This is probably a good time to again thank our sponsors – without their support the events would not exist.  Lacks Enterprises provides metal finished trim components for the exterior and interior of automobiles.  They have sponsored every one of the 28 Designer Night at the Races™ that has been held since the first event at Dromo 1 in Orange California in March of 2006.

Chris Menninger from Lacks welcomes the racers – Chris managed a great finish in the B-Main

Bunkspeed offers 3 dimensional software for many different industries including automotive.  They have been a sponsor since last year and are committed to supporting the event for the remainder of the year.

David Randle from Bunkspeed

Purple Platypus also came on board last year and provides rapid prototyping machines and services to southern California.  Middlecott Design just came on board for these events.  They are a new Design Studio in Detroit and are available to help with those small projects auto studios never seem to get around to.  Finally, F1 Paintlab provides the trophy you are all fighting for.

Curt Chan from Purple Platypus

The final evening in California was a Nissan and Mercedes affair along with Hyundai, whose podium finish the night before in Irvine allowed them to send a representative to Carlsbad.    And the B-Main podium was filled with Nissan in all three positions.  Ryan Campbell managed a great win after losing the lead at the beginning of the race and regaining it.  He was followed across the line by Matt Struble and Joel Baek.  However, none of the finishes in the B-Main challenged BMW Designwork’s leadership in the week of racing.

B-Main Result: 2nd Matt Struble, 1st Ryan Campbell, 3rd Joel Baek – all from Nissan

The final title came down to the A-Main.  With the number of people that attended the event Nissan had moved into third place, just ahead of Honda and just behind BMW.  But Mercedes had placed 3 drivers in the A-Main and had a decent shot at the overall championship as well.

Mercedes started 3 drivers in the top 5 and it looked like their home track would give them a huge advantage in the race over Nissan’s 3 drivers.  Sung Paick started on the pole but unfortunately drew a slow kart and it was apparent from the start Mercedes hopes were diminished.  Randy Rodriguez from Nissan jumped from 2nd on the grid immediately into the lead and ran unchallenged through the entire race.  Thomas Nishida from Mercedes ran third for much of the race and finally moved into second a couple of laps from the end while also truning the fastest lap of the evening.  Carsten Guenther from Mercedes also moved up and finished in the final trophy position.

A-Main Results: 2nd Thomas Nishida/Mercedes, 1st Randy Rodriguez/Nissan, 3rd Carsten Guenther/Mercedes

In the end the championship came down to the second Nissan driver.  If he finished at the back of the field then BMW would win the trophy.  But Yukihiro Mae was the hero of the evening.  His 5th place finish put Nissan ahead for good and earned them the title of the Fastest Design Studio in the West.

DESIGNER NIGHT at the RACES POINTS – FINAL STANDINGS

A full list of results and points can be found here.

Pictures will be posted here as soon as they are available.

Lacks Enterprises has just moved into a wonderful new studio space on the west side at 39500 MacKenzie Dr. Suite 500, N0vi, MI 48377-1602.  This location is right around the corner from the JD Karting Center so it will be very easy to stop by on the way to the event.  The Open House will extend from 3-5pm and will feature the latest in exterior and interior trim technologies, finishes, concepts and gas saving eVolve wheels.  As a special thank you for those that attend the Open House, there will be a free special practice from 5-6pm in advance of the Designer Night at the Races.

Visit the webpage to register

http://www.supplierconsultants.com/register2  

As with past events, racing space is severely limited so register early.

And be sure to read about our sponsors and visit their web sites.

Title Sponsor: Lacks Enterprises

Silver Sponsor: Bunkspeed

Bronze Sponsors:  Middlecott Design and F1 Paintlab

www.lacksenterprises.com

www.bunkspeed.com

www.middlecott.com

www.f1paintlab.com

There is something extra special about the events when we manage to get this many studios under one roof.  It seems that we finally emphasize the camaraderie over the competition as numerous cases of drivers handing the position back after taking them with questionable nasty passes.

The D-Main race was a sponsor fest as many racers went home early and leave 3 sponsors to battle the lone Design Studio.  In the end it was a very tight field and every driver had a shot at the win based on the fact their best lap times were within a quarter of a second.  Anthony Freeney of Purple Platypus ended up on the top spot on the podium, followed close behind by Jeff Chiu from lacks and Guy Colgate of Tesla.

2nd Jeff Vhiu/Lacks, 3rd Anthony Freeney/Purple Platypus, 3rd Guy Colgate/Tesla, Lindsay Blalock/AACA

In the C-Main 5 Design Studios were represented and a different one was in all of the top positions.  Matt Mantz from Honda started third and slowly moved his way to the front for the win for Honda.  Brian Hillner of Bunkspeed finished in second, slightly ahead of Jason Brown from Hyundai, James Dron from Mazda, Michael Kim from Calty Toyota and Jesse Sowden from Kia.

