Over the past 15 years, BMW->ke178 has been the official safety car of Moto GP. The partnership has lasted that long and judging by the recent unveiling of the new safety car for the 2013 season, the bond between BMW and Moto GP are as strong as it’s ever been.

This year, the official safety car of the Moto GP season is a BMW M6 Gran Coupe. Sporting the traditional BMW safety car colors of white matched with strips of red, blue, and light blue, the 6-Series Gran Coupe Safety Car looks like it’s ready to lay down the safety standards for the 2013 season.

Considering that competitors will be on high-powered bikes, this 6-Series Gran Coupe also has a powertrain - a 4.4-liter V-8 twin-turbo engine - that can match wits with those two-wheeled rockets. That engine is good for 560 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque, and mates to a seven-speed M double-clutch transmission. This provides the M6 Gran Coupe a 0-to-100 km/h (62 mph) time of 4.2 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph.

The BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe Moto GP Safety Car is ready to hit the track when the season officially kicks off this weekend at the Grand Prix of Qatar.

BMW has built a lot of safety cars over the years. Check out a couple of other models that also served as Moto GP safety cars after the jump

2013 BMW M6 Gran Coupe MotoGP Safety Car

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2013 BMW M6 Gran Coupe MotoGP Safety Car
  • Engine/Motor: V8
  • Horsepower: 560
  • Torque: 502
  • Transmission: seven-speed M double-clutch
  • [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array

BMW 1-Series M Coupe Safety Car

The 1-Series M Coupe was the official safety car used during the 2011 Moto GP season. While it doesn't carry the same performance credentials as the M6 Gran Coupe, it did come with a 3.0-liter inline-six engine that produced 340 horsepower and carried enough weight savings to make it faster than the stock 1-Series M Coupe models.

BMW M5 Moto GP Safety Car

A year later, BMW opted to send something a little bigger and faster to be the Moto GP safety car. Enter the BMW 5-Series M5 and its 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 engine still carried 560 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque. Best of all, it could hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 4.4 seconds and hit an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph.