My laser-cut Ferrari GTO

For my laser-cut stainless steel Ferrari GTO piece, I chose to show Mexican driver Pedro Rodriguez on his way to winning the 1963 3-Hour Continental race at Daytona. Rodriguez was racing 250 GTO #4219.

This race later became the now famous 24-Hours of Daytona.

My laser-cut GTO piece is power-coated stainless-steel, hand-painted with white highlights, is 25"x 10" (63.5cm x 25.4cm) and weighs 4 lbs.

It's been featured in Motor Sport (UK), Wheels Canada, Classic Motorsport (US) and Octane (UK) magazines.

I'm only doing a very limited edition of 10 copies. If you are interested in acquiring one, please contact me at paul.chenard@hotmail.com

Wheels.ca Gift Ideas

With the Holidays racing towards us at break-neck speed, gift ideas might be dancing in loved-ones heads.

I was very happy to see that Gary Grant of Wheels.ca has done a feature on gift ideas in the current Fall/Winter issue.

He has feature my large laser-cut stainless steel Ferrari GTO limited edition (of 10) art-piece.

Merci, Gary!

Motor Sport Magazine – November 2012

Started as the Brooklands Gazette in 1924, the title changed to the current Motor Sport in 1925.

It is one of the oldest automotive magazines on the planet, and is certainly one of the most respected.

I have the huge honour of having one of my art pieces featured in the “Desirables” section (page 125) of the November 2012 issue of this wonderful magazine.

They are featuring my new limited edition (of 10) laser-cut GTO sketch from stainless steel, which I had powder-coated red. I then hand-painted the white details directly on the piece.

Laser-cut Ferrari GTO

In mid-summer, I received an e-mail from BrandMetal, a Nova Scotia company promoting the fact that they could laser-cut your logo out of stainless steel.

I contacted the owner Mathew to find out what they need to make it happen. The idea I had was to do a pen&ink sketch and have them laser-cut it. I found the contrast of a hand-rendered sketch being laser-cut from steel very intriguing.

After much stumbling around to produce something BrandMetal could actually use, I had the stainless steel cut and powder-coated in red.

Once I got it back, I hand-painted the white highlights onto the red surface. I did the N.A.R.T. logo in colour to create a focal point. 

Everything that you see in black on the piece represents my original sketch, and has been actually laser-cut out, even the Cavallino Rampante of the N.A.R.T. logo! Everything that you see in black in the first photo represents the original sketch. The whole piece is 25"x 10" (63.5cm x 25.4cm) and weighs 4 lbs.

I'm only doing a very limited edition of 10 copies. If you are interested in acquiring one, please contact me at paul.chenard@hotmail.com

I'll be showing it off at our Goodwood Revival Market Stand #61; drop by to see it!
I'll be following this piece up with a blue Cobra Daytona Coupe.

Sebring 1962 - The GTO Starts it’s Winning Ways

The 1962 12 Hours of Sebring was one of the first major races for the brand new 12-cylinder Ferrari 250 GTO.

The initials of this famous racer stand for "Gran Turismo Omologata", Italian for “Grand Touring Homologated”.

The Phil Hill/Olivier Gendebien driven N.A.R.T. GTO #24 was very successful in the race, not only beating all the cars in the GT Class, but finishing the race 2nd overall.

In my most recent sketch below, The N.A.R.T. and Scuderia Serenissima Ferraris are being prepared the night before the race.
Behind the GT Class-winning N.A.R.T. GTO, Luigi Chinetti chats strategy with Phil Hill. In the background is the race-winning 250 TRI/61 of Jo Bonnier and Lucien Bianchi.

Original available, as are limited editions.
Pen&ink and markers on white archival stock
18"x 14" (45.7cm x 35.6cm)  © Paul Chenard 2012

Gran Turismo Omologato – The Famous Ferrari GTO

I you ask a real Ferrari lover which is his or her all-time favorite Ferrari, there is a very good possibility the their choice will be the ‘60s GTO.


Prismacolor pencils on red archival Strathmore paper 12"x 9"
© Paul Chenard 2009
Miguel Morales Collection

Available as a limited edition print.

Consider by many as one of the most beautiful cars in the world, it was designed by Sergio Scaflietti, in collaboration with engineer Mauro Forghieri as a replacement the 250 GT SWB. Wind-tunnel and track tested, powered by a 3.0 Litre V-12, the GTO sported A-arm front suspention, disk brakes, and a five-speed gearbox.

Though it was a street legal, it was conceived to do battle for the World Manufacturers Championship in the prestigious GT Class.

This beauty was also a beast, winning the GT Championship in 1962, 1963, and 1964.

Only 39 GTO’s were ever built, so the value of this prized racer can expected to be between $15 million and $30 million USD.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato: “Machismo” defined

After they introduced their stunning new Touring-bodied DB4 GT in 1959, Aston Martin decided to take on Ferraris SWB 250GTs with their own weapon.



Pen & ink and Prismacolor pencils on Canson green archival stock
© Paul Chenard 2009

They commissioned the Milanese firm of Zagato to make their new car competitive. Young designer Ercole Spada penned a fabulous lightweight “Superleggera” body, “super-light” in Italian, which refers to a Touring-developed construction method of a frame of small-diameter metal tubes built on the main chassis, and covered with aluminum body panels.

The car is a stunning purposeful-looking racer; Doug Nye described it as "a man's car" in his 1982 Salon feature review in Road & Track magazine. It is beautiful from every angle ... rolling sculpture.

Though the Zagato was slightly lighter the original DB4 GT, they were not competitive enough to beat the all-conquering Scuderia Ferrari, which introduced the GTO. They were raced by such famous drivers as Roy Salvadori and Jim Clark.

19 of the Zagatos were built originally, and in 1991, Aston Martin authorized the building of 4 more DB4 GT Zagatos, utilizing unutilized chassis numbers; these were labeled as Sanction II cars. The original cars rarely come up for sale, but if they did, the expected sale price would be at least $3 million USD.