The base car was a modified Group 5 (lower and wider) CSL which was originally liveried up in BMW 'M' colours.
BMW had a history of producing Art Car concepts for their racing cars starting with the American sculptor Alexander Calder's 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL and the 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL by Frank Stella. Our client thought, like most people, that the Frank Stella car was an A+ livery design and one that I should be aiming for.
The 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car by Frank Stella
The car was modelled in 3D with the all the additional changes made to match the car currently in build. We also worked alongside the builder and client to mock-up various concepts of bonnet vents whilst the livery was progressing.
As this car was going to be an evolution of the famous CSL Group 5 racing cars, an evolution on one of the art car designs should be the starting point. We decided to produce a monochrome cartographic base broken up by sections from the famous race tracks the original CSL race cars won on.
Our Art Car concept was now born. A celebration of the original Art Car and the successes of the CSL at the racetracks.
Now the work began to try to map this across the intricate and angular bodywork of the CSL. With the livery designed in 3D we were able to successfully design around all the shapes and produce a flowing and striking design.
Completed 3D visual of the final Art Car livery on the BMW CSL
With our 3D livery production and the exporting of our design, a system we have developed and mastered over the past 20+ years, it enabled us to separate individual panels with the design applied and produce accurate designs.
This system enabled the design to flow across panel gaps and around corners, maintaining the flow of the design with no visible breaks. Just like it had been painted by hand on to the panels as per the original art car.
The final results are spectacular.
