Guide: BMW Art Car #17 - BMW M3 GT2 'Jeff Koons'
Background
BMW’s first Art Car came about in 1975 as a result of a suggestion from French fine art auctioneer and amateur racing driver, Herve Poulain.
That first collaboration, an E9 CSL painted by Alexander Calder, went on to race at the ‘75 Le Mans 24 Hours and garnered massive publicity for the German auto maker.
As 2010 dawned, it had been over a decade since the last proper BMW Art Car. The 1999 V12 LMR sports prototype commissioned from Jenny Holzer had been followed by Olafur Eliasson’s 2007 H2R. However, Eliasson’s creation was simply an installation as opposed to a functioning vehicle.
To revive the Art Car concept, BMW turned to Jeff Koons.
Jeff Koons
Born in York, Pennsylvania, in 1955, Koons’ father was a furniture dealer and his mother was a seamstress.
Jeff Koons studied painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago. While in Chicago, Koons met artist Ed Paschke. Paschke became a major influence and Koons took up work as his studio assistant.
After college, Koons moved to New York in 1977. To make ends meet, he initially worked at the Museum of Modern Art and then began a career as a Wall Street commodities broker.
Throughout this time, Koons continued to produce art. His work frequently derived inspiration from everyday items such as children’s toys, cartoon characters and domestic objects which were re-interpreted with an aesthetic devoted to consumer culture.
Koons had his breakthrough in the early 1980s with a series of sculptures called ‘The New’ which consisted of vacuum cleaners displayed in transparent Plexiglas vitrines.
He quickly gained recognition for his work which explored the meaning of art in a media-saturated era.
As a result of this success, Koons established a large studio in New York where dozens of employees produced the work he conceived. Much of this was closely aligned with the Post-Pop movement that continued to pursue the 1960s Pop Art fascination with popular culture and advertising along with the social codes reinforced by the dominant media.
Over time, Koons has perhaps become best known for his huge sculptures inspired by balloon animals which are often produced in mirror-polished stainless steel. His work has set various auction price records for a living artist to include $58.4m for Balloon Dog (Orange) in 2013 and $91.1 million for Rabbit in 2019.
Despite such records, Koons divides opinion in the art world and has been accused of producing cynical creations to serve the tacky rich.
Regardless of the polarised reaction to Koons, his 2010 commission from BMW yielded one of the most handsome Art Cars yet seen.
BMW E92 M3 GT2
Koons’ design was applied to an E92 M3 GT2, the car that returned BMW Motorsport to Le Mans after a ten year absence.
BMW had last participated in an official capacity at la Sarthe in 1999. On that occasion, the works V12 LMR of Joachim Winkelhock, Pierluigi Martini and Yannick Dalmas emerged victorious.
The road-going E92 M3 was launched in production form at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2007. The GT2 class racing variant then made its debut in 2009. That season, BMW’s US motor sport representative, Rahal Letterman Racing (RHL), used the M3 GT2 in the American Le Mans Series.
The car was a regular podium finisher and won round seven at Road Atlanta. RHL took third in the points standings.
Unlike the production variant, BMW’s GT2 iteration used a pressed steel bodyshell with modified floorpan to accommodate the transaxle rear end and racing exhaust. In the normal M3, the gearbox was located immediately behind the engine. In the GT2 variant, an Xtrac sequential six-speed ‘box formed part of the rear axle assembly. As a result, the engine location in the M3 GT2 was lower and further back than in the production version.
Bodywork was widened to the maximum two metre width permitted under the ACO’s GT2 regulations.
In the engine bay was a dry-sumped version of the four-litre P65 V8. For 2010, the engine was taken out to 500bhp at 8750rpm compared to 420bhp at 8300rpm for the street car.
2010 saw the collaboration with RHL continue. That season they won the ALMS GT championship by a single point.
Team Schnitzer were also brought on board to collaborate with BMW Motorsport for a series of major European events in 2010. This included outings at the Spa 1000km and the 24 Hour races at the Nurburgring, Le Mans and Spa.
The build up to the 2010 Le Mans saw BMW narrowly miss out on a class podium at the Spa 1000km. This was followed a week later by victory for Jorg Muller, Augusto Farfus, Uwe Alze and Pedro Lamy at the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
Jess Koons’ E92 M3 GT2
Jeff Koons’ Art Car was then given its premier on June 2nd, ten days ahead of its race debut. It was unveiled at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Koons’ design was digitally printed on to vinyl and applied to the car that had been used by Muller, Farfus and Priaulx at the Spa 1000km.
Starting in February 2010, Koons had worked with 3D CAD models of the M3 GT2 to simulate the application of the graphic to the car’s surfaces. Under Koons’ guidance, the livery was produced as part of a collaboration with a team of BMW engineers and designers at the Schmid studio just outside Munich.
The livery incorporated hundreds of dynamic lines that were painstakingly applied to the entire car as well as onto individual spare parts. Graphics of debris were added to the rear flanks and back of the car to simulate power.
Koons used bright colours to convey the impression of speed and movement; the result was a dynamic appearance, even when standing still
2010 Le Mans 24 Hours
For the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours, the M3 GT2 was assigned number 79 as a homage to the BMW M1 painted by Andy Warhol which raced in the 1979 event.
Two of the M3s were entered for the race with Andy Priaulx, Dirk Muller and Dirk Werner allocated the Art Car. They qualified 49th overall and twelfth in the LM GT2 category.
Unfortunately, the car struggled with technical problems and retired after five hours having completed 53 laps. The sister machine, driven by Jorg Muller, Augusto Farfus and Uwe Alzen, made it to the finish in 19th position (sixth in class).
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: BMW - https://www.bmw.com
