As anyone who has ever attended a signs and graphics industry exhibition will have witnessed, interested show-goers gravitate to stands that are demonstrating wrapping applications. The format is pretty established. The ‘subject’ is often something small and challenging, a Smart Car for example, and the delivery is all about technical expertise and material capability.

This year, a new event will specialise in wrapping. WrapFest will occupy the Silverstone race track for a couple of days in April and give anyone attending a chance to see and experience wrapping at the peak of its game. Experts will be demonstrating the latest material developments and the hardware on show will be outranking Smart Cars by some margin.

Visitors to the Metamark exhibit will get to see an Audi R8 of some pedigree being wrapped in Metamark materials. The car is a winner from the GT3 race series and it’s a pretty serious piece of very competitive kit owned and operated by Steller Racing.

Metamark was introduced to Steller by Leeds based Widd Signs who supply Steller Engineering with signs and graphics. After a period of testing, Metamark materials were specified by the team for its distinctive racing livery.

Racing vehicles represent something of a challenge to would-be wrappers and material manufacturers. The application is demanding as designs are by their very nature colourful and complex. There’s not a lot of room for application error and the materials need to be able to endure what’s obviously an extreme environment. Racing has informed much of Metamark’s materials development over the years and will continue to do so.

It has always been said that wrapping is something that can be taught but only to an extent. Reducing all the learned elements to practice and becoming good at it takes practice and plenty of it. ‘Practice makes perfect,’ it’s said, but it also makes ‘permanent.’ Poor technique will deliver poor results. WrapFest will give attendees the opportunity to meet with real functional experts.

Metamark will also be using WrapFest to announce its Metamark Academy. The Academy will be delivery high-calibre training designed to establish the foundation skills needed to become an accomplished wrapper. Working with Metamark materials, The Metamark Academy will be able to teach those with little or no application skill how to delivery complex wraps from preparation to after-care.