This is What the Fastest Christmas Card in the World Looks Like [Video]

What defines the fastest Christmas car in the world? Well, the answer depends on whom you ask. For BMW's M division, it's a card that was designed in a speeding 2012 M5 sports sedan.

The Bavarian firm's performance arm asked Swiss illustrator Gavin Patterson to draw a cliché Christmas motif but with a twist (and a few turns, for that matter…); he had to do it in the passenger seat of an M5 while precision driver Urs Inauen flogged the car around the Circuit de l'Anneau Du Rhin.

To find the outcome, follow the jump and watch the video.

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Watch a 2012 BMW M5 Kick Up Some Sand at the Beach

As you can see in the video below, someone apparently forgot to inform the seagulls sunbathing under the sun at Pendine Sands beach on the shores of Carmarthen Bay on the south coast of Wales, that BMW's UK arm had some very special plans for the day…

More specifically, the Bavarian carmaker wanted to show its support to the London 2012 Performance Team athletes, of whom it is an official sponsor, in its own unique way – read placing precision driver Wolfgang Weber behind the wheel of the new twin-turbocharged M5 saloon and letting him have some drifting fun.

You can find the video right after the jump.

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2012 BMW M5 Touring Artistically Imagined

Now that we’ve seen what the new 2012 BMW M5 sports sedan looks like, it’s time for some talented hands to shape the Touring version that may or may not follow in the future as the Bavarian company has not yet revealed any plans for a high-performance station wagon model. Read more »

Go-Fast Porsche Cayman Driver Smacks Ferrari 360 at Supercar Gathering in Malaysia

A couple of mishaps involving private supercars marked this past weekend’s 2011 SuperGT race at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.

The first incident occurred on the tarmac during a parade of sports and super cars when an overly enthusiastic but sloppy driver of a winged Porsche Cayman rear-ended a Ferrari 360 as it slowed down in front of the crowd. The red Ferrari then bumped into a silver Ferrari California that was in front of it. You’ll have to jump 52 seconds into the first video to see the very expensive fender benders.

The second mishap took place outside the track as the supercars were leaving. It involved a kitted-out Lamborghini Murcielago and a BMW M5. An eyewitness told Jalopnik that he saw the Murcielago and an BMW M5 chasing each other before the crash. You can see what happened to the Lambo in the video after the break.

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New 2012 BMW M5 Sports Saloon Receives its Video Debut

This first official promo of the new F10 BMW M5 attempts to give us a more dynamic view of the Bavarian sports saloon with scenes from the track. For some reason though, BMW has masked most of the video with a dramatic but redundant music soundtrack since most of us are interested in hearing the sounds of the twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 engine. Read more »

Video Shows Three Women Trying to Save their BMW M5 from Vancouver Hooligans

Make no mistake; you can find hooligans in every country and in all sports. The colors and language may change, but there’s a common denominator that crosses all cultural lines: idiocy of the utmost degree and the complete lack of compassion towards fellow human beings.

The huge riots in Vancouver, Canada, after the Canucks' loss last week to the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup, are a prime example of this kind of ill mentality.

We saw several people injured, shops looted and properties destroyed, but this particular incident involving three young women and their BMW M5 sedan, stood out for a great number of reasons. The three women were hopelessly trying to fend off an army of male individuals from kicking, jumping, breaking and throwing whatever they could find on the previous-generation M5 saloon.

It’s one thing describing the incident and another watching these men (if you can call them that…) turning into animals just for the fun of it. And what is even more disturbing is the fact that from all these people surrounding the vehicle, not one person tried to intervene to help these women. Unbelievable…

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BMW to Debut New 2012 M5 Saloon at The Goodwood Festival of Speed

The all-new 2012 BMW M5 sports sedan will be making its first public appearance at The Goodwood Festival of Speed, which takes place in the UK between July 1 and 3, the German automaker announced today.

The most powerful production version of the M5 series to date comes with a high-revving 4.4-liter turbocharged V8 pumping out 560hp from 5,750-7,000rpm and 680Nm [501.5 lb-ft] of torque from 1,500rpm. It goes on sale this fall.

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BMW Officially Lifts the Veil on 2012 M5 with 560HP V8 Turbo [154 High-Res Photos]

With the first photos of the all-new 2012 M5 making the internet rounds since the early hours of Wednesday morning, BMW decided to lift the embargo and officially present the fifth generation of its high-performance saloon.

As with all previous M5s since the introduction of the first generation model back in 1984, the most important highlight of the car is tucked away behind the double kidney grilles. This time, BMW’s M division opted for a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine that replaces the previous M5’s more exotic but less powerful, naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V10 with 507HP.

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2012 BMW M5: First Official Photos Leak on the Internet

These are the first official pictures of the all-new BMW M5. It is based on the latest generation of the 5-Series, the F10, and boasts all the visual cues that you expect from a car that has been honed by BMW’s famous M-division: namely huge air intakes in the front bumper, side vents in the front wings bearing the M-logo, 20-inch wheels with 265/35 front and 295/30 rear ZR-rated tires, and twin tailpipes at either end of the rear diffuser.

As anticipated, the new model breaks with tradition by using a twin-turbocharged V8 (the outgoing M5 had a V10 and the one before that a V8, with the previous versions making do with in-line straight sixes, all naturally aspirated) sourced from the X5 M and X6 M.

Losing two cylinders and gaining two turbochargers seems like a fair trade, though, since the new M5’s output is up by 45 hp, from 507 to 552, and, more importantly, maximum torque has risen from 383 to 501 lb-ft (53,0 to 69,4 kgm).

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SPY VIDEOS: 2011 BMW M5, M6 and 6-Series Convertible

Featured in this latest batch of scoop videos are the all-new 2011 M5 sedan, M6 Coupe as well as the 6-Series Convertible [notice the Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing?], all of which are most likely to go on sale sometime next year. Both the new M5 saloon and M6 coupe say bye-bye to the current models' naturally-aspirated 10-cylinder unit and welcome a reworked version of the X5 / X6 M's twin-turbocharged V8.

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SPIED: 2011 BMW M5 Super Saloon Sheds More Camouflage

Now that there's less reason for secrecy since we've already seen the standard versions of the new F10 5-Series on the road, BMW has started peeling off the psychedelic camouflage from its 2011 M5 prototypes.

Key stylistic highlights of the new M5's look will include the four tailpipes, chunkier front and rear bumper designs, unique exterior mirrors and alloy wheels while there's also talk about a carbon fiber roof and bootlid which should also help reduce weight.

As we've already told you in earlier posts, BMW's new uper saloon will be the first M5 to adopt turbocharging with power coming from a reworked version of the X5 M and X6 M's 4.4-liter bi-turbo V8 that replaces the current model's V10 unit.

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