The sprint race based on a historical model with the variety of participating vehicles from 1896 to modern times is the ideal platform for a new design award format.
Prof. James Kelly from Pforzheim University, Transportation Design and Tobias Aichele from the PR and event agency Solitude GmbH launched such a format. According to it, vehicles are evaluated at full acceleration. After all, these have a very different feel at full speed. "They claw their way into the asphalt, can be heard and also smelled. A car or motorcycle appeals to all the senses when sprinting," Aichele emphasizes.
On Saturday, September 9, 2023, top-class designers judged the 100 or so participants in the Kilomètre Lancé at full speed at Samedan Airport. Prizes have been awarded to 1st to 3rd place in the automobiles and a first place in the motorcycles. The jury at the Kilomètre Lancé 2023 consisted of:
Toni Hatter
had his first design job at Opel after graduating from university before moving to Porsche in 1986. In autumn 2020, he ended his career at Style Porsche after 34 years. One of his favourite projects was the design of the last air-cooled Porsche 911 of the 993 generation. After the great success of the 993 Carrera and several design awards, Tony and his team also designed the Porsche 993 Turbo. From 1995 onwards, he continued to specialise in the design of racing cars such as the 911 GT1, which also won at Le Mans in 1998. This was followed by the design of the Porsche Carrera GT (Type 980) super sports car. Today, Tony travels worldwide as a judge to the most important classic car events.
Prof. James Kelly
first studied industrial design in Newcastle, UK, and successfully completed his studies at the Royal College of Arts in London. Since 1992, he has been a permanent member of the Design University in Pforzheim. To this day, this is one of the most important forges for top young designers. James Kelly sees it as a balancing act, on the one hand to bring students into industry after graduation, on the other hand to show courage in design without irritating the later clientele for new vehicles.
Britta Pukall
is founder, CEO and member of the board of directors of milani and the LCG larssoncreative group. After her design and architecture studies and the corresponding master's degree from the University of Applied Arts Vienna, she started her professional career at what was probably the largest and most internationally renowned design agency at the time. There, Britta was already appointed the youngest business manager at the age of 28. As a juror of the most prestigious awards, Britta enjoys a high professional reputation and is repeatedly requested due to her competences. She was president of the Raymond Loewy Foundation and a member of the St. Moritz Design Summit.
Grant Larson
Born in Billings, Montana, USA, Grant has been a designer at Porsche since 1989, and currently holds the title of Director of Special Projects for the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur. Prior to that, he was an exterior designer at Audi AG in Munich. An early-age passion has for cars was fueled by his role as curator (or car-duster) at the former Brooks Stevens Museum in Mequon, Wisconsin. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and a Bachelor of Science with Distinction from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Grant was the lead designer in projects such as the first Boxster prototype, the Carrera GT show car, various 911s, Spyders and Speedsters, several race cars, and limited editions such as the 2018 935 race car and the 911 Sport Classic. Larson is a big 356 fan and has a small collection of air-cooled Porsches and VWs.
