Wednesday 1 June 2011

24 Hour Le Mans: Flying Lizard salutes Porsche’s Le Mans History


Flying Lizard salutes Porsche’s Le Mans History

The team based in Sonoma, CA, has unveild a commemorative livery for the No. 80 and No. 81 Flying Lizard Porsches for the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours, to be contested on June 11-12. Created by California-based artist Troy Lee, the livery celebrates the history of Porsche at Le Mans, featuring the 28 drivers who have won the 24 Heures du Mans overall in a Porsche.

The No. 80 and No. 81 designs are identical, implemented in complementary colors: candy metallic orange for the No. 80 and candy metallic blue for the No. 81; both anchored by a deep ocean blue. The Flying Lizard Porsche livery will be officially unveiled at scrutineering on Monday, June 6 in Le Mans at approximately 13h30 CET (just prior to the scheduled scrutineering time for the No. 80).

Jennifer Hart (Flying Lizard VP of Marketing): “2011 is a special year for Flying Lizard at Le Mans: our first time fielding two entries. The livery commemorates the heritage of Porsche at Le Mans, starting with drivers Hans Hermann and Richard Attwood, who secured the first overall victory for Porsche in 1970. The 911 is an ideal canvas for Troy Lee’s beautiful tribute to this iconic race. We worked with Troy’s team for several months to finalize the concept and design. The livery is a combination of candy paint overlaid with vinyl. The vinyl was custom-tailored to each Porsche and applied at our shop in Sonoma by Iconography Studios. Each car has a clear coat to protect the graphics. We are thrilled with the end result; the Porsches are uniquely beautiful and seem to be almost humming with energy.”

Troy Lee: “I started with the vibrant colors of the drivers’ country flags: imagining how they could be put to life on a racecar, as if they were blowing by on the front straight. Once we had the theme, we focused on making it come to life in 3D. The challenge was to really show off the depth and movement of these amazing cars, while maintaining the integrity of the Porsche design. A crucial part of this project was getting the right paint: We worked extensively with PPG Industries to develop these custom colors, both for their liveliness and for the depth of the metallic colors. We then created the intricate backdrop of asymmetric shapes to balance the design and create the sense of speed.”

Jens Walther (President of Porsche Motorsport North America): “We are proud that Flying Lizard chose to honor the 28 drivers who have stood on the top step of the podium for Porsche at Le Mans. This design exemplifies the effort that Flying Lizard puts into every aspect of their race preparation, and shows why Lizard drivers have won the American Le Mans Series GT championship for the last three years.”

Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), Patrick Long (USA) and Lucas Luhr (Germany) will team in the Flying Lizard No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in the GTE Pro class. Darren Law (USA), Seth Neiman (USA) and Spencer Pumpelly (USA) will pilot the Flying Lizard No. 81 Porsche in the GTE Am class. Flying Lizard has competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours from 2005 through 2010, finishing third in 2005, fourth in 2006, and sixth in 2008, and also won the American Le Mans Series GT Teams' title in 2008 and 2009, and Drivers' title in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

(Based upon Flying Lizard Motorsport press information)
lemans.org
Photo : Sean Klingelhoefer - Sean Klingelhoefer

Photo : Flying Lizard Motorsports celebrate the 28 drivers who scored Porsche's 16 Le Mans wins.

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