Andy Blackmore'S BIO

Name: Andy Blackmore

Websites: http://www.andyblackmoredesig.com , http://www.tpppublishing.com

Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Previous Locations: UK, (Bristol, Coventry, Bognor Regis, Guildford, Andover)

Career Path: Craft Director- Vehicle Design Concepts

Previous Career Paths: Lead Product and Automotive Designer for McLaren Group, Product Designer for Yamaha UK R&D

Also, creatde a number of racecar liveries and race car bodykits. Clients have included Arena International, ALMS, Panoz, Yamaha, Audi Sport UK, Toyota GB , SEAT Sport, MG Rover, BMW-Schnitzer, MBK Bikes, Gulf Oils, Reynard, Creation, Cummfy Banana(!), Halfords, Radio Le Mans, ITV Sport, Radio Le Mans and Speed TV

Notable Projects/Wins: Designed the majority of McLaren F1 GTR Liveries, including the 1995 Le Mans winner. Designed McLaren pit crew helmets, race trucks, various car proposals and most of the pit garage interior you still see today. Also worked on the initial concept, for McLaren 2-seater Formula 1 car.

also see

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2009/10/01/retrospective-gt-gt-mclaren-f1-gtr-short-tail-part-1.aspx

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2008/05/28/car-life-gt-gt-andy.aspx

Produce Race car Spotter Guides for BTCC, ALMS (official) and F1. ALMS car images also used in yearbook. BTCC used by ITV for their OSD's

Car: BMW 330i E46 MSport , Nissan Murano.

Fav Past Cars: Audi 80 Sport 16v & quattro, various VW Golf GTi's, SEAT Leon Cupra R, 1969 Fiat 500, Mini Cooper 1360 rally car. - driven a McLaren F1 roadcar and GTR, both briefly

Next Car: If it makes it to Canada, I'd happily live with a new Fiat 500 Abarth

Car Passions: Car Design and Motorsport. I have always been interested in cars and motorsport from a young age. Completed a degree at Coventry University, in Transport Design. This including a placement, working on the design of the Yamaha OX99-11 supercar.

Following this, I worked for Arena Motorsport before joining the McLaren Racing Group working in the Grand Prix, Road car and Le Mans divisions.

I follow motorsport religiously. I competed in single-venue rallying in the UK, in a Union Jack Liveried Mini Cooper (as seen in EA's Shox). I am still involved in Motorsport as a consultant/designer with race-car liveries and bodykit design.

Personal Style: jeans type of person....

Favourite Band of the Moment: Depeche Mode, Synth Britannia

 


2,122 Posted Mar 17 2010, 04:20 PM by Andy Blackmore with 9 comment(s)

NEWS>>2010 ALMS SPOTTER GUIDE
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Some of you may be aware that I produce a number of Fan Spotter Guides, including the American Le Mans Series, which also publishes the guide. With the teams already set up at Sebring for the 12 hour endurance race, I have released the first guide of the year, supported by Speedhunters The guide features all the liveries, teams, drivers, classes and tyre information for use trackside or in the comfort of your living room. The majority of teams forwarded liveries and details to me, many under embargo...
 
 

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Posted Mar 11 2010, 05:15 PM by Andy Blackmore with 35 comment(s)

PREVIEW>> FORMULA ONE - 2010
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The Formula One season starts this weekend in Bahrain and given our F1 preview was so popular last year, it is time for Speedhunters bring you a brief preview for the 2010 season. Biggest changes surround World Champions, past and present. The 2009 World Drivers Champion, Jenson Button, left Brawn GP at the end of 2009 to join McLaren Mercedes, where Lewis Hamilton is firmly entrenched. It is going to be a challenge for Jenson to get into the tight McLaren-Hamilton relationship and beat Lewis…but...

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2,122 Posted Feb 04 2010, 10:30 AM by Andy Blackmore with 2 comment(s)

VIDEO ROLL>> AUDI AT 2009 LE MANS
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On the same day the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours entry list was released, I was sent a link to this great video from Audi.tv, a cool site full of Audi PR films, TV spots and advertisements. The video captures the atmosphere and drama of the 2009 Le Mans from Audi Sport’s perspective, complete with commentary from Radio Le Mans’s John Hindhaugh, the voice of Sports cars. Good on Audi for making this, given Peugeot beat them with a 1-2. They could have easily kept quiet about being beaten by the...
 
 

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Posted Feb 02 2010, 05:42 PM by Andy Blackmore with 19 comment(s)

RANDOM SNAP>>McLAREN MP4-12C GTR!
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I often pass by Jon Sibal's blog and it never ceases to amaze me how he finds the time, in between his comic book work to create his artwork. I wish I could steal a few of his hours each day. I can’t remember when I was able to finish up a render to his standard, away from usual day-to-day stuff. So, back in November, I hit on a great idea. Why don’t I create a GTR version of the new McLaren MP4-12C complete with some of the classic liveries I designed way back 15 years ago. I started...
 
