EB Motorsport supplies its lightweight EB Porsche body panels (hashtag #madeinyorkshire) to customers all over the world, but not all customers put these panels on classic 911s. Belgium’s Jean Denis Claessens and his partner, Edmond Thonnard, create interesting artworks using the composite bonnets as emotive canvasses.

One of the pioneers of Belgian street art, Edmond Thonnard has been a video decorator, an exhibition scenographer, a designer and a rock singer. His work has been seen in the biggest global WWI exhibition and in the Liege House of Science and the European Space Centre. Jean-Denis began his career as a graphic designer and moved into advertising in the early 1990s, later developing into film and documentary making.

The duo now work together, creating race-inspired artworks on composite and metal Porsche panels. Each work is an individually hand-made piece created without vinyl. Every bonnet, every door is unique, freely inspired from the decorations of legendary race cars and signed by the artist. The painting is made using the techniques of graffiti art, with the patina added using slag from the race, including oil, tyre rubber and other secret ingredients.

Two art-on-bonnet products are available. Composite bonnets weigh 5 kilograms and are a reproduction to honour the lightness of the great cult race car: the Porsche 935. 
Steel bonnets weigh 15 kilograms and are real bonnet from a used and iconic Porsche 911. Each work features a riveted panel on the back to prove the authenticity and signed by the artist.

“We import EB panels from England to Belgium as they are the best quality and my clients want a real 911 bonnet; not an ersatz for decoration,” says Jean-Denis. Seems like a cool way to use a lightweight part. I would love to hang something like this: having it painted and then sticking it on a car for a real 6-Hour race – maybe Spa – would be cool. Learn more about these artworks at aftertherace.be.