Michelin Challenge Design™, one of the world’s fastest growing design competitions, announced its 2006 panel of celebrity judges and the details surrounding the review of the international collection of vehicle designs submitted by individuals, companies and students representing 44 countries for this year’s theme: California. The seven-member jury reviews all entries and decides which designs will be displayed as full-size vehicles, scale models or computer-generated renderings at the 2006 North American International Auto Show in January 2006.
The jury meets July 18 and 19, 2005, at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Calif. Jury selection is based on professional design experience with the theme, and this year’s panel includes individuals who work in California or are responsible for developing work for the West Coast market.
“The design community in California represents the great majority of the global automotive companies,” said Tom Chubb, vice president of marketing for Michelin Automotive Industry Division. “And geographically speaking, you could argue the professional design movement in California today is the most significant since the development of the design process by Harley Earl in the early 1930s. When you couple these elements with the state’s leadership in important areas like technology and the environment, it’s exciting to bring all of these important disciplines and the people behind them together through the Michelin Challenge Design program.”
This year’s Michelin Challenge Design jury, in alphabetical order, includes:
Peter Brock has been involved with photography, competition and racing cars since attending his first road race at Pebble Beach in 1952. An Art Center graduate, Brock designed and built several important cars, including the prototype Corvette Sting Ray for General Motors’ vice president Bill Mitchell and the World Championship winning Cobra Daytona Coupe for Carroll Shelby in 1965. When Brock closed his racing shop, BRE, in 1973, he began writing about motorsports and illustrating his articles with his photographs. Brock has been covering the sport full time as a journalist and photojournalist since the early 1990s.
Shawn Collins obtained a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1995. After graduation, he worked in a small start-up design firm in New York City until 1997 when he moved to California to follow his passion for automotive design. There, he accepted a position with a sporting goods company designing in-line skates and followed that with a stint at Mattel designing toys. He founded his own design firm in 2001. He entered the Art Center College of Design in January 2003 and is currently a Trans8 student and expects to graduate in December.
Jason Hill graduated from Art Center College of Design and immediately joined the newly created Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Studio in California as principle exterior designer responsible for the MCC “sprinter” concept, which became the highly-acclaimed SMART car. In 1999, he was the first designer hired to work in the new Porsche styling studio in California responsible for the exterior design of the Porsche Carrera GT show car, which was unveiled first in Paris in 2000. Currently, Hill is the president of Eleven LLC, a design and consulting company working with the top names in the automotive business as well as other industries.
Dr. Paul MacCready, Ph.D., the Aviation Hall of Famer, created the Gossamer Condor, the first human-powered vehicle to achieve sustained, maneuverable flight; the Gossamer Albatross, the first human-powered crossing of the English Channel and the Bionic Bat for human-powered flight ñ bringing with it worldwide attention and acclaim. He also created the Gossamer Penguin, the world’s first successful completely solar powered airplane, and the Solar Challenger. In 1987, he built the solar-powered Sunraycer, to compete in a race across Australia. In 1990, collaboration with GM resulted in development of the Impact, an electric car capable of acceleration from zero to 60 mph in eight seconds.
Professor Gordon Murray was a major player in Formula One in the 1970s and ’80s with the Brabham team, which won two World Championships with Nelson Piquet. In 1987, he joined McLaren International’s F1 program and then went on to become the designer of the McLaren F1 road car. Murray then moved on to work for the new Mercedes-badged McLaren supercar. He continued to work for McLaren as the executive director of advanced concepts until his retirement in early 2005 to pursue an independent career.
Stewart Reed, a four-time Michelin Challenge Design juror and this year’s Jury Chairman, was recently named chairman of the transportation design department at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Calif. Reed, a graduate from the Art Center College of Design, founded Stewart Reed Design in Holland, Mich., in 1994 to consult with the automotive and consumer manufacturing industries. First among his designs were the Meyers Manx and Manx SR, considered one of the best-executed, road-worthy kit vehicles. Reed’s career also included nine years at Chrysler’s advanced design department; six years as the chief designer of Toyota’s California advanced design studio; and eight years as vice president of design with Prince Corporation, now part of Johnson Controls.
Freeman Thomas was appointed director of Strategic Design at Ford Motor Company in June 2005 to lead the advanced design teams in California and Michigan. In addition to developing product design strategies and concept vehicles for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, his team collaborates with the company’s Advanced Product Creation team to create compelling new production vehicles. Before joining Ford, Thomas was head of DaimlerChrysler’s Pacifica Advanced Design Center. He also served as vice president of DaimlerChrysler Advanced Product Design Strategy, chief designer at Volkswagen and in design positions with Audi and Porsche. His illustrious 22-year design career includes the 500-horsepower Dodge Tomahawk motorcycle, the “Noble American Sedan” strategy that evolved into the production Chrysler 300C, the Audi TT concept and the Volkswagen Concept 1, known today as the New Beetle.
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