With the advent of electric vehicles, it won't be long before the roar of a car's engine could be consigned to history. So, BMW decided to preserve the noise as a series of NFTs.

In a campaign from Serviceplan Middle East, which marks the brand's first entry into the world of NFTs, the recordings for 19 NFTs were done on location at Dubai Autodrome Club circuit, in cooperation with various BMW M owners.

The owners followed a pace car driven by Canadian racing driver and former Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Bruno Spengler so that they could match his braking and track lines. Using external mics rigged near the exhaust, engine bay and in the cabin, the process documented their rev-ups, downshifts, roars, crackles and pops. 

"We converted the vehicle’s audio recordings to bend the sound wave into an abstract reactive art giving a unique visual experience and these were preserved as a 1 of 1 ethically-created NFTs," explained Serviceplan Middle East senior art director Kenneth Barnes in a statement. BMW used an "environmentally-friendly" blockchain called Polygon in line with its message about moving towards a more sustainable world.

The NFTs belong to the car owners and can be used to unlock special events and previews. They can also be viewed and traded between fans in a "Museum of Sound" on the OpenSea NFT platform, but BMW won't get any cryptocurrency or trading value in return.

“A BMW M engine sound is something so unique that fans all over the world get goosebumps whenever they hear their roar," added Serviceplan Middle East creative director Andre Couto. "Museum of Sound came as an idea to immortalize these sounds and these feelings so the future generations can appreciate these masterpieces as unique NFTs that we gave to the most valuable BMW M fans, the owners.”