2nd Brian Hillner/Bunkspeed, 1st Matt Mantz/Honda, 3rd Jason Brown/Hyundai

In the B-Main it was even more diverse as the top 7 positions were from a  different company.  Masa Tanaka attended the event as a special guest of Calty Toyota and promptly repaid them by beating Tim Farnam from Calty for the top position.  Following up in third place was Nick Renner of GM.  The rest of the field included drivers from Nissan, Hyundai, Tesla, and Mazda.

2nd Tim Farnam/Calty, 1st Masa Tanaka/Magna (racing for Toyota), 3rd Nick Renner/GM

The A-Main was a Nissan affair as they took two places on the podium after the original 3rd place finisher was docked a position for passing under the yellow.  Randy Rodriguez of Nissan ran away from the field and hid and managed a 10 second gap over second place Soomin Choe of Hyundai.  Ryan Campbell of Nissan finished a further 6 seconds back in third place.

2nd Soomin Choe/Hynudai, 1st Randy Rodriguez/Nissan, 3rd Ryan Campbell/Nissan

Randy Rodriguez managed the fastest lap of the evening at 23.389 as he and Soomin Choe of Hyundai were invited to come to Carlsbad and race again by sponsor Bunkspeed.

Thanks to the additional attendance and Bunkspeed’s 5th place finish the Sponsors moved into the lead by 4 points over BMW Designworks.  Honda added a point with a extra attendee and held on to their 3rd place position.  Nissan moved into a 4th place tie with GM dropping Tesla a position to 5th.  Hyundai moved into 6th place with Soomin Choe’s 2nd place finish followed by Hyundai, Mazda and Volvo.

DESIGNER NIGHT at the RACES POINTS – as of Wednesday April 10th

Many designers ended the evening by visiting Purple Platypus’s office across the street from K1 Speed to see the rapid prototyping in process.  Thanks again to Lacks Enterprises, events like this cannot happen without great sponsors like them.  

A full list of results and points can be found here.

Pictures will be posted here as soon as they are available.

This is probably a good time to remind everyone the goal and purpose of the evening is to bring automotive designers together for an evening of competition and camaraderie.  And I say good point because as I was sitting in my kart ready to go out for my race I watched a faster driver try to overtake lapped traffic and promptly get put into the wall hard.  I do not know if it was on purpose or not, but certainly it looked painful.  Had I been able to contact race management the other driver would certainly been black-flagged.

So please remember, their are no professional scouts in the stands and the trophies are not that nice – if you really, really want one they are offered for sale for $10 at the counter.

A sample of what wanton Designers do to racing karts- picture is from Monday night but could just as easily been Tuesday in Torrance

Torrance turned out to a larger event than Thousand Oaks as 32 drivers competed for themselves and their studios for bragging rights.  In the C-Main it was a tight race as James Lee from Honda barely edged Jeff Chiu of Lacks, margin of victory less than 1 and a half seconds.   Evan Keitley of Tesla was third as three different teams filled the podium.

2nd Jeff Chiu/Lacks, 1st James Lee/Honda, 3rd Evan Keitley/Tesla

The B-Main was the only “clean” race of the evening.  I say “clean” because although there were spins, there were no full track stoppages to remove karts from the tire barriers.  It was an even closer result than the C-Main as Rudy Carruolo of Honda barely beat Chris Bao of Tesla for the top podium spot.  David Randle of Bunkspeed and Bernard Lee of Tesla also had a close battle with Randle coming out on top in the end.

2ns Chris Bao/Tesla, 1st Rudy Carruolo/Honda, 3rd David Randle/Bunkspeed, Lindsay Blalock/AACS

The A-Main was the closest and perhaps most exciting race of the evening as Sue Neuhauser of Tesla ran rampant through the field.  Neuhauser started last but was the class of the field and caught the eventual winner on the last lap for a well-deserved 2nd place finish.  Had the race been a couple of laps longer she most certainly would have won.  Cullen Quantock of GM started on the pole but was hounded by yours truly for a couple of laps before being passed between turns 3 and 4.  Quantock eventually finished third for his second podium in two nights.

2nd Sue Neuhauser/Tesla, 1st Frank Schwartz/AACS, 3rd Cullen Quantock/GM

Based on their finishing positions, Sue and Cullen were invited back by Bunkspeed to represent Tesla and GM and join Hyundai, Kia, Calty, Ford,Mazda and Nissan on night three of the week’s races.  The fastest lap of the evening was a 23.045 by Cullen.

Event sponsor Purple Platypus discusses rapid prototyping

At the end of the evening BMW Designworks maintained their lead as the Sponsors moved into second place due to their A-Main ein.  Honda Research and Development moved past General Motors into third place and Tesla overtook Volvo for fifth.

