The book of

The Timeless Racer

OVERVIEW

Client: Daniel Simon LLC  |   Time:  2011 – 2013   |   Credit: Creator, Writer, Designer, Photographer, Producer

 

The Timeless Racer Episode 1 is Daniel’s second book after Cosmic Motors, and was published in 2013 by Design Studio Press. It has text in English, German, and French, and was released in three different editions: Standard, Limited (1113), Pitlane (333) . A Japanese edition was released by Tokyo publisher Born Digital.

Episode 1 is the beginning of a planned series, exploring a fictional past and future of motor racing on ground, on water, in the air, and in space. The series presents fantasy vehicles by the fictitious Italian racing team Masucci Motors, between the years from 1916 and 2615. The story’s hero is Vic Cooper who travels through time to live his dream as a Masucci factory driver in the most challenging motor races of all time. This first book focuses on Vic’s first travel to 2027, and spotlights the extraordinary endurance cars Masucci X7 and the Prideux-Martin MF27. The 1981 Masucci X5 is added to shed some light into the recent history of Masucci.

The foreword has been written by racing legend Jacky Ickx, who raced in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s for many famed teams such as Ferrari, McLaren, Porsche, Brabham or Lotus. He is the only driver to have won in Formula One, Can-Am, Le Mans, and the Paris-Dakar rally.

 

DESIGN

 

The Timeless Racer was born with a simple question: what would happen if you took an extraordinary racing outfit such as Ferrari or Lotus to the extreme by adding a few centuries to their heritage, and broadening their spectrum from cars to pretty much every imaginable vehicle. To find the answer, the fictional racing team Masucci was born.

The first episode focuses on endurance race cars which are one of Daniel’s big passions. It felt appropriate to distill all the knowledge from reading dozens of books, watching documentaries, and most importantly meeting drivers and engineers of these machines, into a near-future fantasy. Three cars were designed. Two for the featured season of 2027the Masucci X7 and its main rival Prideux-Martin MF27and a history racer from 1981the Masucci X5. While Masucci does not have a specific design language, it is Masucci’s relentless drive to challenge the rules and established solutions that unites all vehicles carrying the green-white-red emblem. No other team would go so far to get the technical edge over the competition, and no other team would suffer so many tragedies in doing so. What we are left with are unforgettable vehicles. To design them, Daniel researched real world examples. Noteworthy inspirations for Masucci are Jim Hall ( 1970 Chaparral 2J ) , Trevor Harris ( 1969 Shadow Mk.I ) , Colin Chapman ( 1968 Lotus 56 Turbine Car ), and Enzo Ferrari ( founder of a 70 year lasting racing dynasty ).

While none of these design are tested for feasibility, aerodynamics, mechanical viability, or ergonomics, they are intended to imply all those aspects through Daniel’s experience as an automotive concept designer. The Timeless Racer is a fantasy story, but one that attempts an unusual level of realism. In example, for the design of the 1981 Masucci X5, Daniel hand-picked specific ingredients from 80’s-era-racing: aircraft wipers, large circular headlights, boxy body shells, exposed filler caps, driver’s blood-group stickers, and side-pipes, to name a few. For the 2027 cars, head lights shrunk to a minimum, sensors for autonomous driving are visible, composite materials are standard, and alternative powertrains are considered.

Many more Masucci vehicles have been sketched and are waiting to be given the Masucci treatment for further epsiodes.

 

 

MAKING

 

The making of a large format picture book with imaginary content is a fascinating process that can be divided into various stages: the concept, the story, the visualization, the layout, and the production.

The concept and story has been described above. A crucial part of this book are the vehicles, which have been designed and visualized exclusively for this book. Daniel applied his workflow of advancing quickly from thumbnail sketcheseither ink or pixelsto simple 3D sketch models in Autodesk Alias. After bring all three cars to a very high level of refinement, digital design modeler Joe Hiura joined the project to rebuild all models in SolidWorks for even better control of detail. All renderings were done in Nvidia powered GPU raytracing via Bunkspeed ( today Solidworks Visualize ), and retouched and graded in Adobe Photoshop. To enhance the reality even further, Daniel staged photo shoots which allowed to place Vic Cooper with the cars in matching lighting, camera properties, and color bounce. Sponsors and organizations were invented, including their logos and history. Each detail was considered, down to the needle threads on the custom stickers adorning the racing overalls. Six unique race tracks were designed by Leslie Lau for the imaginary 2027 racing season. To showcase as much of that image detail as possible within the define price range of the final book, the page count was reduced to 72 to allow instead for a custom over-size format. Approximately 4,500 hours of Daniel’s time were exclusively dedicated to this book.

 

Length: 362 mm  |   Width:  314 mm   |   Height: 14 mm

Daniel’s imagination is extraordinary. It is joyful to see this fantasy blend of past and future racing.

Jacky Ickx, Racing Legend

Daniel’s designs are spectacular. And the machines–presented in every detail and a highly personal style–intrigue as always.

Flavio Manzoni, Director of Ferrari Design

Daniel Simon’s imagination is matched only by his spectacular vision of a sensational motor racing future. With its suave drivers, gorgeous girls, and international men of mystery, The Timeless Racer is a book like no other.

British GQ

After Cosmic Motors and his adventures in Hollywood, this is Daniel Simon’s next big coup.

Top Gear