The Most Iconic Liveries in Motor Sports
Having watched motor sports for more than 30 years I've seen many dressed in a colour scheme that really stood the test of time, and I'm not just talking 200mph cigarette packets here.
It goes without saying that Marlboro, JPS and the like are always going to be synonymous with motor racing but, what of other iconic liveries that have graced cars - and bikes up and down the motor sports ladders. I'll keep this fairly picture light as searching Google gave me plenty of fun looking in the first place.
We'll start in F1:
As mentioned in the opening, Marlboro and JPS will always be two of the most recognisable liveries to those who know their F1 history but what of the others? The late 60's saw more and more teams accept money in exchange for product placement and so the movement started. Marlboro, JPS, Martini, Yardley and Brooke Bond were early title sponsors, The French oil company Elf and tobacco brand Gitanes following soon.
Tobacco giants aside there were other memorable liveries throughout the 80s and 90s, Ragno Ceramics on the Arrows, The 7Up Jordan, the Parmalat backed Brabhams and the Tag / Saudia Williams anong others.
Moving to sportscars and, well the first and foremost classic livery of the late 60's and 70's has to be the sky blue and orange of Gulf Oil adorning the Ford GT40s and Porsche 917s, fast forward a few years and Martini again added their stripes to first the Porsche cars and later the Ferrari powered Lancias. The tobacco giants were quick to follow, Rothmans Porsche, Silk Cut Jaguar displayed on the factory efforts along with Shell, Canon, Castrol, New Man, the Renown Mazdas and, who could forget the awesome open topped, Momo backed Ferrari 333SP!
Touring cars and, various production car derived formulas have produced many designs that have stood the test of time, in the 70's, 80's and 90's the then ETCC and later ITC and DTM saw the alcohol industry was getting involved and so - on the continent anyway, Warsteiner, Jagermeister and Martini (again) daubed their logos on BMWs, Mercedes, an era which also saw many great manufacturer liveries appear, Schnitzer BMWs in white with the M Sport red and blue trim or, even blue red blue, the TWR Jaguar XJ12s and later XJSs, Alan Mann racing Escorts and Mustangs and, in the forests the mighty Audi Quattro in Audi Sport colours.
Sticking with rallying for a moment many a livery has come from the WRC and beyond, most notably Subaru and the unmistakable blue / yellow (gold depending on how far back you go) Impreza and the 555 wrap, arguably the race car that launched 1000 road going replicas!
Elsewhere on the stages Lancia and Martini continued their partnership, Audi as mentioned earlier maintained - for the most part a corporate branded vehicle and, at national level the the most memorable cars of the 80's for many would be the Andrews Heat For Hire colour scheme which adorned Vauxhall Chevettes, Mk II Escorts, RS500s Opal Mantas and Talbot Lotus Sunbeams throughout the 70's and 80's, and the MG Metro 6R4s in the Computervison, Rothmans or Will Gollop's Silkolene effort.
With Dakar gaining more and more press, budgets got bigger and, so did the sponsorship levels, tobacco giants Rothmans and Camel being the main players in the 80's when the event was at it's prime.
Moving back to corporate colours and, plenty of works squads have left a legacy in their car design, Ecurie Ecosse and their deep blue D Tyre Jaguars, Ferrari and their Rosso (although much lighter now) red works cars. The British Racing Green Vanwalls, Lotus and BRMs given a brief reprise by the Jaguar F1 team, Bentley's LMP1 effort and the factory Aston Martin DBR9 squad in the early part of this century.
Audi and Mercedes and their own predominantly silver/grey efforts, Renault's beautiful yellow, white and black in which its F1, rally and endurance racers carried through the 70's and 80's, while other privateer efforts kept an identity for as long as possible, The almost plain white Hesketh, Shadow with their black F1, F5000 and Can Am machines, Wolf with their black and gold efforts and, of course the bright orange Mclarens of the 60's and early 70's.
State side and the various classes of single seater racing have given some pretty spectacular colour schemes over the years, the almost luminous STP orange that graced both Indy and F1 machines in the 70's Players Cigarettes in the light blue and white, the red and white Target cars, NASCAR for me will always be the 43 Richard Petty light blue effort, while the Tide car from the 90's is another personal favorite, the list goes on...
So, what else have I missed? Many! The Duckhams Formula Fords, the BTCC Kaliber branded RS500s, the Bastos or Hepolite Rover Vitesse, Brut Capri, Repsol Honda, Dekra Schnitzer M3 BMWs, Wurth or Mampe Zakspeed Capris...
