Indigenous Inspired Truck Assist Racing Livery Revealed

Truck Assist Racing are excited to unveil their special indigenous inspired livery for the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown.

 As the official Indigenous round of the Supercars championship, MSR are honoured to be able to pay our respects to the Larrakia people and the land on which we will be racing on at Hidden Valley Raceway this weekend.

The artwork, designed by local Larrakia artist Trent Bundirrik Lee, shares the story of the Kapok tree which signs a change in season. When coming up with the design, Trent said he really took into consideration the time of year that the Supercars Championship are visiting Darwin and the season in which we are entering.

The design features a pod casing opening with a white cotton like material that surrounds the seeds. This is replicated with the pod like shapes and a blue dot which symbolises the fluffy material. 

For the traditional owners of the Darwin region and Larrakia land, this is an important time of year as the flower on the tree is eatable and the tree itself also has many uses for their people.

The team’s Commercial Director Al Bye said, “It’s been an absolute pleasure and an honour working with Trent on the design of the Truck Assist Racing cars for this week’s Merlin Darwin Triple Crown event. 

“He embraced the colours of our race team whilst keeping his artwork authentic to the Larrakia nation which was really cool to be a part of.

“Right now, in Darwin we can see the Kapok tree in flower and just as they represent the change in season, Darwin also represents a pivotal part of our season too, so I really connected with this artwork.”

Trent is a born and bred Larrakia man who has been painting and carving since he was 8 years old. He is very active in his community, creating lots of artworks, carvings, and making artifacts; painting murals around Darwin, and engaging with the disengaged youth by running cultural activities. 

Some of Trent’s recent work includes designing the guernsey (jersey) for fellow Gold Coast based national sporting and AFL team the Gold Coast Suns.

When asked about what it meant to be asked to create this livery artwork and see his design on the cars, Trent said it was a very proud moment.

“Obviously being a part of any sort of team, even if it is just providing the artwork is a very proud moment for myself. 

“I used to go to the V8 Supercars when they first came to Darwin so to see my artwork going around the track this weekend will be another very proud moment.”

The team at Truck Assist Racing would like to thank Trent for his great work and all of the Larrakia people for their support of our great sport. They are a very special community with a very long history of art that we are honoured to represent on our race cars this weekend.

You can catch this incredible livery on track in the top end from 17-19 June, 2022.