Oxford Brookes university students wrapping a Ford Fiesta with Metamark MD-X Cylinder cast film
Hybrid Services Ltd has teamed up with motorsport engineering education establishment, Oxford Brookes University, in a partnership set to take wide format print to a new audience.
A Mimaki wide format printer, cutting plotter and software package have been supplied to the university in a relationship intended to provide hands on experience, expert tuition and a commercial understanding of vehicle wrapping, branding and liveries to undergraduate race engineers.
‘The project is all about making these highly talented engineering undergraduates better aware of some of the commercial requirements within motorsport,’ said national sales manager, Sign & Graphics for Hybrid, John de la Roche. ‘However you look at it, motorsport rotates around sponsorship and the importance of getting a professional looking message on and around the cars cannot be underestimated. Mimaki’s range of wide format printing solutions already has a strong presence in vehicle wrapping at all levels and current F1 teams have been investing in their own Mimaki systems for years but we were keen to provide an opportunity at an early stage of these people’s careers.’
Mr Price said, ‘It’s unusual to give this responsibility to the engineers, but in this instance, they’re getting first-hand experience of what’s involved, so it should stay with them throughout their careers.’
Metamark is supplying a range of media to the project along with providing expert advice on additional opportunities for display graphics. ‘The new MD-X Cylinder cast film is ideal for the students to be using on the cars,’ said Samantha Daulton, regional sales manager for Metamark. ‘We’ve also provided our RU500 LayFlat rollup material for use within the Mimaki Vehicle Wrap Lab along with wallpaper and digital frost etched window film.’
