Lorenzo

It’s 1965 and Jim Clark wins the Indy 500 with a British chassis from Lotus, and a rear-mounted Ford V8.  A revolutionary win for the first-ever rear-mounted engine Indy car. In the same year, Jim breaks a still unbeaten record and wins the F1.  These were romantic, daring, and exciting times in motorsport.  For the children of this era of motorsport, the drivers were their heroes.

Today we have live feeds, internet and media, sharing updates and news.  Back then TV was a rare possession and hearing the updates on events would probably take a day or two for the general public to get a full story.

Let’s stay in this era and take a trip back to Venezuela.  A place more isolated from the mainstream.  News and updates on motorsport would have been slow coming through.  The children probably got the news of their driving heroes one, maybe two weeks later.  One of those children, Lorenzo Benetton son of an Italian family line, had such a growing passion for cars, in a place where many children were following baseball and local sports. His growing passion for art had started. 

Drawing airplanes and trucks.  Influenced by his father as a manufacturer of trucks. Slowly Lorenzo drew more and more cars. Lorenzo’s father had decided to make a return to his homeland, and to the city of Treviso in Northern Italy. A beautiful city approximately 30 minutes drive north of Venice. A city home to Tiramsu, Prosecco wine, and Red Radicchio. This tore Lorenzo from friends but was to be a move that would benefit him. 

Lorenzo found himself in a world of motoring wonder.  Magazines and stories unfolding within days. His favorite Autosprint magazine was a pleasure to read each Sunday, with amazing colour photography. Images and stories containing all the amazing Italian marques, such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati, and live TV races were shown.  Little did Lorenzo know, he would some years later find himself as a supplier to these marques with a sophisticated CAE engineering software tool.  Quite possibly having a lot to do with future wins of these marques.  

Let’s fast forward, by approximately 30 years.  Lorenzo is now with family.  His daughter had asked for some help to find a dress in the garage.  Whilst rummaging around a large trunk, Lorenzo pulls out a much-forgotten painting that he had done many years ago. A painting of a 1980 Ligier JS11 driven by Pironi that had yet to be completed.  This brought back memories of old, and inspired Lorenzo. He said to himself “I don’t want to die leaving a Lorenzo unfinished”.  Lorenzo wanted to complete this painting.  

Almost there completing the painting, Lorenzo pulled a new sheet of paper and started the painting again. This was the day his passion for art once again began boiling up in his blood. With every future painting Lorenzo would ensure that each had to be better than the last.

Lorenzo was given the opportunity to work as an engineer with “back office” engineers at Ferrari, and as an artist to meet some important persons such as Mr. Gian Paolo Dallara, Horacio Pagani, Mauro Forghieri, Aldo Costa, and more.

Mr. Dallara has Lorenzo’s artwork dedicated to his own “Stradale” but, while Lorenzo preferred to hang it at his office, and share it with customers for their viewing pleasure, it was so much enjoyed that it was taken home to enjoy. An offer to exhibit Lorenzo’s artworks at the Dallara Academy was made.  Horacio Pagani enjoyed his painting of a Porsche 917, and thus bought it for his own home collection.

Lorenzo has a hyper-realistic style. Experimenting with new techniques, added to Lorenzo’s attention to detail, his style evolved with each painting he completed.  

Lorenzo paints under commission.  Drawing in the customer’s visions and wishes to create individual pieces for people and the public alike to enjoy for years to come.

To enjoy some of his many works, head over to his website.  Within you’ll find yourself in another era and world of motoring art.

Maybe you’re looking to commission a painting of a car you own or a driver that you admire.  From Material to portrait, whatever your wishes, Lorenzo will poetically translate them to paper.