The Noise.
Protest Art celebrating the wonderful sound of the V8 era in Formula One.
The Sculptor:
Mike O’Connor has spent his career working within Formula One, and is passionate about the V8 and V10 Era.
As an owner driver himself Mike can be found on track at Historic F1 Events around Europe and the US West Coast driving his Arrows FA14.
His Highly successful inaugural exhibition at Dadiani Fine Art of Cork Street, Mayfair, London, was extended for an unprecedented seven weeks, and sold out in the Summer of 2017.
Mike has a Bachelor of Arts from the Southampton School of Art, and following his career around the world as an engineer, now works from a small Cottage Workshop in the Suffolk countryside. Each piece is unique and created from an original and Race Used Exhaust. This Collection consists entirely of those mated to the most infamous F1 engine of the recent age, the Ferrari 056 V8, an incredible 19,000rpm engine that made the noise so terribly missed from current F1 racing.
Outside of the industry it is little know that the exhausts of the car are often a Race Consumable, so each set is only used once. This enables the individual pieces in the collection to be traced back to the date, track and even driver on which they were raced.
As there were only ever 19 sets of these exhausts created the collection is highly limited. Each set can be seen to have the original 056 Stamp cast on to the Headers by Ferrari.
Deliberately reflecting the shape of a musical instrument, the pieces are a homage to the beautiful noise the Inconel pipework once created.
Collected by a number of A List clients Mikes work has also been featured in The Sunday Times “How to Spend it” supplement Summer of 2018, The Week, Formula Life Magazine, Private Motor Club, GQ, Octane and Boat International. His work is currently exhibited in Macau and Art Basel Miami.
See the website www.VintageFormula.com for further details. Having an extensive network within F1
Mike is also able to undertake commissions in Carbon and Inconel using original race used parts.
Currently, Available Pieces from the Collection “The Noise” are:
Piece number 3:
This set is 24krt Gold Plated to commemorate the fact it was raced on the most glamorous track of the season. Finishing in Fifth place these exhausts were mated to the Ferrari 056 Engine that powered Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber C30 to the teams best finish of the 2011 season.
Piece Number 14
Hand polished to a mirror like finish and mounted upon a block of solid Italian Granite Piece No 14 again originates from a Ferrari 056 engine, raced by Sergio Perez at the British Grand Prix of 2011. Driving for Sauber at the time “Checo” enjoyed one of his best race finishes of the season. His career subsequently has gone from Strength to Strength. A good collectors piece that will surely rise in value as popularity for the Mexican driver grows.