BMW's New Art Car Could Straight-Up Win the 24 Hours of Le Mans

BMW is headed back to the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month, and for the first time since 2010, the brand will enter an official BMW Art Car in the race. The brand already announced the plan for Ethiopian-born artist Julie Mehretu to design BMW's 20th numbered art car; now, the design has finally been revealed.

The resulting livery's design, which has been overlaid onto a BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh race car, comes from an existing Mehretu work: a 10-foot-by-10-foot painting "Everywhen" currently on display in Venice, Italy. The 2024 art car integrates the same grid, primary colors, and signature black splotches as the large painting; BMW says that the design "results from digitally altered photographs, which are superimposed in several layers of dot grids, neon-colored veils and the black markings characteristic of Mehretu's work." Splashes of white, red, and yellow set the design apart from the existing blue-and-white factory livery on the standard M Hybrid V8, while the illuminated kidney grilles draw attention to the way the design continues all the way into the opening of the car's front bodywork.

The art car will race in the 24-hour classic at Le Mans as part of BMW's factory operation in conjunction with Team WRT, a program with a best finish of sixth through three FIA World Endurance Championship races. The M Hybrid V8 has one win in America, earned when the Rahal-run U.S. factory operation took victory at Watkins Glen last year. The M Hybrid V8 is the first top-class entry for BMW at Le Mans since the V12 LMR's sole race and victory in 1999. Having an art car around this year could be considered a good omen; while the entrant in a standard factory livery won the race, it also had an art car sibling designed by Jenny Holzer that year that competed alongside it.

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