 

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2,122 Posted Jan 27 2010, 11:36 AM by Andy Blackmore with 13 comment(s)

RANDOM SNAP>>KIMI TESTING
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Continuing our rallying coverage, Rally site, eWRC.cz, has posted some great images of Kimi Raikkonens recent test in Finland in his new WRC ride, the Red Bull sponsored Citroen C4 WRC. Kimi’s preparations continue later this week on the Arctic Lapland Rally. Perfect preparation for Rally Sweden, the first round of the 2010 World Rally Championship, in two weeks time. Hop over to eWRC.cz for more great images from the test, which also marks the debut of the 2010 Red Blue/Citroen livery Let’s...
 
 

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Posted Jan 25 2010, 11:45 AM by Andy Blackmore with 14 comment(s)

EVENT>>2010 MONTE CARLO RALLY
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Regular Speedhunters will be aware from our preview last week that the Intercontinental Rally Challenge started its season last week with the Monte Carlo Rally. It was a dominant and quite surprising win from Mikko Hirvonen in the all new Ford Fiesta S2000. Hirvonen led from the start from Skoda’s Juho Hanninen. Peugeot followed closely with last year’s winner, Sebastien Ogier (above!) and Stephane Sarrazin and Kris Meeke in hot pursuit. One of the favourites, Jan Kopecky had a dire start...

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2,122 Posted Jan 19 2010, 02:40 PM by Andy Blackmore with 25 comment(s)

PREVIEW>>2010 MONTE CARLO RALLY & IRC
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The legendary Monte Carlo Rally starts today, with a prologue stage in the French Riviera, en-route to Monte Carlo. The ‘Monte’ is one of the longest running motorsport events, dating back to 1911, and is normally part of the World Rally Championship. Due to the ridiculous FIA rule that rally venues need to rotate in and out of the World Championship, the premier class this year is the popular Intercontinental Rally Championship. The 'IRC' started in 2006 with the assistance of...

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Posted Jan 13 2010, 05:00 AM by Andy Blackmore with 28 comment(s)

NEW CARS>> NAIAS 2010
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The 2010 Motor Show season starts this week with the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Previously a show, full of announcements, the economic downturn and the state of the local car industry has pushed this show to an also-ran in the Motor Show season. The biggest news is the worldwide debut of the new all-world Ford Focus. Previously, North America has been laden with a reshelled version of the original Ford Focus which debuted back in 1998, while the rest of the World has a class...

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2,122 Posted Jan 06 2010, 10:47 AM by Andy Blackmore with 7 comment(s)

VIDEO ROLL>> RACING. NOT POSING!
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This new promo video from Porsche caught my eye over on Cold Track Days. Showcasing their long history in racing, but no 956/962. Despite this, some great imagery and classic footage.

Porsche make some great videos, so its worth checking out their YouTube Channel. Enjoy!

-Andy Blackmore

Porsche channel on You Tube

 

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Posted Dec 18 2009, 11:20 AM by Andy Blackmore with 36 comment(s)

NEWS>> SAAB TO WIND DOWN
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It has been a painful year for many people and companies at every level. Many companies have seen massive restructing, administration, closeures and bail outs. Unfortunately there have been many casualties and many people will be having a torrid Christmas out of work. So spare a though for anyone affected by this whole mess. Sadly, another casualty was announced today. GM has announced, Svenska Aeroplan AB, otherwise known as ‘Saab’ will be no more. Despite a number of buy-out discussions...

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2,122 Posted Nov 02 2009, 09:22 AM by Andy Blackmore with 10 comment(s)

DESKTOPS>>NOVEMBER 2009 CALENDAR
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Welcome to Slammed Month on Speedhunters! Linhberg captured Vinh Vo’s Lexus IS350 at the recent Access Zero 42 show in Houston. Standard and wide screen versions of the calendar can be located in our desktop section. -Andy
 
 

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Posted Oct 09 2009, 10:45 AM by Andy Blackmore with 9 comment(s)

EVENT>> GIL DE FERRAN/CHAPARRAL TRIBUTE
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Gil de Ferran, 2000, 2001 Champ Car champion and 2003 Indy 500 winner, enters his final race as a driver this weekend at Laguna Seca, the finale to the 2009 ALMS championship. There are a number of celebrations to mark his retirement, the most prominent being the de Ferran Motorsport Acura LMP1 car carrying a cool Chaparral inspired livery. Jim Hall and his Chaparrals Race cars were leaders in race car design and aerodynamics. The cars always looked stunning with their form and white bodywork. Gil...

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2,122 Posted Oct 02 2009, 06:21 AM by Andy Blackmore with 10 comment(s)

RETROSPECTIVE>>McLAREN F1 GTR SHORT TAIL: PART 2
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In part 2 of our McLaren F1 GTR Retrospective, we are going to look at the 1996 season. McLaren Cars made a number of improvements for the 1996 season with revised aerodynamics, cooling and fuel system. Many components were re-engineered. As I explained at the beginning of the month , a new test car, Chassis ‘10R’ was completed and used to announce the 1996 season, although ironically the car still carried some 1995 aerodynamics. We needed a livery which jumped out of the page and also...

