Bianca Bustamante, a 17 year-old rising motorsport star from the Philippines, announced that she is launching a groundbreaking project, The Dark Horse � an NFT Access Pass that redefines the career progression of young athletes by embracing technology, social media and community building in the age of blockchain and web3.0. The project will ultimately enable her to build long term engagement with her fan community in ways never imagined before.
Bustamante recently secured a coveted race seat in W Series’ Academy team, as the young Filipino driver continues to demonstrate her impressive talent ahead of her debut formula car season. Her talent is proven, being a multiple Asian champion in karting, and was the only racer selected on this year’s W Series grid to come straight out of karting into Formula 3 machinery.
Although fortunate to have earned a race seat in a top international series, the teenager is now faced with the realities of finding ways to sustain her basic living needs, as well as career essentials such as practice, training, and coaching. In a male dominated sport traditionally known to be reserved for the wealthy, Bustamante has worked hard to break through both of those barriers through her sheer determination, self-belief, and hard work.
This ambitious project is all about shaking up the norm and challenging tradition, as Bustamante’s NFT Access Pass will allow for direct interaction with her fans, giveaways to celebrate her milestones, and even behind-the-scenes content, to allow fans to see what it is like to be a female race driver breaking the bias. The ultimate goal of this project is to create an unparalleled fan experience and community, as well as a platform for her sponsors, to ultimately join her on the journey to the top of the sport in Formula 1.
Bustamante also hopes that this project paves the way for other young race drivers to have new avenues to help them gain a voice, grow their community, and raise the necessary support to compete in a sport that requires substantial funding.
What is The Dark Horse?
The Dark Horse is a brave new take on the traditional talent agency and early sponsorship functions � reimagined through blockchain technology. It supports the dreams of drivers like Bianca � underestimated athletes with surprising speed, strength, ambition and commitment. The Dark Horse project allows Bianca to reap the immediate benefits of the crypto ecosystem with airdrops, tokenization, metaverse integration and beyond.
Project details
The Dark Horse campaign launched last week, with the Whitelist now open and the NFT Mint set to take place from the 27th of May 2022. With a total of 2,000 NFTs available for minting, the first 200 True Fans who join the whitelist will receive priority pricing. Among these, 50 NFTs will be especially allocated to Bustamante’s fans based in the Philippines – also at priority pricing
These 2,000 NFT Access Pass holders will be given access to her inner circle � the BiaCrew community � and receive unique benefits throughout her motorsport career. Pricing for the NFTs are as follows:
0.07 ETH for the first 200 registered whitelist;
0.07 ETH for 50 whitelist allotment created specifically for fans from the Philippines;
0.095 ETH for the remainder of the whitelist;
0.15 ETH upon public mint.
Proceeds from the NFT sale will provide Bianca with the resources that she needs to keep on racing and more. Breakdown of proceeds are as follows:
75% of the proceeds will go towards Bianca’s racing career: coaching, fitness training, track practice and daily living necessities;
20% will go towards service costs from The Dark Horse Team;
5% will be reserved for the community, in the form of rewards, gifts, charitable causes etc.
In return, owners of the NFT Access Pass benefit from gaining instant access to the BiaCrew community, as well as unprecedented access to Bianca’s professional life and the motorsport world at large, including:
Regular BTS Content with Bianca (Training & Traveling, AMA’s, Insights etc);
Community Interaction with Bianca;
Complimentary BiaCrew Merch Pack (upon 2x mint);
Priority in future drops along with surprise airdrops;
Milestone Prize Pool to BiaCrew community;
And more to be announced.
Quotes:
Bianca Bustamante – Race Driver
“I’m so excited to be part of The Dark Horse as a way to support my dream to climb the F1 ladder. It’s been a roller-coaster year for me so far, having secured full-time drives at both W Series and the USF Juniors Series. The Dark Horse is a great opportunity for me to embrace new technology to create a sustainable platform aimed at giving back to those who believe in me. What I’m most excited about are the cool, fun ways in which I can directly interact with my fans. In return for their support, I will work hard to become the best driver in the world and, along with my team, deliver unique content and insights into my life and the motorsport world.”
Darryl O’Young – Manager of Bianca Bustamante
“The challenges of becoming a professional race driver are real, and I know first hand truly how much heart it requires. Bianca has it all: the full package of speed, intelligence, grit and determination � key attributes to making it to the top. Bianca is the embodiment of The Dark Horse � a happy and unassuming teenager off the track, but once that helmet goes on�you better watch out! We are proud to put together this project aimed at giving back to the fans that believe in her. We are committed to seeing this project through for the long term, growing her community alongside Bianca’s journey and rise.”
Ben Reid – Founder & CEO, Digital Creators (Venture Studio)
“Digital Creators is excited to be the design and build partner on this project. The NFT market is maturing, and projects that offer true, unique value proposition and utility are increasingly crucial in this space. With The Dark Horse, we have created an NFT access pass that achieves exactly that, by giving our “1,000 true fans” a front row seat to an upcoming motorsport talent’s journey. NFT holders will get cool artwork, access to future NFT drops, insider content, prize pools and a range of other surprises the team has in store. This is the user’s chance to both support Bianca, and be a part of history in redefining how rising sports talent can supercharge their careers.”