The Steampunk Design Contest: Jet Engine Race Car

We’ve always enjoyed hosting crowdsourced design contests, and we’ve seen all kinds! We haven’t quite seen one like this before, though, and it’s attracting a lot of creativity from the Cad Crowd community! The challenge? To come up with a graphic for a vinyl wraparound for a Formula 3 race car. The theme? Steampunk!

The Steam Punk Jet Engine F3 contest on Cad Crowd has been an exciting one. We’re still waiting to see who the final winner will be. Host kaiman will have quite the task ahead of them selecting a winner from the stellar array of design submissions.

Formula 3 is a class of open-wheel racing that uses 500cc engines. F3 is the starting point for the careers of many Formula One racers. While speed and handling may be of prime importance, it never hurts to look good while you’re tearing up the track. So our contest host here came to Cad Crowd for a design that will make them look killer as they chase that trophy. Our designers, of course, are after a different title. Let’s take a look at some of the awesome work that’s been put forward for the grand prize!

1. Elegant White & Gold Race Car Design by Dragos Popovici

Often, when one thinks steampunk, one thinks murky, grungy aesthetics. Not so for this classy racer! The elegant white and gold with the nice blue accents make for a super classy looking car that stays true to the neo-victorian feel of steampunk. This is a car for the prince of the automatons.

2. Grungy Plated Racer Design by ms12shah

Here’s that grungy murky aesthetic we were talking about! This steampunk jet engine looks like it’s been through some stuff. If you saw this beast rumbling towards you on the post-apocalyptic fantasy motorway, you’d change lanes, sure enough. A nice added touch in the break-away graphic exposing the “innards” of this ostensibly steam-powered monster machine.

3. Dark & Baroquey Steampunk Racer byMichael Dimou

Back on the fancier side of the spectrum, we’ve got this suave and dark entry from Michael Dimou that looks like it would be driven by the arch nemesis of the driver of the car from entry number one above. The driver of this vehicle might skip the championship champagne and enjoy a solitary and somber finger or two of brandy while they contemplate whom to target with their steam-powered death ray.

4. Clockwork Industrial Speedster Design by abhijeet.ksahu

This very steampunk-y design bridges the gap between the grungier and the more elegant aesthetics we’ve seen so far. We’re definitely getting more of an industrial vibe, with the patterned girders and the gear work on the front scoop. The yellow-y brass rims are a great stylistic addition, as are the rivets on that front scoop.

5. Dystopian Cityscape Car Design by Jinen Sheth

The designer here maybe took a bit of a risk, showing their car only in side profile, but adding a beautiful and appropriately dismaying steampunk cityscape in the background. The image certainly captures the essence of steampunkyness. While it may not show off many angles of the racer, it does show off the coolest wheels we’ve seen yet, which are very appropriately adorned.

6. Armor and Pipes Steampunk Car Design by medmihaly

A little bit more subdued than some of the other entries, this racer has a kind of sleek but utilitarian look to it. They metalic panels convey a kind of firm functionality, while the “exposed” piping definitely communicates the steampunk nature of the design.

As always, we’ve got a range of fantastic entries for this contest. There’s even a few more to see on the contest page itself! Which means, as always, the final decision will come down to the unique tastes and preferences of the contest host! Good luck to all the participants!

We’ve always got a number of challenges ongoing at Cad Crowd. Crowdsourcing is just one of the ways that we help connect clients with talented designers. Learn more about how it works, or submit your project for a free quote today!