TCR UK . . . A growing race series.
This season I have been busy with the TCR UK Championship, I did some work for the series back in 2019 but rotated away to other championships.
After a few years working in the BTCC I was approached by Bert Taylor (who i previously worked with) with his shiny new race team . . . Restart Racing. With Chris Smiley at the wheel of the Honda FK7 they won the championship in their first year, which is no mean feat with some serious contenders involved.
So I accepted the offer to help design new liveries, pitch decks, race transporter designs and other materials for TCR UK Championship. It has been exciting to be part of this ever-growing series and see the enthusiasm from the fans for these races! With its continuous expansion, we look forward to further developing our relationship with TCR UK Championship.
I worked collaboratively with the team to design a livery that would provide each sponsor with an appropriate level of exposure on the car. This was used to create an animated reveal of the livery showcasing the team's new look for 2023.
The 2023 season promises to be an exciting one with the addition of Scott Sumpton, who will join Chris in a Honda FL5, these are the first Honda FL5 cars to be raced in the UK.
Scott has also been chosen to be part of the JAS Driver Development Program which will hone his skills in racecraft and get him to be the best driver he can be. "J.A.S Motorsport has been the official racing partner of Honda since 1998. From its humble beginnings as a successful racing team, J.A.S has grown into an engineering and manufacturing company committed to providing exceptional experiences in both racing and rallying for its customers. Through hard work and dedication, J.A.S Motorsport continues to strive towards excellence in all aspects of motorsports so that our customers can enjoy the thrill of victory on the track or rally course!"
There's no passport needed to come along for the ride! The TCR Series is a truly global affair, with races taking place around the world. So if you're feeling adventurous, why not check out https://www.tcr-series.com/ and see which event could be your next destination? Go on - pack your bags and get ready for an exciting adventure!
No matter where you are in the world, there's a chance you can join in on the action of the TCR Series! Races take place all around the globe, from North America to Europe to Asia - so it doesn't matter where you're located.
I was recently approached by Niels Langeveld, who is also racing in the TCR Series in Italy, to collaborate on his livery design. Now that Restart Racing's liveries are all done and out in the wild, I was excited to take on this new challenge! He had already secured the base 2D version of his design, so now it was time to transfer it all into a 3D model and create a super slick reveal animation for him and his sponsors. If only I could just wave my magic wand and be done with it! But alas, creating something smooth and snazzy isn't quite that simple. But don't worry, I won't bore you with the details! ;)
Check out the livery reveal animation on the same page as the Restart Racing one, it is nestled amongst a few other animations just for good measure!
As a closing point here are some numbers for you, just so you get an idea of how long it can take to create an animation, exciting eh!
Each frame of the animation consists of 250 rendered layers to get a good quality image, so each frame can take around 30 seconds to complete. I create my animations at 29.97 frames per second so (bored yet?) So to create a 10 second clip would take just under 2.5 hours to complete. This can vary massively dependent on the complexity of the scene and lighting effects.
Then after that (providing the computer hasn't had a meltdown . . . or myself for that matter!) Each clip is then taken over to After Effects and all the sparkly bits are added in. Music, stills and sponsor logos to make it into a presentation animation.
This is why I have three computers and 5 screens on my desk (ok . . . one is an ipad for watching races . . . sssh . . . don't tell anyone!)
Until next time! :D
Jason