolling with the BMW 3.0 CSL.

By 1979 Frank Stella (US), Roy Lichtenstein (US) and Andy Warhol (US) had all followed in his footsteps. All these cars lined up at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The greatest sporting success came with the BMW M1 designed by Warhol, which crossed the finish line in sixth. Koons is the latest artist to join the illustrious group of BMW Art Car creators.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 11:32 pm and is filed under Announcements, Motorsport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.