11:58 12-05-2026

From April Fools' Joke to Racing: The BMW M3 Touring 24H

From April Fools' joke to race car: BMW M3 Touring 24H features 590 hp, rear-wheel drive, and social media comments livery for the Nurburgring 24 Hours.

The BMW M3 Touring 24H began as an April Fools' joke. Now it's a genuine race car for the Nürburgring 24 Hours. After a viral video of the M3 Touring GT3 Evo, fans practically pressured BMW Motorsport into the project. The clip racked up more than 1.6 million views, and the comments quickly became pleas to actually build the car.

The wagon now has its final livery ahead of the May 16–17 race. During qualifying, the car was wrapped with actual social media comments from that same joke. The race-ready version is more serious: a black center section, the classic M GmbH colors—yellow, red, and white—toward the rear, a large Shell logo on the flanks, and yellow daytime running lights with a grille surround. On the Nürburgring at night, that's not just for looks; it helps drivers spot the car quickly in traffic.

Under the skin, the M3 Touring 24H closely follows the M4 GT3 EVO. It packs a racing 3.0-liter inline-six P58 with a dry sump, revised intake, twin-turbo exhaust, up to 590 horsepower, and a six-speed sequential X-trac gearbox. Power goes to the rear wheels only—even though the road-going M3 Touring comes exclusively with xDrive.

The bodywork had to be rebuilt from carbon fiber to match the wagon silhouette. The rear doors are dummy panels, the front doors are shorter, and the rear wing sits farther back to offset the aerodynamic penalty of the long roof. Compared to the M4 GT3 EVO, the car is 200 mm longer and 32 mm taller. The driver's seat is raised by 60 mm to allow for safe ingress and egress.

The car was assembled in eight months, with development starting in September 2025. The fact that the entire M4 GT3 EVO foundation was already in place certainly helped.

At the Nürburgring, the M3 Touring 24H won't race in the top SP9 class. Instead, it'll run in SPX, reserved for experimental and non-homologated cars. Behind the wheel are factory BMW M drivers Jens Klingmann, Ugo de Wilde, Connor De Phillipi, and Neil Verhagen. Officially, the wagon isn't in the fight for the overall win, but that's not the point. BMW has brought to the starting line a car that the internet first dismissed as a joke—then demanded to see made real.