Blackbird Automotive Manual Vol 5-8
VOL 05: STEEL ICONS
In our fifth edition of the BlackBird Automotive Journal, we reminisce about a chance audience with the most precious “steel icons” in Mercedes’ collection. Among them was famed Mercedes engineer Rudy Uhlenhaudt’s priceless “Hotheels Coupe” the original 300 SLR Coupe; an incredible road car prototype converted directly from their 1955 Formula 1 racer. We stay on track with the competition theme, investigating the deep secrets of Formula 1 aerodynamics with a Hong Kong domiciled Ferrari F2008 and recalling the brief life of the “the acrobat”, Gilles Villeneuve.
Taking a completely original look at extreme hobbies, we visit young design engineer Paul Bischof, whose love of creating incredibly intricate Formula 1 models from cardboard led him to employment with a leading Formula 1 team.Staying on the creativity track, we learn how rising photographic star Amy Shore captures sheet metal, carbon fibre and aficionado passion by way of her compelling vision. Joining her will be Jamey Price, who returns from the modern Formula 1 wars with his season-ending photographic reportage. We again mix petrol and electricity with the our impressions of two modern symbols of graceful speed and technical tour-de-force, wrapped in breathtaking form: the Lamborghini Huracan and the BMW i8.
VOL 06: KINETIC THEORY
In our sixth edition, Blackbird Automotive Journal invites its readers on a journey of discovery through our love for racing – a true art form in its own right.
First, we explore the collaboration between BMW and conceptual artist Jenny Holzer through their Art Car project, using their 1999 Le Mans winning V12 LMR endurance racer as a blank canvas to explore her commentary on contemporary society; then we turn our eye to the modern age with a closer investigation of Audi’s 2012 Le Mans winning R18 E-tron quattro, the first hybrid to win the famous endurance event on earth, before delving into Jan Rambousek’s incredible three-year-long project to recreate Mercedes’ famed Silver Arrow with larger-than-life hyper-realism.
For the next trio of features we enter another age of automotive competition and recall Formula1 Patrick Tambay’s emotional tribute to honour the legacy of his friend Gilles Villeneuve, join photographer Jamey Price on his first Daytona 24 hour race and marvel at the struggles and challenges of one of the toughest rallies in the modern race calendar – the Dakar 2015 with Florent Gooden. Rounding off the issue we visit visual artist Peter Aylward and painter Emmanuel Mergault as they describe their approach to creating the highly personal and immersive takes of beloved competition and sports cars of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, while we offer our take on two of today’s most desirable modern sports cars; the Porsche 991 GT3 and the Ferrari California T.
VOL 07: ENDURANCE
Cover Feature:
Derek Bell / 1970 Ferrari 512M
- Goodwood Festival of Speed
- Jacques Swaters
- John Watson
- Kenji Yamada Craft
- Steve Anderson Art
- Darren Heath Photography
- 24 Heures du Mans
- Mercedes-AMG GT S
- Alfa Romeo 4C
VOL 08: REVIVAL
In the largest volume of Blackbird Automotive Journal to date, we investigate the relationship between past and future, looking at events that celebrate the most iconic automobiles of years gone by, but also the machines that enable us to dream of the future.
We begin by taking our readers on a tour-de-force of this year’s most prestigious classic car events on the world calendar – Pebble Beach, Silverstone Classic, Goodwood Revival and the Chantilly Art et Elegance, before embarking on a quantum leap in the opposite direction as we inspect three dream machines of the future – Volkswagen’s XL1, Mercedes-Benz’s F015 and Infiniti’s Q80 – all aiming to change both the way we perceive and relate to the automobile. Along with our continued coverage of this season’s Formula One Grand Prix, we expand our theme of exploring the relationships between past and future with a historic feature on four-time F1 champion Alain Prost, and the illustrations of Portuguese artist Ricardo Santos. Finally, we proudly round up our 2015 volume with a world-exclusive father & son feature on Jos and arguably the most exciting newcomer to the sport – his 18-year-old Formula One prodigy, Max Verstappen.
Featuring:
- Silverstone Classic
- Goodwood Festival and Revival
- Pebble Beach
- Chantilly Art et Elegance
- Volkswagen XL1
- Mercedes-Benz F015
- Infiniti Q80 concept
- Formula One 2015 – Belgium, Singapore, USA
- Tesla Model S
- Jos & Max Verstappen