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BMW says this isn't an Art Car, and we fully agree

The "what is art" debate is as old as cave drawings. Or maybe it's older. That's up for discussion, but BMW says the artiness of this spaghetti-monster i3 is not. BMW found it necessary to put out a press release explaining that this pasta-decorated i3 is not only not part of its Art Car series, but also that its creator, artist Maurizio Cattelan, no longer makes art. So it definitely can't be called art, excluding it from Art Car consideration. We weren't going to accidentally call it either, though. The wrapped electric car was created for the Recontres d'Arles photography exhibition in Arles, France. They're calling it a "Spaghetti Car." Uh huh. Some choice quotes from the release: "Lest there be any confusion, it must be officially clarified that what Maurizio Cattelan created is not an official BMW Art Car. The artist's design will be destroyed according to Cattelan's wishes sometime after Rencontres d'Arles." We hope that means the wrap gets torn off and burned. There's a perfectly good i3 underneath to salvage. "Maurizio Cattelan has still officially retired from 'art' since his 2011 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, although he only recently created a toilet bowl made of solid gold for the Upper East Side institution." See also: Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" for more discussion of art/not-art. Related Gallery BMW Art Cars It sounds like Cattelan struggles more with the definition of the word "definition" than with "art." Is the irony that there is art in calling something not art? This might just be too meta for us to get. Anyway, about the only useful part of the release is a reminder that the next Art Car will be based on an M6 GT3 and is due in late 2016 or early 2017. It's currently being worked on by two people who presently consider themselves artists, John Baldessari and Cao Fei. We trust it won't be covered in food. Related Video: Green BMW Electric bmw art car

Two new RWD Toyota sports cars to join FR-S?

Toyota as we know it could become a thing of the past. According to Australian site Car Advice, the Japanese brand known for bland cruisers like the Camry and Corolla is preparing to bring two new rear-drive cars to market that would slot above and below the Scion-badged FR-S. This is very, very good news.
Car Advice spoke to the GT86/FR-S' chief engineer, Tatsuya Tada, who claimed, "Akio Toyoda always says to me, Toyota sports car [family] should be three sports car brothers. 86 is in the middle." The oldest "brother" would be the spiritual successor to the Supra, even if it doesn't wear that name. Tada is in charge of that project, while a sub-GT86 project is being headed-up elsewhere.
Tada refused to comment on names (CA specifically mentions MR2 and Celica) for the new small car, but did say that, "Yes it is rear-wheel drive and that's Toyota's strong position - Toyota sports car must be rear-wheel drive." Perhaps the juiciest bit of information obtained from Tada's interview with Car Advice was his hinting that both new sports cars would be joint ventures, like the GT86/FR-S/Subaru BRZ triplets. Tada wouldn't say who Toyota was in bed with on the smaller model, but did mention that the Supra would be a product of the world's largest automaker's partnership with BMW.

Watch two championship-winning DTM cars from BMW go head-to-head

BMW recently had a little fun with two of the company's past DTM champions. Roberto Ravaglia and Bruno Spengler, winners of the 1989 and 2012 championships, respectively, both showed up at the world-famous Hockenheimring with their title-winning cars. The two swapped seats, with Ravaglia taking the helm of Spengler's BMW M3 DTM racer and Spengler sliding behind the wheel of Ravaglia's first-generation M3 racer in the classic BMW Bank livery, and headed for the track. Spengler got a 23 second head start in the first-gen M3 with Ravaglia chasing behind.
It didn't take long for the older hotshoe to sort out his new ride and close the gap. The short clip below follows the two as they make their way around the circuit, but the really interesting portion comes when the pair begin discussing what they like and don't like about each other's machines. You can check out the full video below for yourself.