PORSCHE 935 - PIKES PEAK - LIVERY DESIGN
In 2020 a casual conversation with a friend, Jeff Zwart who also happens to be an award wining automotive commercial director/photographer and race car driver led to an opportunity to design the livery for a very rare sportscar that he was racing that year at the famous Pikes Peak Hillclimb- the Porsche 935. Anyone that knows me knows what a Porsche fanatic I am and a few of them also know that my interest in design started as a young boy when I came to possess a trading card featuring a Porsche 911. The red “Carrera” graphics on the car fascinated me and began a long obsession with branding marks, stripes, stickers and anything else related to the visual appeal of road cars and racing cars.
For me this design project was simply a boyhood dream realized- I had come full circle. This may be the single most significant design piece I have worked on and the one I am the most proud of. But, ask me again next week.
[If you would like to hear more about the livery design process take a listen to this episode of the UK’s Porschesports Podacts where I was was invited to talk more about the deisgn work and my influences.
THE PROCESS
The design process is intense and lengthy. Multiple initial sketches are eventually narrowed and refined until a preferred design is approved by not only the driver but in this case the owners of the car, the sponsors of the car and even Porsche themselves.
The design was a big hit with race fans and Porsche fanatics alike. The livery was voted, “favorite” livery of the race in an Instagram bracket, has been turned into scale models, featured on the cover of Porsche Panorama Magazine, and the design was even recreated in the video game, Gran Turismo.
Special thanks to Andrew Miterko for the great photography of the car and to the dev. team at Gran Turismo for the in-game images. And as ever thanks to Jeff Zwart for the opportunity to help me feel like a seven year old again.