BMW Becomes the "Official Car" of Lime Rock Park

BMW has had a longstanding relationship with Lime Rock Park that dates back to the mid-1980s.

BMW of North America, LLC and Lime Rock Park announced that BMW will be the “Official Car” of Lime Rock Park. The announcement was made at the New York Auto Show.

Under the terms of the three-year agreement, BMW will provide the pace car for all race events as well as additional support vehicles. The official pace car this year will be a 2006 BMW M5 Sedan featuring a 500-horsepower V10 engine mated to a seven-speed Sequential Manual Gearbox.

BMW already features prominently at three of the four major race weekends at Lime Rock Park:

• Rolex GT Series Challenge (May 26 – 29): Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2006 Formula BMW USA championship along with BMW’s presence in the Rolex Sports Car Series GT class and the Grand-Am Cup Series

• American Le Mans New England Grand Prix (June 30 – July 1): Features BMW Team PTG in its return to the American LeMans Series

• Rolex Vintage Festival Presented by BMW (September 1 – 4)

“It’s great to have BMW back at Lime Rock,’’ Lime Rock Park President Skip Barber said. “We are in the process of what we are calling the Renaissance of Lime Rock Park, which started with a commitment of a significant amount of money to make improvements to the track, and now with the announcement of BMW as the Official Car, this is a clear indication of the positive direction we are headed in.”

“For 2006, we have upgraded our schedule to include the two premier sports car series in North America, the Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series. And, with the help of BMW, our Vintage Festival has grown substantially in the past few years. I’m a BMW guy and this renewed relationship is wonderful and truly feels like a homecoming.”

The 2006 BMW M5 Sedan will be the Official Pace Car at Lime Rock Park this season. (Photo courtesy of BMW North America)

“We are very pleased to become the ‘Official Car’ of Lime Rock Park,” said Tom Purves, the Chairman and CEO of BMW of North America, LLC. “This is a very natural arrangement, not only because of the proximity of Lime Rock Park in Connecticut to BMW of North America headquarters in New Jersey, but also because Lime Rock is a race track with a long rich motorsport history which complements BMW’s own rich, long standing history in competition.”

BMW Group In America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. ROLLS-ROYCE Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.

The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand, the MINI brand, and the ROLLS-ROYCE brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, an industrial design firm in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country.

BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all Z4 Roadster and X5 Sports Activity Vehicles.

The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 339 BMW passenger car centers, 334 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 143 BMW motorcycle retailers, 80 MINI passenger car dealers, and 30 ROLLS-ROYCE Motor Car dealers.

BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North, Central and South America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at:

www.bmwgroupna.com
www.bmwusa.com
www.bmwmotorradusa.com
www.miniusa.com
www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com