Question: What’s green, gold and white, covered in dimples and goes over 200 mph?
Answer: The race car Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) is bringing to the grid for the 2012 Indy Car season.
The No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Indy car, ready for the 2012 season.
As a nod to Fuzzy Zoeller, pro-golfer, golf course owner, vodka promoter and sponsor of the Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara chassis, the car is transformed with a golf ball motif – all the way down to the dimples.
The detail that makes the design so fetching is possible with a product called a wrap. The ECR design and wraps have been created by Business Art DeSigns in Beech Grove. Owner Bart Heldman explains, “The whole brand is based off the (ECR) logo design and Fuzzy’s Vodka. It’s all theme-based.”
Using wraps, ECR is able to expand a consistent brand from the paddock to the pit box. It will be displayed on the car, on the pit equipment, even on the transporter.
Fans love livery and the more unique and striking, the better. However, it’s not an easy task to turn an Indy Car into something really special on the track.
Originally, all the color and lettering on a race car was done with paint and by hand. That’s costly – not only because of the dollars to pay someone to do it, but also because of the hours the car is tied up away from the engineers’ and mechanics’ hands.
The wrap comes as a large sheet that is fit and cut to cover the dimensions of the chassis.
Then began the use of stickers, which made lettering more consistent and less expensive to produce. Teams would paint the entire car and apply stickers to promote the sponsors, add the car number and show the team and driver’s name. Pretty basic – colors and lettering.
ECR uses a combination of paint, stickers and a wrap to cover every inch of the chassis. The golf ball dimples on the wrap gives the livery a special dimension. The wrap itself is created digitally and then printed in a large panel that is cut to the specific dimensions of sections of the race car. Should the chassis be damaged, the wrap can be peeled off and a new one applied.
Actual photos can be used in graphic designs using wraps.
Wrapping the transporter is a big job that was accomplished quickly. Photos were taken of the finished car and sent to Heldman. Within two days, the design for the transporter was done including the picture of the car and 28 – 4 ft. x 12 ft. panels were printed and a special laminate applied for durability on the road. It took one day to apply the panels and have the transporter ready, waiting to hit the highway heading to Sebring.
Business Art DeSigns is a local Indiana business that doesn’t specifically target the racing industry as clients. Besides Ed Carpenter Racing, they also provide services to Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, Tomas Scheckter, Brandon Wagner and Johnson Byrd Racing. Doing business with teams has made a difference for the company.
“I think it broadens our design capabilities and it’s important for financial reasons,” Heldman says. “All our employees just love racing and it gets us excited to do these things for Indy cars. We’re privileged to do it because Indy cars are at the top of the line. I like that they keep it community based here in Indiana. It’s important for them and us.”
Technology touches just about every component of a race car including some of the new and exciting liveries we’ll see lined on the grids this year. The 2012 Dallara Indy car, powered by Honda, Chevrolet and Lotus motors: new technology inside and out – and coming out of Indiana!
-Elaine
Note: At the time of publication, the Ed Carpenter Racing website is under construction but news about the team can be found on the Ed Carpenter Racing Facebook page.
