Welcome to ///Mzansi – A Look Back at the 2024 BMW M Fest

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South Africa’s greatest biennial celebration of motoring tradition, BMW’s M Fest, returned to Kyalami.

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What’s the quickest letter within the automotive alphabet? It will be honest to bestow that honour upon BMW’s M. Not solely has the Bavarian carmaker’s motorsport-aligned arm been chargeable for a few of the most speedy and pulse-quickening vehicles we’ve seen in recent times, however its resonance with petrolheads the world over has gathered comparable tempo. That is notably evident on the native motoring scene, the place demand for tickets to BMW M Fest in South Africa has grown significantly because the inaugural occasion in 2017.

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Sitting down with Sylvia Neubauer, BMW M GmbH vice chairman of Buyer, Model and Gross sales, it’s very clear that the biennial M Fest is a uniquely South African phenomenon. Though BMW’s total gross sales in markets like China, its native Germany and the US far eclipse what the corporate sells in South Africa, the share of M vehicles offered in right here enormously exceeds that of every other market.

“To me this pageant in South Africa is exclusive as a result of it exhibits how a imaginative and prescient that began 50 years in the past, grew below the management of the primary BMW SA CEO to turn into a actuality with nice merchandise that set off feelings in South African followers and clients. The M Fest right this moment not solely addresses a broader goal group of those that come right here and solely dream of in the future proudly owning an M automobile, nevertheless it covers all the spectrum of the followers; house owners and dreamers. To me, that interaction of product, model and the neighborhood round it’s what makes this so particular,” Neubauer mentioned.

This yr’s M Fest kicked off with the launch of a luxurious espresso desk e book titled BMW – The Distinctive South African Story by authors Johann Venter and Marek Letowt. The 640-page hardback takes the reader by way of the 50-year historical past of BMW South Africa, kicking off with the development of the primary manufacturing plant exterior Germany proper right here in Rosslyn. The journey then takes us by way of to a few of the iconic fashions constructed right here, such because the 333i, 745i, in addition to the racing heritage the model enjoys right here in South Africa and quite a few cultural collaborations during which the agency has been concerned. Proudly, the CAR Journal’s archive was additionally instrumental in serving to make the e book the visible deal with it’s, offering many never-before-seen photos. It’s accessible in 2 000 normal variations and 333 restricted version, leather-bound and boxed copies.

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Subsequent, members of the motoring media had been invited to the native introduction of the extremely anticipated M5, which you’ll be able to examine on web page 9, and the long-awaited BMW M3 Touring. Additionally on show had been earlier generations of the M5, and each mannequin at present within the BMW’s native line-up in addition to bikes from BMW’s Motorrad division and the very first BMW M  automobile, the M1.

With 33 000 tickets (36 526 attendees really confirmed up) offered nicely upfront of opening on Friday 25 October, M Fest promised pageant goers an array of artists to rival music festivals, with dwell performances from the likes of Mr G, Vouks, Jugga, Mi Casa, DJ Zinhle, Arno Carstens, DJ Lamiez, Pabi Cooper, Rubber Duc and Uncle Waffles.

In fact, what would a celebration of all issues BMW be with out E30s burning rubber? The 2024 M Fest featured arguably the best collection of spinners on the occasion, together with Katlego ‘King Katra’ Mokgoshi, Kaylin Oliphant and Samkeliso ‘Sam Sam’ Thubane, with stunts together with performers hanging out of  – and even operating alongside! – their transferring autos. To not be outdone by their older brethren, there have been additionally a bunch of M2s on each the skidpan and performing synchronised drifts alongside a 1 Sequence balancing on two wheels. Worldwide drift star Elias Hountondji additionally wowed the crowds along with his LS V8-swapped E30.

The BMW Automotive Membership of Gauteng hosted the 9th spherical of their M Efficiency Components championship at M Fest, with a surprising array of racing autos from quite a lot of vintages that included, E36 and E46, E90 and F30. Budding house owners and fanatics of the model additionally went on 5 261 sizzling laps and 5 865 drift rides in numerous M fashions, whereas others may sit in on panel discussions, peruse the mannequin line-up to take selfies in vehicles, and people in search of the newest BMW M merchandise may store to their hearts’ content material. Sponsor Shell had an activation at M Fest, and the Beer Gardens, VIP lounge and Essential Stage at all times all noticed a wholesome quantity of visitors. These desirous to set sizzling laps with out risking an costly real-life crash may accomplish that safely within the confines of the Assetto Corsa simulators and kids had a devoted play space. In complete, the 1 344 take a look at rides resulted in 120 items offered between BMW and BMW Motorrad over the weekend.

BMW additionally used the occasion to announce that it will launch a driver improvement programme to mentor gifted younger drivers from beforehand deprived backgrounds eyeing a motorsport profession, beginning with an FIA-approved simulator racing programme, progressing to karting after which racing specifically ready BMWs in a spec collection.

“There’s one market that has simply determined to repeat the South African M Fest idea, and that’s our greatest market of China. The attention-grabbing factor about China is that we’ve been rising the model there for 20 years and are promoting an unbelievable quantity of BMW vehicles, however its M share there’s nonetheless very low, owing to the truth that motorsports doesn’t have the heritage there. We’ve requested 3 000 M automobile house owners to fulfill in Chengdu in Central China, at a brand new race observe,” Neubauer added.

M Fest has the potential to rival occasions around the globe. Even when BMW’s greater markets do undertake SA’s format, none of them will be capable of match the extraordinary ardour displayed in Mzansi.

Discover the complete function within the January subject of CAR Journal.

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