Scott Pye has been “blown away” by the new Indigenous Round livery Team 18 has conjured up for his #20 Camaro.
At both this weekend’s Darwin Triple Crown and July’s Townsville 500, Pye will race with the “Travelling On Country” artwork created by Mayi artist Leah Cummins.
After rotating liveries for the first four rounds of the championship, the South Australian will have a returning backer in Hino.
From the distance car #20 will appear to be carrying an identical livery to the one used at the season opening Newcastle 500.
Scott Pye’s 2023 Indigenous Round livery that will first be seen this weekend.
However, look up close and the meticulous work becomes clear as the artwork provides a pretty backdrop to the livery.
The grey lines on the car represent roads and the orange lines highlight the pathways that have been taken by generations.
The U shapes represent communities sitting together and sharing stories, while the stars bring hope.
The sister Team 18 car of Mark Winterbottom will race with a fan-inspired Indigenous livery.
Pye admitted he was “blown away” by the design.
“I’m blown away, the car looks fantastic,” he said.
“I love the way the design is integrated with the shape of the car, and getting to meet Leah as well is a great opportunity for me to have her explain the design and what’s gone into that and the thought process behind it.
A lot of detail has gone into Scott Pye’s Darwin livery.
“Leah also went through what individual element on the design itself means, so it is fantastic to get an understanding.
“I’ll represent this proudly on the weekend and hopefully we can get a great result with it.”
Livery artist Cummins said she has a personal connection to the theme of the livery.
“I’ve never done anything like this and it’s awesome to see my artwork on such a large scale, especially something that’s going to be taken over to Darwin for the Supercars race,” she said.
“I used to see the Supercars trucks come through Cloncurry all the time to get up to Darwin for the race, so the story around ‘travelling country’ came from the travelling that people do to get to these places and also telling a story of indigenous people and their meeting places.
Mayi artist Leah Cummins with Scott Pye.
“To see Indigenous culture being shared and enjoyed and people being interested and inquisitive to the story of indigenous people, especially when you see it on the Supercars, it gets people engaged and talking about which is great.”
Team 18 has taken a similar approach to last year for its car #20 Indigenous Round design when Pye’s main game livery at the equally stunning backdrop of a design created by Mackay based Debbie Thaiday.
Hidden Valley has been a strong circuit for Pye over the years, who has recorded at least one top 10 result their in seven of his last eight visits there.
The high point was 2020 when he scored a hat-trick of third-place finishes for Team 18.
Scott Pye racing at Darwin in 2022.
After getting a breakthrough top five at Tasmania, Pye hopes to chase even more success in his new warpaint this weekend.
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