Armin Strom, Official Timing Partner of the Virgin Racing Formula One Team, is proud to announce an exiting art project together with the World-Famous Artist Ronnie Wood.
The Armin Strom/Virgin Racing Art Watch and Art Car Project
In 2011 Ronnie Wood has agreed to work on an amazing Formula 1 themed ‘Art' project, where Ronnie is going to paint an Armin Strom watch, a Virgin Racing Formula One car and a Virgin Racing driver's helmet.
Once completed, Ronnie's ‘Art Car' will be seen during the year at several public events as a static display and we might even see a replica of the ‘Art Car' in action, later in the year at a non F1 event, like the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Armin Strom/Virgin Racing Art Car will finally be auctioned for a charity in co-operation with Christie's at a big gala event later in 2011.
The Virgin Racing driver's helmets will be painted with a similar ‘Art Car' theme, and will be worn at one of the sessions during a Grand Prix Weekend in 2011. The helmet will also be auctioned at the same gala event later in 2011.
The final part of the project is the Art Watch. As a world first, Ronnie Wood is going to paint a watch including several bridges of the movement, which will be visible through the front and the sapphire case back. This very exclusive Art Watch will be auctioned at the 2011 “ONLY WATCH” exhibition in Monaco, in aid of Prince Albert's charity. After the auctioning a limited series of 25 “replicas” will be manufactured which will be for sale in the second half of 2011.
Ronnie Wood
Ronnie Wood has been a major recording artist since the ‘60's when his band “The Birds” first charted. He followed this with the Jeff Beck Band and of course has been a member of two of the UK's most famous musical groups, the Faces and the Rolling Stones. He has also combined his well publicised music career with his love of art.
Most recently he has been honoured with a major retrospective of his artwork at the Butler Institute in Ohio.
Armin Strom
For over 40 years Armin Strom's name has been synonymous with the highest level of hand-made skeletonised and hand engraved watches. Armin Strom AG was founded in 2006 and is based in the watch-making centre of Biel, Switzerland. Today, Armin Strom is a complete ‘manufactory' and is one of the few companies that produce its own watch movements in-house. Their exclusive timepieces not only represent traditional, high-precision craftsmanship, they also offer the highest possible individuality and distinguish the personality of the wearer.
The Armin Strom collection represents the modern style of movement embellishment, without neglecting important traditional values. A young, superbly trained and highly motivated team creates each collection, emphasising a modern, technical image which blends tradition with new, innovative methods influenced by the latest technology from the world of Formula One.
Virgin Racing entered the FIA Formula One World Championship in 2010, beating off stiff competition from a number of contenders for one of the new team entries that would herald a new era of Formula One.
The team was originally conceived by John Booth and Graeme Lowden, whose Manor Motorsport operation in the North of England achieved unrivalled Formula 3 success and played a major role in the development of several of today's greatest motor racing talents. They joined forces with designer Nick Wirth, who returned to F1 after a decade enjoying remarkable results in Indy Racing and Le Mans sports car development in the USA with his innovative and low-cost design approach. Together with the commercial firepower of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin, one of the most recognised, respected and exciting brands in the world, they created a new racing team concept, capitalising upon F1's new economic dawn and the Resource Restriction Agreement that has begun to redefine the sport.
Virgin Racing's debut season was always going to be a tough test. The team had designed a brand new car entirely in the digital domain using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and without the very expensive wind tunnel testing capabilities deployed by the current Formula One teams - all in the space of just six months. At the same time, the team was also building a brand new operational base in South Yorkshire as well as creating a team of designers, engineers and mechanics who were equal to the challenge of an aspiring new Formula One team.
Virgin Racing fought a close battle with its nearest competitor Lotus Racing throughout its inaugural season of competition, frequently trading places as the best of the new teams. In November 2010, Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia, who had sponsored Virgin Racing throughout its debut season and witnessed at close quarters its true grit and enormous potential, acquired a significant shareholding in the team, securing its long-term future and ensuring that it can continue to go from strength to strength in pursuit of its racing ambitions.
From the 2011 season the team will be known as Marussia Virgin Racing.
Ronnie Wood
“I am very happy to be involved with the Armin Strom/Virgin Racing Art Car and Art Watch Project. It's going to be a new venture for me to paint something on four wheels but you never know, I might end up having the fastest piece of Art on the Planet!”
Erik Meijer, PDG of Armin Strom (Royaume-Uni)
“We are delighted to be working together with Ronnie Wood to create a piece of history. Ronnie's Art is bold and a celebration of life. We are very happy that we will be able to make a significant contribution to a charitable cause when auctioning Ronnie's masterpieces later in 2011.”
Serge Michel, PDG of Armin Strom SA
“We are delighted that our very first watch for the ONLY WATCH auction in Monaco will be a masterpiece made in co-operation with an artist as prolific as Ronnie Wood. As we are specialists in constructing and producing movements, it was important to us to concentrate on the caliber as well. It will be stunning to have not only the case but also parts of the movement painted by Ronnie”
Graeme Lowdon, PDG of Virgin Racing
“At Virgin Racing we are extremely keen to assist our partners in activating their relationship with our team in exciting and innovative ways to the benefit of their brands. This is a fun project that brings a fresh edge to the traditional focus on the motorsport calendar and a project which will also have significant charitable benefit. We can't wait to see the Art Car on display at Goodwood next year. 2010 was a busy debut season for us so we were not able to have a presence at Goodwood, but it's a great occasion and one that we intend to support wholeheartedly with effect from 2011. This joint initiative with Armin Strom leaves us perfectly placed to not only take part in the festivities there but bring something original to our fans at the same time.”
