Meet the new M850i Night Sky edition, which is the best version of the new 8 Series Coupe of BMW, a German manufacturer of motorcycles and automobiles.
Manufactured at the automaker’s arm, BMW Individual customization facility in Garching, the new bespoke car is integrated with some truly stellar features, including actual meteorite fragments and 3D printed components.
The Quadrantids shower occurs when the Earth passes by the 2003 EH asteroid from which the meteors likely originated, and it has one of the shortest and most intense peaks of the yearly visible meteor showers. Rarely, some of those meteors can make their way through the planet’s atmosphere and fall to the ground as meteorites. In this case, they made their way all the way into this M850i coupe.
This very special M850i incorporates meteorite into the car’s cabin that are small rocky or metallic body come from outer space. BMW called this meteorite fragments as ‘meteoritic material’.
BMW writes on its blog: “On rare occasions, smaller rocks in space penetrate our planet’s protective shield and fall to Earth as meteorites. Some of these extra-terrestrial fragments have now been incorporated into the cabin of the BMW Individual M850i Night Sky.”
Rolling with the extra-terrestrial theme, the M850i Night Sky also integrates a centre console displaying an illuminated constellation of stars as well as constellation-inspired surface designs for the vehicle’s trim finishers, seat backrests, brake discs and exterior add-on-parts.
The unique and out of the world car was developed by BMW Individual Manufaktur in collaboration with researchers from the Garching-based Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, who offered their expertise in outer space throughout the concept and design process.
“The strictly geometric structure, with its straight lines, has the appearance of ice crystals and becomes visible when certain types of iron meteorite are polished or brought into contact with acidic compounds,” BMW writes. “The structure is the result of the metal alloy cooling down in an extremely slow process that cannot be reproduced on Earth, making it an unmistakable signature of extra-terrestrial material. The unique pattern was first observed back in the early 19th century by a number of people, including the Austrian scientist Alois von Beckh Widmanstätten, after whom it is named.”
In mimicking the Widmanstätten surface pattern throughout the car, the BMW team relied on various methods, including milling and 3D printing. For instance, the exterior mirror caps, the front splitters for the side air intakes at the front of the car, the centre mesh plate and the surrounds for the Air Breathers on the front side panels were all custom 3D printed at the Individual Manufaktur customization facility.
The brake callipers integrate a bone-inspired bionic structure which results in the perfect balance between rigidity and weight. The redesign process also allowed the engineers to integrate the brake fluid channels directly into the part’s structure for better performance and weight reduction.
The bespoke, extra-terrestrial vehicle’s look was completed with a sleek and otherworldly paint finish, made up of black and metallic blue paint and coated with numerous layers of clear paint for a greater sense of depth.
