For the past few months, sim racing has been our only source of live racing action—up until fairly recently, that is. As many motorsport fans welcome the return of varied racing divisions across the globe, BMW is asking the enthusiast community to welcome back DTM with open arms and a fan-generated livery.
The M4 GT4 sim car, which was made available to virtual customers in June
The contest, which encourages BMW Motorsport enthusiasts to create their very own race car livery, aims to transition the sport back to the tarmac, bridging the gap from the virtual community to the tarmac. The M4 GT4, which was recently introduced to BMW M Customer Racing in sim context and is currently utilized in real-world DTM racing, will serve as the blank canvas for the new livery design.
In order to streamline the submission process, BMW has laid out a set of rules regarding the contest, which clarifies design restrictions for the artist and provides a template for the designer to utilize with their submission. Though the majority of the supplied M4 GT4 template is intentionally left blank, BMW has left red boxes that reserve space for DTM sponsors, which must be worked around. The automaker has also stipulated that their, “The Fusion of Real World and Sim Racing” tagline must be incorporated into the finished design in some way.
Enthusiasts are encouraged to submit their designs in both 2D and 3D forms before August 5—submissions will then be judged by a star-studded jury, including the likes of multimedia artist and BMW M6 GT3 art car designer Cao Fei, BMW Motorsport’s Head of Design Michael Scully, and BMW works driver Bruno Spengler. Though the aforementioned officials will spearhead the judging process, BMW has assured us that the BMW Motorsport community will also be able to weigh in with their opinions, via the automaker’s social media channels.
As if having your artwork on a bonafide race car (both real and virtual) wasn’t enough, the winning designer will receive a generous $3,000 cash prize, followed by $2,000 and $1,000 purses for second and third place, respectively. BMW Motorsport’s general manager Rudolf Dittrich claims that the reason behind the cash prize wasn’t just to honor the creativity of the enthusiast, but also to help those during these troubling times.
The winning livery is set to be unveiled on one of the M4 GT4s racing in the DTM Trophy this year, scheduled for the November 7–8 Hockenheimring finale.—Malia Murphy
[Photos courtesy BMW AG.]
