The new Jaguar form study at Clerkenwell Design Week in the UK has one of the crankandpiston team thinking about some other models close to his heart.
[Not a valid template]Since I was eight years old, my automotive 1/18 diecast collection has been getting steadily bigger year-on-year (yes, that’s my inner nerd, and I offer no apologies for him). The collection has stagnated slightly over the past few years with trifling details like rent, utilities and car payments relocating my finances elsewhere.
When it came time to move to the Middle East though, there were still a couple of dozen to choose from: which of these creature comforts would make the journey across with me?
The Ferrari F40 has always been a favourite, as has the McLaren F1 (unfortunately not the Harrods F1 GTR). The New York cabby Crown Victoria has its charms, as has – and this will shock a few of you – the Ford GT90 concept. In the end I opted for Lewis Hamilton’s World Championship winning McLaren MP4-23 – packed in my suitcase with the same due care and attention that arguably the real one was when it made its way to Dubai last year – and Dan Wheldon’s 2011 Indianapolis 500 winning Sam Schmidt Motorsports-entered Dallara IR-05, his last in IndyCar before his untimely death in Las Vegas at the season finale.
What swung the decision for me was the attention to detail on each model (albeit slightly less impressive now since I accidentally broke one of Lewis’ wing mirrors), much as this sculpture presented during Clerkenwell Design Week in London has.
The form study is inspired by the event’s primary sponsor Jaguar and represents its creators vision of future Jaguar Design Language in either a sports or luxury context. The submission comes from Royal College of Art students Ewan Gallimore and Claire Miller – who worked in association with Jaguar’s Advance Design team in Whitney – and was considered the best from the nine entries.
Whether this model goes the same way as the clay XF remains to be seen, but it has got me thinking one thing: how much bubble wrap would I need to add it to my collection in the Middle East?
