Ride of his life
A young Kiwi is making his mark as one of only six designers working for a luxury Italian motorcycle company.
A Kiwi is making his mark in a small team of Ducati motorcycle designers.
Sam McCafferty couldn’t quite believe it when he found himself barrelling down an Italian highway on a Ducati with one of the world’s top motorcycle design teams. The 27-year-old Massey University graduate is one of only six vehicle designers at the Italian luxury motorcycle brand, helping to craft sexy, innovative performance bikes of the future.
The former Wellingtonian well remembers the surreal ride as the team headed to enduro training soon after he joined the company in March 2017.
“We were all in a line on the highway from Bologna to Florence going at a rate of knots, all on different Ducatis, and in the middle of that I was, like, wow, this is not where I expected to be a year ago … all on these dream bikes going towards Florence to do training in a dream location.”
For McCafferty, scoring a job with a premium global brand such as Ducati shows it’s possible for New Zealand-trained designers to take on the world.
“You are not limited by being in New Zealand or going to a New Zealand university. In fact, being a New Zealander actually works quite well, because everybody is a
“You are not limited by being in New Zealand or going to a New Zealand university … actually, everybody is a little bit curious about you.”
little bit curious about you.”
New Zealanders have a history of shaking up the world of transport design, having spawned such innovators as Bruce McLaren, Burt Munro and John Britten. Industrial designers such as Danny Coster have also been making their mark at Apple and GoPro.
Perhaps the “headstrongness” of the Kiwi character is an advantage, McCafferty says. “A belief that if somebody else can do it, I can, too, and probably better.”
DRAWING ON HIS BACKGROUND
His love of drawing and vehicles runs in the family. His grandfather, John McCafferty Sr, was a fan of cars and bikes, owning a fleet of vehicles, including an “outrageously yellow” Porsche 911 turbo.
“When he would pick me up from school, I was the coolest kid around.”
His father, John, a doctor, is also a car buff and they have always enjoyed analysing Formula 1 races together. Nicola, his mother, is an award-winning artist who filled their Eastbourne house with art and shared her skills and love of drawing. “I’m a pretty good mix of them both,” McCafferty says.
When his mother wanted to keep her young son entertained on a long trip, she had only to give him a car magazine. “It would keep me quiet for hours. That’s where the love of transport started. Once I realised I could draw, then merged the two, the cars
and bikes started coming and I drew all the time.”
His obsession is obvious in all his old schoolbooks, which are covered with drawings of cars and motorcycles.
It was a revelation to McCafferty when his mother told him he could combine his two loves and use his artistic talent to design vehicles.
“I remember that very clearly. We were walking the dog and in that moment I was sort of, ‘Oh, wow, I really can do that.’”
From then on, he began pushing in that direction, taking art and design subjects as well as mathematics and physics at Hutt Valley High School.
While studying at Massey, he won an international competition for an internship at Honda Design Studio in Rome. Later, he moved to the US to work at a transport design studio led by renowned designer Chuck Pelly. When approached by Ducati, McCafferty leapt at the chance to work for a company that produces motorcycles he describes as “beautiful” and “sensual”.
“You can look at it and tell that it’s been designed – the pen or the artist has touched every part of it.”
McCafferty is awed to be working with some of the world’s best motorcycle and transport engineers. It takes the team about three years to develop a new motorcycle, four if it involves a new engine.
He says riding a Ducati is a “raw” experience. “It gets the heart pumping. Other machines feel a bit mechanical, whereas the Ducati feels very alive. When you hear one, you can feel it in your chest cavity. That’s cool.”
For some of his projects, McCafferty does thousands of sketches, out of which he may select half a dozen to take further. When focused on something, he puts on his headphones and may not raise his head for six or seven hours.
“I just zone out. Nothing else matters, I get so involved in the project.”
EXCEPTIONAL VISUALISER
He returns home each year when the Ducati factory closes down for the Italian summer holidays, and visits Massey to inspire other students, advising them to network, immerse themselves in their craft and practise to hone their drawing skills.
“I tell them to take a cartridge of printer paper and just go through the whole lot in an afternoon and do the same thing the next day. If it’s shit, throw it away and start again.
“Don’t be precious. Don’t be worried about doing a good sketch every time. Just go, go, go. I was always drawing.”
On reflection, though, McCafferty wishes he had taken more time out to catch the waves at Lyall Bay.
“It is important to have other interests as well. Doing your other passions actually helps your creativity.”
Massey University industrial design professor Tony Parker, who has been teaching at tertiary level for more than three decades, rates McCafferty in the top bracket of students he has worked with.
“His ability to draw and visualise things that don’t yet exist is exceptional.”
That’s a crucial skill in the competitive area of transport design, where Kiwis are up against students who are closer to the action at universities such as Pforzheim in Germany.
“It’s not easy to get into this industry. What McCafferty’s been able to do from New Zealand is quite remarkable.”