I've had this project in mind for a while.
It became ingrained in me by repeatedly watching the film "LeMans" with my Father as I grew up. The iconic 917 wrapped in its infamous blue and orange Gulf livery for me has always been a HUGE landmark - a key milestone and unrivalled convergence in terms of Motorsport, Technology, Design and Branding.
I've dabbled with applying Gulf colours to many sketches and ideas over the years - but have repeatedly shied away from tackling "The Daddy" head on - until now.
The project itself has gone through a slow gestation over the past 9 months - full of many restarts and dead ends. It's taken me a long time to find a design direction which I felt could attempt to do justice to the original source material.
In the end, paring things back to a really clean and simple amorphous cockpit volume was key - with very linear applied surface graphics to punctuate the form and add dynamism.
Atypically, with this project I was applying and reworking the livery on the bodyform from day one - tweaking surfaces and proportions to try and ensure everything hung together cohesively . . . with "regular" projects the livery is often only considered once the form and functionality aspects are resolved.
It's not perfect yet - and I could easily devote a sizable chunk of time to reworking and refining it . . there's never a right or definitive design solution when trying to pay homage to a Classic - such an iconic, emotive and established benchmark will inevitably inspire a billion different and equally valid interpretations.
But - for what its worth . . . this is my Gulf Porsche 917 - reimagined.