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The Mystery Car in the BMW Museum. An unusual puzzle in 3D

From 13 March to 30 April 2012, the BMW Museum will be showcasing a rather unusual exhibit - a 3D puzzle created by legendary puzzle writer CUS and presented on the BMW LMR V12, winner of the 1999 Le Mans and one of the most fascinating racing cars in BMW history. The so-called "Mystery Car" will be parked in the foyer of the BMW Museum and can be viewed without an admission ticket.

The exterior surface of the race car is designed as an extremely challenging brainteaser: puzzle fiends with plenty of ingenuity are called for. The puzzle contains no words whatsoever, consisting solely of symbols, mysterious numbers and letters, as well as images, pointers and abbreviations. Only those who correctly interpret all 16 parts of the puzzle, then work out the relationship between them and understand the mechanics by which all the parts mesh together, will be able to solve the puzzle and come up with the sentence concerning the BMW LMR V12 that is the correct solution.

The person who dreamed up and devised the puzzle is CUS, who hides his identity behind this acronym. To a large community of brainteaser fans, he has been known for several years as the author of "Germany's most difficult puzzle" - the Großes Rätselrennen (big puzzle contest) that appeared in the magazine supplement of the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper until 2007. Today he still composes a cryptic crossword for the magazine, while for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung he writes "Switzerland's most difficult puzzle". CUS is also the author of famous puzzles for Langenscheidt's Goldwörterbuch (gold dictionary), the Schatzmarathon (treasure marathon) and the TV series IQ-Denksport (IQ mental exercises). CUS has also written several books on the subject of brainteasers.

Answers should be submitted online by 30 April 2012 to mysterycar@bmw.de. All correct solutions will be entered into a draw for four attractive prizes. The main winner, for example, will be granted an unforgettable day on the Nürburgring in the BMW M3 as part of the "BMW M Experience. BMW M Power Insider" programme.

Fotogaléria BMW LMR V12 Mystery Car