Viewing entries by
Paulo Rosas
Recently I connected with the SOTS guys, been a fan not only of their bikes but the liveries they do on them!
As you may or may not know, they design, post and people choose from their designs.
Here are the ones I would like to see made!, some of them have
Coming soon!
Just came back from the Laguna Seca WSBK 2014 round. Love racing at any level, so imagine at World level!
Always very cool to see THE fastest "production" bikes in the world in action.
The main sponsor (Salud and Casa) for the Moto 3 team at CEV Repsol that I work with, also does some sponsoring for Tony Elias in WSBK, they know each other well, so I had a chance to meet and chat with Tony, VERY nice guy!
AND he did very well at Laguna!
My friend Victor from Moto Club di Santa Monica moto store and I had a chance to hang out with
the Aprilia mechanics Saturday at a bar, thanks to our friend Michael Lee from Aprilia USA.
So the next day, also thanks to seeing Miguel Galluzi (Designer of the RSV4, must feel great seeing his world championship winning design in action!) there, we got a chance to see the Aprilia Box :)
and the mechanics in action after the warm up.
Also thanks to Guim Rioda, manager for the Kawasaki Factory team (Fingers crossed SMD does something with them next year! :), we got a chance to see their box.
he explained to me that because of weight, cost to transport, the "real" box walls, they bring these
other ones, that just "roll" up. Still cool to me!
Unlike the MotoGP boxes, the WSBK ones have the "main" telemetry guys/computer in front next to the bikes
at Kawasaki (Some others were in the back), Here Loris was gettin ready for the race.
Tony getting ready, don't know why he was getting suited up in the box :)
The CEV Repsol championship (Spain's national series), in case you don't know, is THE most important
national championship in the world, why? Well to beging with, it is now runned by Dorna, as a training and breeding ground for future MotoGP racers (I was going to say "stars" but I hate that term for moto racers,
I'll never forget seeing Casey Stoner at a MotoGP event in front of the Chainese Theather in Hollywood years ago, and a fan said to him: How does it feel being a celebrity?! , he responded: I am NOT a celebrity, I am a RACER.... )
I loved that response! yes!
A certain Marc Marquez and many others come from the CEV. Today there is a multitude of riders from other
than Spanish nationalities racing at CEV, so is not just spaniards coming out of it.
It is also al training ground for people in the whole racing structure, mechanics, managers, etc etc
Here is a behind the scenes look at a CEV Repsol weekend for my client Moto 3 team JJ Saez when I was in Barcelona.
Jesus owns a motorcycle shop in Talavera, a town 1 hr away from Madrid. It has 3 floors!
The basement one is the racing workshop, here the Suter Moto 3 is getting ready
Repsol racing gasoline of course
The shop is the middle floor, street level
The top floor has a bunch of collectable bikes!
Jesus is the team owner, rider manager (his 17 year old brother), he can build the whole bike, he is excellent at paint jobs (He did the Moto 3 paint job from the design I did for them and he restores classics) all in one!
I am sure he will go far in the biz
We drove 8 hrs from Talavera to Barcelona/Montmelo track, then all was set up
Maria Herrera is an amazing girl rider running for one of the top CEV Moto 3 team, Etrella Galicia/Monlau Competicion (Marquez came out of there too), I was surprised to see her at my friend's box. Monlau Competcion is an awesome moto mechanics school in Spain, the mechanics for the team were two nice
guys, students from Monlau getting experience and it turns out Maria is their cousin! all in the family :),
Notice the Speed Machines Design logo behind my head! box designed by SMD as well.
Honda Hospiyality, not as big as the MotoGP one, but nice still.
The bike had a "vibration", here the guys from Monlau try something on the swingarm.
Even the young daughter was interested on the thelemetry! they start young!
Our neighbours with a nice KTM
Calvo team in MotoGP and also CEV
Bike is ready, livery by SMD of course!
Rider getting menatlly ready, racing suit by SMD
To the grid!
Look for the CEV Repsol races on you tube!
walking the track after all races were done
The Barcelona race this year has been one of THE best in history and I was SO fortunate to be there!
On this post, I like to show "the experience" of being there, the behind and around the scenes!
Starting with the poster for the race,pretty cool :)
The walk to the track from the train at Montmelo, party time here after the race!
Mmmm! Paella at the track!
Most US races have around 50k people "race day", how about 93k there! 160k over the three days,
Jerez had 120k or so on race day.
Avenue of Champions
The Circuit's permanent store
Hamilton and Bro in tha house!
This is the paddock! and NO, not open to the public, these are all "VIP" guest, so many!
