LACHLAN Collis is a lifelong Supercars fan whose first memory of the V8 category is watching the 2006 Bathurst 1000 with his father.

But the General Motors-adoring, Brisbane-based software designer never anticipated having a visible impact on the championship he so passionately has supported.

That is, until two moments which led to him being the unlikely inspiration for Supercars’ new television graphics suite.

Now, before you say it, yes there were teething issues with the operating of the graphics at the Sydney 500 which need tidying up. Collis in any case is the man responsible for their design, not their actual deployment.

“My fiancée Chloe watches a lot of F1, and she loves watching the totem with all the team icons on there. She really understands how the teams are all going during a race,” Collis, 26, explained to V8 Sleuth.

“I love Supercars, have watched it for years and years and years.

“She’s tried to watch it, she wants to go for Red Bull, and she’s like ‘I just want to know where Red Bull is. I don’t know their numbers, I just want to look at that totem and know exactly where they are’.

“And I think with the audience that Supercars are trying to strike now as well, it makes sense.

“I’m a software designer, so I’ve just flipped open my laptop and gone ‘what could a Supercars totem look like if I put team logos on there?’ I just did up a concept and showed her.”

The idea then went on the backburner for several months before Collis got stuck in again, this time developing all sorts of variations to cover off race situations and so on. Then came time to put forward his extensive project.

“It was like, what’s the worst that could happen? They could be like ‘cool, thanks, goodbye’ – or it could turn into what’s happened,” he said.

They say, it’s who you know, not what you know. Well, Collis didn’t know anyone from Supercars.

“It was pretty much a cold email,” he said.

Pic: Ross Gibb

“I went onto the website and found the careers page and the direct email there, and then I just did up an email and made up a presentation where I talk through it all.

“So I looked at F1, NASCAR, IndyCar, just all the different totems and compared them all to how we could present ours, and Supercars’ one from last year as well, and then just came up with the design that we’ve got for this year now.

“I just cold emailed and sent in that and then she just passed it onto Nath (Prendergast, Supercars’ head of broadcast).”

That initial email was fired off in August. What followed was a hectic period of development.

“In all honesty, out of everything we’ve done, I would say only 30 percent is live,” said Collis.

“There’s a lot of other really cool things that will come out this year that are still yet to come.”