SIGNWAVE Penrith has completed a vehicle wrap with a difference on the Western Sydney University Solar Car Project’s 170 kg vehicle that is set to race over 3,000km from Darwin to Adelaide across some of Australia's most dramatic landscapes.
“This was a job unlike our usual vehicle and van wrap requests,” said David Amor, owner of SIGNWAVE Penrith. The student led, non-profit green initiative is about to compete in the world’s biggest solar endurance race and needed its solar powered, sustainably engineered, catamaran shaped vehicle – christened UNLIMITED - looking impressive and well branded.
Once Ashley Ross the SIGNWAVE Penrith graphic designer had arranged the artwork and created the print file, the shell of UNLIMITED was brought to the centre and they applied the wrap which had to cover the lower part and underside of the car - most of the flat top side was covered with 391 solar cells.
“We didn’t have a lot of time,” said Amor. “It was less than two weeks from the first brief because the launch was scheduled for mid-September and a little over a week later they were scheduled to travel to Darwin.”
It required an even greater degree of care and planning than most vehicle wraps.
“The shell is made from carbon fibre so we had to be very careful with the installation,” said Amor. “For vehicle wraps we need to heat the vinyl so that it forms a memory that will allow us to work with complex curves. However, in this case we had to be careful not to overheat the vinyl to avoid delamination of the carbon fibre.”
Because UNLIMITED will be periodically displayed on its side, the underside – featuring an Aboriginal design - will be viewed by many.
“Unusually we had to turn the car upside down to complete the job - it’s fairly rare to be asked to wrap the underside of a car. The wheels are almost entirely enclosed and the catamaran shape added to the intricacy of the application. Also the cockpit was quite challenging because it has extremely complex curves.” said Amor.
Once the car was ready, SIGNWAVE Penrith also wrapped the trailer that will transport the car – along with magnetics for the support vehicles - much to the praise of Western Sydney University Solar Car project team.
“A huge thank you goes to SIGNWAVE Penrith on behalf of the team and the project. On Tuesday night's launch - everyone was singing praises about how professional and beautiful the car looked. We could not have done it without you and we wanted thank you for turning around the vinyl wrap at such short notice. We are incredibly grateful!” said Ann Xiao, marketing manager of the Solar Car Project, School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics, Western Sydney University.
For more information, go to: http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/
About SIGNWAVE®
SIGNWAVE/FASTSIGNS® is a leading visual communications/sign and graphics franchise with more than 600 centres worldwide (known as FASTSIGNS internationally). SIGNWAVE provides comprehensive solutions to help customers of all sizes – across all industries – meet their business objectives and increase their business visibility through the use of all types of signs and graphics including, floor and vehicle graphics, point of purchase and digital signs, labels and decals, architectural and interior décor signs, printing, and other related marketing services. For more information call 291149955 or visit www.signwave.com.au