The only thing growing faster than inflation over the last few years has BMW‘s grilles. The subject of much debate, the brand’s new LMDh race car, the BMW M Hybrid V8, which was just revealed, may actually pull it off. The automaker today revealed its newest race, designed to compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportCar Championship in 2023. When it does compete there, though, it won’t be sporting this livery.
The camouflage you see the BMW M Hybrid V8
in now was specially designed for the car to hide certain performance-critical
geometries and will be worn during its testing regime. Intended to celebrate
the M brand’s 50th anniversary, it sports references to all five decades of its
existence. That means that, incorporated into the design are images of the 1976
BMW 3.0 CSL, the 1981 M1/C, the 1978 320i Turbo, the 1986 GTP, the M3 E36
GTS-2, the Z4 GTLM, and the M8 GTE all arranged in a graphic mosaic.
The rest of the design should
look a lot like this because the car was created to look like a modern BMW. The
development team was tasked not only with making it fast and aerodynamic, but
also with incorporating elements such as the M “hook” mirrors, the Hofmeister
kink in the window graphic, the twin BMW icon lights, and, of course, the
massive grille. A fixture of modern BMWs, it even has a central channel running
down the hood like the current M4. And I have to say, I don’t hate it. Although
it looks a lot like other endurance racers, the front end does look more holistically
designed than, say, the after-thought grille on the BMW V12 LMR that won Le
Mans in 1999.
The automaker says that it will follow
this example of the car up with a works livery that “exemplifies the dynamism
and excitement of hybrid electric-powered competition.” Developed with the help
of Dallara, the race car will now undergo performance testing before making its
competition debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January 2023. Designed to meet
LMDh regulations, it will also be eligible to compete at the 24 Hours of Le
Mans.
