Securing your first role is one of the most difficult obstacles graduates face in their careers; it can be daunting and there is no fixed approach to getting that design position.  After the highs of graduation, some individuals start questioning their capabilities, unsure of how to put a professional portfolio together, whilst others rise to the challenge – gaining exposure on social media, networking and confident in their portfolio content.

So to reassure and help individuals on their journey, our studio of designers, digital modellers and visualisers spoke passionately about their areas of expertise and explained what their roles involve.  Speaking openly encouraged everyone to feel at ease and comfortable to ask whatever and as many questions as they needed.         

It was also a good chance for us to take a fresh look at our studio and working, as well as a reminder of what an exciting and creative industry we are lucky to be working in!!

We had some light-hearted fun, of course.  The Scalextrics made an appearance, as well as a competitive sticky-note sketch challenge.  The fiercest competition was the fastest lap on the sim racing game – the Top Gear style scoreboard spurred on the drivers to be the faster than the “Beat The Boss” lap time.

We are passionate about what we do and were inspired by the interest of the graduates, most of whom had never had the opportunity to step inside a Studio; it was gratifying to be able to share our passion with them and inspire the beginning of their careers. We hope everyone went away feeling encouraged knowing that we support them and wish them every success for the future – wherever it may take them.

LinkedIn Drive

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It was entirely ‘on brand’ for Goodwood this year, in the sense that almost every box was being ticked – EV’s, Hydrogen based concepts and ‘traditional’ ICEs. There was a superstar talking about sustainable fuels, classic cars that were very futuristic in their time and concept cars for our future looking more than a little retro.

This year the celebrated marque was Porsche.  Aside from the cars displayed on the sculpture outside the main house, all the race winning cars featured in their anniversary parade, the LeMans winners, the classic 356’s and Ken Block’s Hoonigan 911. Three Porsches in particular that caught my eye; the Vision 357, the Misson X, and of course the Junior Tractor – I love it so much I want to buy a farm so I can own one.

The Porsche Mission X is without doubt a future car that takes inspiration from the past, as does the Porsche Vision 357 Speedster, and posters of either would have a place on my bedroom wall if my wife would still let me do that.

Also on that ‘poster’ list from this year’s pageantry would be the Ferrari KC23, the Czinger C21 in ‘shouty orange’, and the Speed 6 Continuation from those chaps up in Crewe.  Taking pride of place would be the Renault 5 Turbo 3E – an out-and-out homage to one of my all-time favourite cars the R5 Turbo 2.

The Hyundai N Vision 74 gives more than a nod to the past and has definitely put its hand up to be the star of Back to the Future 4 if they ever make it.  It is going to be built around a Hydrogen fuel platform, so along with the hydrogen powered Toyota Yaris GT driven by Sir Rowan Atkinson this year, means we now have EV’s and hydrogen stating their case for consideration as alternative’s to the polluting ICE platforms of yesteryear.  The hydrogen platform is by no means fully solved, and I’m not about to start unwrapping that ball of knots, but two alternatives are better than one.

This year’s human star at Goodwood was Sebastien Vettel, who was driving from his personal collection – a Nigel Mansell “Red 5” Williams and an Ayrton Senna McLaren, both converted to run on sustainable fuel.  Since retiring Sebastien has been a huge advocate of sustainable fuels launching his “Race without Trace” initiative to support and develop their use.  In an interview with Ed Foster on the Goodwood website, Vettel said 

“We use e-fuels in an old car, which was not designed for them but it only takes a small adjustment.  We use them in old cars, we use them in new F1 cars, we can use them in your road car. It’s just to show that there is an alternative.  The world is changing but we don’t have to give up on these things, we can enjoy them in a more responsible way”

With Porsche fuelling the Mobil 1 Supercup and their Porsche Experience Centres using their eFuel, and Sebastien running his F1 stable on P1 Fuel, it appears that we might actually have three alternatives to traditional ICE.  Options, options, options.

For now though, the near future is very much focused on EVs.  Over the past three years I’ve watched Electric Avenue go from being ‘new’ brands like Polestar, to EV models from mainstream brands last year, and a healthy balance of the two this year, with BMW and KIA sat beside newcomers like HiPhi Y with its gullwing rear doors, and the Ora Funky Cat. 

