I’ve been wanting to do this article for a while now. If having one of my motorcycles livery designs win the 2020 Moto 3 Championship isn’t motivation enough, what is it!? :)
When I first stared doing motorcycle racing liveries around 2003, I thought, “there must be a formula” and there sort of was, as there are ones in most commercially creative fields. I quickly found out that the classic “motorcycles racing layout”, had been all over the place, with its most notable example for me here
The lines going from wide at the front to narrow at the tail.
Me being me, right away I knew what NOT to do, and again as in most commercially creative fields, there is also room for no rules and innovation to create one’s own style, so I started developing my own livery design style/vision/philosopy, and not just for racing, but for production bikes as well (Part 2 )
So what was my first ever livery design? A proposal for the Qatar Moto 2 team/my friend Albert Bellido, manager of the Losail track at the time, which, did not get picked up but it gave me the motivation to continue.
Next, a design for my own bike, a 2008 Honda CBR 1000rr. Which in this case, I got to “hear the feedback” of people at the track: Simple yet so great!
Now THIS really really motivated me to keep going, and I did!
Next, a SoCal club racer’s bike for a livery design story in the Next Moto Champion magazine. This one felt a bit more like the real deal! this bike was actually going to RACE! and it had a sponsor with cool graphics to beging with (More on this later)
Next, I placed a small ad on Road Racing Magazine, which brought another club racer in as my next client, but this time, he also wanted the suit!
Next I approached via cold emails all the 2013 CEV (Spain’s national championship) and AMA teams, 2 of them said yes!
Next, from AMA Supersport and CEV Moto 3 to…MOTO freaking GP! The 2014 Aspar MotoGP full livery design with Nicky freaking Hayden! (Still miss you champ!) and THE big question I often get for this one:
How did you get this???
1-If I may say so my self, talent.
3-The luck to have met a friend of a friend of a friend that introduced me to the Losail manager at Lagua Seca 2013 to then become great friends and get VIP paddock passes every year.
3-If I may say so my self as well, Huevos muy grandes! to approach every single teams’ manager “offering my livery design services”, something I did not see anyone else doing and which I did 2, 3 years in a row.
4-Good old/classic perseverance! it took me 2 years approaching Gino Borsoi from Aspar, to have him and his girlfriend/marketing finally come to me on the 3d year: OK, we have a very special year coming, Nicky Hayden-Honda-Drink sponsor, show us what you got, send us a proposal….wow! A total “be careful what you wish for because you might get it” moment! will I fit the bill!??? Yup! they loved it! so much, they asked for the rest of the assets, box, suit, truck, etc
Having already worked at the pinnacle of motorcycle racing, felt like: How much better can it get?, and oh boy, did it! Not just with an extra special special production bike project (Triumph Dayton Moto2 LE), but a world championship winning project! Stay tuned for chapter 2 (Production bikes process and philosophy) and 3 (The anatomy of a world championship winnig livery)