There are so many, feel free to add your own in the coments but, my favorite? honestly its the F3000 / GP2 Arden Sonax single seater colour scheme. Truth. Simple and elegant. Go on give it a Google.
It goes without saying that Marlboro, JPS and the like are always going to be synonymous with motor racing but, what of other iconic liveries that have graced cars - and bikes up and down the motor sports ladders. I'll keep this fairly picture light as searching Google gave me plenty of fun looking in the first place.
We'll start in F1:
As mentioned in the opening, Marlboro and JPS will always be two of the most recognisable liveries to those who know their F1 history but what of the others? The late 60's saw more and more teams accept money in exchange for product placement and so the movement started. Marlboro, JPS, Martini, Yardley and Brooke Bond were early title sponsors, The French oil company Elf and tobacco brand Gitanes following soon.
Tobacco giants aside there were other memorable liveries throughout the 80s and 90s, Ragno Ceramics on the Arrows, The 7Up Jordan, the Parmalat backed Brabhams and the Tag / Saudia Williams anong others.
Moving to sportscars and, well the first and foremost classic livery of the late 60's and 70's has to be the sky blue and orange of Gulf Oil adorning the Ford GT40s and Porsche 917s, fast forward a few years and Martini again added their stripes to first the Porsche cars and later the Ferrari powered Lancias. The tobacco giants were quick to follow, Rothmans Porsche, Silk Cut Jaguar displayed on the factory efforts along with Shell, Canon, Castrol, New Man, the Renown Mazdas and, who could forget the awesome open topped, Momo backed Ferrari 333SP!
Touring cars and, various production car derived formulas have produced many designs that have stood the test of time, in the 70's, 80's and 90's the then ETCC and later ITC and DTM saw the alcohol industry was getting involved and so - on the continent anyway, Warsteiner, Jagermeister and Martini (again) daubed their logos on BMWs, Mercedes, an era which also saw many great manufacturer liveries appear, Schnitzer BMWs in white with the M Sport red and blue trim or, even blue red blue, the TWR Jaguar XJ12s and later XJSs, Alan Mann racing Escorts and Mustangs and, in the forests the mighty Audi Quattro in Audi Sport colours.
Sticking with rallying for a moment many a livery has come from the WRC and beyond, most notably Subaru and the unmistakable blue / yellow (gold depending on how far back you go) Impreza and the 555 wrap, arguably the race car that launched 1000 road going replicas!
Elsewhere on the stages Lancia and Martini continued their partnership, Audi as mentioned earlier maintained - for the most part a corporate branded vehicle and, at national level the the most memorable cars of the 80's for many would be the Andrews Heat For Hire colour scheme which adorned Vauxhall Chevettes, Mk II Escorts, RS500s Opal Mantas and Talbot Lotus Sunbeams throughout the 70's and 80's, and the MG Metro 6R4s in the Computervison, Rothmans or Will Gollop's Silkolene effort.
With Dakar gaining more and more press, budgets got bigger and, so did the sponsorship levels, tobacco giants Rothmans and Camel being the main players in the 80's when the event was at it's prime.
Moving back to corporate colours and, plenty of works squads have left a legacy in their car design, Ecurie Ecosse and their deep blue D Tyre Jaguars, Ferrari and their Rosso (although much lighter now) red works cars. The British Racing Green Vanwalls, Lotus and BRMs given a brief reprise by the Jaguar F1 team, Bentley's LMP1 effort and the factory Aston Martin DBR9 squad in the early part of this century.
Audi and Mercedes and their own predominantly silver/grey efforts, Renault's beautiful yellow, white and black in which its F1, rally and endurance racers carried through the 70's and 80's, while other privateer efforts kept an identity for as long as possible, The almost plain white Hesketh, Shadow with their black F1, F5000 and Can Am machines, Wolf with their black and gold efforts and, of course the bright orange Mclarens of the 60's and early 70's.
State side and the various classes of single seater racing have given some pretty spectacular colour schemes over the years, the almost luminous STP orange that graced both Indy and F1 machines in the 70's Players Cigarettes in the light blue and white, the red and white Target cars, NASCAR for me will always be the 43 Richard Petty light blue effort, while the Tide car from the 90's is another personal favorite, the list goes on...
So, what else have I missed? Many! The Duckhams Formula Fords, the BTCC Kaliber branded RS500s, the Bastos or Hepolite Rover Vitesse, Brut Capri, Repsol Honda, Dekra Schnitzer M3 BMWs, Wurth or Mampe Zakspeed Capris...
There are so many, feel free to add your own in the coments but, my favorite? honestly its the F3000 / GP2 Arden Sonax single seater colour scheme. Truth. Simple and elegant. Go on give it a Google.
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