Technical drawings have always allowed those unlikely to get their hands into the oily innards of a race car to get a look at what goes where, and does what.
We had a quick chat with technical illustrator Roy Scorer about these incredible works of art. Or engineering. Or both.
Influx: How did you realise you were good at technical drawing?
Roy Scorer: “While at school, O-Level era, the careers officer had a poster showing technical illustration at Portsmouth College of Art. So I went for it, and left 1986 with an HND in T.I.”
Influx: How long does a drawing take?
Scorer: “The latest historic race car cutaway/ghosted illustrations take approximately 130-150 hours, done in my spare time. They are done from photo reference only as there are no engineering drawings about from those days.”
Influx: How much access to the vehicle do you need?
Scorer: “This all depends on what is removable, some cars are easy to remove panels but the Capri only had bonnet and drivers door removable. So I research for photos of people restoring cars and photographing every stage of the strip down and rebuild. The more the customer is happy to strip down the more detail I can add. The Proton BTCC car a good example.”
Influx: Have you ever designed a car from scratch?
Scorer: “No, the nearest to this was an artist impression of Ginetta G40 as a National Hotrod. And a Citroen DS4 as a BTCC car. Also a range of sports cars as rallycross cars. All on website ‘coloured section’.”
Influx: Are there any cars you’d love to draw?
Scorer: “A modern day Rallycross car, Pikes Peak super cars and LMP1 WEC car. But pretty much any race car, any era really!”
Influx: Do you use pencil and paper, or a computer?
Scorer: “I trained on a drawing board using pens and pencils. These days it’s on a computer.”
Influx: Who are your inspirations?
Scorer: “Any good technical illustrator.”
Influx: Why did you turn to motorsport?
Scorer: “My dad raced stock cars when I was little and then raced trucks later on. I grew up with it on the TV and enjoy just about all motorsport.”
Influx: Have you covered any other forms of engineering or transport?
Scorer: “Plenty of military vehicles through work, examples of these are on my website alongside a set of major incident vehicles for the NHS National Ambulance Service.”
Influx: Which image are you most proud of?
Scorer: “They have all had different challenges to overcome. But if I have to pick one… The Roush Protofab Ford Mustang GTO. A nice lot of detail!”