GUARD TRANSMISSION

After his internship at Porsche,Tom returned to Art Center tofinish his studies and graduate.Following graduation, he did astint at BMW Designworks inCalifornia and is now on the fulltime design staff with Ferrari.While in Weissach, Tom workedwith another recent Art Centeralum. In 2012, Art Center studentJulien Bilodeau put together a911 concept study. His conceptcaught the eye of Mitja Borkertof the Porsche Advanced DesignStudio who was visiting ArtCenter. That encounter paved theway to an internship in Weissach.After the internship and a seniorthesis project at Porsche to satisfyremaining coursework requirements,Julien graduated from ArtCenter and started as an exteriordesigner at Porsche in May 2013.Among the various objectivesof an internship program, Tomnotes that one reason Porscheutilizes interns is to get a steadystream of fresh perspective. Tomsays that interns “May not beversed in all the things ‘you can’tdo’ in modern cars,” and thatcan lead in interesting directions.While Tom and Julien hadknowledge and respect for thebrand, some very successful ArtCenter students have done wellprecisely because they haven’t beenburdened by history. As JasonHill says, “Porsche already has the911. They don’t need another 911.They’re looking for what’s next.”There are many Art Center alumniwho have had a role at Porscheover the years. Each has broughttheir own fresh perspective, andsome have gone on to new adventures.Regardless, a steady streamof Art Center students and alumniseem to find their way to Porschein one form or another.Art Center graduate BenjaminDimson has been with theCalifornia Mercedes design studiosince 1991. He has worked oneverything from S-class, C-classand SLK designs to Maybachdesigns. However, after graduatingfrom Art Center in 1980, heworked in Weissach as an exteriordesigner on projects like the 944Turbo, 928 S4, 964, and 959. Hethen spent three years in Porsche’sstyle group, working on projectssuch as the 964 Speedster andPanamericana show car.1993 Art Center graduate HarkanSaracoglu spent several years withFord in Cologne before moving toPorsche. During a stint of almost15 years with Porsche, Harkanwas involved in exterior designduties for various iterations ofthe 997 (including the GT2 andGT2 RS) and the 987 Boxster andCayman. More recently, Harkanwas involved in the design of thePORSCHE 918 SPYDER CONCEPTHARKAN SARACOGLU918 Spyder and RSR showcarsand the eventual 918 productioncar. In 2012, Harkan madea major change to join CheryMotors, the state-owned Chinesecar manufacturer, and head up itsdesign studio.Freeman Thomas, these daysbetter known as the Directorof Strategic Design for Ford inNorth America, also has rootswith Porsche. After graduatingfrom Art Center, he worked atPorsche from 1983 through 1987.He went on to play a major rolein designing the modern versionof the Volkswagen Beetle and theoriginal Audi TT concept car.Freeman’s Porsche sympathiesmanifested in the founding ofthe R Gruppe Porsche groupthat makes creative performancemodifications to early Porscheswith little use for originality orboring cars.To be sure, any concept or roadgoingproduction model at anycar company will involve a largeteam. Any car manufacturerwill have its own look and feeland styling attributes that maketheir products unique. It is noaccident, however, that the bestknownadditions to the Porschefamily tree in recent history havebeen touched by talent that wasdeveloped at the modest Pasadenacampus of Art Center. lTIME ATTACK 9 - 10 — PERFORMANCE DRIVING SERIES 3 - 4WHADD’YA MEAN,IT’S NOT A P-CAR?BY NEALSON LAWRENCE THE MUSTANG KIDAfter being away at college inNorth Carolina for a year, returningto The Streets with the club I starteddriving with three years agowas a very exciting day for me. Despitethe heat, turnout was great,and people brought all sorts ofcars out, from full on purpose-builtrace cars to weekend warriors,daily-drivers, and everything inbetween. It was great to see mytrack-mates and friends, but whatPHOTOGRAPHY BY CALIPHOTOGRAPHYmade the paddock environmentvery exciting to me was the turnoutof non-Porsche cars to accompanyme in the “black sheep” category.Some of the non-Porsche cars toattend the event included MazdaMX-5 Miatas, Cadillac CTS-V wagon,a couple BMW M-Series cars, aDatsun 240-z, Audi R8, Lotus Exige(Lotus Cup), and my very own ’02Ford Mustang GT. Please excuseme if I missed a few.Thanks to Stewart Reed, Jason Hilland Tom Harezlak for their generousassistance. Any errors in thearticle are solely the responsibilityof the author.The Mustang Kid got some speed.38 VELOCITY AUGUST 2015AUGUST 2015 VELOCITY 39