EIGHTIES-INSPIRED CALTEX RETRO LIVERY FOR SANDOWN 500

TeamVortex’s Craig Lowndes and co-driver Steven Richards have unveiled their retro-inspired livery for the upcoming Sandown 500.

The team took the covers off their retro Caltex livery at Queensland Raceway, ahead of their pre-endurance season test day, showcasing the red and white colour scheme.

Similar to last years Sandown 500 livery, inspiration was taken from Colin Bond’s iconic Caltex-backed race cars. This year however, instead of replicating one livery in particular, the design is reminiscent of numerous Caltex liveries of the late 1980s, with white featuring more prominently.

GM Design Australia Exterior Manager Peter Hughes created an amalgamation of memorable designs.

“We took all those historic cues and brought them together onto the VF Commodore to create a bespoke livery that is unmistakably 1980s Caltex, but unique and original in its own way.” said Hughes.

Lowndes will be making his 16th Sandown 500 start next week, a race he’s won five times since his debut in 1994.

“The car looks really good again this year, it’s great to be able to get involved with the retro theme and pay tribute to such an historic era of our sport,” said Lowndes.

“I think the white and black aspects of it set it apart from our Sandown car last year and I really like the way the recognisable features from Bondy’s cars have been recreated in this livery with some unique twists.”

This year marks the fourth season that the 2015 Bathurst 1000 champions have tackled the three endurance events together. After disasterous race at Mt Panorama last year, they will be aiming to make amends, keeping the top step of the podium firmly in their sights.

“It’s no secret that last year’s Bathurst was very disappointing for us as a team, but we’ve made a lot of progress over the last few events and we’re feeling confident that we can get some strong finishes in the enduros,” Lowndes continued.

“The long races suit me and I always really enjoy the endurance season. Knowing that we had the Bathurst win two years ago certainly does give me some confidence, but of course previous results have no bearing on our performance this year.”

The Sandown 500 kicks off the Pirtek Enduro Cup next weekend.

We’ve got more of the latest news out of the Supercars paddock in the next issue of Auto Action magazine, on sale Thursday. In the mean time follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or sign up for our weekly email newsletter for all the latest updates between issues.