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Post by René on Feb 6, 2023 18:32:39 GMT
YELLOW was in fact Enzo’s favorite color. If it was up to him, his cars would have raced in yellow. Yellow also the color of Modena of course. That's fascinating, René! Enzo Ferrari was even cooler than I'd thought.  Enzo was a cool dude.  |
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Post by Carl on Feb 6, 2023 19:28:00 GMT
cheers chaps, so taking this a step further, was Cooper racing in Scottish colours, but what of Lotus and BRM? wasn't BRM British Racing Green, or was that Vanwall, oh dear age and confusion because wasn't Germany actually white but became the silver arrows to save weight? thanks Rene, I guess the national colours stopped in the late 50's and colour choice was up to the entrant? Chris, as far as I know, it was just a matter of a British car being green. What grade or tint of green was not relevant as long as it was green. Or red for Italian cars. I think teams simply gave it their own touch. Aston Martin used a more metallic'ish grey/green and Alfas were always a darker red compared to the scarlet Ferraris. As Detective Inspectors, you both make excellent observations. While Lotus seemed to find the best shade, I noticed the same wide variety of British Racing Green, almost the signatures of different English forests.
The question Chris asks reveals a paradox about Cooper. For whatever reasons, by intention or coincidence, Cooper chose to race in Scottish colors, apparently unofficially, until its demise. The dark blue with white trim lacked only the Cross of Saint Andrew. Chris lives close to Scotland and could covertly investigate this conundrum. One theory is that the reluctance at Cooper to spend money was represented by the paint scheme as a proud Scottish trait. 
Whit's fur ye'll no go past ye,
Carl
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Post by robmarsh on Feb 8, 2023 11:37:28 GMT
cheers chaps, so taking this a step further, was Cooper racing in Scottish colours, but what of Lotus and BRM? wasn't BRM British Racing Green, or was that Vanwall, oh dear age and confusion because wasn't Germany actually white but became the silver arrows to save weight? thanks Rene, I guess the national colours stopped in the late 50's and colour choice was up to the entrant? Cooper raced in dark green with two white stripes down the front or bonnet. There was a time when Rob Walker ran Cooper cars for his team and they were raced in the Scottish colours of dark blue with a white band incorporating the number circle on the nose. National colours in Formula 1 started to change in 1968 with the advent of sponsorship. The first cars to be painted in their sponsors colours were the Team Gunston cars at the 1968 South African Grand Prix held on 1 January 1968 so the cars actually run officially in 1967 during practice. Lotus followed suit in January 1968 during the Tasman series. BRM ran such a dark green it was almost black until the advent of Yardley sponsorship early 1970. Matra and Ligier always ran in shades of blue. The first McLaren was black and silver until 1967 when it was red and then orange as per main sponsor Gulf in 1968. Germany's official colour was white but legend has it that the paint was scraped off the stay under the weight limit of 750kgs which was in force at the time. To answer an earlier question the works Ferraris have always run in a predominately red shade from the get go. The shade of Red became almost flourescent during the Schumacher era and Marlboro sponsorship. Other colours that may be of interest are: Argentina Blue and Yellow Australia Green and Gold Brazil pale yellow as per the Copersucar Denmark silver-grey Japan ivory white with a red sun Netherlands orange Sweden Blue bottom and yellow top South Africa gold and green |
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Post by Carl on Feb 8, 2023 17:33:40 GMT
Well done, Rob
Many years ago in science class, I discovered that I was moderately blue/green colorblind and now claim it as my defense.
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Post by René on Feb 8, 2023 17:37:20 GMT
Thanks Rob! As for orange for the Netherlands, that was actually only used in F1 in the early sixties by Carel Godin de Beaufort. He drove a Porsche 718/2 but the team was a Dutch entry so he raced in orange! 1963 Dutch Grand Prix 1963 British Grand Prix 1964 German Grand Prix, the last photo of Carel going out trying to qualify for the race. But De Beaufort crashed at almost the same place as Lauda would have his big crash twelve years later and he hit a tree. He died a few days later in a Cologne hospital. |
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Post by mikael on Feb 8, 2023 22:02:24 GMT
A very nice overview, Rob :-)
Moving a bit away from Grand Prix racing; but I think it's curious that, of the large fleet of Ford GT40's that Ford entered for the 1966 Le Mans (with the support of Shelby, Holman & Moody, and others), the (winning) car for McLaren and Amon was actually in the proper New Zealand racing colours (black & silver); while the car for Andretti and Bianchi (of Belgium) was in the proper American racing colours (blue & white). The rest of the cars of the "Ford fleet" were just in "assorted colours", as far as I understand. So no real consistency ...
