HP Latex behind stunning full-colour racing car wrap

VR Motorsport, which was launched around ten years ago as an amateur organization, has quickly attained professional status and success in the UK and around the world. This year the company is taking on the competition at renowned tracks including Brands Hatch and Silverstone in the BritCar Endurance Championship. VR Motorsport kicked off the season at the Croft Circuit in July with a freshly wrapped Praga R1 racing car, featuring a design commissioned by Motorsport Woman to call attention to female drivers. It was called ‘Art Car’, the wrap was based on a 2D piece by artist Cain Caser that was transformed into a 3D wrap by MediaCo, Manchester-based large-format graphics producer whose 36,000 sq ft facility is equipped s range of high-end machines, but the HP Latex 3600, installed this year, was selected to produce the full-colour ‘Art Car’ vehicle wrap project.

A source from MediaCo said that they first attracted to HP Latex for the printer’s environmental benefits. The company has already invested in an HP Stitch S1000 for textile work and achieving stunning results. HP Latex inks don’t affect the surface of the material printing on, so when using glossy film for a vehicle wrap then it will stay glossy. The inks are also very flexible, which is essential for wrapping cars like the Praga R1, which has a distinctive contoured chassis. After all, in the ‘Art Car’ project, the uniformity of finish and colour were important to replicate the artist’s original painting, in particular the intricate brushwork. It was not possible to scan the painting, so MediaCo’s graphic artists worked from hundreds of photographs to render the image. The project – including printing by the MediaCo team, wrapping by Visionary Graphics and delivery to Croft – was completed in just one week.