A BMW i8 Procar racer would look quite wonderful

Every now and then we like to delve into the unreal world of car renders. The cars may never see the light of day, but that doesn’t mean we can’t salivate over them anyway, right?

Meet the BMW i8 Procar. It is the work of talented electronic crayon-wielder Khyzyl Saleem, who has previously gifted us the absurd world of cyberpunk supercars.

This is a mash-up between the BMW i8 - the hybrid sports car which took TG Car of the Year honours in 2014 - and the BMW M1 Procar, one of the best looking and most jaw-flooringly loud racecars ever.

We suspect an i8 Procar wouldn’t be as glorious to listen to, given its part-electric drivetrain, but it’s nearly as arresting to look at it. Which is surely all that matters in the aesthetically biased world of Photoshop specials.

All the M1 Procar cues are there: big rear wing, dramatically dished wheels, and a ground smothering body kit. The M1’s most famous colour scheme - white with the red, navy and blue BMW M Division tricolours - is also present and exceedingly correct.

It’s not real, but we’re smitten nonetheless. It even has ‘Piquet’ emblazoned across the windscreen. In the M1’s case, this would refer to Nelson Piquet, who won the final M1 Procar championship in 1980. In the i8’s case, it could be his son, current Formula E champion Nelson Piquet Junior, racing in a modern-day equivalent.

But perhaps we’re thinking about it too rationally. This is a wonderful illustration of an irrefragably not real car. Wish it was real, though?

Rendering by Khyzyl Saleem