You might reasonably place Formula 1 cars firmly on the ‘science’ side of the fence rather than ‘art’, but sculptor Angela Palmer begs to differ. She’s created an exhibition called ‘Adrenalin’ at The Fine Art Society on New Bond Street in London, with the help of access to Renault’s F1 engine labs.
Pink Floyd drummer and incurable car enthusiast Nick Mason has lent a hand too, helping to create a sound installation for the show using recordings of eight-cylinder racing cars from his collection doing their stuff. Scroll through our gallery to see some of the best F1 art installations below.
‘Glass G8 engine’
This is a 1:1 scale recreation in glass of Renault’s RS27 V8 F1 engine, a design which scooped world titles with Fernando Alonso in 2006 and Sebastian Vettel four times from 2010 to 2013. It was created by scribing its cross-sections by hand across multiple sheets of glass.
‘Glass Crystal Helmet’
Continuing the glass theme, here’s an F1 helmet cast in lead crystal glass. According to Palmer, it’s ‘a reminder of the ever-present fragility faced by the drivers in the fastest motorsport in the world.’
‘Part 1 Walnut Crankshaft’
Back with the Renault RS27 powerplant, Palmer has blown up certain engine components in size. Here’s the crankshaft recreated as a seven-foot totem made from walnut.
‘Part 3 Cog’
Pretty self-explanatory this one, although most engineers would cringe at the use of the term ‘cog.’
‘Part 4 Valve’
Various materials were used to create these supersized valvegear components, including Portland stone and bronze.
‘Part 5 Butterfly Valve’
Palmer based her work on Renault engineers’ CAD drawings and time spent at their F1 powertrain HQ in Paris.
‘Part 7 Red Exhaust’
F1 cars’ fantastic bunch-of-snakes exhaust systems are usually hidden from view beneath their carbon bodywork but the sculpture in the Adrenaline exhibition is doubled in size. The reason it’s bright red is to mark the fact it spends most of the time during a Grand Prix at 1000 degrees Celsius, a temperature it takes just five seconds to reach.
The exhibition runs from 19 November – 23 December 2014.
Images courtesy the artist and The Fine Art Society. Photo credit, Todd White Photography.