WRT Brings Ken Done Art Car To Bathurst In Style Weekend

Three-quarter front view of a colorful race car on a pitlane starting line.

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Mount Panorama is a gloriously steep, unforgiving piece of tarmac that makes grown men whimper. This year Team WRT is back to defend a 1-2 at the Bathurst 12 Hour and they have decided that the sensible thing to do is to roll out an M4 GT3 that appears to have escaped from a paint shop run by particularly enthusiastic parrots.

The #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO will wear a Ken Done Art Car replica livery, which is the sort of visual assault that will either cheer you up or momentarily blind you. It will be driven by a trio of proper racers who know their way around a mountain, so expect pace and panache in roughly equal measures.

Three-quarter front view of a multicolored GT race car on pit lane in front of garages.

A Moving Masterpiece

The livery nods to an illustrious line of BMW Art Cars that began on the big stage of Le Mans back in the 1970s. Ken Done’s original painting for BMW in 1989 was inspired by the brilliance and motion of parrots and parrot fish, an odd but rather effective choice if you want your race car to look like it is trying to fly.

Vertical close-up of a race car window arch with a 'Pepper' sponsor decal and reflections on the glass.

It is a clever bit of theatre. The Art Car collection has spent five decades proving that motorsport and art do not hate each other, and the timing is neat: 2026 also marks the 40th anniversary of the BMW M3, a model that started life in 1986 and has been embarrassing ordinary road cars ever since.

Close-up of painted lower body panel with colorful brushstroke decals and artist signature

Bathurst Bedlam Awaits

The colourful tribute will make its competitive debut at the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour at Mount Panorama on the weekend of 13 to 15 February 2026. Expect furious wheel-to-wheel action, the occasional cloud of gravel, and a car that looks wonderful when stationary and terrifyingly theatrical at speed.

Combine five decades of art on cars with endurance racing and a bit of celebratory nostalgia for the M3, and you have something that pleases both aesthetes and petrolheads. Which, frankly, is quite an achievement. Now go and find some sunglasses.

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