BMW art car news - BMW copies TopGear - 2010

Clearly spurred on by the TopGear telly boys' magnificent 635CSi Art Car, BMW has returned fire in style.

This is the first sketch of Jeff Koon's M3 GT2 Art Car, set to race at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours in the hands of Andy Priaulx, Dirk Muller and Dirk Werner.

It looks... well, it looks somewhat two-dimensional at present. We assume the GT2 Art Car shall acquire at least one more physical dimension by the time it is formally unveiled in Paris in early June. Otherwise it may prove tricky to race.

Koon's racer will be the 18th official BMW Art Car (TG's effort sadly isn't included on the list) and we reckon it's shaping up to be one of the more successful efforts. Roy Lichtenstein's gorgeous 1977 320i racer still ranks as our favourite, but the Koon art car looks set to improve on Olafur Eliasson's ridiculous H2R from 2007.

"These race cars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy," said Koons. "You can participate with it, add to it and let yourself transcend with its energy. There is a lot of power under that hood and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car - it's really to connect with that power."

We are not sure what this means. We think it translates as ‘This Car Shall Be Fast And Pretty'. We'll find out on June 12 at Le Mans...

Sam Philip