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BMW selects two artists to create M6 GT3 art cars

Whether it's Alexander Calder's 3.0 CSL or Jeff Koons' M3 GT2, BMW has had a role in some of the most beautiful art cars to ever see a racetrack since 1975. For the 40th anniversary of the series, the company will celebrate in the best way possible – making even more of them. Chinese artist Cao Fei and John Baldessari from the US will create two more artistic racers around the new M6 GT3, and after hitting the track, they'll go on display in museums in 2017. An international jury of museum directors and curators selected Cao and Baldessari to create the 18th and 19th art cars, respectively. Born in 1978, Cao is the youngest artist to create one with BMW. She seems to hint at the inspiration for her example in the company's announcement by saying: "Acceleration, a concept that reminds me of my desire for speed as a runner during the Young Pioneers days, is deeply connected to the entangled contemporary relationships between velocity, energy, and the country." Born in 1931, Baldessari will be the oldest person to produce a BMW art car. "This will definitely be my fastest artwork yet," he said in the release. BMW doesn't know yet exactly where either art car would race. "There is a possibility of one or both the [sic] compete in one of the major IMSA WeatherTech series races. However, this has not been decided yet," company spokesperson Thomas Plucinsky told Autoblog. "We expect to see the cars on track in 2017." Both artists have designs in the works but nothing to release yet. However, the gallery above shows some of the earlier creations. The M6 GT3 is BMW's latest racing weapon for customer teams, and it uses a modified 4.4-liter turbocharged V8 with up to 585 horsepower and a six-speed sequential gearbox. It will compete in places like the GTD class of the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportCar Championship in the US. Cao Fei and John Baldessari to create the next BMW Art Cars Racing tradition to be continued with the BMW M6 GT3 Munich/New York. Following commissions by Jenny Holzer (1999), Olafur Eliasson (2007) and Jeff Koons (2010), the BMW Art Car series will now be continued. On the occasion of the series' 40th anniversary, a jury of distinguished museum directors and curators chose two internationally renowned artists to design one car each. Chinese artist Cao Fei (*1978) and American artist John Baldessari (*1931) will be the youngest and the oldest artist represented in the collection respectively.

BMW i3 misses top Euro safety rating [w/videos]

The Euro NCAP just tested a recent batch of new cars including the 2014 BMW i3, and the EV Bimmer scored less-than-perfect results. Though not horrible, BMW's all-electric/range-extended i3 was given a four-star (out of five possible) crash rating due to concerns with front-occupant whiplash and side-impact protection.
Based on the crash results, the BMW provided suitable protection for occupants in the frontal, side barrier, pedestrian and child-seat tests, but the i3 was tripped up when it came to the more severe side pole test and the rear-impact test. The pole test showed protection to the chest of the test dummy was "weak," and the front seats only provided "marginal" protection against whiplash for front passengers. Scroll down to watch two videos released by the Euro NCAP of the i3 being tested.

This Or That: 1980 Oldsmobile 442 vs. 1989 BMW 635CSi [w/poll]

The last time I roped a coworker into an automotive debate, I lost. Resoundingly, I might add. Still, 2,385 voters chose to cast their lots for the Fiat 500 Abarth, as opposed to 5,273 choosing the Ford Fiesta ST, and so I can rest easy in the knowledge that at least 30 percent of you, dear readers, see things my way. I still like to think we have more fun, too.
My loss in the first round of our This or That series, in which two Autoblog editors pick sides on any given topic and then attempt to explain why the other is completely wrong, didn't stop me from picking another good-natured fight, this time with Senior Editor Seyth Miersma. Last time, our chosen sides were eerily similar in design, albeit quite different in actual execution. This time, our vehicular peculiarities couldn't seemingly fall any further from one another: A 1980 Oldsmobile 442 wouldn't seem to match up in comparison to a 1989 BMW 635CSi.
How did we come up with such disparate contenders? Simple, really. Seyth and I mutually agreed to choose a car that's currently for sale online. It had to be built and sold in the 1980s, and it had to be a coupe. The price cap was set at $10,000. The fruits of our searching labors will henceforth be disputed, with Seyth on the side of the Germans, and myself arguing in favor of the Rocket Olds. Am I setting myself up for another lopsided loss?