Holy Crap: The BMW M3 Wagon Is Actually Going Racing
The race-ready BMW wagon went from a joke to a reality in just eight months.
The Breakdown:
- BMW is building an M3 Touring race car that will race in this year’s 24 Hours of Nürburgring.
- The car has the same technical specs as the BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
- BMW decided to build the race car after teasing it as an April Fool’s joke.
BMW revealed the M3 Touring GT race car last year as an April Fool’s joke—but now it's a reality. The response to BMW’s cheeky endeavor was so loud that the automaker decided it had to produce the thing and race it at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in May.
The wagon shares the same technical bones and specs as the BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Under the hood is BMW’s turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six engine, capable of up to 590 horsepower. The biggest difference is the exterior: a carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic body shell that mimics the wagon.
BMW M3 Touring 24H
The automaker began drafting a race version of the M3 Touring as soon as the car debuted in 2022. Two years after that, the automaker began planning the April Fool’s joke, commissioning the creation of professional renderings ahead of its April 1, 2025, reveal.
The response was so overwhelming that BMW green-lit the previously conceived project in August and began developing it in September, and will have the car ready in just eight months. The automaker began validating the car last month before it races in the SPX class in a few months—a different class than BMW’s M4 GT3. After that, BMW will take the wagon on tour.
Gallery: BMW M3 Touring 24H
Motor1’s Take: Peer pressure works. It’s not often that an automaker actually listens to its community, but BMW did, and now we will watch a wagon race at the Nürburgring.
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