The Ora was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, while the new Ford Explorer was, surprisingly, smaller than I thought it would be.  The other feature of Electric Avenue was main sponsors BP addressing the topics of range anxiety and recharge time, promoting their network of charging stations while also offering a phone charging station for visitors that was powered by a Hyndai Ioniq 6.

As at last year’s Goodwood Festival, Polestar had their own presence away from Electric Avenue, as did Tesla, Lotus, and the new Mini Concept Aceman.  Renault’s concept stand had the all-white Renault 5 Roland Garros prototype that was full of some really nice details, and was sat alongside the 4Ever Trophy and this R5 Diamante. 

The latter has a definite retro feel to it and was very reminiscent of the original Renault 5 L, whilst around the corner was Caterham’s stand where they were launching the Project V. 

This was of particular interest to me as Drive worked on the Caterham C120 project – a joint venture with Renault that saw the French marque develop the award winning Alpine A110.  Just over a decade on we wish them every success with the Caterham Project V and bringing something new to the market. 

All this means we can potentially have a much wider choice in the not-too-distant future.  Amazing new EV’s like the Porsche Mission X, the Charge ’67, or the Polestar 2 coupe.  Hydrogen options like the N Vision 74 or last year’s hypercar concept from Viritech.  We could still watch cars like the FW14B and the McLaren MP4/6 race each other at events like the Revival, series like the Porsche Supercup won’t be consigned to history, and maybe we won’t have to sweep our current cars under the metaphorical rug and replace them straight away.   If we do want to buy a new car there will be new visions like the ones listed earlier, the slightly more retro styled R5 Diamant or the new MG Cyberster to choose from. 

So many options … we like options, but we also like it in red.

Jamie Granados

Goodwood Festival of Speed

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Picture courtesy of Goodwood Festival of Speed

Goodwood, on a sunny Friday, is possibly the best way to end a week.  Aside from seeing Wayne Rainey ride again (that in itself was worth the ticket price). This year’s Goodwood was a marvellous celebration of the past, the present and the future.  Charge had their ’67 fastback Mustang, complete with 21^st Century interior and power train. The reborn electric Renault 5 was sparkling and gleaming at the heart of Electric Avenue. And the McMurtry Speirling fan-car set a mind-boggling time of 39.08 seconds to get up the hill.

ELECTRIC AVENUE

Electric Avenue this year was wall-to-wall OEM, showing how far the adoption has come since the first Tesla Roadster kick-started it all, and how far the technology has moved forward.  The likes of KIA, Citroen, Renault, BMW, Volvo, Vauxhall, Skoda and Ford all had their latest EV models on show. Compact sleek designs offering enormous cabins space and, most importantly, charge-range that will not induce heart palpitations for any journey over a significant distance.

The ‘new faces’ in Electric Avenue were the likes of Fisker with their Ocean SUV, ElectraMeccanica with their Solo EV, the Lucid Air and a dazzle-camo Polestar 5 – the production version of the Precept revealed at last year’s Goodwood. The new R5 from Renault, like many re-launched models, is considerably bigger than its predecessor, while conversely both the Fisker Ocean and Lotus Eletre were slightly smaller than I anticipated, in a rather refreshing way.

At the Gensis stand was the outstanding X Speedium, while in the ‘First Glance Paddock’ the G80 sat alongside Charge’s ’67 Fastback Mustang, the Rivian R1T, and an Alpine A110 Tour de Course 75.

The thing that really struck me this year though was how many new technologies were on display. New manufacturing processes, new materials (both for exterior and interior), even a new fuel system in the form of the Viritech Apricale with an amazing lightweight hydrogen fuel cell platform. Traditionally hydrogen power cells have been heavy units designed to extend BEV platforms.  Viritech’s approach flipped that on its head and introduced lightweight composite and resin fuel cells, reducing the demand on rare minerals for the battery and significantly reducing weight to an astonishing sub-1000kg.

