BMW is everywhere in the city of Munich, Germany. The city is, after all, home to BMW's headquarters, museum, and BMW Welt – the Bavarian automaker’s new automobile delivery center, which fuses futuristic architecture with the BMW brand's rich history. It starts at the airport, with a huge, wall mounted BMW kidney grill in the baggage claim area; it lights up and revs at you once you step on the oversized "Engine Start" sticker on the floor. One can't help but notice the strength of the BMW brand in its own hometown, with blue and white roundels adorning almost every car on Munich city streets. The theme continues on to BMW headquarters - four tall cylindrical towers, flanked by the BMW Welt experience and the BMW Museum. One of the most memorable cars in the museum is certainly the BMW 2002 Tii - a truly significant car in many ways, both for BMW and the automotive manufacturing industry as a whole. The BMW 2002 is the car that pulled Bavarian Motor Works out the financial mire that it was in during the mid-1960s. Selling nearly 900,000 of these small, but well built, cars put the Munich marque on the road to success. The 3 Series and all that came after were descended from this design, it can be called the DNA of BMW. The 2002 Tii was the first high performance small car that was readily affordable and is said to have created that highly competitive sector of the modern day automobile scene. It also was instrumental in establishing BMW in the North American marketplace. BMW would have been a very different company without the 2002 Tii. BMW's Die Knutschkugel, or Bubble Car as it was known in the UK, was BMW's answer to the increasing desire of Europe’s population to acquire personal transport in the 1950s. There was a trend during that time for microcars, cheap to produce and cheap to run. The World was still recovering from the ravages of the recent World War and had to build cars with the resources available. The car was a development of a design from Iso SpA group, famous later for the Rivolta sportscar and BMW acquired the license and tooling from the Italians. The BMW Isetta, a two seater, front-entry vehicle, was powered by a 250cc single cylinder four-stroke motorcycle engine, producing a whole 12bhp, that translated into a 53mph top speed! The Isetta was a glimpse into the future, as car manufacturers are now producing city cars that are economical and practical, easy to park, and safe in heavy urban traffic. These are all really the descendants of the BMW Isetta. In keeping with the innovative theme that runs throughout BMW Welt, the display of BMW’s sedans from the 1970’s are given the multi-layered treatment, the display can be viewed at several levels too. It is a really effective way of portraying these fine machines. Paying tribute to the many models that have originated from Munich is not an easy task, given the space limitations. However, this artful display of BMW emblems suspended in mid-air does the trick. The initial concept of Art meeting BMW was the idea of the French auctioneer and racing car driver Hervé Poulain. On his initiative, his friend the American Alexander Calder designed a livery for his BMW racing car, a BMW 3.0 CSL. The intention was to take part in the 1975 edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours. The enthusiastic reception from all sides of the rolling art work led BMW to create the Art Car Collection that has continued to this day. Hervé Poulain about his vision: “One day, I said to myself, now is the time to do something grandly communicative and heroic and unite my two passions, by having my racing cars painted by the leading artists of the time.” Poulain shared his special BMW with Sam Posey and Jean Guichet for the French classic. They started as fastest qualifiers in their class but retired after 73 laps with a broken driveshaft stranding them out on the track as night fell. One of the aims of BMW Welt is to show the visitors the process of taking an idea in the mind of a designer to actual production. Here a full sized clay model of a 1 Series illustrates part of the journey. Walking through the museum, it's almost impossible not to notice the Tourenwagen Hall, which is located on the ground floor of the building. Even just a glimpse of fender through the open doorway is enough to get any BMW afficionado's heart racing. BMW has a fantastic record of racing the products it builds, multiple Touring Championships all over the World have been won since the 1960s. BMW Welt pays a special tribute to this sporting heritage in the Tourenwagen Hall. Located next to the entrance of the Touring Car Hall is this E46 M3 GTR, which is powered by a 400 horsepower P60B40 V8 engine from a BMW M5. This M3 GTR is the very car that won the 2005 Nürburging 24 Hours. It was the final run for the V8 engined coupé that had won many races in its five year career, including the 2001 American Le Mans Series GT title. It was entered under the BMW Motorsport banner, run by Schnitzer Motorsport and was driven by Andy Priaulx, Pedro Lamy, Boris Said and Duncan Huisman. The theme in the Tourenwagen Hall runs from the early days of BMW’s competitions right through to the latest successes in America and Europe. The gradual development of production based racing during the past 40 years is clearly illustrated. One of the all-time greats in the history of BMW Motorsport, the 3.0 CSL had a fantastic record and a major impact winning Championships and races all over the world from 1973 to 1979. This particular model was campaigned successfully in the 1975 IMSA Championship by drivers such as Ronnie Peterson, Brian Redman and Sam Posey. The “Batmobile” remains to this day as one of the truly iconic BMWs and a crowd favorite whenever it is displayed. BMW purchased the Sauber team and ran in the 2006 season with the F1 06, which is shown at the museum, mounted onto the wall with a glass-encased mannequin wearing the team colors next to it. These are just a few of the scenes that intrigued me when I visited BMW Welt and the BMW Museum. If you haven't had the chance to visit the museum yet, I highly encourage you to do so the next time you're in Munich! It truly is a magnificent representation of the heritage of the BMW brand and the German (Bavarian) automobile. -Antonio Alvendia