McLaren - Amon
Andretti - Bianchi
Andretti - Bianchi
"The rest" - incomplete (with the winning black/silver car included again)
More of the many GT40's of Le Mans 1966
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Post by robmarsh on Feb 9, 2023 10:37:33 GMT
Nice pics Mikael. 1965 to 1967, those were the best days of sports prototype racing, closely followed by 1969 t0 1971.
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Post by mikael on Mar 11, 2023 11:26:18 GMT
A question about Formula One history:
I just happened, by chance, to once again come by the excellent footage of the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix under the "Flying Clipper" documentary series. The film ends with the victory lap of Bruce McLaren; and it made me wonder: when did this excellent tradition disappear? Was it when the podium (with the No. 1-2-3) was introduced?
I always thought it was a pity that this tradition was lost. I recall victory laps from Danish races during my childhood (in the early 70's) and they were always extremely inspirational to watch - it always made you dream that you, one day, could be the one who was asked to do such a lap ...
Link:
Bruce McLaren on his way to victory in the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix:
P.S. It remains amazing to watch how the drivers went "flat out" along curbstones, unprotected light poles and mooring bollard and, not the least, unprotected photographers and officials, standing at extremely dangerous places.
The victory lap, from another occasion (Jim Clark & co.)
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Post by René on Mar 11, 2023 12:57:44 GMT
Yes I agree, that was nice. I don't know to be honest when that disappeared. But do we want to see Horner or Toto sitting on a car like Chapman did? Very uncomfortable I'm sure! |
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Post by robmarsh on Mar 11, 2023 15:35:06 GMT
Yes I agree, that was nice. I don't know to be honest when that disappeared. But do we want to see Horner or Toto sitting on a car like Chapman did? Very uncomfortable I'm sure! I see more than enough of Horner and Woolfe on TV so please no. |
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Post by Carl on Mar 11, 2023 17:38:13 GMT
The short film boasts wonderful camerawork, with simply beautiful helicopter footage. The future course alteration around the swimming pool can be seen in one. It's curious, as Mikael observes, that there is no protection placed around the massive dockside bollards. It seems incredible that the risk of death by blunt force trauma could be seen as part of the romance of racing.
In the race, the excitable Willy Mairesse vaulted from fourth on the grid into the lead, but spun almost immediately, causing a multi-car accident in the first turn in which a track marshall was killed. Mairesse sometimes drove as though, like James Bond, he had a license to kill.
The narrator is Burl Ives, American folk singer and actor, ( Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ). Somehow, the script he was given identifies Bruce McLaren as "Jack Bartram" and later confuses the unrestrained Mairesse with Phil Hill and includes a snide insult to the 1961 World Champion. A short editing session could easily have corrected both errors.
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Post by Carl on Mar 11, 2023 17:39:53 GMT
Yes I agree, that was nice. I don't know to be honest when that disappeared. But do we want to see Horner or Toto sitting on a car like Chapman did? Very uncomfortable I'm sure! I would enjoy seeing both sitting directly on the engine. |
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Post by mikael on Mar 11, 2023 21:08:41 GMT
You're absolutely right, Carl. I didn't notice it before, but it's a completely unnecessary and out of place insult to Phil Hill. By "pulling this off", the narrator reveals that he has no idea of how high the "level of operation" actually was (and still is) in F1. It is of course easy to be caught out because, as we know, the easier it looks the faster it goes.
And yes, strange they didn't correct the mix-up of driver's names, considering it was such an expensive footage (made in cinema-quality, the very best available at the time).
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Post by chrisb on Mar 15, 2023 7:48:23 GMT
Came across this wonderful sadly silent film of the 1966 Italian gp from historisches motorsport v by Christian Giesser apologises for not being able to download it but it really is worth looking for, excellent close ups of Jimmy in the Lotus 43, bits of Enzo laughing and Scarfiotti celebrating, seeing Graham in the BRM H16 and a short haired Jackie, well worth checking out
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Post by René on Mar 15, 2023 9:14:27 GMT
This must be the one Chris. It’s wonderful indeed. |
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