The old livery was based on a 1967 Eagle Weslake which in the eyes of many was one of the most beautiful Formula 1 cars ever made. It also featured in the racing simulation Grand Prix Legends which is responsible for my addiction to racing. To keep in with the Eagle theme my car also bears the number 36, as used by Dan Gurney to win the cars first race at the Belgium Grand Prix in 1967. While the old livery was simple, and for what it was fairly striking, when on a tin top mixed in with a field of other mobile advertising hoardings it did look out of place, especially with a small sprinkling of sponsor logos I had to carry which looked a bit lost.

It was time for a change, so I asked Ian if he would like to put some Take 2 Studios graphics on the car as I do borrow his garage services quite frequently. Initially he produced a few logos to stick on the car, but then he came to me with a full livery he’d like if money were no object. It looked good and suited the car, so I asked Jon Winter from Exit13 if it would be possible. A few tweaks were made here and there and we were on our way to a new livery!

The first thing that needed to be done was to strip the car of it’s old livery. Not a difficult job you’d think, but when it’s cold outside the vinyl is a lot less willing to come off, and you also realise there is an awful lot more of it than you ever imagined. Then, removing some of the vinyl removes the paint, so a few more hours were spent repainting the bugger.

Jon ventured up in my direction with a boot full of vinyl, and supplied by gallons of coffee got to work. Normally when you livery cars you try and avoid all the awkward bits, but with a history of painting cars for racing sims where it doesn’t matter, Ian had successfully managed to get loads of vinyl through all the awkward bits. Fuel caps, air vents, you name it, vinyl was going through it. Cue lots of 18 rated words coming from Jon’s mouth, but once the garage went silent the livery was done, and it looks awesome. Really awesome!