Tradition will be upheldon Friday March 9 and Saturday March 10, 2018 when the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance offers auto enthusiasts two rare opportunities to get “back stage passes” to the inside world of automotive competition and design.
On Friday, March 9, 2018, Stewart Reed, Department Chair Transportation Design of the Art Center, will host the WATTS NEXT? Design Challenges of the Electric Car seminar. The seminar features an all-star panel including Alfonso Albaisa, Senior VP of Global Design, Nissan; Ian Callum, Design Director, Jaguar; Moray Callum, VP of Design, Ford Motor Company; Grant Larson, Exterior Designer, Porsche; Michael Simcoe, VP Global Design, GM and Gorden Wagener, Chief Design Officer, Daimler, AG. Watts Next? will explore and explain the challenges and complexities of designing for the burgeoning electric car market.
Saturday March 10th brings Drivers of the IMSA GTP Prototypes (Grand Touring Prototype) to the Ritz-Carlton’s Talbot Ballroom. These are the headline players who made IMSA’s endurance races of the 1980s and nineties one of the most popular and best supported racing series in North American motorsport history. IMSA’s 1981 Lola T600 GTP-mounted Champion Brian Redman will be united with former Group 44 teammates Hurley Haywood and 1987 GTP Champion Chip Robinson. They will be joined by Derek Daly, Rob Dyson, Tommy Kendall, and Davy Jones to share insider stories and experiences from America’s most prestigious sports car series.
As a Saturday seminar bonus Andial founder and former Porsche Motorsports North American CEO Alwin Springer and IMSA Senior Vice President Mark Ruffauf will join the panel for an inside look at the racing formula that saw speed and attendance records obliterated and automotive technologies forced into the future. The Amelia’s IMSA GTP seminar will be hosted by award-winning television racing commentatorBob Varsha.
“IMSA’s GTP era marked the first time in motorsport history that a North American road racing series helped force automotive technology through competition rather than exist as little more than motorized entertainment,” said Bill Warner, founder and Chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. “The seeds of the high-technology GTP era can still be seen in today’s efficient hybrid-powered racers. We believe the IMSA GTP and WATTS NEXT? – The Design Challenges of the Electric Cars seminars offer relevant views of the path and future of automotive technology and design.”
