Project Civic EF Racecar: Part 3 – Preparation For First MPTCC Race

The inspiration for the wrap came from the late 80's,early 90's McLaren/Honda/Marlboro Formula 1 livery.  Since the EF generation of Civic's was from 1988 to 1991, I found this a fitting era for the theme of the car.  Another reason was before I even bought Project EF, I remember being stoked to see an old video on youtube of Aryton Senna driving a N1 race prepped EF Civic SiR during a Honda press day (Click to watch the video here).  

 

 

Huge thanks and recognition to Brandon Cuellar for putting together this livery rendering for Project EF.  With just a few pictures and a description of the concept I was looking for, he was able to come up with this fantastic rendering.  This is the look I envisioned 100%.  If any of you are interested in hiring Brandon for exterior renderings, email him at Cuellar.Brandon@gmail.com and mention you read about his work on MotoIQ.com and Project Civic EF Racecar. You can also check out his visual development blog at http://brandoncuellar.blogspot.com/

Within an hour of dropping off the EF, Philip's crew at AeroWerkz had already started cranking away at the wrap appying the Avery Dennison supplied vinyl with high precision. 

As the days went by, Philip kept me in the loop with constant updates and photos.  It was extremely exciting to see the transformation take place.

Closer to completion, I looked forward to getting the car back not only to see it in person, but also to get back to work on the final preperation.

The white used was more of a Pearl version then the more traditional white used on the Formula 1 McLarens.  I preferred this form of white though, I've always wanted a pearl white car.  The vibrant color depth from both the red and the white really showed how high quality the Avery Dennison material truly is. 

In just 4 short work days, AeroWerkz had the car finished and I had it loaded up to bring back home.  I was extremely pleased with the job they pulled off both in accuracy, and in quickness.  The bumpers remained black since the vinyl couldnt stick to the oil based plastic surface.  The plan is to find some junk yard painted bumpers and wet sand them so they can be wrapped also. 

Night before the race weekend, I had a pile of sponsor decals both supplied by companys, and many that were custom made thanks to Daley Visual.  I was up late the Friday before applying more stickers than I had ever done in my life.

And now here we are, sans the aero modifications in the rendering that will be implimented as the race year goes on.  But I cant' thank all the companies and shops enough for helping make all this possible.  Once I was on grid with the car it felt amazing. 

Some more refinements to some of the decals will take place both for location and coloring for best visual.  I really love how the finished product came out.

A small, but important piece to me was finding this OE cowl cover that Project EF was missing.  Not only does it clean up the look, but also covers a big section of gold paint that couldn't be wrapped. 

I hope you the readers enjoy the look of Project Civic EF Racecar as much as I do.  More will be added as the season progresses both with the performance and the look of the car inside and out.  Stay tuned for the race report article from the first MPTCC weekend and see how myself and project EF fared.