DESIGNER NIGHT at the RACES POINTS – as of Tuesday April 9th

Toyota/Calty’s last place position will definitely change tomorrow as the 2012 Defending Champions are sure to bring out the big guns to K1 Speed in Irvine.

A full list of results and points can be found here.

Pictures will be posted here as soon as they are available.

Designer Night at the Races™ brings together the automotive design community for an evening of competition and camaraderie.  Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, specifically Title sponsor Lacks Enterprises, the events are designed such that the Design Studios compete for the title of Fastest Design Studio in the West.  Points are awarded at each event, and bonus points are included based on participation to arrive at the champion.  

In the past the events were held in a central location and people came from all over Southern California to attend.  Unfortunately, with today’s workloads, staffing levels and competitive marketplace, rarely can we take the time to travel these distances.  This is where our sponsors like Lacks and Bunkspeed stepped up to add a northern and southern event to give everyone a better opportunity to come out and race.

Car Designers keep getting younger and younger

The idea is to have fun, hang out with old friends and make new ones, yet keep enough of the competitive juices flowing that studios can take pride in winning.  A saying started a few years ago that job seekers in the design studios needed a resume, a portfolio and a copy of their track times.

Thanks to Darren Yasukochi of BMW/Designworks for some of the great pictures you see here

In the B-Main Anders Tylman-Mikiewicz of Volvo streaked off to a flag to flag victory.  Anders managed a 3 second victory over fellow team mate Steve Goodrich.  Steve battled with eventual 3rd place finisher Brian Spencer of BMW Designworks the entire race, the two swapped positions several times over the 14 laps.

B-MAIN RESULTS – 3rd – Brian Spencer/BMW, 1st Anders Tylman-Mikiewicz/Volvo, 2nd Steve Goodrich/Volvo

In the A-Main General Motors pulled off a 2-3 finish as Jo Grima of BMW Designworks started in third place and used a wreck between the leaders to run off and hide from the rest of the field.  A half a lap further back was Cullen Quantock of GM who managed a last lap pass of John Lazorack III, also of GM for the position.

A-MAIN RESULTS – 3rd John Lazorek III/GM, 1st Jo Grimas/BMW, 2nd Cullen Quantock/GM

Fastest lap of the evening went to John Buckingham of BMW with a 19.388.

Jeff Chiu with sponsor Plastic Plate (part of Lacks Enterprises) poses with the fastest lap winner John Buckingham of BMW Designworks

Going into night #2 of racing BMW Designworks leads the championship with 51 points.  General Motors is in second with 39 points, the Sponsors are in third with 32 points and newcomer Volvo follows behind with 7 points.  Points are awarded based on a modified Formula 1 system 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1-1-1-1 through every finisher.  For California Bonus points are added based on Studio turnout, 1 point for every person who attends, whether they race or not.

Thanks to sponsor Bunkspeed, the top 2 finishes from each event are invited to the following night of racing.  Tomorrow night BMW and GM will battle it out with Honda, Toyota and Tesla in Torrance as we continue to see who is the fastest design studio in California.

Many thanks to our sponsors who made the event possible

A full list of results and points can be found here.

Pictures will be posted here as soon as they are available.

Details are on the flyer and after the jump below.

Download the Flyer here

Designer Night at the Races #25-28 California

Or visit the webpage to register

www.supplierconsultants.com/register

As with past events, racing space is severely limited so register early. Please sign up for only one night.  A confirmation email will be sent after you register to confirm your registration.

And be sure to read about our sponsors and visit their web sites.

Title Sponsor: Lacks Enterprises

Silver Sponsor: Bunkspeed

Bronze Sponsors: Purple Platypus, Middlecott Design and F1 Paintlab

www.lacksenterprises.com

www.bunkspeed.com

www.purpleplatypus.com

www.middlecott.com

www.f1paintlab.com

]]> http://thesupplierblog.com/2013/03/18/dnatr-registration/feed/ 0 thesupplierguy Designer Night at the Races #25-28 California http://thesupplierblog.com/2013/03/17/middlecott/ http://thesupplierblog.com/2013/03/17/middlecott/#comments Sun, 17 Mar 2013 18:09:32 +0000 Frank Schwartz http://thesupplierblog.com/?p=2292 Continue reading →]]> Middlecott Design is a new, Detroit-based, multidisciplinary design firm working in transportation and product design, branding, and graphics. Founded by Brook and Judith Banham in San Francsico in 2008, Middlecott Design moved to Detroit in 2012 as the Motor City’s newest premier-design studio.

Middlecott offers complete industrial, graphic, and branding design services from story and concept to prototype production. We design innovative solutions for transport and consumer product industries, as well as graphics for web, UI, print and branding.

