The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona marked the exciting kickoff to BMW Motorsport’s racing season in North America. But this year was special.
This year Italian racing legend Alex Zanardi joined BMW to race the #24 BMW M8 GTE in the famed 24-hour endurance race. Zanardi lost both of his legs in a CART crash in 2001. He would race again with prosthetic legs, but found them inadequate for long-term usage required in endurance racing. In order for Zanardi to race on a team with three other drivers, BMW leveraged their engineering expertise and built a one-of-a-kind steering wheel that made steering, shifting, and controlling the throttle possible using only his hands and a unique lever to break and downshift through turns.
Returning for one race before training for the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, we jumped at the opportunity to honor Zanardi for the inspiration he is, and the engineering that went into making this possible with this film: We wanted to showcase Zanardi’s inspirational return and the BMW technology that made it possible, and champion them each as the ultimate inspiration and the Ultimate Driving Machine. This marks the first work from Matt Edwards and Wes Phelan, our newest Creative Directors.
Released: February 2019
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San Francisco, BMW , Film