CZINGER

The Czinger 21C’s aluminium and magnesium components are all 3D printed, and the design team utilised AI to help determine which materials to use and where.  While this may be one of a few hybrid cars on show this year, the adoption of 3d printing and AI in the design process could well be a game-changer in how the industry does things in the future.

POLESTAR

Polestar presented the Polestar 5 at Goodwood festival of speed – the ‘precept’ turned into a production model – that uses natural fibres in the composites rather than carbon, and the O2 Roadster where their design team adopted an entirely new approach to delivering a sustainable product, abandoning multi-material construction where possible and embracing mono-materials; instead of multiple materials that all present challenging recycling options, interior components, like the dash, are formed out of one piece of thermos-plastic that can be recycled again and again and again.

FISKER

The Fisker Ocean is aiming to be the most eco-friendly car in the market.  With an earth-friendly vegan interior that relies heavily on recycled products mainly sourced from the sea (hence the name). Ranging from plastics and rubber to old t-shirts and ghost-nets.  A SolarSky roof harvests energy while driving to power the car, and even rolls back alongside all the windows when in “California mode” to let the breeze just flow through the car.  Note to dog owners – keep Rover tethered, an open rear window is an enticing escape route.

All this leads me to the title – the power of “And”.  Throughout the day I found myself having exciting, positive, optimistic conversations with people.  They were seeing amazing products coming as a result of design teams engaging with the concepts and principles of circular-design.  Striving to ‘create’ without leaving a trace, and without exception there was a feeling that all of the solutions being presented had a valid voice contributing to the conversation.  EV is not the only route, as the Viritech showed.  Natural-fibre composites and mono-materials offer a much simpler recycling path.  3D printed components mean less waste in production.  Ethically sourced and managed supply lines sit side-by-side with recycled materials in placing no strain on fossil resources.  I didn’t get the impression that any one of these things is a magic bullet, more that our way forward will require all of these things and many new ones.

Added together, they offer something greater than any one could achieve on its own.  Very much a case of “And….not Or”.

Jamie Granados

Goodwood’s Estate also contains Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

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The sight of the Group One Touring Cars in the paddock races me back to the late 70’s and early 80’s, when I used to spend every second weekend at a circuit around Britain.  As my brother Martin pursued his favoured career, car design being a fall back, racing a Formula Ford in various championships; Donnington Park, Brands Hatch and Silverstone were as familiar to me as my parents’ garden.

The likes of Richard Longman,  Win Percy and Tony Dron, were names that meant more to me than James Hunt.  The sight of Richard in his Mini hassling and embarrassing the larger more powerful cars was re-enacted at each round, and that mix of machinery is brought to life at Goodwood in the Gerry Marshall Trophy races.

As a youngster it was the paddock in the evenings, meeting drivers and sitting in the cars as mechanics worked on them, “as you’re in there, make yourself useful, push the brake”, where I got the most enjoyment.  Listening in on their banter about ‘if only’, ‘the lack of sponsorship’ and from the mechanics “he couldn’t drive a nail in a plank” was fascinating and intoxicating.

Seeing the TWR XJR-15s at Goodwood reminded me of those conversations because more often than not, talk would eventually make reference to Tom Walkinshaw, who was a pretty quick driver and quite a character by all accounts too.  Stories of intrigue about his racing exploits accompanied hot cups of tea and bacon butties.  How he would find a ‘special’ limited production model made for the sand dunes in the desert, it’s particularly large wheel arch inners allowing the touring car to run unfeasibly close to the ground, and moving a number of cars from one warehouse to another ‘doubling’ production numbers for compliance with championship entry requirements. True or not now the stories of folklore.

But the success of the man was unquestionable, setting up Tom Walkinshaw Racing in 1975, to build and run his race cars for the touring car championship. It went on to become an incredibly successful racing outfit, including winning Le Mans in partnership with Jaguar with a car designed by Ross Brawn, and even racing Volvo estates – although not a racing success certainly a PR one!

