The rollout of Indigenous liveries for the Betr Darwin Triple Crown is complete with the unveiling of the Red Bull Ampol Racing Supercars.
The look for the Shane van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney Camaros has been designed by Brock Compton, a Warumungu man, student of Brisbane’s Ambrose Treacy College, and a member of the school’s Clontarf Academy.
The Clontarf Foundation is a partner of Ampol, and aims to improve the education, life skills, self-esteem, and employment prospects of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men through academies in schools across Australia.
The artwork by Compton, whose first name is an homage to Peter Brock, is called ‘The Spirit of the Driver’. It features elements symbolising the driver’s journey into the competitive sport of Supercars, their challenges and difficulties faced throughout their journey, and their achievements and supporters.
Triple Eight Race Engineering will be selling Darwin Triple Crown merchandise featuring Compton’s artwork, with a percentage of sales being donated to the Clontarf Foundation.
It will also auction van Gisbergen’s and Feeney’s racesuits from the event, with all proceeds donated to Clontarf.
“What an incredible design Brock and his fellow Clontarf Academy schoolmates have put together for our Red Bull Ampol Racing cars – I can honestly say when I saw it for the first time I was truly blown away,” said Triple Eight Race Engineering Team Principal Jamie Whincup.
“I’m so thankful that all our major partners, led by Ampol, were forthcoming by letting us represent their brands through this amazingly unique Indigenous livery.
“To have the Clontarf students travel to Darwin with the team, many of them not having been on a plane before, is really humbling.
“I commend Ampol for making this happen and congratulate them on their continued partnership with the Clontarf Foundation. I can’t wait to give these kids an unforgettable experience at the Darwin Triple Crown.
“Finally, I want to acknowledge the guys and girls back at Triple Eight for their hard work putting three spectacular cars together.
“It certainly isn’t an easy task to prepare and re-wrap three cars and their respective spare panels in a short period of time following our mid-season test day, but in typical Triple Eight style, they nailed the brief.”
Compton himself remarked, “Having the team reveal the cars to us was really special.
“Seeing all of the boys [Clontarf Academy classmates] smiling, cheering and clapping when they saw the cars for the first time made me feel amazing. I’m really proud of how they turned out.
“The design is represented nicely on the car and the team have done an amazing job applying the decals to the cars – I’m really proud to see it represented this way.
“Meeting Broc and Shane for the first time was really cool. They were both easy-going to talk to and really chilled people – they just wanted to talk about regular life things with me which was really appreciative.
“I’m so keen for Darwin, but the most exciting thing is taking the rest of my classmates with me.
“Not only going to the Supercars for the first time is a big thing for them, but many of them have never been on a plane, so I can’t wait for them to experience everything. They’re all so excited to see some car racing and hopefully the drivers can get a win for them.
“It’s such an amazing opportunity for us and we really appreciate everything that Ampol and the wider Red Bull Ampol Racing team have done for us.”
Practice 1 at Hidden Valley starts tomorrow at 10:45 local time/11:15 AEST.
