I know that I’ve previously said that racing teams need to find colors that aren’t red, white, or black to paint their cars, but this new BMW M4 GT3 from WRT Racing is the exception that proves the rule. The BMW-supported team will run a throwback livery inspired by the UFO Jeans Luigi Team 3.0 CSL at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month, and it could not be more awesome. There’s never been a better looking BMW race car than the CSL with a wavy red and white stripe design. The current M4 is hardly a looker, but this livery certainly helps. It might be the best livery racing at Le Mans this year, even better than BMW’s “Art Car” prototype, which is also great.
WRT’s sporting director, Pierre Dieudonné, was among the drivers of the Luigi Team, winning their class at Le Mans in 1977, so this car has lots of sentimental throwback meaning to the team. Team Boss Vincent Vosse has always held this car as one of his favorites, keeping a decal of the car (pictured above) in his collection. When the two men came together to work on a BMW racing team, it was written in the stars that they’d eventually run a red striped car at Le Mans together. Extremely cool!
It’s nice to see a beautifully executed throwback livery with modern updates. The team could have gone the lazy way of one-to-one replicating the stripe package for the new car, but by adding some large black sections to complement (or hide) the car’s shape, and throwing in some white dots (which feel reminiscent of Roy Lichtenstein’s BMW 320i art car, also from 1977).
I’m not sure this livery will be enough to make me cheer for BMW at Le Mans, being a Porsche homer and all, but it’s a nice step in the right direction. Good luck to WRT and its drivers, Augusto Farfus, Daniel Mancinelli, and Alex Riberas.