BMW's Motorsport division has been building race cars for nearly five decades and the current M4 GT4 is undoubtedly one of the all-time stars. Bagging titles all over the world including in Europe, North-America, and Asia, the M4 GT4 is now approaching the end of its third full season of active competition and BMW has decided to mark the occasion by creating a raft of new liveries for the 450-horsepower race car based on the F82-generation M4 Coupe.

The M4 GT4 Is Everything We Could Dream For On A Track Day

BMW is known for making race cars, really good ones at that. The company's own 'Driving Pleasure' mantra derives straight from the sporty nature of its products, one that's been honed on the track where such Bavarian legends as the 3.0 CSL, the E30 M3 Sport Evo, the E46 M3 GTR, and the E92 M3 GT2 have often been unbeatable. BMW is the winningest brand in some of the world's most famous long-distance races including the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (24) and the 24 Hours of the Nuerburgring-Nordschleife (20) and although the M4 GT4 isn't the car responsible for overall wins, it has racked up an impressive amount of class victories in long-distance races as well as dominated short-distance series centered around GT4 machinery.

Introduced in 2017, the M4 GT4 came in to replace the aging M3 E92-based GT4 model that BMW had been offering for a few years since moving away from the Z4 GT4. In 2017, the M4 GT4 was raced by the factory in order to develop it and thus make it ready for the plethora of awaiting customers that began racing it in earnest in 2018. In its debut race, the 2017 24 Hours of Dubai, the car racked up over 3,000 tough, race-pace kilometers, and then, in May, it won its class in the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring.

During its first season in private hands, the M4 GT4 was nominated for the coveted "Race Car of the Year" award at the Professional MotorSport World Expo Awards and while it did not actually win the award, it did win many titles since 2018. For instance, it was a BMW M4 GT4 entered by Dutch outfit MDM Motorsport that won the 2019 GT4 European Series title in the hands of American Alec Udell and Dutchman Simon Knap. Last year, too, the M4 found success in the US with Stephen Cameron Racing's Gregory Liefooghe and Sean Quinlan winning the GT4 America SprintX Drivers' title.

To celebrate all of the silverware gathered world-wide by the M4 GT4 in these past few seasons, BMW organized an in-house competition to design four designs, one for each of the M4's four seasons of racing (including 2017 when it was campaigned by the factory, as mentioned).

The competition's jury included some of BMW Group's heavyweights including BMW M CEO Markus Flasch and BMW Group Head of Design Adrian van Hooydonk. The winning the entries come from BMW Motorrad designer Julia Quentin, Rolls-Royce designer Simon Haynes, Wesselka Mandowa-Maier from BMW Designworks in California, and Li Tianyuan from BMW's i Design department in Munich. The designs vary greatly with the one featuring the number 04 along the sides and hood seemingly inspired by Frank Stella's 1976 Art Car judging by the use of a black-and-white scheme and geometrical pattern. Then there's the red car with its circular pattern that's a clear nod to the BASF-sponsored BMW M1s of old. Lastly, the most colorful winner of the lot incorporates a stylized number 4 (for M4) in an abstract design that utilizes various tints of the M colors (blue, purple, and red).

A full-blown endurance racing package with extra fog lights and more bits and pieces is available at a premium but regardless of what you bolt to it, the M4 GT4 is still an acutely fast piece of kit that's capable of going 176 mph flat-out despite the big wing and generous splitter and diffuser combo.

This model will continue to be around for a few more years - meaning you will see it win more races still - until it will finally be replaced by a GT4 version of the G82-generation M4 set to be introduced next year. Along with that will come a GT3 variant that we've already talked about and yes, they will all feature that huge new grille.