BMW has turned one of its own jokes into something very real. What started as a lighthearted April Fools post last year has now evolved into an actual race car, with the German brand revealing a full competition version of the M3 Touring ahead of its first outing on track next week.
Back in April, BMW shared images of a fictional M3 Touring GT race car across its social channels as part of the brand’s annual prank. At the time, it seemed like nothing more than a playful render. Fast forward to now, and that wild idea has been engineered into a functioning race machine ready to take on the Nürburgring.
The car, known as the M3 Touring 24H, will make its debut during the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie round at the Nordschleife next weekend. According to BMW, the project was completed in just eight months, following what it described as an overwhelming response from fans online after the original concept appeared.
Interestingly, the idea of a competition-spec M3 Touring had already been discussed internally before the April joke went live. The surge of enthusiasm from enthusiasts on social media gave decision-makers the push they needed to greenlight the project and turn the concept into reality.
BMW has not said whether another tongue-in-cheek concept from last year, the rugged M2 Dakar, could also become a real-world project.
Under the skin, the M3 Touring 24H shares most of its hardware with the current M4 GT3 race car. Power comes from a 3.0-litre straight-six engine, heavily revised for motorsport duty and sending 586 horsepower (437 kW) to the rear wheels.
Exact performance figures have not been released, but the race version carries around 86 horsepower more than the standard road-going M3 Touring. Combined with a significant weight reduction of a few hundred kilograms, it should deliver a noticeable step up in pace compared with the production car.
BMW says the car was created very much with the enthusiast community in mind. For its preparatory races, the wagon wears a special livery made up of real comments left by fans underneath the original April Fools post that sparked the entire idea.
When the car lines up on the grid next weekend, however, it will appear with a different, equally unique design.
Schubert Motorsport will run the car during the event, entering it in the SPX class. That means it will not battle directly against the three M4 GT3 entries competing in the top-tier SP9 category.
For now, BMW has not revealed whether the M3 Touring 24H will appear in additional races beyond its Nürburgring debut. There is also no confirmation on whether customer teams might eventually be able to buy one, similar to the M4 GT3 which sells for around £500,000.
Andrea Roos, head of BMW M Motorsport, said “A project like the BMW M3 Touring 24H has never existed at BMW M Motorsport before. Many thanks to everyone who put their heart and soul into this unique car and brought it to life.
“I am thrilled – and at the same time, I am certain that our fans, who are never closer to us than at our second home on the Nürburgring, will be just as excited. I promise all fans a great show and look forward to an event of superlatives.”
