Holy Crap: The BMW M3 Wagon Is Actually Going Racing

BMW revealed the M3 Touring GT race car last year as an April Fool’s joke—but now it's a reality. The response to BMW’s cheeky endeavor was so loud that the automaker decided it had to produce the thing and race it at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in May.  

The wagon shares the same technical bones and specs as the BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Under the hood is BMW’s turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six engine, capable of up to 590 horsepower. The biggest difference is the exterior: a carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic body shell that mimics the wagon.  

The automaker began drafting a race version of the M3 Touring as soon as the car debuted in 2022. Two years after that, the automaker began planning the April Fool’s joke, commissioning the creation of professional renderings ahead of its April 1, 2025, reveal.  

The response was so overwhelming that BMW green-lit the previously conceived project in August and began developing it in September, and will have the car ready in just eight months. The automaker began validating the car last month before it races in the SPX class in a few months—a different class than BMW’s M4 GT3. After that, BMW will take the wagon on tour.