BMW Listens to Its Fans and Turns a Prank Into a Real Race Car, the M3 Touring 24H

BMW set social media alight on April Fools Day 2025 with a bombshell that turned out to be anything but a joke. An M3 station wagon transformed into a full blown race car, complete with massive tires and an imposing rear wing, spread across the internet faster than anyone anticipated, racking up over a million views and pulling in fans from every corner of the world.

BMW’s M Motorsport division watched the reaction, and while their fans laughed, they thought, why not make this prank into a real car? Work began on it in the summer of 2025, and eight months later, the finished piece arrived, ready to compete at one of the most difficult tracks available.

The build starts with a standard M3 Touring chassis, but from there virtually every panel is stripped away and replaced with carbon fiber, shedding a serious amount of weight in the process. The rear doors are purely cosmetic at this point, while the front doors have been shortened to make room for the roll cage and all the hardware that comes with serious racing preparation. New windows and a reshaped rear end round out the exterior transformation. Stretch it all out and the wagon sits roughly eight inches longer than the BMW M4 GT3, a car that already dominates at the top level of the sport, and stands about an inch taller once that rear wing is factored in.


The powertrain is identical to that of the M4 GT3 Evo, which presently competes in the top class, with a 3-litre in-line six turbo engine producing up to 590 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. The X-Trac’s 6-speed sequential gearbox puts it all to the rear wheels. The brakes, suspension, and full safety cage are similar to the GT3 kit that has been tested and proven. Yokohama tires on 18-inch wheels grip the track perfectly, and the fuel system is a carbon copy of the other cars’.





BMW placed the wagon in the experimental SPX class for the 2026 Nurburgring 24 hour race, which will be held on May 16th and 17th. It will participate, although not directly against the primary prototype cars in SP9. It will be run by Schubert Motorsport, which will also run the standard M4 GT3. The wagon gets its first taste of real-world track action the following weekend, at the second round of the Nurburgring long distance series, with qualifying sessions to ensure everything is just perfect.




Four of BMW’s top factory drivers will share the wheel across the full 24 hours. Jens Klingmann brings years of hard earned Nordschleife experience to the team, while Belgian Ugo de Wilde adds a sharp turn of speed to the lineup. Americans Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen round things out. The objective is straightforward enough in theory, keep the car clean, stay out of trouble for a full day and night, and finish as high up the order as the machine will allow.