Stryve Motorsport interview
acc
Stryve Motorport’s André Mol & Jody Barrowclough give us the low down on taking shortcuts and designing custom liveries.
Q
André
First of all, thanks for having us. I do like the Cup series. It’s nice to get away from the regular GT3 and GT4 content and have a competition where everyone is driving the same car. It’s also good that series like this attracts new drivers who hopefully also stick around for championships in the future. I do like the car itself, although I don’t really understand it. Some days I get along with it and drive the same lap times as the midfield and some days I’m just the slowest by far and 1 second slower per lap then the guy in front of me. But lately I’m afraid this is becoming a trend for me in all ACC races I take part in. So hopefully I can turn this around again.
Jody
I like a single class series especially when its default setups. I find it makes for better racing and less pissing about with setups. The Porsche Cup is a deadly beast, lose focus for a second and it will have you off. I had to skip the last round. I didn't do any practice and when I joined the lobby I felt like a liability on track. I let myself, my team mate and RRLeagues down.
Q
André
As mentioned above, my first couple of races were fairly poor and not even sure if I can turn it around this season, but definitely will do my best. Jod has made a big progression lately and should have finished way further towards the front than he did in the first races. But mainly being unlucky has prevented that. I’m sure he will soon get some good results in again which hopefully will take us up some places in the standings. My local knowledge will see me probably arrive first at the track because I know some shortcuts. On the track it will be a different story. It’s always nice to drive at Zandvoort, but the track is not really a favourite of mine.
Jody
I'm not sure about André's advantage, I haven't spoken to him about the race yet. Zandvoort can be lots of fun if the car feels good. Not sure how easy it is going to be to find a good balance in the Porsche Cup car though. Regarding the points I haven't really looked at the scoreboard after the disastrous round 1, and not racing round 2 there is kind of no point looking. Hopefully things can only get better.
Q
Jody
Andre smashed it with the livery, it's just brilliant. As soon as saw it I was in love. I do like a classic vintage livery. They are not hard to do, they are just extremely time consuming. But essentially it's cut and paste and drag and drop and repeat. Just start with something easy like sponsor placement just to get used to how it all works. Then move onto more complex patterns that overlap parts of the car. Take your time and get it right. A good livery is always appreciated by the people who know how much effort goes into them. The more you do the better and faster you get. It's a good way to express your creativity.
André
Thanks for the kind words. When I make a custom livery I do spend quite a bit of time making it, because I think that details in the livery is what makes the car looks ‘real’.
I always run a little checklist; if the car is going to take part in a certain championship - say for example the British GT4 Championship - I always start by having a look at pictures and the official website. Most of these series run one tyre and fuel brand and sometimes some other sponsors you see back on every car. I will take these logo’s and place them in the right place on the car.
Then I would pick my main sponsor. Which brand do I like or looks nice. After that decision I see if I can find brand guidelines online. A logo on its own doesn’t make the brand, so you have to see what other elements they use. And if I can’t find guidelines, I just look at examples of ads they run, packaging or in store stuff they have. So this sets the boundaries from which I start doing my design.
After the first design I might pick some secondary sponsors. But also for me it’s all about the details. I did for example a Burger King livery and I wanted a soda brand to go with it. At that point I just have a look which brand of soda they serve at Burger King. It’s Coca Cola, so if I would have stuck Pepsi on the car, it would have been wrong.
Also after the first designs I always judge the car as if it was real and people or businesses are spending a lot of money to put there name on the car. Is everything good to read and is it clear who spent the most money (who is the main sponsor and who are the secondary sponsors).
After I’m happy with it I share the design with people whos opinions I like to hear and let it rest for 2 or 3 days. The thing is that making a 2D design and seeing it on a 3D model in ACC or iRacing, it almost always looks good right away. But does it still look good after you walked away from it? After that I always decide if I have to make some small alterations.