Scavenger Hunts for Coins Produced by Partner Konica Minolta Have Become a Popular Part of WeatherTech Championship Weekends
By Mark Robinson
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – If you’re headed to Road America next week for the IMSA SportsCar Weekend, keep your eyes peeled for a collectible that’s taken hold this IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport began conducting social media scavenger hunts at events earlier this year, with the prize for successful scavengers a specially designed Konica Minolta collectible coin that’s become a must-have for fans. Not only are the coins a keepsake, they may also be redeemed for a WTRAndretti hat signed by Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, co-pilots of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06.
What’s more, the acrylic coins are produced in a sustainable fashion that parallels a pillar of the hybrid-electrified Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class that the No. 10 Acura competes in, as well as longtime sponsor Konica Minolta’s commitment to reach carbon negative status company-wide by 2030.
“We have had a great time working with our valued partner WTRAndretti to create and distribute these coins in fun ways and are thrilled to see how they have become a fan favorite collectible across the schedule,” said Michael Mathé, Chief of Operations and Sales Enablement at Konica Minolta. “The fact that these coins are produced in such an environmentally conscious way helps showcase our commitment to sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint that is already present through our hybrid engine and utilization of tires made with recycled products. Together, we have made this the most environmentally friendly race series in the U.S., and we couldn’t be more proud of that.”
Konica Minolta and WTRAndretti conducted the first coin scavenger hunt at Sebring International Raceway in March, and the popularity of its reception has made it a mainstay since. The coin for each race is created with a unique design particular to that event. Input for design items on the coins comes from team members and is led by Ricky Taylor and WTR Technical Director Brian Pillar.
The Road America coin, for instance, contains several items unique and special to WTRAndretti, including a victory podium signifying the team’s first win at the track in 2022; a monkey representing the team getting the monkey off its back with the victory; a carousel, an homage to the racetrack corner of the same name at Road America; a cow symbolizing the popular Spotted Cow beer available only in Wisconsin; and an image of the Black Pearl ship from “Pirates of the Caribbean,” signifying the team’s willingness to take risks in search of the championship.
With sustainability a priority of both IMSA and Konica Minolta, the coins are crafted utilizing Konica Minolta’s AccurioWide hybrid UV LED wide-format printer series. The AccurioWide presses use UV ink that leads to no volatile organic compounds while also using UV LED lamps that only operate when the printer is in use, reducing the overall power consumption of the printer.
Coins are printed using five layers of ink with two layers of white ink and a black block-out layer sandwiched between the front and back “color” layers, with all layers printed in one pass. The coins are then “milled” or “routed” on Konica Minolta’s third-party partner device, the COLEX SharpCUTPro, a digital flatbed finishing system that cuts the coins out of a flat sheet of quarter-inch acrylic.
“We’ve been having a lot of fun creating uniquely designed collector coins for each race this season,” Taylor said. “We love to do race-by-race traditions, and by partnering with Konica Minolta this year to utilize their machinery to print and cut these coins, we were able to really step up our game. The fan scavenger hunt has become a great way to showcase Konica Minolta’s technology while giving fans a fun way to join in the tradition with the team.”
WTRAndretti will post to its social channels a video of Taylor explaining the scavenger hunt and showing off one of the Road America coins on Friday, Aug. 4. The following morning, photos of where coins have been placed around the facility will be posted along with a reminder to bring found coins to the driver autograph session at 12:30 p.m. ET that day to receive an autographed team hat.