With everything taking place digitally these days – not necessarily because of technical breakthroughs but also forced by the current health situation – we see a resurgence in real, tangible creations. Take the latest creations from the automotive industry, for example.
Not long ago, we saw the first example of the BAC Mono R being painted as a real-world representative of anti-gravity racing series WipEout. Mere hours ago, Jaguar introduced its latest representative of the Vision Gran Turismo series, the SV endurance racer, both as a virtual car and a real, scale-model, design study.
Now it’s Ford’s turn to create something dedicated to the digital realm then bring it into the real world as well. Of course, given the extreme nature of the project, we are also dealing with a scale model build – although the body and interior are real, there’s probably nothing inside to power up the Team Fordzilla P1.
The Blue Oval says the team Fordzilla P1 was “the first virtual gaming race car designed in collaboration between gamers and a car brand,” and it’s also the first one that morphed into a physical model from a “gamer-collaborated virtual car.” Pretty specific if you ask us.
As far as the story itself is concerned, everything started back in March, when Ford asked the gaming community to vote on certain elements of the virtual racer project – such as the engine placement, seating setup, or the cockpit.
The poll was quite successful, with the company claiming almost 250k votes. Then it was up to Ford designers Arturo Ariño and Robert Engelmann to create the exterior and interior of the vehicle. The racer came out with a long and sleek monocoque structure that’s 4,731-mm (186.25-in) long and just 891-mm (35-in) tall.
Its GT-inspired lines are contrasted, on the other hand, by the transparent jetfighter-like canopy covering the driver and co-driver – which are arranged in an F1-derived position. Ford then opted to bring the virtual project into the real world, and the company says it did everything in just seven weeks, around half the time usually needed for such endeavors.
More so, Ford says everything happened “without any face-to-face interaction,” as the current situation had the entire designing team working remotely and spread across five different countries.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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