Following the release of the Mazda RX-Vision GT3 Concept in Gran Turismo Sport, livery designers have worked tirelessly creating special liveries for Mazda’s 100th anniversary livery contest.
The judges for the competition included Mazda’s managing executive officer for design, Ikuo Maeda, and Kazunori Yamauchi. After narrowing down the entries to a top five, Maeda and Yamauchi have selected their winners.
In total the jury recognized five entries in total, with two overall winners given a “Grand Prix Award”. Maeda, the designer behind both the RX-Vision and the Mazda LM55 Vision GT in 2014, chose 17-year old Hiroki Tanabe’s design as his winner.
Maeda drew attention to the Kabuki-like make-up design of Tanabe’s livery, which he remarked blended “seamlessly” with the car’s design:
“The ‘Sujiguma’ make-up pattern that represents strength and justice is used as its motif. While this is a difficult theme, it blends seamlessly with the shapes of the RX-VISION GT3 CONCEPT from any angle you look at it, and rather than overly expressing ‘Wa’ (harmony), it clearly exhibits its racing orientation. It is a challenge to try and create such a simple but complicated design, and I have high regards for this level of perfection.”
Yamauchi’s winner was 18-year old Kohei Asaoka. Making reference to how Polyphony Digital designs fictional liveries, Yamauchi noted that the RX-Vision is already a good-looking car, and Asaoka’s minimal design made the most of the natural beauty:
“The designs for the livery when we normally race often tends to be something that hides the deficiencies in that car’s proportions. In this way, my image of the livery is like ‘make-up’, but the RX-VISION GT3 CONCEPT is a beauty which already has perfect proportions and front mask to begin with; that is why I chose this design that has natural, minimal make-up. If I were to race in this car, I would like to race in this livery.”
Along with the two winners, the panel gave “Excellent Design Awards” to three further entries from Gilles Motot, Keita Matsuzawa and Mamoru Okada, which you can see below. All five winners will receive original RX-Vision GT3 sketch panels according to Mazda. Congratulations to all the winners involved!
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