Honda has proved a big hit on and off the track in two different countries today. As well as celebrating Tiago Monteiro’s home victory in the FIA World Touring Car Championship in Portugal, the manufacturer has won the inaugural WTCC ART CARS competition, which culminated at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in southern England.
WTCC ART CARS, a new partnership between the fastest international touring car series and the Goodwood Festival of Speed, combined artistic design and motorsport in spectacular fashion with fans voting for their ultimate race car livery, brought to life on three different World Touring Cars.
Honda, Polestar (Volvo) and TAG Heuer, the WTCC’s Official Timing Partner, handed their chosen designer a blank canvas and the challenge of producing a unique design to fire interest among fans and truly capture their imagination. They voted for their favourite artwork online and in person at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Indeed, the TAG Heuer creation came to life in the Formula One Paddock through the work of graffiti artist Jim Vision.
Winner Honda established a partnership with the Jean Graton Foundation that resulted in the car – known as the Honda Art Car Jean Graton – carrying a unique livery inspired by – and in the style of – his most famous creation, Michel Vaillant.
In 1957, Graton created a fictional racing driver named Michel Vaillant, whose stories were initially published in Tintin, but gained their own outlet two years later. It is the Michel Vaillant stories that were the inspiration for the Honda Art Car Jean Graton.
