If you think that art’s sole purpose is to look beautiful, you probably missed Daytona 24, the 24-hour sports car endurance race in Daytona, Florida (28-29 January). After 652 laps of racing, the BMW Art Car, this year designed by John Baldessari, crossed the finish line faster than many less attractive cars, securing a very respectable eighth place despite heavy rain. “My car has now earned its spurs on the racetrack,” Baldessari says. “It has proven itself as the fastest work of art I ever created.” BMW has been inviting artists to decorate its cars since 1975, when—to lure the art-loving race car driver Hervé Poulain to its team—the German car manufacturer unveiled its first arty vehicle by Alexander Calder. Since then, Art Car alumni have included Jeff Koons, Olafur Eliasson, Jenny Holzer and David Hockney, but this month’s race is the project’s greatest sporting achievement so far. Bobby Rahal, one of the car’s four drivers, says: “This is one of the highlights of my career, without any doubt. It’s going to go down in history, the 19th BMW Art Car will outlive us.”