The
history of racing colours goes back to the early twentieth century in the early
days of motorsport. Back then races used to be held on public road with minimal
safety and racing regulations. One of the first international races to be held
was the Gordon Bennett Cup. The entrants in the race were assigned a national
racing colour for their car. The French had Blue, Belgium-yellow, United States-red,
Germany-white, Italy-black and Great Britain-green. Some colours were assigned
as per the flags of the country with few exceptions. The 1903 Gordon Bennett
Cup was supposed to be held in the Great Britain however, as races were
organised on public roads, the 12mph limit at the time meant the race was moved
to Ireland. So, as homage to the hosts of the race, Great Britain chose to race
in green and ever since then Great Britain race with green as their national
racing colour.
So,
what has changed over the last century in motor racing? Have other countries retained
their racing colours from the Gordon Bennett cup like Great Britain?
France
is another country has retained its racing colours over the years. Now known as
Bleu de France, the patriotic colour has become one of the most iconic colours
in motor racing. The pale blue colour was first raced by Bugatti in 1900 Gordon
Bennett cup. Over the years the colour has been used by other manufactures like
Delage, Ligier, Matra and Alpine. 2021 marks the return of the colour to the
Formula 1 grip with Alpine who will be taking over from Renault.
Germany
originally had the colour white. In 1934, at the Nürburgring Grand Prix,
Mercedes with their new W25 was ruled just 1 kilo heavier than it was allowed.
So, Mercedes decided to strip the colour off its cars living the metal
underneath exposed. That day the new German racing colour was born and
subsequently Mercedes are known as the ‘Silver Arrows’. However, white also
remained the national racing colour for Germany along with the silver. BMW have
retained the colour white along with their pale blue, navy blue and red stripes.
Italy,
now unimaginable without the colour red originally had black. The red colour
was adopted after the 10,000-mile-long Peking to Paris race in 1907. The race
was won by Prince Scipione Borghese, with his car painted in the colour red. The
colour now known as ‘Rosso Corsa’ has probably been the most famous national
racing colour because of the success Ferrari has achieved. But along with
Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Abarth have also used the
colour.
United
States dropped the colour red after the Gordon Bennett cup and preferred to
race in white over the blue chassis. The colours were used in that fashion in
Le Mans and other races until car technology got enough advanced that chassis
were covered with bodywork and blue colour was not to be seen. So, United
states introduced the racing stripes. Whether it be Blue on White or White on
Blue, the colours remain iconic to motor racing.
Other
countries who were a little late to the racing scene have also adopted their
own national racing colours. For example, Japan has white and red,
Brazil-yellow, Australia-Green and Gold.
But
as you know identification or standing out from the crowd is a big thing in motorsport.
So, it was just a matter of time when teams started to deviate from the
national racing colours. Motor racing being an expensive sport, sponsorships
also came into play. Colin Chapman and his Lotus 49 in 1968 marked a changing point
in motor racing. The championship winning car was the first British car that carried
sponsorship and not the colour green. Soon after more teams started running
with sponsorships on their cars. Moreover, to stand out from the crowd teams
also started using different colours. Bruce McLaren painted his cars in orange
while Renault chose to race in their corporate colours instead of national
colours.
Over
the years the world of motor racing has evolved massively. The sport has become
technologically advanced, more reachable and commercialised. Sponsorships have become
an indispensable part of the sport, cars run specialised liveries and some teams
even have title sponsors. So, it is always nice to see teams like Ferrari, Mercedes,
and now Aston Martin and Alpine sticking to their national racing colours. However,
the sponsorships and teams deviating from traditional colours have also produced
some iconic cars over the years, McLaren/Honda MP4/4, Lotus 49, Lotus 72, Williams
FW14B, and Renault R26, to name a few. In any case it is always a win for motorsport
fans.
Picture Credits -
Photography by Afshin Behnia, Jonny Shears, Andrew Schneider, and Josh Clason for Petrolicious.com
https://www.artebellum.com/
Comments
Post a Comment