The spin off from the racing was production of performance aftermarket parts for road cars such as the Mazda RX7 and more famously the Jaguar XJR-S, at which point Walkinshaw realised the potential for this service and started TWR Design.  This new design consultancy, with Peter Stevens, attracted one Ian Callum from Ford as designer, and clients such as Volvo, Mazda and HSV all benefiting from their input, with the Aston Martin DB7 being the most prolific project.  In the early 90’s I was able to see from the inside the work they were doing, as I provided alias modelling expertise. The close knit, efficient and boisterous team of designers and clay modellers outputting an incredible range of concepts and production models.

As I reflect on the weekend at Goodwood, and review my own experiences as Drive goes into its 25th year, I can fully appreciate what Tom Walkinshaw achieved, and how driven, motivating and business savvy he must have been to build a race team into a company peaking at around 1500 employees worldwide, that went on to design what is one of the most beautiful production cars ever.

http://www.goodwood.com

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Brook Cricket Club

Brook Cricket Club has just celebrated its first ‘century’, having been formed in 1923 – originally titled the ‘Brook and Sandhills Cricket Club’. Above is the Team before their centenary match against the MCC.

The changing rooms and cricket club are in the famous Pirrie Hall, with post match analysis taking place in Surrey’s leading country pub, The Dog and Pheasant.

Senior Cricket

Brook have competed in the I’Anson league every year since 2013, with a full schedule of Saturday and Sunday matches on the agenda and senior nets on Thursdays.

Junior Cricket

Junior Cricket is well catered for with Sunday matches and Friday night training. Parents have found the relaxing summer evenings, with glass in hand, a perfect way to finish their working week.

Club Sponsorship

Brook Cricket Club is always looking to support local businesses with promotional opportunities. If you would like to get involved as a sponsor or feel your company can offer any other kind of benefit in kind to the club, it would be great to hear from you.

Local cricket club near me

For those interested in joining a club, Brook Cricket Club welcomes new members and offers a range of membership options for both players and supporters.

Whether you are an experienced cricketer or a novice looking to get involved in the sport, Brook Cricket Club provides a warm and inclusive community where you can enjoy the game of cricket.

Join a club

See their website here for more information.

If you would like to join the club sign up here

Drive are proud to sponsor Brook Cricket Club

Main Photo credit to www.johnpheasant.photography

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The discussion, extremely well chaired by Richard Charlesworth, felt like you were eavesdropping on a friends’ private evening, with the conversation flowing easily between Fabrizio Guigiaro – Founder GFG Style and Carlo Bonzanigo – Pininfarina Head of Design, as they revealed the beginnings and pedigree of their respective companies, enlightened us on their inspirations, and gave us insight to their particular approaches to design, projects and clients.

Johann Lemercier – Design Manager Centro Stile Ferrari gave intriguing accounts of his experiences having been on both sides of the client / consultancy relationships, as well as clearly outlining the design language approach adopted by Ferrari.   Louis de Fabribeckers – Touring Superleggera Head of Design, explained why design houses such as his will always have a place to bring objective and fresh eyes to the in-house design projects of the large manufacturers, whilst new kids on the block Frangivento Italia were keen to explain their ideas to shake up the established order.

Following refreshments and a chance to catch up with colleagues from the industry, there was the opportunity to study the Ferrari exhibition.  A history of the man himself Enzo Ferrari, leads on to the comparison of traditional and modern techniques in producing designs, models and production cars.

Ferrari wouldn’t be Ferrari without the motor racing running through its soul, and the exhibition has plenty for a fan like myself to enjoy.  Images like the one below capturing a moment in time between Enzo Ferrari and Gilles Villeneuve, the Ferrari 312 engine and crash helmets of heroes providing plenty of conversation topics later that evening at the Italian restaurant over the road!

Link for more information The Design Museum

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Following the high level of response to the online voting, there were 4 designers who were clear favourites with the voters. They were Jordan Barnes, Amar Chana, Tadas Malinauskas and Ben Tennet.

Jordan Barnes was a deserving winner, the examples of his work below clearly showing his sketching skills to illustrate and communicate his ideas.

Well Done from the whole Drive Team.

Coventry University Automotive and Transport Degree Show

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Drive’s are a specialist Motor show filming company providing filming and live production.  If you would like us to film anything specific or provide live streaming of any launch event please contact us to discuss your requirements.

