In accordance with latest paleontological research, the Tyrannosaurus Rex was not a quick creature, with a most working pace probably as sluggish as 10 m.p.h. Rexy, the present factors chief in IMSA’s GTD Professional area, is way a lot faster.
Rexy, brilliant inexperienced, with a toothy grill for a mouth and teensy arms on the door panels, is a Porsche 911 GT3 R—or, as he’s affectionately known as, a 911 GT3 Rawr. He’s joined by a Barbie-fied twin sister named Roxy and a purple dragon LMP2 automobile that goes by Spike — and all three standout liveries collectively make up the AO Racing group. For apparent causes, the reptilian trio has made an indelible impression on the paddock and its followers over the previous two years. And their story begins with a cartoonish helmet design and a few pleasant competitors with a unicorn named Sparklefarts.
AO Racing is a comparatively new identify within the sportscar paddock, born in the direction of the tip of 2022 when co-founders PJ Hyett and Gunnar Jeannette needed to compete within the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship season. For the primary races in January—the 2023 Roar Earlier than the 24 and the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona—AO Racing ran a Porsche Kind-992 Porsche 911 GT3 R with a livery that was slightly close to and pricey to each house owners’ hearts: their No. 80 automobile wore similar livery a the Porsche 935 that took the win on the 1983 Rolex 24. A automobile that, not so coincidentally, Hyett now owns. Jeannette, who’s additionally Workforce Principal of the AO Racing Porsche, additionally had a private connection, together with his father having labored on that successful 935. However the group actually needed a livery of its personal for the remainder of the 2023 season.
The helmet that impressed all of it
Photograph by: Porsche
Inspiration got here within the type of the customized helmet that Hyett wore to race in Rolex, which had been designed to maintain his youngsters near him on monitor. One aspect featured a prehistoric dinosaur scene for his dino-obsessed son; the opposite had a “fantasy unicorn” for his daughter. The group was pushing for a livery that youngsters and Porsche followers would love — however the Flying Lizard’s Tremendous Trofeo Lamborghini had run the 2022 season dressed as a pink unicorn playfully dubbed “Sparklefarts.” So AO pivoted to the dinosaur theme; particularly, a T-Rex.
With the assistance of designer TJ Harley, a pal of the group’s, Rexy the brilliant inexperienced No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 Rawr debuted on the 2023 Sebring race. Harley’s design utilized the GT3’s uniquely curvy physique strains to intensify Rexy’s dino options: its flared rear fenders had been haunches, his little T-Rex arms flanked the door handles, and the entrance finish was a cartoonishly flattened dino face with green-tinted headlights as eyes the low-set grille becoming completely into Rexy’s toothy grin. This was not a automobile you’ll miss on the monitor all through observe, qualifying, and the 12 hours of racing on the unforgiving bumps of Sebring Worldwide Raceway. I used to be there within the crowd that weekend, and I bear in mind smiling each time it glided by.
Rexy arrived on the paddock accompanied by a uniquely lovable cartoon mascot, stickers for everybody, and a group member in an identical inexperienced inflatable dinosaur costume giving “excessive”-fives (insofar as a T-rex can).
Roxy arrived later within the yr. As a associate of the Venture 1 group within the WEC, AO wanted two Porsche GT3s working directly. As an alternative of duping Rexy, they cooked up his sister, with Hyett’s daughter selecting the recent pink coloration plus Roxy’s blue and purple claws. She debuted on the 2023 Michelin GT Problem at VIR (Virginia Worldwide Raceway), and The Battle of the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — timed virtually completely to Hyett’s daughter’s birthday — subbing for Rexy who was working with the Venture 1 group in Fuji and on the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Spike, AO Racing’s LMP2 automobile on monitor.
Photograph by: AO Racing
AO prehistoric household grew to 3 for the 2024 season when the group expanded to a second full-time automobile in IMSA’s LMP2 class. The issue was discovering a creature that, as Kelly Brouillet, the group’s public relations consultant defined, “match the sophisticated physique of the LMP2, and likewise wouldn’t be intimidating to youngsters.” It took a number of iterations of coloration combos, wings, tails, and tooth earlier than a wonderfully purple Spike the Dragon debuted at Daytona in January for the group’s one-year IMSA anniversary.
2024 additionally got here with a “promotion” for Rexy: AO moved as much as the GTD Professional class for the season — on the similar time that noticed the Canadian plaid Pfaff Porsche racer depart the category in an unrelated transfer. The step up has labored for Rexy and group: AO’s brilliant inexperienced T-Rex owns the lead in school factors, with wins this season in Laguna Seca and Detroit. Rexy earned a gold tooth for every victory — a unusual addition impressed by feedback from followers on the group’s social media.
Followers getting autographs at AO Racing’s paddock.
Photograph by: Porsche
“For a few years, the unofficial ‘hottest group’ within the IMSA paddock, based mostly on strains throughout the autograph session has been Corvette Racing – and so they nonetheless draw an amazing crowd,” says Nate Siebens, Director of Communications at IMSA. “However Rexy and Spike (and Roxy when she reveals up) have undoubtedly made an impression within the paddock.”
They usually’ve actually made an impression at Porsche. Volker Holzmeyer, President and CEO of Porsche Motorsport North America, mentioned AO Racing created one thing particular — an identification that has energized fan curiosity, catching the eyes of the youngest followers, whereas backing it up with an on-track efficiency that’s turned Roxy, Rexy, and Spike into grownup favorites, too.
Wander a monitor on an IMSA race weekend and it’s inconceivable to overlook the influence of the AO Racing’s technicolor Jurassic presence: mascot-covered merch is all over the place whereas followers wave brilliant white AO Racing flags or plush toy variations of their favourite character. Some followers now present up sporting inflatable dino fits. Rexy and Roxy are getting Scorching Wheels diecast variations that go on sale — the outcomes of a deal that began coming collectively throughout the Rexy’s first IMSA season in 2023.
You gained’t see Rexy at VIR this weekend for the Michelin GT Problem at VIR, however Roxy will probably be tearing up the monitor within the GTD Professional class for her brother, in all her scorching pink dino glory. With three races to go, it’s fully potential that on the finish of the IMSA season, we see a return to the highest of the meals chain for the Tyrannosaurus Rex as AO Racing properties in on a possible title end within the championship
