Epicenter Project Spotlight-December 2025

Every once in a while, a project comes through the shop that makes you stop, smile, and go, yeah… this one’s special.This was one of those and is why it was chosen for Epicenter Project Spotlight - December 2025.

Vivian Campbell — yes, that Vivian Campbell — had a custom Mirage R4 built by Thompson Racing Fabrication. And when I say this car is stout, I mean it. Purpose-built, fast, and absolutely one of a kind.

We also know it’s a great ride because… we got to hop in for a ride along and do a few laps in it.

Viv wanted the wrap to pay respect to the bands that shaped him as an artist. His R4 uses elements from Def Leppard and Dio album covers for the main elements and logos from all the bands he's been apart of as supporting elements. (Fun fact- there were 2 "Sweet Savage" bands in the 80s. We learned something new). Because of his direct connection to the bands, we were able to legally use the copyrighted material in the design, which made this project even more unique.

That said… nothing was easy about this one (in the best way).

Most of the original artwork was created in the 1980s — long before clean vector files were a thing. So every element had to be redrawn from scratch. Each element posed its own unique challenge and many many hours were accumulated to make it as exact as possible.

To top off the unique project -There was a tight window between testing & the next event, and the only way the car was going to get wrapped was if I (Carmen) went to the car. Ryan, owner of TRF coordinated the flights/lodging (Very generous of you Ryan!) to New Hampshire. The car was wrapped on-site at Team O'Neils .

These types of projects do not come by often. I'm grateful for the opportunity and happy to be able to share this small slice of the experience with you.