This year marks 50 years of BMW’s M division, created in 1972 to engineer the 3.0 CSL “Batmobile,” which won the European Touring Car Championship the following year. To celebrate, BMW has debuted its new M Hybrid V8 LMDh race car, which will take to the track in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2023.
When it does, it’ll be the company’s first prototype-class racer developed by BMW Motorsports in 25 years. We saw the kidney-grilled race car in its camouflaged test duds in June, but now the full race livery has been revealed.
The new graphic scheme uses the traditional BMW M colors of red, light blue and dark blue over white in a pattern the company calls “fractal blocks.” “These elements have been deconstructed to form what at first might appear to be an abstract triangular pattern across the BMW M Hybrid V8,” said Michael Scully, global director of Automotive and Advanced Design. “But when viewed from the side, the M logo clicks right into place.”
In addition, BMW says, the blue and purple colors are there to emphasize the electrified nature of the car’s 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8. The addition of an asymmetrical matte black section in front of the driver has been seen on other recent BMW race cars, but is now a lot more pronounced. It likely also doubles as a glare-reduction bonus. Other sections that look black are actually exposed carbon fiber.
Up front, the nose is dominated by a pair of trademark kidney grilles. These are illuminated, but not by a traditional LED. Instead, they’re lit by a Swiss company’s non-active optical fiber technology that’s activated by a laser.
Other nods to BMW cars can be found in the bodywork. An up-close look at the M8 GTE-esque kidneys reveals a forward-leading top edge that recalls the shark-nose design of 1970s and ’80s BMWs. The L-shaped guide vane behind the front wheels is said to evoke the M4‘s side vents. The mirrors also incorporate an M hook design, and a loose interpretation of the famed Hofmeister kink can be seen on the trailing edge of the windows.
Powering the BMW M Hybrid V8 is a bi-turbo and electrified version of the P66/1 eight-cylinder used in the 2017-18 M4 DTM touring car. BMW says it tried to use the P48 four-cylinder turbo but found durability issues. Testing with the turbo P63 engine from the M8 GTE found it too heavy. In forced-induction and hybridized guise called the P66/3, as it is the third version of the engine, it makes approximately 640 horsepower…
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