The Dunlop Le Mans Spotter Guide for the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been released on sister site, SpotterGuides.com
Sponsored by Dunlop Motorsport (Europe), the guide features car, chassis, driver details and is updated as needed during race week. The only guide which is kept up to date in this way.
You can download the guide at www.spotterguides.com/17lm
Been a busy few months with liveries and Spotter Guides, so updates have been less frequent on here than I would desire.
Anyway, a big update on the site in a few weeks with many of the 2017 liveries, but first off, just to let you know a number of new Spotter Guides have been released on sister-site, SpotterGuides.com
In addition to the usual IMSA WeatherTech and Continental Spotter Guides, updated for each race weekend, I have recently released the Official IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama Spotter Guide and the Official Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Spotter Guide. Both series racing this weekend at CoTA.
With these four series, a total of 13 cars will be carrying my liveries, plus a couple more I helped on a little. Pretty cool!
Pirelli World Challenge Team, Jeff Courtney Racing have a new look for 2017 with two new liveries on their Maserati GT4’s.
With different sponsors for Jeff and Fred Roberts, we chose a new unified team identity with different coloured vibrant accents.
The distinctive bulges on the top of the front fenders carry the accents and showcases the flowing form in this area.
The angled graphic gives a sense of speed and also allows large mass of white areas for the team sponsor.
On the team’s 2017 debut, Jeff finished with the fastest GTS time in opening practice at Virginia International Raceway earlier today.
Images: Jeff Courtney Racing
I have been fortunate to work with one of my long standing clients, AERO paint, producing a new series of liveries, which we have named the AERO Signature series.
Going forward, this livery will showcase AERO’s products using their Satin Liquid Steel (shown below) alongside Gloss and Semi-chrome blue and red accents, flowing over the car, taking its inspiration from the sweep used in the AERO logo.
The first car that will carry this identity is the AERO CEO, James McGuire’s Ligier JSP3. This will race in the Michelin Le Mans Cup across Europe. Run by ELMS LMP3 Champions, United Autosport, the AERO branded car will stand out at the front of the pack.
I was recently commissioned by Ryan Hardwick and business partnerDustin Farthing, to create a livery for their two car Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo entry in the 2017 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North American championship. Two of four liveries in this years series.
Dustin is a 17 time Nation and World pro-class Water sports champion. With his transition to auto-racing, his Dustin’s Huracán will feature Monster Enegery sponsorship and carry the iconic bright green accents on a Matte Black base with a cool interesting Chrome Black finish.
I chose to keep the design relatively clean and am using some of the cool form and creases of the supercar for the location of the accents.
Formula Drift Champion winning team, Papadakis Racing commissioned me earlier this year to create a new livery for their all-new Formula Drift car, the Toyota Corolla iM (Toyota Auris in some markets).
I had previously styled a number of liveries for Papadakis way back to the Team Need for Speed days when current champion Frederic Aasbo joined the team.
With the Scion brand and the ‘tC’ model disappearing from the market place, Toyota needed to showcase a new product. The easy option would be the Toyota 86, but the 5 door iM was chosen instead.
Not your typical Formula Drift car, despite its Corolla heritage, we need to make the car stand out and look dynamic.
While team owner Stephan Papadakis developed their own bodykit, I started work on some concepts. These first round concepts show some of the early variations. Traditionally Rockstar have busy liveries with tight corporate identity requirements, but with a design chosen, their feedback was for a cleaner livery, so working with the Marketing Director, Jen Horsey.
The  latest iteration of the Hankook Tire Spotter Guide for Formula Drift has been launched on sister site, SpotterGuides.com. In its fifth year, the guide features the eight Hankook shod cars in their year’s Formula Drift Championship which starts later today in Long Beach.
Download the guide here, or if you are at any FD event in 2017, look for the Hankook Hauler, or during the Autograph session.
Nexen Tire have commissioned me to create another ‘toon’ styled Spotter Guide featuring their entries in the Pro class of the 2017 Formula Drift Championship. The guide also includes the livery I designed for Papadakis Racing
Download on the sister site, SpotterGuides.com, or if you are at the various FD events in 2017, they will be available in the paddock
Following a successful debut season for the Subaru Levorg GT, Team BMR Racing will return to the British Touring Car Championship supported by, Adrian Flux insurance complete with a new livery.
This was my third livery commission from Team BMR and Brand Pilot and this year and we developed the 2016 livery design which could become interchangeable over time with different brands and colors, without diluting the look.
Taking reference from the italic Team BMR logo, I created a graphic with various Rhomboids (slanted rectangles) across the with accented strips either side in Dark Grey or Process Blue which is a corporate color for Adrian Flux. The Darker Blue used is a deep metallic vinyl and provides a good contrast to the White base required by Subaru and the team. These graphic areas also give clear defined spaces to the partners which help visibility at speed.
I was recently comissioned by the Panoz organisation to create a classic style livery for their new Panoz Avezzano race car which will race in the Pirelli World Challenge in 2017.
We explored a number of avenues including recreating the original Panoz livery, which I designed way back in 1995, but in the end we went for a design which referenced the Red and White of later cars including the LMP1.
More recently, I had designed the 2014 DeltaWing livery for Panoz.
The start of the 2017 North American Racing season gets underway this weekend with the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IMSA Continental Tires SportsCar Challenge at Daytona International Raceway and I have been busy preparing for it for months!
