What lies behind great car design?

Rally cars look impressive. However, when a rally car has an outstanding design, it becomes truly astonishing. Design plays a significant role in many important aspects, such as fan engagement, branding, and media visibility. Sometimes, designs also convey a message or an idea. And of course, as the old saying goes – which certainly cannot be a lie – beautiful cars go faster. Often, alongside great driving, exceptional designs become a signature, a legend, a part of history. You do not have to look far for examples.

All these qualities are also important to Samsonas Motorsport, as we aim not only to manufacture gearboxes and dampers, but also to test them on our own rally cars around the world. For a long time, our cars featured a simple, plain bright red livery with large Samsonas Motorsport stickers and smaller stickers for friends, partners, and sponsors. That changed in 2024, when a new state-of-the-art design was created and applied to the Škoda Fabia N5 car and team support cars. This was made possible thanks to ABSTRAXI.

Our collaboration with Samsonas Motorsport started from a moment of change. Samsonas had long been strongly associated with red cars and a white logo — a classic, recognizable look in motorsport. Martynas approached us with a clear intention: to refresh the team’s visual identity and create a new, more aggressive and modern vision while respecting its heritage.

We kept the classic red base but expanded it with matte black elements and technical patterns inspired by gearboxes and dampers. This added depth, aggression, and a more contemporary motorsport character. The result was a bold yet functional look that immediately resonated with Martynas and the entire team.

The first project was created for the Fabia N5, which became the foundation for Samsonas Motorsport’s new visual language. To this day, that car remains a key reference point and inspiration for future designs. The beginning was truly fruitful — shortly after, we prepared updated liveries for the majority of the Samsonas Motorsport fleet, establishing a cohesive brand identity across the team.

The name Abstraxi Design comes from the Latin concept of abstraction — something that cannot be translated literally. It represents openness, flexibility, and curiosity. We are inspired by every direction and graphic style. This mindset allows us to work with clients from different parts of the world, each shaped by unique cultural backgrounds. A client from South America often perceives design differently than one from Europe — and understanding those differences is essential. We work with people who want to express their character through design, even when they can’t always describe it in words.

The creation of gearboxes and dampers involves thousands of details and procesess, and the same can be said for designing a livery for each car, which must reflect the crew, the team, the brand, and everyone involved.

The livery design process always begins with conversation. Before any visuals are created, we focus on understanding the client — the team’s history, values, marketing goals, and the role the car plays within the rally or race. We define the direction the design should take, how bold it can be, and how the team wants to be perceived on track.

The first step is a detailed analysis of the brief. This includes the team’s identity, sponsor requirements, brand hierarchy, and visual constraints. In motorsport, sponsor exposure is essential, which is why sponsor logos and their hierarchy are already considered and integrated at the concept stage. The design must balance strong visual impact with clarity and readability at speed.

Next comes the concept phase. We develop several digital design directions that already include sponsor placement, geometry, color relationships, technical motifs, and references to the team’s heritage, while carefully emphasizing the car’s natural lines and proportions. Preserving the vehicle’s identity is crucial — the design must enhance the car, not overwrite it.

Once multiple concepts are ready, we test them on a full 3D model of the car. This step allows us to evaluate the design as a whole — proportions, flow, balance, and how all elements work together on complex surfaces and aerodynamic forms. The goal is not just to check individual details, but to understand how the livery performs visually in motion and from different angles.

After selecting the final direction, we move into refinement and material selection. We fine-tune proportions, spacing, and transitions, and choose specific vinyl types and finishes — such as matte, gloss, or satin — to control contrast, reflections, and overall character in real racing conditions. The final stage is production and application. We prepare fully vectorized files for print and oversee the wrapping process to ensure the design is executed exactly as intended. At this point, the concept becomes a real race car — ready to perform under pressure.

Attention to detail is a shared trait between creating outstanding designs and manufacturing gearboxes or dampers that must perform at their best in any given circumstances. There are no unimportant details in the entire process, and most details are often noticed only by the creators.

Car design is often judged by color alone, but real quality lies in structure, precision, and finishing. Nothing is accidental. Material choices — gloss, matte, satin, or chrome — are used deliberately to control how light behaves at speed and under different conditions. Design also has to survive reality: dirt, rain, damage, night stages, and TV cameras. Balance is critical. Knowing when to stop is just as important as knowing what to add.
You also have to be a bit of a psychologist. Many clients want to express themselves through design but can’t always articulate it clearly. Understanding their personality, emotions, and unspoken expectations is a crucial part of the process.

We are truly proud to see our gearboxes and dampers used by the world’s best drivers and teams in top competitions. It is a great honour to know that we are a small part of a single victory or an entire championship.

It’s a deeply fulfilling moment — the confirmation that the entire design process made sense. When we see our work on a rally stage or a racing circuit, the concept becomes real and alive. We often attend races and rally stages to watch our cars in action, which makes the experience even more emotional and rewarding. Seeing a design perform under real pressure, in front of crowds, creates an irreplaceable sense of satisfaction. It constantly fuels our passion for both motorsport and art.
At the same time, those moments always spark new thoughts — what could be done even better next time, how to push the design further. That constant drive for improvement is what keeps us moving forward.