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The Banyo squad has once again teamed up with the Clontarf Academy for the new look for its full-time Camaro entries, this time with the Gunnedah branch.
The Clontarf Foundation is a partner of co-naming rights Ampol, with that based at Gunnedah High School in Northern New South Wales being the most recently established of its 160 academies across Australia.
It supports 95 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students through the programme which encourages them to participate in education, employment and society in a positive way.
The artwork adorning Will Brown’s and Broc Feeney’s Camaros is called ‘The Journey of the Driver,’ and was created by students to depict their lives as Triple Eight Race Engineering drivers.
The centre circles symbolised by the U shapes are a meeting place. The U shapes are the symbol for a person, representing the drivers and the extended crew, working together as one.
“The four corners with striped dots represent the many roads/tracks the driver races on throughout their career.
Triple Eight will also sell limited edition merchandise featuring the artwork at its Hidden Valley track store and online, with 10 percent of sales being donated to the Clontarf Foundation.
Feeney said, “The cars look amazing – these Clontarf kids are seriously talented.
“I’m looking forward to having the students from Gunnedah join us up in Darwin for the race weekend. The story behind the artwork which they’ve created is pretty special – hearing them all talk through the artwork was really interesting.
“I just remember last year how special it was showing the students through the design on the car. You remind yourself how cool it is for those guys to come up to Darwin and experience what’s normal for us.
“It was even more special winning Sunday’s race last year and sharing the podium with Brock [Compton, last year’s Indigenous livery artist], so fingers crossed we can give these kids a similar experience.”
Brown added, “It’s a great initiative what Ampol and the Clontarf Foundation do for these young kids and then to give them the opportunity to design our livery is pretty incredible.
“To hear from the students about the story of the artwork, really helped me to get a better understanding of their story – there was a lot more behind it than I initially thought. Learning what all the elements represent was really cool to get a full understanding of what it all means as a whole.
“Having the students join us in Darwin is fantastic. To have them in our environment and see these awesome-looking cars battle it out on track will be an experience they’ll hopefully cherish forever.”
The reveal of the RBAR Camaros comes after the Supercheap Auto wildcard’s Indigenous livery was unveiled earlier today.
Triple Eight Team Principal Jamie Whincup said, “What an incredible design this group of schoolmates from Gunnedah’s Clontarf Academy have put together for our Red Bull Ampol Racing cars – I’m blown away by the talent they’ve shown and the amazing story this artwork represents.
“I’m so thankful that all our major partners, led by Ampol, continue to support Supercars’ Indigenous round, and let us represent their brands through this unique 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.
“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, but in typical Triple Eight style, they nailed it.”
Gunnedah Clontarf Academy student Clayton Friend remarked, “I saw a sneak peak of the design a few weeks ago and it looked great but to be able to see the actual cars with the artwork that we designed will be really special.
“We’re from a small town and we don’t get to go to large events like the Supercars let alone be able to travel to Darwin. It’s such a cool experience.
“One of the best things is being able to share this with the other academy members. They’re all so excited to see some car racing, meet the drivers and hopefully the team can get a win or two.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for us and we really appreciate everything that Ampol and the wider Red Bull Ampol Racing team have organised.”
The reveal of Triple Eight’s full-time entries means the rollout of the Supercars Championship grid’s Indigenous liveries is now complete.
Practice 1 at Hidden Valley starts tomorrow at 11:35 local time/12:05 AEST.
PHOTOS: Triple Eight Race Engineering #87, #88 Indigenous livery
