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(October 2011) posted on Tue Sep 20, 2011

Andretti Autosports creates a custom wrap for Canadian IndyCar races.

By Steve Aust

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Casual sports fans may only think about the IZOD IndyCar Series when the race runs every Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the track that gave the open-wheel, auto-racing circuit, founded in 1996 as the Indy Racing League, its name. But, for those who bleed ethanol and devote race weekends to cheering on their favorite driver, it’s as vital as breathing.

Andretti Autosport, which manages four drivers in the IZOD IndyCar Series, needed a temporary graphic changeover for Marco Andretti’s No. 26 car in anticipation of the Streets of Toronto and Edmonton City Center Airport races, which took place July 10 and 24, respectively. Venom Energy Drink, his normal brand sponsor, isn’t sold in Canada. So, its parent company, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, opted for a custom wrap that identifies the Dr Pepper brand. Mike McClelland, Andretti Autosport’s creative director, reviewed marketing materials used to promote Dr Pepper north of the border and incorporated them into the wrap’s design scheme using Adobe® Illustrator® software.

McClelland credits Jason Harrington, Andretti Autosport’s resident wrap installer, with managing the two wraps (the primary and backup car). A spare set of wraps and decals was also sent to each location.
 

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McClelland said it was the first season of the team producing wraps in-house after having outsourced them for several years. Although painted vehicles are still more common on the IZOD IndyCar circuit than in NASCAR, McClelland said integrating product images, gradients and specific PMS colors made wrapping the car a clear preference.

“Wraps allow us to be more creative; we can change the look of the car for one race, then return to the original paint scheme,” he said. For irregular shapes, such as the side of an IndyCar’s nose, Harrington likes to cut away a lot of the excess vinyl to eliminate the overhang. Also, he makes relief cuts to minimize stretching, and short bursts of heat with a propane torch during application help the film meld to the complex surface.”

Andretti Autosport’s production facility printed the wrap on an HP DesignJet L25500 latex-ink printer with Oracal’s Orajet 3551RA high-performance, calendered media with RapidAir® air-release technology. Onyx Graphics’ ProductionHouse 10 RIP helped Andretti Autosport proof the finished product. To output smaller decals, Andretti uses a Gerber EDGE 2® thermal-transfer printer or an enVision 375 cutting plotter.