Middlecott benefits from its internationally experienced founders. Both Brook (UK) and Judith (Austria) have experience working in European and American markets, making domestic brands more competitive internationally through an innovative design approach and their combined experience and knowledge.

The Middlecott team consists of a tight-knit group of highly trained professionals from across the creative board. Their small size allows them to be on-call, more efficient, and more flexible than large, in-house OEM teams, giving them the ability to create class-leading design in half the time.

As a newly established design company in Detroit, Middlecott wishes to break into the OEM market. Vehicles are their passion; in addition to complete vehicle-concept development and design, they plan to create customer needs-based accessories and brand extensions that add value to vehicles—products that over-extended OEM design studios do not have the resources to create.

Being a part of Detroit differentiates Middlecott from outside design consultancies, and allows them to foster a closer relationship with their clients. Unprecedented access and open communications are the bedrock of Middlecott services.

View some of their work at www.middlecottdesign.com, where you can set up a visit to the Middlecott Design studio in downtown Detroit to discuss your company’s unique requirements and discover how the Middlecott team can supercharge your products.

Middlecott, designed in Detroit.

Lacks Enterprises is a privately owned global manufacturer with a world-class portfolio.  They are committed to product and process innovation that brings unprecedented quality and value to unique applications for an expanding base of customers.

Since they were founded in 1961, Lacks continues to explore new ground in areas of advanced technology while pursuing continuous improvement and service enhancements. An ongoing commitment to research and development has enabled them to remain a leading supplier of components to the automotive market as well as other industries driven by innovation.

A Technology Leader Worldwide

Lacks’ diversified operations provide complete turnkey solutions that rely on decades of experience in thermoplastic design, injection molding, plating, painting, assembly, logistics and supply chain management, as well as global export and distribution capabilities.

Lacks Enterprises is comprised of three distinct business operations:

Lacks Trim Systems LLC
an internationally recognized provider of complex, highly decorated components and systems for the exterior automotive trim market

Lacks Wheel Trim Systems, LLC
a full-service supplier of automotive wheel components and systems

Plastic Plate, Inc.
advanced technology specialists in plastic molding and plating for interior automotive trim and appliance applications

Setting The Pace For Tomorrow

“Our success is fundamentally tied to developing new products and processes that ensure the highest quality, performance and value. At Lacks, we work hard to incorporate experience, expertise, knowledge, technology and innovation to invent solutions that meet our client’s ever-changing needs.”

Bunkspeed is a sponsor of every event in California and Michigan this year .  And what they do best is create digital solutions that communicate the vision, passion, and emotion of design, thus enabling faster and more insightful decisions.

The company was founded in November of 2002 with the philosophy that 3D software should be easy to learn, simple to use, and produce stunning photographic quality results.

They began privately owned and financed the old fashioned way, creating great products that people enjoy owning. In 2010 they took a strategic investment from RTT AG and have joined forces with them to create the future of visualization.

Ferrari 458 rendered with Bunkspeed

“At our core, we are a passionate software development and marketing team dedicated to solving specific challenges in the computer graphics, industrial design and automotive industries. We have established a global team of partners and resellers to provide support to our clients with a complete solution for 3D computer graphics and design.” Bunkspeed

Model Car produced with Stratasys 3D Printing Technology

Purple Platypus offers both FDM and Polyjet 3D printing technologies and has recently expanded their offerings to include Rapid Prototyping Services through their Purple Porcupine division.

Speed, functionality and durability top the list when you’re developing new vehicles or producing replacement parts. Major companies in auto parts manufacturing use Stratasys technology to create functional prototypes and manufacturing tools. Even Joe Gibbs’ NASCAR team uses 3D printing to create production parts that get them back on track fast.

A great example of rapid prototyping with multiple materials

From clay models to concept cars, models form the basis of the auto design process. With large build trays, an extensive selection of functional materials, and over-molding capabilities that can print strong, structural products with flexible ergonomic features, Stratasys 3D printers are ideal for creating the models on which great auto design depends.

Rapid prototype parts can also be made with rubber-like materials

Stratasys 3D printers make it easy to quickly print models that function as well as look like the real part. Stratasys rubber-like materials offer a wide spectrum of mechanical characteristics for function testing door seals, shock absorption, push-buttons and gaskets.

Or make your parts in a translucent material to improve analysis

Translucent materials facilitate fluid analysis, and with simple post-processing, accurately model headlight lenses and other transparent parts. And Stratasys acrylic-like materials can be used for fit and function testing of dashboard parts, or painted to simulate auto finishes and chrome.

For more information on how to speed up your design cycle with detailed, high quality, true-to-life 3D models — easily, confidentially, and cost efficiently — contact Purple Platypus today at 949-474-9222 or ask@purpleplatypus.com.