Student wins E-type sculpture competition

| 19 Jul 2011

Design student Claudio Gianluca Barbato from Bedford has won first prize in a competition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type worth a sculpture.

Claudio was one of forty students who put forward work for the elimination panel consisting of tutor David Browne, CMC boss and competition sponsor Peter Neumark, Ian Callum and David Barzilay, felt had created the best sculptures.

The winning sculptures were unveiled on Saturday July 16th at the  Cholmondeley Pageant of Power.

Second in the competition was Junyi Qu aged 24, from Weihai city in Shandong Province, China, and third Borys Dabrowski aged 21, from Goleniow in Poland. All three students have been awarded with cash prizes.

In addition to the cash prize, Claudio Gianluca Barbato’s winning sculpture will be cast and produced in a five limited and numbered edition that is to be auctioned to raise money for The Henry Surtees Foundation.

The foundation was set up after the death of Henry Surtees and acts as a resource for young people up to the age of 18 by providing advice and assistance and organising programmes of physical, educational and other activities.

John Surtees said: “ The beauty, but with that touch of aggression that was projected by the E-Type drew words of appreciation even from Italy, long considered the home of sporting design. As a past owner it is a pleasure to again be associated with Peter and with this competition and I thank him and his team, and of course the 50 years of the E-Type celebration, for the support for Henry’s Foundation.”

Judge Ian Callum, the head of design at Jaguar Cars, said: “All three models were exceptional in the expression of form and movement.” He added: “For me, Claudio's model presented the clearer statement of the simplicity, beauty and dynamics of the E-Type.”

Winner of the competition, Claudio Gianluca Barbato, said: “The E-type Jaguar is one of the most beautiful cars of all time, a shape design so successful that its influence can still be seen in some of today's Grand Tourers.  I’ve had a passion for cars since I was a child and dream of being a car designer working in the automotive industry.”