Watch a BMW M2 Competition Set a Record for…Popping Balloons?

How much for the optional laser and sword, BMW?
www.thedrive.com

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The BMW M2 Competition may not have record-setting performance specifications, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a record holder. On Monday, BMW released two promotional films for the M2 Competition wherein the car set two new world records: Most balloons popped using a laser, and most bamboo mats cut, both within the period of one minute.

To take the balloon popping record, the BMW would need a high-powered laser capable of popping a balloon in almost an instant, as well as a high-powered driver capable of aiming the laser using a car. BMW’s target was to beat the standing world record of 63 pops in a single minute.

And 63 it did beat, with a flurry of drifts keeping targets lined up, and the laser popping them, for a total of 78 balloons popped in under a minute.

BMW followed its successful record attempt with a second assault, this time on the record for most bamboo mats cut in half within a minute. To accomplish this, it mounted a blade to the M2’s rear bumper and opted to have its stunt driver drift through the semicircular arrangements of mats in order to cut them.

“This is a very tricky bit of driving, it is virtually impossible,” explained Marc Higgins, stunt coordinator, in BMW’s press release on the records. “The demands on the BMW M2 Competition are immense. Every drift has to be performed with absolute precision; there is no room for error. A strong presence and agility naturally help a lot.”

Who says that the M2 Competition has to be done setting records, though? Why not target the 17.53-second record for drinking a bottle of ketchup through a straw? Hook it up through the car’s intake, and we bet it could take no more than a few seconds. Might need an oil change afterward, but if records are the goal, there can be no compromise—a statement more than familiar to whoever writes BMW’s press releases.