I can’t really say I’m any sort of artist, but I say that the theme and artwork of Pro-35 are retro racing-inspired. Some of that is of course cycling, but some of it is automotive.
You may have seen my previous post about the Pro-35 Gentlemen’s Racing Weekend, and that name itself is not something that Rapha came up with, but instead is taken from car racing.
Gentlemen’s racing is essentially where non-professionals compete in their own category, and in the 1960′s that meant often driving the car to and from the track. In that era Porsche and the Nissan R-380 (all photos courtesy of digitaldtour.com) were popular options.
The sculpted shape of the R-380 looks remarkably like my favored Porsche 904 and may even be slightly more shapely.
Also on display at the same event was a replica BRE/Datsun 510, one of Nissan’s most iconic race cars of the 1970′s.
Notice the number and dual color stripe arrangement on the front quarter panel. Looks like the some folks liked that design for the Nissan Heritage Collection sign.
While I had to scale back my plans on the Gentlemen’s Racing Weekend I am still planning to have some stickers made up, and for that design I will be channeling the 510.
Once I get a proof or art draft I’ll post it.