By Craig Watson
Going to Europe is always a privilege, but for car fans, a visit to Germany must rank as somewhat of a pilgrimage; I know I viewed my visit to the BMW Museum and BMW Welt in Munich as one.
The Museum is next to the flagship dealer of BMW known as World, where one can order everything from a Rolls Royce to an M4 GTS, all the clothing one could possibly want, and some coffee too. The display of modern technology, especially within the new 7 Series, was amazing, even if some of the technology was being misused. Using a selfie stick to take a photo of yourself and your girlfriends in a parked convertible inside a dealership must rank as a new peak of humanity’s evolution.
The rest of the dealership is filled with famous adverts, interactive displays, a huge section dedicated to BMW’s “i” technology, and a fantastic restaurant. But, it was the museum I was really interested in on this trip.
Inside the museum, you are greeted with a display of steel balls on strings that rearrange themselves into different models from BMW’s history, this is close to an entire wall, across multiple floors, filled with a variety of BMW cars and motorbikes.
The museum then takes you through BMW history, from the first aircraft engines that gave the distinctive logo of a propeller against the sky, to the first racing bikes and cars.
Aside from displays on the march of development, there is a large area dedicated to BMW’s multiple motorsport championships, with pressure sensitive pads that start videos of past races with commentary. There are motorcycles from both the Dakar and World Superbike championships, as well as priceless classic racing cars. There is also a rather special 1983 F1 car, in which a certain Nelson Piquet won the World Championship in at Kyalami. My father, and I’m sure quite a few readers, were there to witness the feat.
There is also a two storey hanging display of each and every model name BMW has used, and yes, if you look long enough you will find yours, whether it’s a 116i or an M6!  Without a doubt the most entertaining room in the entire building is the marketing room. You see, Germany allows competitive advertising, and this has led to some exceptionally cheeky adverts. Besides the expected adverts, such as those extolling the race-dominating virtues of the E30 M3, the most memorable advert actually depicts a Mercedes truck. The German caption underneath reads: “Sometimes a Mercedes can bring you true joy”, as it transports a full load of BMW’s, truly a tenderpreneurs dream.
There are more technical displays close by for the BMW fundi, with a history of the fabled and rightfully legendary straight-six engine, as well as some of the most innovative history displays I’ve ever seen. Huge plain white tables act as displays for overhead projectors that pick up your hand movements to show you the stories you touch, all displayed along a timeline with photos and articles detailing all the different events in BMW’s history. Once you have spent at least 2 hours in that room, you can finally move on to the book room. Here, a projector above the huge book picks up what picture you are looking at, and a narrative describing that scene depicted in the book is played. There’s also an impressive part regarding BMW’s usage of concentration camp prisoners in its factories during World War 2. It’s detailed how the factories used slave labour to produce armaments and engines, and then subsequently denied it in the enquiries following the end of the war. They now fully accept and detail their guilt, as well as a heartfelt apology, and a promise that this part of their history will never be removed from their archives or displays to the public, lest their greatest mistake ever be forgotten.
On the very bottom floor of the building you will find a nice display of all of 007’s cars, but more importantly, the M Power room is also on the bottom floor.  With a stunning display of perfection taking up most of the room, your time will be spent taking photo after photo of each mint car there, from an original M5 to a CSL. But behind the cars in a little corner is an equally entertaining display, each engine used by an M car over the years is present, as well as earphones with engine noises. The production car championship room would cause a heart attack for anyone with an interest in motorsport, there are exhibits from an E30 race car, to the famed Batmobile, to a V8 E46 M3 GTR.
The last part of the museum is a spiral staircase, bordered by the most stunning photographs from BMW’s history, from Dakar cars vaulting sand dunes, to Gina the car with a fabric skin, through to Nelson Mandela’s 7 Series. There are also photos of the stunning M4 entry into the famous German DTM touring car series. As a final display to get ecstatic about, all of the cars I just mentioned, as well as many other fascinating concept cars, such as an electric Rolls Royce, are all on display on the top floor. Truly a memorable trip, and probably the only car museum I have seen that is on par with the stunning Mercedes museum.
