LDC 1 Concept car
BMW LDC1 Concept by Jean Marc Campagna & Max Schkinder
A personal project shot at the new V&A Museum in Dundee, Scotland .
Photography and art direction : Richard Seymour
CGI Rendering : Vitali Enes RAW-Concept .de
Retouching : Nick Humphries.
Here is their story :
2D Design direction: Max Shkinder, currently a Senior Creative Designer at McLaren Automotive
3D Design development: Jean-Marc Campagna, currently a Senior Digital Surface Modeller at Lucid Motors
Back in May 2020, at the height of the first Covid-19 lockdown, many workers of the Automotive Design industry were put into furlough or lost their contracts. Realising this situation would probably last for a while, Jean-Marc contacted his friend and colleague Max Shkinder to ask him if he’d be interested to collaborate on a “lockdown project” while they weren’t working. This would be a perfect opportunity to stay productive and keep their skills sharp, but also to push aside all technical and creative constraints present in a professional design studio to focus on the fun, limitless aspect of car design. Max gladly accepted the challenge and the duo immediately got to work. After discussing potential project ideas, Max and Jean-Marc decided to develop a concept that Max had sketched in his free time back in 2019: a wacky BMW speedster race car.
During the following months, they spent a few hours of their free time each week to develop the artistic concept into a full 3D model, exploring countless different versions of the car along the way. While Jean-Marc would experiment new shapes and proportions in 3D, Max would continue refining and maturing his vision through sketches based on the 3D model and feeding them back to Jean-Marc until both were satisfied with the general look of the vehicle. Finally, a whole range of small details was designed and modelled, ranging from seat bucks to grille meshes and gas rams.In the end, this is the car that came out of this process: the BMW LDC1, with LDC standing for “Lock-Down Concept”.
The super low, short and wide proportions were inspired by the McLaren M8F Can-Am while the curvaceous speedster body style was influenced by the Ferrari Monza SP2 and the BMW 328 Hommage. The whole spirit of the concept lies in the duality between its resolutely classic and barebone construction and the forward-thinking, sci-fi nature of its exterior design. The LDC1 has big vents, a long bonnet covering a big petrol engine, massive exhaust tips and a visible tube frame; this is a car that comes with all the analog feel, noise, vibration and smells that characterised the most celebrated and romantic racing cars in history. The mentality around the body panels couldn’t be further away from that raw and conventional construction; a unique visual signature consisting of bold graphical features and voluptuous curves makes the concept unmistakable and instantly recognisable. While some features are borrowed from the legends of yesteryear, like the X-taped fog lights of 60s racers and the dual rear badges found on the BMW M1, most of this exterior makes a point of being as different as possible to every other car out there
To summarise, this is the brainchild of two designers who spent the last few years working on production cars and used the Covid-19 lockdown to unleash their creativity and come up with a concept that was dictated by no rules other than having fun. This is the spirit that got them into this industry in the first place after all!
A fantastic team effort by Jean Marc, Max, Vitali, Nick and myself.