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Posted Oct 01 2009, 04:40 PM by Andy Blackmore with 15 comment(s)

RETROSPECTIVE>>McLAREN F1 GTR SHORT TAIL: PART 1
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As our BMW Feature Month comes to an end, I have been asked to give my personal reflections on the golden years of the McLaren F1 GTR. Grab yourself a coffee….it’s a long one! With the aid of Rod's images from his recent visit to Rahal Letterman and John Brooks extensive collection, I'll attempt to cover the two seasons in which the short-tail GTR changed the face of GT racing. It may not have been part of the original McLaren F1 project, but the story of the McLaren F1 GTR was...

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2,122 Posted Sep 28 2009, 11:20 AM by Andy Blackmore with 3 comment(s)

VIDEO ROLL>> ACURA DESTROY AND BUILD
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I’m still recovering from my first American Le Mans Race, and a strange race it was. Luckily I was there for a few days, so enjoyed the practice and qualifying before the ‘Trèz-Petit’!

One of the most impressive things about the weekend was seeing how the Patron Highcroft race team built up a new race car after Scott Sharp destroyed the original during practice (above, with Radio Le Mans commentary). It was one of the biggest accidents I’ve ever seen and it’s a testament to today’s safety standards that he walked away.

The car was completely destroyed and ended up back at the pits on two trucks! Only 10% of the parts were salvageable. A new tub was sent from California overnight and the mechanics built up the car during the course of Friday, amazingly ready for warm-up on Sunday morning. The mechanics looked shattered by the end of it.

This is a great time lapse video of the rebuild.

More from Petit during the week.

 

-Andy Blackmore

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Posted Sep 21 2009, 11:33 AM by Andy Blackmore with 10 comment(s)

RANDOM SNAP>> NEED FOR SPEED SHIFT BMW M3 GT2 TESTING
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The 'Petit Le Mans' round of the American Le Mans Series takes place this coming weekend and Speedhunters will be bringing you coverage of the10hour endurance event. A closed test took place over the weekend and was the first chance to see the 'Need For Speed Shift' liveried #92 BMW M3 which Jörg Müller,Tommy Milner and Dirk Müller will compete in. If you look closely, you will also notice Speedhunters.com stickers on the Rear wing end plate! In addition to our coverage...
 
 

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2,122 Posted Sep 14 2009, 05:19 PM by Andy Blackmore with 7 comment(s)

VIDEO ROLL>> BMW IMSA-GTP WIN
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Regular Speedhunters photo contributor, and SpeedTV.com Auto Racing editor, Marshall Pruett has been working on an excellent new website, grandtouringprototype.com , which showcases the IMSA GTP Series, a golden era in North American Sports car racing. The predecessor to the current American Le Mans Series. The site now has more than 50 hours of video, in conjunction with IMSA/ALMS, from old telecasts from years gone by. It is an amazing Aladdin’s cave for anyone into Sportscar racing. Also...

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Posted Sep 10 2009, 12:15 PM by Andy Blackmore with 53 comment(s)

NEW CARS>>McLAREN MP4-12C
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McLaren Automotive launched their new MP4-12C Supercar earlier this week at their Technical Centre in the UK. The new car will go into production in 2011 and feature a McLaren design and developed Twin Turbo V8 and cost around £150,000 CEO, Ron Dennis' plan is for McLaren to produce a range of sports cars in the coming years and the MP4-12C fits into the Ferrari 458/Lamborghini Gallardo class. Personally, I am somewhat underwhelmed with the styling, but I do understand the reasons for this...

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2,122 Posted Sep 07 2009, 05:40 AM by Andy Blackmore with 10 comment(s)

CAR FEATURE>> 'AIRWAVES BMW' 320Si BTCC TOURING CAR
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The BMW 320Si is one of the most popular and successful touring cars of the modern era. In this car feature, we will look at the Team Airwaves British Touring Cars of Jonathan Adam and Rob Collard with the aid of images from Peter Still, John Brooks and Jonathan Moore. The BMW 320si is a S2000 class touring car introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2005. Over 2000 production road cars were built to suit homologation. The production cars are powered by a 2-litre unit based on the older E46’s...

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Posted Sep 04 2009, 07:07 AM by Andy Blackmore with 2 comment(s)

EVENT>>BTCC 2009 - SILVERSTONE
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John Brooks was on duty at Silverstone last weekend, so we have a hugh gallery of images form Rounds 22, 23 and 24 of the British Touring Car Championship with some additions from our friends at PSP-Images. A few driver changes. Ex Formula 1 driver, Johnny Herbert joined Team Dynamics, replacing James Thompson who has commitments in the Danish, World Touring Car Championships and the Australian V8 Supercar championship – busy boy! Tom Onslow-Cole was also called up as a stand in for the second...

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