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Project 240SX Land Speed Racer: Racecar Livery, the Function Behind the Form
by Chuck Johnson
Photos by Joe Lu
I’ve put together a lot of cool project cars over the years and would like to think that with each one, I push the envelope a little bit further and get a little better at what I’m doing. I’ve learned a lot from building racecars and a good portion of that learning in most recent years I’d say, is far beyond that of just turning a wrench.
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Done right, the lessons learned in building and campaigning a racecar parallels that of a Master’s degree in Business Administration. A proper racecar build will include lessons across a wide breadth of disciplines ranging from finance and project management to team leadership and marketing. The final item on that that abbreviated list “marketing”, has been the most significant area of concentration for me this time around.
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The time and money spent on the livery of MotoIQ Project 240SX Land Speed Racer or any racecar for that matter is all about marketing. And good marketing is essential in any successful racecar campaign.
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| To compliment the fresh paint and livery, we had the roof rails powdercoated candy apple red with speckles of “stripper glitter” by Specialized Coatings in Huntington Beach, CA. It's all in the details! |
I had the pleasure of hearing Jay Rodgers, co-founder of Local Motors, speak at a SEMA conference once. During his presentation on product development, Jay stated “No one person is smart enough or rich enough to go at it alone.”
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There are many different ways to interpret Jay’s powerful statement, but to me it meant to build great things, it was essential for me to create relationships and nurture them into strong partnerships. So that’s what I did.
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Alone, a task like building a record breaking, 200 MPH car would be virtually impossible. Fortunately, I have a ragtag team of volunteers like Stephen Quinn of Internal Affairs and John Kuchta of Specialty Cars Fab to help turn wrenches.