+44 (0) 1483 211 200

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So when a Top Gear producer entered Drive’s design studio; a world where dreams are created, made, smashed and cherished, he approached with a big grin on his face, beaming with his latest project for us to get involved with … and now it is a gaming sensation in Forza Horizon 4.

The Track-tor

A brief was set out, to turn a common tractor into a ‘supercar-tractor’, to alleviate the common countryside issues of being stuck behind a tractor at speeds of 15mph for miles and miles … So this creation was to have a handsome V8 – it sounded like a good start. Other aspects for the new extreme farming solution was that it would have to be able to retain all the functionality of a current tractor; ploughing, towing, ground clearance etc.

So it couldn’t be compromised by its new super-car styling.

So with the desires of Matt Le Blanc outlined, the initial visual cues for the Track-tor were down-force, extreme styling, aggression and a McLaren F1 inspired seating arrangement. Large splitters and diffusers were a go head!

The designs were swept off to the Top Gear fabrication team, and our usual design process, common throughout the car design industry, of sketch, alias Cad, CNC mills, reviews, dynoc / highlight checks, was ……. side stepped.  Let’s just say the result was a true one off, bespoke hand crafted in the true tradition of British engineering  ingenuity and excellence.

A fun project to have completed and it was great to be able to get down to the Top Gear studio to watch the show filmed live as a bonus.  The Track-tor appeared on Country File and Top Gear and excelled in every test thrown at it, on track, road and field!    (25^th March 2017)

Drive can sleep soundly at night knowing that we have helped Top Gear solve tractor traffic congestion.

images subject to copyright – image courtesy of TopGear

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This year it was Aston Martin’s turn in the spotlight with an elegant 31m high sculpture towering above Goodwood House, which had a beautiful DBR1 balanced as its centrepiece. Celebrating 60 years since it first won at Le Mans, the marque had every era of their history represented with many taking part in the main event, the hillclimb.  The weekend was split by contrasting weather conditions: Saturday’s spectators hid from the blistering midday sun, with Sunday seeing incessant rain. VW brought along it’s ID-R electric race car, and made the best of Saturday’s grippy conditions and during the official timed session at the end of the day, it broke the hill climb record that had stood for over 20 years crossing the finish line in 39.90 seconds.  Given that it was a car tuned for specifically for the climb, it was then astounding to see the WRX cars climbing the hill only a handful of seconds slower.

The festival speed is usually dominated by modern day race and supercars and often the only place in the UK that you’ll be able to see new rarities in the metal. Indeed, given Goodwood’s prestige, some OEM’s use it to launch new cars. One of the most talked about new releases was the new De Thomaso that made its public debut at the event. Beautifully finished in a deep burgundy with Rose Gold trim finishes, it was on the whole very well received, as were the quartet of Zagato’s that were lined up alongside the Aston Martins. McLaren showed off their new 3 seater Speedtail hypercar alongside the 720S Spider, and being a family event, they made their stand even more appealing to the dads with their full size Lego model of their Senna.  Given that the new Lotus hypercar, the Evija, was released to the public only a week after Goodwood, it was surprising to a few that Goodwood wasn’t used to at least provide a sneak preview of the car, but it could be argued that in such a crowded space some of the impact would have been lost.

As impressive as it is walking around the Supercar Paddock getting close to cars retailing at 6 figures or more, the event always attracts the old favourites. The supercars you remembered from your childhood, the rallying icons, or the famous race liveries. A Sainz era Toyota Celica parked next to a Martini liveried Delta Integrale. A GT40 in classic Gulf colours parked next to another Martini Porsche. And then a collection of classic Stirling Moss era Mercedes Mille Milia cars. We all love modern day exotica, but we all still love the romance that comes with such historical cars, and this year it was impossible not to well up slightly at the sight of thirteen F1 cars that were all driven by Michael Schumacher throughout his racing career. Celebrating 25 years since Schumacher won his first world championship, the cars lined up next to each other which as well as serving as a wonderful tribute to the great F1 driver, for the F1 fans it clearly showed the progression of the design changes over the past three decades.

As always, Goodwood put on an event that showed why it is still the centre piece of the British motoring calendar. Next up, the Revival!

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