All contents of this site were created by Hector Nunez Realubit. Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, realubitdesign.com
FUTURE PERFECT
Written by Gareth Wardell
"Those contributing to our experiment are from the department of
transportation design, at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena,
California.
Getting the students to take time off from what is a punishing daily schedule
isn't easy, but four picked up the challenge: Simon Coe, Hector Realubit,
Victor Garcia and Nicholas DiLoreto. The brief was straight-forward: design
a 911 that will still look fresh two decades from now, keeping in mind the
technology available and the need to retain traditional 911 styling cues.
Here are just a few of their ideas. Who knows, we may be looking at a
Porsche designer of the future."
An article in March 2006 issue of Total 911 Magazine
COLUMN SIX by Gareth Wardell for Mazda Sport
When I was a kid locomotives were awe-inspiring. And being Scottish the Flying
Scotsman was the god of iron. The green giant pounded between Edinburgh and
London daily in under five hours, breaking records and hearts. To stand in the cab
faced by a battery of brass dials and gauges, tossing shovels of coal into the furnace,
was the stuff of dreams. I doubt it was any different for kids in the USA with its cow
catching, double-engine, behemoths chugging endless trains of carriages across the
Great Plains, coast to coast. No wonder we all wanted to be train drivers when we grew
up: the sounds, the smell, the smoke in our eyes. The apogee of locomotive design in
the UK was the Sir Nigel Gresley, a beast of exquisite Art Deco design never equaled.
Then someone took steam engines away to replace them with anonymous diesels.
Standing on draughty station platforms to be thrilled lost its appeal.
Now we drive fast, powerful cars and bijou citadels called SUVs for our transportation
thrills. We want to design one too, or even a couple once. Hector Realubit took his
dream a stage farther. He became a student of car design. That wasn’t his first
ambition. As a kid in Manila in the Philippines designing aircraft was his dream. He
was shrewd enough to realize he’d be lucky to get part of an aircraft to design but he
might get to design a whole car.
Why Mazda? There were was one car that caught his imagination as a kid, the RX7. It
was a cool car. He hopes to own one, one day. He still appreciates its flowing lines as
well as it innovative Wankel engine. He knows its sibling, the Miata, is a great roadster
but he dislikes the driving position which makes him feel as if a bean on a hill. (The
new Miata has cured that with higher sides and lower seats.) Mazda is a good choice
for a young designer. It isn’t as big as Toyota or as shapeless as Nissan. He won’t get
lost looking for building 84B. Try telling which Toyota is which by identifying the grille;
every one is different. Mazda is a niche company with an immediately recognizable
harmonious house style.
Hector got to thinking: what Mazda needs is a car that says rotary engine all over it. “Not
many folk know what a rotary engine is. I decided to design a Mazda image car, one
designed around the shape of the engine. During the design process I was influenced
by many things, but the basis of the final design was the 1993 RX7. In terms of surface
treatment, its silhouette was dynamic, lean yet powerful. I call my concept, the Mazda
Apex, named after the three points of the triangular motor.” The orange wedge you see
below is the result of months of shaping and refining.
Page 2
The sweeping line on the side of the car comes from an F1 racer inside a wind tunnel
with the air visibility flowing over the wheels. The wrap-around windshield echoes a
racing driver’s helmet and visor. I like that but am less happy about the two-tone paint
treatment. I have never ever seen it work on any car, not Corvettes of old, Austin
Healeys, and especially not the ludicrous Bugatti Veyron. I prefer his original single rear
window to the split one he finally chosen.
Interior space is similar to the new MX5. Hector wanted to give the driver a feeling of
sitting inside a jetfighter cockpit. Sitting in a narrow cabin gives the feeling of “wearing
the car” rather than merely sitting in it. The seating position is unconventional, with the
passenger slightly back from the driver. I recall that conceit in the exquisite Porsche
Boxster concept, dropped because of the costs of manufacture. I’d have though sitting
back from the driver an irritation, ever so dangerous. When chatting, the driver is
tempted to turn around to speak to you face-on.
Hector neatly undermines my comment with modesty. “I readily admit I have much more
to learn about design; I’m often told my Mazda concepts are more emotion than
anything else.” I think he has captured that perfectly. Emotion: isn’t that what turns
heads as the car passes you in the street? Who says, there goes a great sports car;
look at the cost saving bits the company bean counters forced on the designers? I hope
Hector realizes his dream to work for Mazda full-time.
