Le Mans Feeling at the walls

Fans of exclusive automobiles, no matter what price range, often also have a heart for high-quality automobilia. If a garage is available, it will be decorated. Otherwise usually at least one room of the house or flat is showing the hobby. In addition to books and model cars, art objects such as pictures and posters are a popular way of expressing a preference for a brand, a model or the automobile in general. The Belgian private race driver Jean-Denis Claessens and Edmond Thonnard, a multidisciplinary artist from Belgium, have been friends for more than 30 years. Together they founded the company ‘After The Race – Parts of Legends’, which has made it its business to give car parts the design of legendary racing cars in order to hang them on the wall as works of art.

The Belgian company mainly offers bonnets and doors from Porsche, which are dipped in legendary racing liveries such as the sponsor colors of Gulf Oil, Martini or Jägermeister, but also liveries from Porsche Salzburg, Brumos or the current factory racing cars from the FIA WEC. Not only are the corresponding colors and logos painted by hand, but also traces of the hard long-distance races are added. The portfolio now also includes hoods of the Aston Martin DB9, the classic Mini or BMWs of the 1970s. A brand new feature is the replica of the front panels of the Ford GT40, produced in cooperation with Superformance, which can be color-matched according to customer requirements. The first example shows the famous Gulf livery of P/1075, the car that won the Le Mans 24 hours in 1968 and 1969.

In addition, After The Race also offers so-called legend plates, which mainly honour famous Formula 1 drivers. Besides Niki Lauda and Ayrton Senna, there are also Jim Clark and Gilles Villeneuve as well as other signs with the race colors of Le Mans classics such as Alpine Renault, Rondeau, Porsche 956 or Jaguar XJR-9.

Fiberglass copies of the Porsche bonnet cost from 2,911 €, steel bonnets from 4,911 € and genuine bonnets from the 911 G model from 7,911 €. Doors start from 3,911 €. The British company Le Mans Coupes Ltd. is the exclusive distributor for the GT40 hoods, which cost at least £ 3,000 plus VAT.

Images: Le Mans Coupes Ltd., After The Race