NEWS
POLE POSITION WITH MEDIACO’S HP LATEX WRAP VR Motorsport has unveiled a vibrant new racing car design to inspire and celebrate female drivers, printed by MediaCo using flexible HP Latex technology. Vincent Randall, a former sidecar racer, launched VR Motorsport around ten years ago as an amateur organisation which quickly attained professional status, finding success in the UK and around the world. This year it is taking on the competition at renowned tracks including Brands Hatch and Silverstone in the BritCar Endurance Championship. VR Motorsport kicked off the season at the Croft Circuit in July with a freshly wrapped Praga R1 racing car, featuring a design commissioned by Motorsport Woman to call attention to female drivers. After Round 1, VR Motorsport female/male racing duo Jem Hepworth and Danny Harrison were top of the leader board. Dubbed the ‘art car’, the wrap is based on a 2D piece by artist Cain Caser that was transformed into a 3D wrap by MediaCo. Vincent Randall is also one of the founders and directors of Manchester-based MediaCo, a leading large format graphics producer in the UK, so the project was a natural collaboration. Its 36,000sq ft facility is packed with equipment used to produce everything from exhibition graphics to retail signage to wallpaper, but its HP Latex 3600, installed this year, was selected to
produce the full colour vehicle wrap. “HP Latex inks don’t affect the surface of the material you’re printing on, so if you’re using glossy film for a vehicle wrap then it will stay glossy,” explains Vincent. “The inks are also very flexible, which is essential for wrapping cars like the Praga R1 which has a distinctive contoured chassis.” The uniformity of finish and colour were important to replicate the artist’s original painting, in particular the intricate brushwork. It was not possible to scan the painting, so MediaCo’s graphic artists worked from hundreds of photographs to render the image. The project — including printing by the MediaCo
team, wrapping by Visionary Graphics and delivery to Croft — was completed in just one week. “We like to tell the story of our drivers in our racing car designs,” says Vincent. “The finished result reflects the driver, Jem Hepworth, and the vision of Motorsport Woman’s owner Tara Strong. It looks great on the track.” Vincent Randall says that MediaCo was first attracted to HP Latex for its environmental benefits, having already invested in an HP Stitch S1000 for textile work and achieving stunning results. HP’s water based, odour free Latex inks are GREENGUARD Gold rated at the highest level and are ozone free. Therefore, both end users and print room operators benefit from cleaner, safer air. “Sustainability is the future of print,” says Vincent. “MediaCo was the first print company to achieve ISO 14001 in the UK, so we were very impressed by the story of HP and by the environmental credentials of HP Latex and Stitch. “Even on the racetrack, environmentally friendly technology is developing. It’s a challenge for car companies but in a few years we might well be racing electric cars at VR Motorsport. I personally drive an electric car and we strive for sustainability in many areas across both businesses.” www.hp.com • www.mediaco.co.uk
PRINT SECURE DEVELOP A LEVEL 2 STANDARD The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has granted approval to the print trailblazer consortium to develop a Level 2 Print Standard. The Level 2 Print Apprenticeship is vital for people coming into our industry, taking their first steps on a career in print, or gaining accreditation in a role which makes up a huge proportion of jobs in print. The application for the Level 2 was begun in 2016 and since then – through changing requirements – the consortium of employers, the industry, our training division, other training organisations and our relationship manager at IfATE have all worked together to gain approval of this submission. The feedback received through the trade press and the information garnered from multiple surveys has proved to be consistently supportive and has continually underlined the need for this standard at every checkpoint. As such we thank everyone who voiced issues and supported the endeavour. These standards now include occupational duties along with the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are required of a candidate.
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Going forward, the consortium that will work through the development of this standard alongside the assessment plan continues to be led by James Buffoni of Ryedale Group who said, “Whilst this has been a long and challenging process, we never wavered because the need for this standard in print is clear: this Level 2 represents a large part of the workforce in print. As such a practical development framework and recognition of achievement will benefit a lot of people who could otherwise be overlooked. We therefore welcomed the positive feedback and acknowledgement from the review panel at IfATE.” Ursula Daly, Programme Director at BPIF and main contact for the consortium proposal said, “This is indeed a great outcome for our industry and whilst we have a lot of work to do to get the standard and the assessment plan defined and we are delighted to have the opportunity to do so.” If you would like to get involved with the consortium that will then go on to develop the standard and the End Point Assessment Plan then please contact Ursula Daly at ursula.daly@bpif.org.uk For more information on the BPIF, visit: www.britishprint.com
SEPTEMBER 2020 • QUICK PRINT PRO
