24h Le Mans
Fifty years after the first BMW Art Car, the German marque honoured its legacy at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a living work of art Hypercar. The 2024 BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car decorated by Julie Mehretu fused contemporary painting and endurance racing, transforming the track into an open-air gallery.
With a massive painting transposed onto the Hypercar, close collaboration between artist and engineers, and racing as the final stage of creation, in 2024 the BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car decorated by Julie Mehretu embodied the carmaker's return to the highest level of endurance racing and carried on the remarkable history of BMW Art Cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In 2024, BMW celebrated a double anniversary: 50 years since the creation of the first Art Car, and the constructor's return to the top level of endurance racing via the Hypercar category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC). To mark the occasion, BMW entrusted the livery of the #20 M Hybrid V8 to New York artist Julie Mehretu. Known for her monumental abstract paintings exhibited in major international institutions, Mehretu drew inspiration from her work Everywhen (2021-2023) which was presented in 2024 at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice before joining the MoMA permanent collection in NYC.
Her approach surpasses simple decoration. Julie Mehretu: To me, the car is a living painting. It was created for the circuit rather than the museum. As such, the BMW transformed into a moving canvas, a work of art whose final form could only be achieved after 24 hours of racing
Julie Mehretu imagined the M Hybrid V8 as an extension of her canvas. Mehretu: I saw the BMW M Hybrid V8 in front of the finished painting in my studio and thought about what would happen if the car could move through the picture and merge with it. Now the BMW Art Car is another version of my painting and it looks like its grille has inhaled the paint.
The project was born from a close collaboration between the artist and BMW Motorsport designers and engineers. The challenge was to preserve artistic identity while respecting the aerodynamic and technical constraints of a Hypercar competing at the highest level of motorsport.
At the 92nd 24 Hours, the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car was shared by Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns and René Rast. The car qualified in P16 in 03:26.223 and then navigated impactful setbacks early on. After suffering a punctured tyre in the first hour, the #20 managed to claw its way into the top 10 before a violent collision with a stack of tyres at the Motul Chicane. Frijns returned the car to pit lane on three wheels resulting in a 24-minute delay.
After starting from last place in the Hypercar category, the #20 BMW finally returned to the track shortly before the finish after a long pit stop. It passed under the chequered flag having completed 96 laps, unclassified, but nonetheless praised for having seen through a project where the race itself was an crucial part of the endeavor.
The M Hybrid V8 Art Car continued BMW's unique tradition of melding art and motorsport at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Fifty years after the first Art Car entered the race, Julie Mehretu left her mark on the lineage while simultaneously propelling it into the present.
To celebrate Rétromobile's 50th anniversary and the half-century mark of BMW Art Cars, the 2026 show will present a special exhibition in France from 28 January to 1 February. The seven BMW Art Cars seen at Le Mans will be brought together at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, including the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 fielded by BMW M Team WRT in the 2024 24 Hours.
