LCR Honda is one of the privateeer MotoGP teams that often changes it’s liveries during the season depending on the sponsors that they have.
Last season we saw the Playboy livery which was a big hit, along with the grid girls decked out as Playboy bunnies, Radio Montecarlo, GIVI, and ELF liveries.
While eye catching liveries won’t make you win, they are important to fans and sponsors who pay to see their product’s name on the TV screen and changing the graphics on a bike isn’t just slapping on a couple of stickers, the process is complex and as team owner and manager Lucio Cecchinello confirms in this interview:“After having set the contracts with our supporters, we usually start working on the bike layout fixing the logos dimensions and positioning together with a main colour which will stand out our bike image amongst the others.
In 2006 we created a special Australian livery for Stoner and that was a very successful feedback for us.
Recently we have focused our work on the number plate using the fluo colour and last year we have prepared a special layout for the wheels colour.
Together with the Graphic Department we study several combinations to make the bike more attractive and more visible on TV.
” “The colouring process is long and laborious.
First the carbon fairings are handmade treated and then they are painted with special water dyes of different colours.
After 2 days and many work phases including the drying process, the fairings are ready and we put the stickers on.
These carbon fairings are very light (one complete set weigh about 2.
2kgs) and for this reason, in case of crash, they are not very strong.
But if the damage is not big we can repair them even if this process is very delicate because if you ride a bike at 350km/h you get a lot of vibrations.
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