Lotus F1 Team, in co-operation with Warner Bros. Pictures, has created a new F1 racing machine suitable for a post-apocalyptic future. The new car—the Lotus F1 Team Mad Max Hybrid—was created to coincide with the May 15th launch of the 2015 epic action adventure Mad Max: Fury Road, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures.
The rat-look Lotus Hybrid was fitted with a new skin printed on a Roland DG SOLJET Pro 4 XR-640 large-format color printer using a 3M™ Wrap Film 1080-M230 Matte Grey Aluminum, an unlaminated metallic film from 3M. The printed film was then applied to the vehicle, transforming the vehicle from a gleaming supercar to something at home in the Australian wasteland.
Joe McNamara, Lotus F1 Team Graphics commented, “With a project like this, with such tight deadlines, and zero margin for error, our Roland DG printer was invaluable. We rely on the speed and reliability of the SOLJET Pro 4 XR-640 to ensure these products are realized in the time limits we have. The print was run overnight, unattended, automatically rolled onto the take-up unit, and applied to the car the next day—before being loaded and driven to Barcelona for the reveal.
“The winning combination of the speed of the Roland DG SOLJET Pro 4 XR-640 and the user-friendly application characteristics of the 3M 1080 matt metallic wrap film made this job not only possible, but far more straightforward.”
Fitted with special accessories and heavy modifications designed for a world gone mad, the Lotus F1 Team Mad Max Hybrid was unveiled at the Barcelona International Motor Show at the Montjuïc Exhibition Centre on May 8, along with two custom, drivable vehicles designed and created for the film itself; Nux’s car and the iconic Mad Max Interceptor.
Accompanying the vehicles was Lotus F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, both of whom drove Mad Max: Fury Road-branded cars in the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix, held May 9-10 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where Romain Grosjean secured a respectable eighth place.
Says Brett Newman, Managing Director, Roland DG UK: “Once again Roland has proven that we have the speed and stamina to keep up with any industry, and to produce versatile products worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. We are very proud of the role Roland DG’s technology has played in producing one of the most unique vehicle wraps on the planet. We are sure that the combination of our SOLJET Pro 4 XR-640 and 3M’s Graphite Matt Metallic film will prove a winning formula for the Lotus F1 Mad Max Hybrid team and Warner Bros.”
Con Gornell, executive vice president of European marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures: “Powerful cars and high speeds are in the DNA of Mad Max, and the Lotus F1 Team Mad Max Hybrid is emblematic of that spirit. We’re delighted to work with Lotus F1 Team to bring a little of the Wasteland to the Spanish Grand Prix.”
More than a decade in the making, Mad Max: Fury Road is filmmaking mastermind George Miller’s keenly anticipated return to the post-apocalyptic world he created more than thirty years ago with the seminal Mad Max trilogy.
