Somewhere in England - It looks like something out of Star Wars, but the light sabres used for this stunt are real; they’re laser beams hot enough to burst a standard latex balloon in milliseconds.
No, we’re not kidding; BMW set out to prove that its new M2 Competition is more agile than a Jedi knight by tackling the world record for busting balloons with a hand-held laser beam.
Capable as it may be, the M2 has no hands, however, so the M crew mounted a laser projector behind the kidney grille of the stunt car, tied more than 80 balloons to rails laid out in a giant M logo inside an old warehouse and put their top test driver behind the wheel for the amazing light (sabre) show you’re about to watch.
We don’t know how necessary it was for the record attempt to be held indoors, in pitch darkness, rather than in the car park of the local primary school, but it makes the video a lot more dramatic - and drama af course is what the M2 Competition does best.
For the record, the previous record was 63 balloons busted in 60 seconds by a human wielding two laser projectors; the M2 vapourised 79 in the same time.