BMW M brand to mark 50th year at Festival of Speed

BMW’s high-performance motorsports division, BMW M, plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary at the upcoming 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed. With BMW M as the honored brand, the Central Feature in front of Goodwood House will present an eye-catching display of BMW M cars past, present, and future.

“There can be no better place to celebrate our 50th anniversary than among our fans at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, surrounded by the iconic cars that have cemented our position in motorsport history. But we’ll also spend our time at the world-famous event looking to the future, with a selection of exciting new models from our innovative electrified line-up, and the global premiere of the eagerly-anticipated first-ever BMW M3 Touring,” said BMW M CEO Frank van Meel.

In addition, BMW M will treat festival-goers with the world premiere of the first-ever BMW M3 Touring (first photo below) and the UK premiere of the new BMW M4 CSL (secondphoto below). The former offers a distillation of the technological prowess and know-how from the BMW M3 and M4 family, combined with the practicality of a five-door touring model. The latter, on the other hand, comes as an ultimate, track-honed, two-seater coupe.

On top of showcasing the BMW M3 Touring and the BMW M4 CSL, BMW M will reveal a high-performance M3 Touring with Performance Parts. The souped-up BMW M3 Touring, as well as the standard M3 Touring and the M4 CSL, will take on the iconic Hillclimb at the Festival of Speed.

Other BMW models to be displayed at the motoring event include curated classics like BMW UK’s BMW 3.0 CSL and several specimens from BMW Group Classic such as the BMW M1 Procar from the late 1970s, the WTCC BMW 3 Series E90, and the Le Mans-winning 1999 BMW V12 LMR.

Furthermore, BMW Group Classic will bring four additional famous race cars to Goodwood’s Hillclimb.

Pedro Piquet, son of three-time F1 World Champion Nelson Piquet, will drive the world’s first turbocharged F1 World Champion car, the 1983 Brabham BMW BT52. Steve Soper will climb the hill in the BMW V12 LMR on Thursday, followed by Markus Flasch (CEO of BMW M GmbH, 2018-2021), who will be in the driver’s seat on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. HRH Leopold Prince of Bavaria will drive the sharknose BMW 635CSi and Bruno Spengler will drive his famous BMW Z4 GTR which features the Michel Vaillant Design from the 2015 Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race.

Expected to be the focal point of the upcoming auto event, BMW M at Trackside will host iconic models from BMW M’s illustrious past, from the legendary BMW M3 E30 to the revered BMW M3 CSL E46. Alongside will be modern-day BMW M greats such as the BMW M5 CS, BMW M4 GT3, BMW M850i Convertible, and the BMW i4 M50.

BMW will also showcase a suite of all-electric and electrified models from the BMW iX M60 to the BMW iX3.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is scheduled from June 23 to 26.

Photos from BMW

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