BMW art cars in London

Whilst flicking round Retro Rides the other day I spotted a thread about the BMW art cars, a series of road and race cars stretching back to the mid 1970s that have been painted by famous artists. I've seen countless photos of them but the chance to see 16 of the17 together was too good to an opportunity to miss. Sometimes work just falls the right way and I had an early morning survey in Greenwich then a collection mid afternoon in Watford. It would mean driving through the middle of London on the hottest day of the year with the Olympics a day away and the traffic in chaos. Luckily I managed to get around the hold ups and found parking near the old Shoreditch NCP.



You enter the exhibition via a vast car lift on the top floor and work your way down, with three cars per level and nobody around to block the view I took in as much as I could and snapped away for half an hour. Starting with Jenny Holzer's V12 LMR.





Finishing off the top floor was Alexander Calder's 3.0CSL, raced at the 1975 Le Mans 24hr race and also the first of the Art Cars





 Walking down stairs you are faced with the 535i of Matazo Kayama



Followed by the Cesar Manrique 7 series



And the vivid graph paper covered 3.0 CSL of Frank Stella





The next floor down holds two of the most famous cars, Andy Warhol's M1 and  Roy Lichtenstein's Gp5 320i.









Last on the floor was Robert Rauschenberg's black and white art covered 635 CSi



Moving down a floor again a pair of E30 M3s were present.Ken Done and Michael Nelson Jagamarra the artists.

Esther Mahlangu's 525i was inspired by Africcan tribal art

David Hockney, A.R.Penck and Sandro Chia provided the next floor full with an 8 series, Z1 and  an M3 GTR.

The final floor was taken up with Ernst Fuchs' flamed 635CSi and Jeff Koons M3 GTR that was raced at Le Mans in 2010 and the last of the Art Cars.

It was a whirlwind tour and I doubt I'll get the chance for a longer look anytime soon. I urge any car and art fans to give it a go before they close it in early August. There are loads more photos from the floors here.

Steve.

Sunny at Castle Combe

Easter Monday at Combe this year was a washout. drizzle most of the day with some torrential downpours to end it. What a difference the jetstream moving North has made. We headed down the M4 in glorious sunshine, the V8 in my brothers Vantage burbling along towards the Classic 50, a weekend of historic and modern racing. We were only going for the saturday which turned out to be a bargain at just a tenner with free paddock entry.



As is the tradition we walked the paddock during the morning. As well as Combe three championships there were rounds for Jaguar Saloons, tintops, Future Classics and German cars and the highlight for us, the Special Saloons. A series for silhouette and Thundersaloons.



















We watched a bit of the qualifying sessions then following the lunch break it was the first race. Viewing from the final straight gives a great perspective of the speed the cars are hitting before Camp Corner.





Next up was a busy tintop race.





Followed by an ice cream break!



The circuits saloon races are so much better without the 4WD class, the action is closer and the closing speeds far lower.







Future Classic catered for everything from Golf GTIs through to 928s. An Esprit and 928 battled for the whole race.







The Combe GTs provided a Radical race with Prebble in his 4WD mixing it up. The race came to a premature end when the M6 spun and caught fire. The flames were quickly out and proceedings weren't held up for long.







Before the Special Saloons we moved round past the bar to the entry for Quarry. Hard on the brakes and round the 180°













We continued round the track as the Formula Ford race began and lost ourselves in the Paddock chatting to the driver of the Carlton. At 63 he peddled it to a fine second place.





The FFs were disrupted by a rolling car on the finish line so we made our way back to the car as the final race for German saloons and sportscars started. It was wheel to wheel all the way.







And that was that, suntanned and exhausted we clambered aboard the Aston for the drive home. Finally the weather has turned and summer has arrived (I hope). Theres loads more photos here 

Steve.

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