Design Talent Showcase – 2025 McLaren Monaco – Front-Engine GT By Nathan Malinick

On the eve of McLaren’s latest road car reveal at Villa d’Este tomorrow — here is a masters-thesis design project from a rising star of the car business. Its premise? A front-engine GT car from McLaren.  Named the Monaco, nearby where Macca will unveil their cushiest road car yet. But this concept is no strategic counterpoint. This design was finalized last year so it is just a delightful convergence of ideas in the motor universe.  From the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, to Woking, and back. “I finished this project before the release of the McLaren Speedtail last fall …

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Design Talent Showcase – P1 Phenom Hybrid – Le Mans WingTire Concept

  Here is an eye-popper of a design concept!  The racecar of the future packing micro turbojet engines on each side.  And tires made of carbon-fiber turbine wing blades.  Packaging of the driver within a central translucent pod / teardrop is almost the most subtle piece of this beauty. P1 Phenom Hybrid is imagined in partnership with Michelin and Embraer — tire and aircraft experts.  P1 Phenom is best in exploring how racing will look with jet propulsion: beyond axles and contact patches for traction. Cheers Carlos Carvalho! Follow him over on Behance here. https://www.behance.net/gallery/41172119/P1-Phenom-Hybrid-Le-Mans-(Michelin-top10) P1 Phenom Hybrid – Le …

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Designer Showcase – Changha Lee – Peugeot Lumie LMP1 Concept

Changha Lee has created quite a storm with this molten bullet of a racecar.  Insanely long and nearly melted in its surfaces.  But full of strategic aero and functional slashwork where needed.  It is quite a fetching design story as well.  From initial ideation to engineering skematics.  Then onto photoreal renders and even a scale model. THe Lumie Peugeot design is so charming in its simplicity.  No doors with just a hinged canopy windshield to let the central driver get in position.  The flexing, superheated flow of the design extends far over the rear axle.  A super longtail with carved …

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Design Talent Showcase – Alfa Romeo AW30 by Olcay Tuncay Karabulut

  Some fantastic, out-of-this-world designs to feature today from Turkey! Olcay Karabulut’s Alfa Romeo AW30 design takes a look into the future of renewable-powered racecars.  And not just coal-fired EVs… this AW30 hopes to hit 200-mph around the world’s racetracks thanks to two constants: sun and wind. The solar component is intended as the solution under 100-mph, after which it synthesizes energy via dedicated turbines.  This might sound far-fetched, but is certainly worth exploring.  If only for the unique design solutions it inspired. The proportions take a radical shift: much longer and lower than current F1 cars.  Next, the intakes …

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Jaguar ACCD Finals 4

Jaguar Design Talent Shootout – ACCD Finalists Show Fresh Big-Cat Ideas

The first styling bucks are in from Jaguar’s new California design partnerships. Art Center College of Design (ACCD) and Academy of  Art University in San Francisco (AAU) design internships will give these future car-designers great executive critique, plus contacts. Typically near the end of a design masters, the ideas shown here as the ACCD Finals will end up on the road. Not intact… but the ideas and aesthetic these designers show will inform 2020-2025 models. That being said, we are usually mystified by design bucks…. But none here really screams ‘winner’ and future Jag. Yet. But with time and tweaks… …

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Maserati 975 Ernesto Concept by Maurice Maschmeyer 2

Design Talent Showcase – 2019 Maserati 975 Ernesto Concept by Maurice Maschmeyer

Pasadena College of Art and Design is just the finishing touch on a thorough artist’s education for this month’s student designer, Maurice Maschmeyer Maschmeyer is a native German speaker fluent in English and French as well. An recent Italian immersion will make him a quadruple threat linguistically. In terms of automotive and industrial design vision, Maschmeyer has an interesting eye for beauty and a sweeping, holistic aesthetic that previews next-gen hypercar styles. Graduating in 2017, Maschmeyer will leave California to take his aesthetic and automotive design skills into a major OEM, and onto a street near you a year or …

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Cadillac ESTILL 1

Design Talent Showcase – Ondrej Jirec Styles Cadillac Supercar of Your Dreams

Up-and-coming design students are a fascinating group to watch. Their ideas can go from senior thesis to luxury or exotic brands in less than five years time, and onto nearly all mainstream cars a few years after that. There are a few really exceptional breeding grounds for this ultra-elite school of designers. The Royal College of Art in England, IED Torino in Italy, or the Art Center College of Design in Pasedena, California all are top-of-mind. Ondrej Jirec attends the California entry in our shortlist — and is very busy indeed these days. His 2013 internship was with General Motors, …

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