PREMIAIR RACING TAKES COVERS OFF NEW PETER HUGHES-DESIGNED ENDURO LIVERIES
PremiAir Racing has taken the covers off the special livery with which its Camaros will tackle The Bend 500 and Bathurst 1000 as part of the celebrations around Yatala’s brand-new NAPA Auto Parts store.
The exciting new look – created by none other than design legend, Peter Hughes – was revealed this morning by drivers Jimmy Golding and Nash Morris.
Hughes is the man behind some of HRT’s most iconic liveries and arguably one of the most experienced designers in the business.
This isn’t the first time that Hughes’ work has graced the PremiAir Racing Camaros either, with him also having been behind the 2024 enduro liveries after meeting team owner Peter Xiberras at the Adelaide Festival that year, where he was running around in the old Holdens.
“We got to talking at that event as Peter (Xiberras) was running around in the old Holdens including some of the ones I had designed back in the day, and he invited me to have a go at the team’s enduro livery.
“Knowing that he loved Holden and everything about it historically, I wanted it to have a Holden feel to it and he loved that idea, he really didn’t hold back on how much he loved it!
“This livery is kind of like the next iteration of that, and the best bit for me is that it gives Peter exactly what he wants, celebrating his love of the Australian brand and the Holden heritage, while bringing the feel of the cars he liked ‘back in the day’ together with a modern twist for a fresh new livery that still has those obvious ‘Holden factory’ overtones to it. It is a real feel good car I think.
“I need to thank both of the big brands on the TV, Nulon and Isuzu, for allowing the livery to be the way we envisaged – obviously they have relinquished some of their branding to allow us to do the car exactly how we wanted, so we are very thankful for that.
“On the flipside, I think the car looks stunning and I believe they will get a lot of coverage because of it, so it will be a win-win.”
Xiberras said he was extremely happy with the new look.
“How fantastic do these cars look – Peter has done another incredible job, I was so happy with our look last year for the enduro season and this year is no different, it looks amazing,” Xiberras said.
“Peter is such a legend in design, and the cool thing is that he designs these things by hand, and then our friends at SS Signs translates that into the digital format for creating the wraps.
“To see his work in action and how it develops is really something else and we feel very lucky to have a mind like his behind our liveries once again as we head into this important juncture of the 2025 Supercars Championship season.
“Here’s hoping these head-turning looks can help us deliver some equally head-turning results at The Bend and Mount Panorama!”
Hughes was a Holden designer for 30 years, starting in 1990 – the same year the Holden Racing Team began.
“While I didn’t do their first liveries – that was Mike Simcoe – I used to be involved with the sponsored placement and then in 1997 they invited me to do the full livery for HRT and that kind of kicked it all off.
“I did that, and then I did their Young Lions car, a little for Perkins, and then I had a big break before getting involved again in 2006 with HRT, getting to know Simon McNamara who was Head of Motorsport there for a while (and is now at Chevy), and it just snowballed from there.
“So from there I was always doing liveries, a lot of those in-house, but once Holden closed I opened myself up as I no longer had to stay with the GM brand, so I have done liveries for Fords and Toyotas and who knows what now, it just grew from there and I have been doing it a long time.
“Obviously having been in the Holden Factory and learning their sophisticated software and then moving to it when I left had been an advantage and I feel that kind of gave me a jump over the other guys trying to do the same things.”
When it comes to his favourite liveries, Hughes recalls a few designs spanning the entirety of his career to date.
“The first one, the HRT one in 1997, was certainly exciting because it is a little different to be designing a livery compared to designing a car – designing a car will take three or four years before anyone sees it because it is such a long process with the engineering and everything to bring it to market, where with a livery you draw it up within a week, make a couple of changes, and send it off to the team and within a month it is racing and you get to see it on the TV and see you work in action.
“So, for a young bloke, it is a rush seeing your work out there in the public and I think that is the thing I remember most. I was definitely very proud of that first one.
“The 2019 heritage livery for Red Bull and Triple Eight Race Engineering is another – they allowed us to do a red and white car for that year based on the 1971 HDT Torana. It wasn’t so much about the design as it was about the fact that we fought hard to make it happen and they let us do it, which was amazing.
“And this is going to sound a bit funny – but last year’s PremiAir Racing cars for Sandown and Bathurst are absolutely one of my favourites of all time, and easily were the best I had done on Camaros (to that time) I feel.”
PremiAir Racing will be on-track for The Bend 500 over 12-14 September at The Bend Motorsport Park before the Bathurst 1000 takes place at Mount Panorama across October 9-12. For full event information, visit www.supercars.com
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