Photo: BMW
Not all cars with flashing lights want to pull you over and fine you for going too fast. If that were the case, this BMW M2 would have its hands full in the MotoGP.
Bike racing in general, and MotoGP in particular, has become something of a last bastion for those who still want a motorsport that’s exciting. Sorry to all Formula One or NASCAR fans, but the former is completely lacking in on-track excitement, while the latter is indeed action-packed, but for some reason it only appeals to Americans.
There’s the touring championships as well, but watching those race cars with bodies that look like street models, even though the initial concept was to race actual street cars, makes us feel a bit cheated. WRC or Dakar are good too, but those racers are competing against the clock, so there’s no real overtaking, no direct competition.
MotoGP, on the other hand, that’s the only place where two competitors can swap places two or three times during two or three turns. You just never know what’s going to happen next, and that’s the beauty of it. And since Valentino Rossi stopped dominating the competition a few years ago, it’s also become wide open for anybody to win it.
BMW was a bit of a clairvoyant, striking a partnership with MotoGP - through the competition’s organizer, Dorna Sports - back in 1999. Well, with Formula One taken by Mercedes-Benz, there weren’t that many first-hand options left for the Bavarians. Plus, they’re no strangers to fast-moving motorcycles, so it made perfect sense.
And since the M Division is pretty fond of making fast cars as well, BMW M has been the “Official Car of MotoGP” ever since, and it will continue to be until at least 2020, if no other extension is signed in the meantime.
The 2016 season will start with a modified BMW M2 Coupé as its safety car. The vehicle gets all the performance and aerodynamic updates available to the street model as well, but it also has a host of specific electronic features, together with a roll cage adapted from the BMW M4 GTS model. The car gets a three-liter inline six-cylinder engine capable of 370 hp and a 0-62 mph acceleration time of 4.3 seconds.
Apart from the safety car, BMW M also provides the competition with other service vehicles such as the medical. This one comes in the form of a BMW X5 M, which can offer a combination of pace and space that isn’t easy to come by in the automotive world. There’s also a BMW S 1000 RR safety bike ready to jump on the track if needed, with its unbelievable power-to-weight ratio of almost 1:1 (204 kg/450 lb and 202 hp). Down below is a photo gallery of the BMW M2 MotoGP Safety Car during its preparation process, but also in its spectacular final form.
There’s the touring championships as well, but watching those race cars with bodies that look like street models, even though the initial concept was to race actual street cars, makes us feel a bit cheated. WRC or Dakar are good too, but those racers are competing against the clock, so there’s no real overtaking, no direct competition.
MotoGP, on the other hand, that’s the only place where two competitors can swap places two or three times during two or three turns. You just never know what’s going to happen next, and that’s the beauty of it. And since Valentino Rossi stopped dominating the competition a few years ago, it’s also become wide open for anybody to win it.
BMW was a bit of a clairvoyant, striking a partnership with MotoGP - through the competition’s organizer, Dorna Sports - back in 1999. Well, with Formula One taken by Mercedes-Benz, there weren’t that many first-hand options left for the Bavarians. Plus, they’re no strangers to fast-moving motorcycles, so it made perfect sense.
And since the M Division is pretty fond of making fast cars as well, BMW M has been the “Official Car of MotoGP” ever since, and it will continue to be until at least 2020, if no other extension is signed in the meantime.
The 2016 season will start with a modified BMW M2 Coupé as its safety car. The vehicle gets all the performance and aerodynamic updates available to the street model as well, but it also has a host of specific electronic features, together with a roll cage adapted from the BMW M4 GTS model. The car gets a three-liter inline six-cylinder engine capable of 370 hp and a 0-62 mph acceleration time of 4.3 seconds.
Apart from the safety car, BMW M also provides the competition with other service vehicles such as the medical. This one comes in the form of a BMW X5 M, which can offer a combination of pace and space that isn’t easy to come by in the automotive world. There’s also a BMW S 1000 RR safety bike ready to jump on the track if needed, with its unbelievable power-to-weight ratio of almost 1:1 (204 kg/450 lb and 202 hp). Down below is a photo gallery of the BMW M2 MotoGP Safety Car during its preparation process, but also in its spectacular final form.
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