5 Sports Car Graphics to Get Your Heart Racing

WHAT’S ON YOUR list of must-haves for any sports car? Powerful engine: check. Sleek body design: got it. Impressive zero-to-60-plus mph: oh, yeah. But let’s not forget that item every signshop puts top of the list: an awesome, colorful, well-designed-and-installed wrap. Yes, now the list is complete!

Spy Mission

It took seven revisions to make sure the stripes were perfect for this unique sports car graphic for Baja racing team Spy Racing. Full Sail Graphics (Huntington Beach, CA) printed that successful eighth try on 3M Controltac IJ180Cv3 using an HP 570 Latex printer with 3M Scotchcal Gloss Overlaminate 8518 applied via their GBC laminator. Also featured are Graphtec FC8600 plotter-cut graphics. “Getting the stripes in just the right spots and just the right angle on the hood was not easy and required some adjustments but the customer was very happy with the results,” says Peter Brunner, whose shop completed this project.

No Turkey Here

Check out the sports car graphic on this Stephen Nasse Racing car designed by HDFive (Grand Rapids, MI). The graphic was created for the Snowball Derby, “which is the biggest late-model race in the country,” according to HDFive’s Tim Horvath II. The design process was done completely in house, after which the project was printed using Avery Dennison Supreme Wrapping Film SW900 Satin Frozen Ocean, MPI 1105 Easy Apply RS and DOL 1360Z overlaminate for the printed vinyl, and MPI 2903 with DOL 1060Z for the windshield banner. This install was completed by Action Graphix (Umatilla, FL). “Overall start to finish this car went from an idea to completing in less than 96 hours during Thanksgiving week,” Horvath says.

NASCAR-Approved

Like everyone else, SPIRE Graphics (Mooresville, NC) has to strictly follow NASCAR’s graphics guidelines as NASCAR has the final say if a layout is good enough to start printing. Having passed, the shop used their MUTOH XpertJet 1641SR Pro Eco Solvent Printer on 3M cast vinyl, protected with premium overcast laminates by their GFP Laminator. “In motorsports every little thing is scrutinized to find an advantage,” says Kevin Wilson, Spire’s president, “so lots of times butt seams are used to maximize aerodynamics … Where there must be seams, they are planned to be as aero-efficient as possible,” he adds.

Screwing with the Client

The owner of this vehicle really pressured Media 1 Wrap This (Sanford, FL) to make his wrap as flashy as possible, which the Wrap This team initially thought would be too much, according to Rick Ream, the shop’s vice president. Designed for Josh Rapkin with Pruvit, a client who’s had more than 10 vehicles done in the past six years, the car’s wrap is quite durable as it was created using 3M Wrap Film Series 2080 in gloss black. Since they have been doing business with Rapkin for a long time, the Wrap This team sent the car back with a lot of extra bolts and screws as a way to mess with the client, telling him they were “extras [and] we couldn’t figure out where they were supposed to go,” Ream jokes.

MY Baby Blue

This stylish sports-car graphic was installed by WrapStar Pro (Sacramento, CA) to promote Arlon’s new VITAL Series DPF V9700 premium non-PVC cast polyurethane and Series V3370 Overlaminate. The shop used Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW for the client’s design, then its Roland DGA TrueVIS VG3 printer and Royal Sovereign laminator. Little would you know that underneath the wrap for the electric Porsche Taycan, the car is painted baby blue. “Such an odd color for a $150K sports car,” comments Kristin Lanzarone, owner of WrapStar Pro.

PHOTO GALLERY (11 IMAGES)