While there are a couple I can’t talk about, I have a number of race liveries I can showcase.
In the WeatherTech championship, my client Turner Motorsports returns with their BMW M6 GT3 in the GTD Class with a slightly updated livery in support of new sponsor Kettera.
During 2016, I also gained a new client with Scuderia Corsa and have worked with them on various sponsorship and livery updates during the championship winning 2016.
The Official 2017 IMSA Spotter Guide is now available to download at its own dedicated page at sister site, SpotterGuides.com. The guide will also be available at the events section of IMSA.com
New regs, new cars, new liveries and lots of new driver combination makes the Official Spotter Guide a must. The guide will be updated later in the week with any driver or livery additions (probably after Tech is completed). Livery wise, all except Rebellion have previously been confirmed.
If you are at the circuit, a printed guide/program will be available later in the week.
The guide also features a number of my own liveries.
Thanks to the teams for their help with reference of the guides, to IMSA of course, the proof readers and you for downloading and sharing the guide!
I will be partnering with IMSA again in 2017 to produce their Official Spotter Guide for the series. This will be released in print form (at the track) and online at SpotterGuides.com
The online guide will be available here, at SpotterGuides.com, and a smaller size version at IMSA.com from Tuesday 24th January. This will be kept updated during the week.
The guide will be updated prior to each event and the plan is to have this online on the Monday before the race from Round 2 (Sebring).
Snowed under with livery and Spotter Guide work at the moment, so just a quick post to show off two liveries which will be used at the 24H of Dubai later this week.
First off, LAP57 UAE are one of the most well known middle-eastern teams and have entered most of the 24H Dubai races, I remember attending in 2011 and seeing them racing their Integras. The team have developed and they will be running a new JAS built Honda Civic Type-R to TCR Touring Car regulations.
The team wanted a clean livery which left space for sponsors over the coming races and a development of their current look.
The livery has come out really well. Probably one of the cleanest liveries I’ve designed in quite a while, but it works with the Blue and White contrasts.
The team even sent over an additional video showing them applying my logo – Thanks guys! Really appreciate this.
The other entry is running under the new Saudi Arrows team.
This team commissioned me to create a design quickly after seeing my previous work at the 24H including the Saudi Falcons and the 2011 winning Team Need for Speed BMW Z4’s.
This was one round of design with basic placement, so we developed a design based off an element of their logo, Taking the arrow head and elongating. This livery was also designed for a McLaren 650 GT3 and Radical race cars. For this event, the Audi R8 will be run by 2016 winners, WRT.
You can follow the race with audio and vision at RadioLeMans.com or the race site.
Long term client, CJ Wilson Racing, recently announced a partnership with Porsche GT3 Cup team, WinWard Racing to run a Porsche Cayman GT4 ClubSport in the IMSA Continental Tires SportsCar Challenge.
The Techemet design incorporates the CJ Wilson Racing graphics introduced last year with Graphite and chrome Blue hues. The original CJWilson Racing design allowed for its use regardless of color and sponsor and this shows how the graphic can work across multiple liveries as shown below on their 2016 designs
Leading Porsche racer, Corey Fergus has been a client for a number of years, campaigning  various Porsche’s in the Pirelli World Challenge with an AERO supported ‘paint’ wrap including the Porsche Cayman below.
For 2017, Corey has teamed up with Moorespeed Racing to race in IMSA’s Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA with the new updated Gen 2 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car.
New race team, VOLT Racing, promoting the VOLT Lighting brand recently commissioned me to design a livery for their new McLaren 570S GT4 in the IMSA Continental Tires SportsCar Challenge.
VOLT lighting corporate colors are a vibrant yellow and black and the team wanted to utilize a florescent yellow/green vinyl for the car to really stand out on track. Combined with Graphite Grey, this gives maximum contrast. The livery has been designed to be very clean and utilize the lines of the McLaren.
As you may have seen, a new social media platform has been launched called Drive Tribe. Fronted by Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, the basic concept is centered around hundreds or groups, or Tribes as they prefer to call them. You can make your own tribe and you can join tribes which interest you.
DriveTribe has the potential to be successful, but we will see. I was accepted to become a member of Drive Tribe a while back and had a tribe for a while as the platform was tested. Drive Tribe is now live, so welcome you to take a look at the two tribes I have created.
The Speedhunters car culture program reached out to me towards the end of September for a livery re-fresh of their Need for Speed Porsche 911 RWB which had been on show previously at SEMA.
SEMA is the largest trade after market car show in the world and takes place every year in Las Vegas in November. The show is huge so its vital to create something that is a talking point so its remembered.
With the desire of a refresh and timescale our options were extremely limited. Speedhunters wanted to call out reference for the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally classing winning Porsche 911 of Herbert Linge and David Falke which carried the number ‘147’. While this was Red, the brief called for something Black, more sinister and ‘home-grown’ in appearance but with Rally influence.
I have partnered with top car builder, Keith Charvonia again for this year’s SEMA Show with his Toyota LandCruiser FJ60 project ‘Trailhunter’.
We had previously worked together on the Scion Tuner Challenge winning Scion FR-S build a couple of years ago.
Keith is simply an awesome car builder who does much of the work himself. He has appeared on Jay Leno’s Garage with the Scion and his unique Kaiser Manhattan.
More on the build in a few weeks, but special thanks to my existing clients, AERO and Safecraft Safety Equipment who didn’t hesitate to come on board when I asked them.