© COPYRIGHT GARETH WARDELL – 2005 (800 words)
When I was a kid locomotives were awe-inspiring. And being Scottish the Flying
Scotsman was the god of iron. The green giant pounded between Edinburgh and
London daily in under five hours, breaking records and hearts. To stand in the cab
faced by a battery of brass dials and gauges, tossing shovels of coal into the furnace,
was the stuff of dreams. I doubt it was any different for kids in the USA with its cow
catching, double-engine, behemoths chugging endless trains of carriages across the
Great Plains, coast to coast. No wonder we all wanted to be train drivers when we grew
up: the sounds, the smell, the smoke in our eyes. The apogee of locomotive design in
the UK was the Sir Nigel Gresley, a beast of exquisite Art Deco design never equaled.
Then someone took steam engines away to replace them with anonymous diesels.
Standing on draughty station platforms to be thrilled lost its appeal.
Now we drive fast, powerful cars and bijou citadels called SUVs for our transportation
thrills. We want to design one too, or even a couple once. Hector Realubit took his
dream a stage farther. He became a student of car design. That wasn’t his first
ambition. As a kid in Manila in the Philippines designing aircraft was his dream. He
was shrewd enough to realize he’d be lucky to get part of an aircraft to design but he
might get to design a whole car.
Why Mazda? There were was one car that caught his imagination as a kid, the RX7. It
was a cool car. He hopes to own one, one day. He still appreciates its flowing lines as
well as it innovative Wankel engine. He knows its sibling, the Miata, is a great roadster
but he dislikes the driving position which makes him feel as if a bean on a hill. (The
new Miata has cured that with higher sides and lower seats.) Mazda is a good choice
for a young designer. It isn’t as big as Toyota or as shapeless as Nissan. He won’t get
lost looking for building 84B. Try telling which Toyota is which by identifying the grille;
every one is different. Mazda is a niche company with an immediately recognizable
harmonious house style.
Hector got to thinking: what Mazda needs is a car that says rotary engine all over it. “Not
many folk know what a rotary engine is. I decided to design a Mazda image car, one
designed around the shape of the engine. During the design process I was influenced
by many things, but the basis of the final design was the 1993 RX7. In terms of surface
treatment, its silhouette was dynamic, lean yet powerful. I call my concept, the Mazda
Apex, named after the three points of the triangular motor.” The orange wedge you see
below is the result of months of shaping and refining.
Page 2
The sweeping line on the side of the car comes from an F1 racer inside a wind tunnel
with the air visibility flowing over the wheels. The wrap-around windshield echoes a
racing driver’s helmet and visor. I like that but am less happy about the two-tone paint
treatment. I have never ever seen it work on any car, not Corvettes of old, Austin
Healeys, and especially not the ludicrous Bugatti Veyron. I prefer his original single rear
window to the split one he finally chosen.
Interior space is similar to the new MX5. Hector wanted to give the driver a feeling of
sitting inside a jetfighter cockpit. Sitting in a narrow cabin gives the feeling of “wearing
the car” rather than merely sitting in it. The seating position is unconventional, with the
passenger slightly back from the driver. I recall that conceit in the exquisite Porsche
Boxster concept, dropped because of the costs of manufacture. I’d have though sitting
back from the driver an irritation, ever so dangerous. When chatting, the driver is
tempted to turn around to speak to you face-on.
Hector neatly undermines my comment with modesty. “I readily admit I have much more
to learn about design; I’m often told my Mazda concepts are more emotion than
anything else.” I think he has captured that perfectly. Emotion: isn’t that what turns
heads as the car passes you in the street? Who says, there goes a great sports car;
look at the cost saving bits the company bean counters forced on the designers? I hope
Hector realizes his dream to work for Mazda full-time.
© COPYRIGHT GARETH WARDELL – 2005 (800 words)
An article in March 2006 issue of Mazda Sport Magazine
2007 Nissan Altima TV Commercial
Director: Max Malkin
HSI Productions, Culver City
I created most of the visuals and car sketched for this television commercial. I
thoroughly enjoyed myself on the set during the filming of this spot.
San Diego Automotive Museum
Work exhibited under the theme:
High Art: Concept Cars and Automobile Design
2008 Renault TV Commercial
Director: Philippe Andre
Company Films, Los Angels
Designed, developed and oversaw the building of 5 full-size vehicles
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