The teams like races where there are less of them, far away countires, etc
Notice all the teams trucks that we don't get to see on the US rounds, to expensive to bring.
I mean, come on Bradl! I know these "pianos" as they call them there (the rumble strips) are a bit higher
maybe for F1, but shoulder down!? Holy Cow
SMD being a livery design studio, let's look at some of the designs:
Trucks
Team Aspar/Drive MotoGP by yours truly! waiting to get a full side shot from the driver's iphone. At the race, they are all parked side to side, and the managers, racers are never there when they are arriving or packing up.
NGM Forward racing's is THE best one in my opinion :) , Matte finish, very cool.
Marc VDS is kicking ass in Moto2 this year! possibly in MotoGP in 2015, we'll see.
These guys are not a racing team, they supply parts, but cool truck still.
Aspar used the same design layout I did for their Drive MotoGP team for their Moto2 truck.
I guess they like it!
Ok, another BIG thing they don't bring to the US is their Hospitalities! and as you will see,
you can imagine how expensive would be to ship these poppies!
Dainese's is "cute" small ! ha ha
Ducati has this one
AND this one!
Aspar's very sleek, outside
And inside :) good food too! big paella.
Second floor :)
Repsol Honda's surprisingly not so big :)
Capirossi (White Shirt/beige pants)
THE biggest one for one of THE smallest teams
Interwetten and RW racing, small but cool
Mighty Alpinestars
A look at Dorna's new truck that handles the visuals/graphics for the track's big advertiser's monitors
and podiums backgrounds etc. 
Both the graphics for the track screens and podium backgrounds vary per track, so they have to be
custom designed and fitted on the spot!
Got to do a bit of "action" photography!
Just let the pros do it! plus, he's got a bigger one than me! lol
Got to ride right next to the track on a scotter, with my friend Albert, Qatar Circuit's manager.
Can't begin to tell you how insane was to see Rossi and company SO close out of turn 3!
AND breaking from 215mph for turn 1
Humm, I wonder who they are taking pictures of?...
And why is his dressing room so up high like a King's baclony under the top canopy
They also don't bring to the US the heavy cealing for the pit box.
Anthony West going of over pointers and telemetry on the track map
Time to walk the track later after the race!
The surface looks a bit like Willow Springs, looks very nice and with lots of grip to me!
But Rossi says that it needs to be repaved, no grip! jeez
The crazy for Marquez fans after the race
I went to the track 4 days, 2 days each weekend (MotoGP and CEV) These local old timers were
there all the time! just relaxing, checking the girls go by :)
Once you see how many motorcycles ans scotters they have EVERYWHERE, you can understand
why MotoGP is so big in Spain and Europe in general. Yes, this shot is near the race, but it would be
the same scene in Barcelona any day of the week!
Can't go to the race? see it at the Montmelo plaza!
Spain Sports Bar, no not soccer, 24hrs Of Le Mans! I have yet to see it!
All Bikes Bow to the New King of Spain!
Party time at Montmelo after the race, hope you enjoyed this special post!
This year I did the Drive M7 Aspar MotoGP livery with silver because of the silver on the sponsor's can,
But then by coincidence, Aprilia came out with silver as well for their WSBK RSV4 looking awesome!
Talking to Miguel Galluzzi, the designer for Aprilia, told me that they came up with it and did it in three days!
Lets look at silver liveries from the past and present. Silver in racing has a GREAT history, is a MUST have.
I was here when they turned this thing on this classic bike/livery! SO LOUD
One of the riders with most personality! Guy Martin, I love this old school look, all black leathers :)
The old norton
The New
The Old Ducati
The new
Wait till you see when this one below is done!
And of course, looking awesome at night :)
Would not be a complete post without these :)
After every race, the MotoGP bikes get disasambled and cleaned up like new for the next round!
Here we can see some shots I took of the Drive/Aspar faring done by SMD. The bike goes in big anvil cases.
I even saw one with the bike and racing suit in it!
I had the honor of meeting with Miguel Galluzzi, designer of the Ducati Monster, Aprilia RSV4 and more,
for posible work for the Piaggio Group, keep you posted!
Continuing with the series of iconic liveries on different type of vehicles.
Here are a few Martini Liveries to get a good perspective of the ways a sponsor's design
can be done on different vehicles and a bit of the history on it.
THE NEW PORSCHE 918
DUCATI PANIGALE
KODA FACTORY RACING CAR
LOTUS CONCEPT BIKE
DUCATI 1098
PORSCHE BY KAR AYAONE
ONE OF MY FAVOURITES , THE MIGTHY PORSCHE 917
THE OLD PORSCHE 918
MARUSSIA F1
F1 RENDERING
