It would be difficult to express my feeling of pride as I gazed upon the monster which I was to conduct in the first really great race of my life. I noticed particularly that the car was painted green - a rich, dark colour, which gave the car such a handsome appearance that I wondered why everybody else had not painted their cars green also. Well, I really don't know for sure, but history would tend to suggest that you're correct.
As my best friend once said to a sponsor's guest in Cleveland, when she asked us how long we'd been buddies "it's not that that counts - it's the fact that, really, we should be enemies Posted 16 October - The research I have done and am publishing in my book shows the following. It was in Ireland, the Gordon Bennett Cup race.
In honour of this the RAC nominated green as the British racing colour. I have no reason to think otherwise. Posted 16 October - To mix metaphors a bit, I've always felt that the connection between the Paris-Berlin story as related by Jarrott and the adoption of green in was probably a red herring and a later invention by a subsequent writer.
Significantly perhaps, writing in Jarrott makes no mention of the colour of the cars at Athy. Had there been any connection, or had the story been current at that time, surely he would have mentioned it? Posted 17 October - Originally posted by Vitesse2 " So what is the real "British Racing Green "! While that Standard "defines" a Deep Brunswick Green, it also defines several hundred other colours so to suggest it is BRG's own standard is somewhat fanciful!
Posted 19 October - I don't believe any of the stories about the origin of Green as Britain's national colour. The Gordon Bennett races were for national teams and colours were allocated on a random basis. While there is a colour marketed as British Racing Green, any shade of green will do. You only have to look at works Jaguars and Aston Martins of the s, and the British Racing Partnership had a very light shade. Why did so many Scotch teams run in blue and white? That's Austria's national livery.
Scotland is part of Britain so its national livery is green. I know that the Cross of St. Andrew is blue and white, but that is no excuse. Germany's national colour is white, not silver. Somehow 'white arrows' does not have the same ring.
Posted 20 October - Originally posted by Mike Lawrence Scotch teams run in blue and white I think Scottish teams run in blue and white Scotch is an entirely separate colour or range of colours How much did the concept of "national colour" have meaning under Grand Prix rules, anyway? It makes sense for the Gordon Bennett races country v. For instance, when "Williams" won at Monaco in in his green Bugatti, he appropriated the colours to represent the driver's, not the car's, nationality.
This is the first instance that I'm aware of, but I'm certain that others will know of much earlier instances Willie. Posted 20 October - The latter is a particularly interesting point, as was Zborowski's Miller not white and blue as per the US racing colours rather than green?
He was, I believe, the first private entrant in GP racing. Posted 20 October - Brunswick Green was a colour - or range of shades - used on the railways, firstly by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway and then adopted by the nationalised British Railways. Posted 20 October - "Williams" raced in green because he was in that case the entrant. On other occasions, when he raced as a works Bugatti driver, he would have driven a blue car entered by Usines Bugatti.
The key is the nationality not of the car, nor the driver, but of the entrant. The best illustration of this is Caracciola's spell with Alfa Romeo in His works-supported car was white in early season races, but after Monaco he was invited to join the team as a full member. After that, entered by Alfa Corse, his car was red except at Lwow, a race for which Alfa had not entered but Rudi had.
However, even in the 30s national colour rules were purely at the whim of the organisers: sometimes Earl Howe was required to paint his cars green when racing on the continent, while on other occasions he raced in his preferred blue. And that doesn't touch on Scuderia CC and other multi-national teams Posted 20 October - Mike, an interesting point It may be a bit of confusing, but for example I've heard that people from Six Counties have their nationality as 'British' in their passports, even though they are certainly not British.
We may have had the conversation about it on TNF already, since I remember also raising the question of 'personal union' of Scotland and England. I must also admit to being partial to seeing Rob Walker's cars they look great in Scottish colours and I'm a big Moss fan.
We are a tad confusing. For what its worth I think I would be right in saying that most Scots regard Scotland as a country and Scottish as a nationality despite the fact that many say its not. It doesn't matter that it may be technically correct to say its not a nation, you aren't going to convince many if any scots.
Posted 20 October - LB- why would Scots not be a nation?!? Now Britain and British seems to be something that comprises all and then gets bundled together with Northern Ireland and I presume, some exceptions, like Isle of Man and Channel Islands get thrown in for a good measure, or are they really a part of GB?
Not at all confusing Posted 20 October - Britain in itself is a meaningless term that gets applied to almost anything. Great Britain is a geographical term describing the biggest of the British Isles. British is an adjective used as a national identifier for subjects of the United Kingdom.
But they are not sovereign territories as they have to defer to the UK in matters of foreign policy - as indeed to Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland. Posted 20 October - Originally posted by ensign14 Great Britain is a geographical term describing the biggest of the British Isles. How is it inaccurate?
It may be that there is a back-formation for convenience's sake from the fact that it is "the United Kingdom of GB" to refer conveniently to England, Scotland and Wales together but it is strictly speaking inaccurate.
For the above reason. Posted 20 October - Here we go again. Many countries, such as Germany, the USA, and Canada, among others, have changed their traditional racing colors after Germans, for example, has shifted from white to silver. Leaving the aluminum bodies of their cars unpainted. Canada decided to adjust its auto racing colors to red and white — the colors of its national flag. Today, it corresponds to a deep, rich shade of green with the hex value. In , honoring the s British roadsters that inspired Mazda MX-5, Mazda rolled out a limited edition of only cars.
Mazda also produced a similar edition in The color selection included a BRG option, updated to a more metallic green in In recent years, various countries have gone back to the traditional colors that represented them in the auto races of the past. During the annual A1 Grand Prix, one-make racing series that ran from to , several national teams rode identical cars with different color schemes.
And some countries painted their cars with the respective traditional national colors. British Racing Green — the symbolic color of British motorsport, has also made its comeback. For instance, Jaguar in a Formula 1 edition, revived its traditional green. Bentley returned briefly to the Le Mans circuit in , , and , winning with the Bentley Speed 8, painted in a very dark shade of BRG.
Interestingly, for a long time, the US drivers preferred not to paint their cars any shade of green. McQueen bought his XKSS in from a local TV personality, and became the third owner of what was originally an off-white car with a red interior. The colour scheme was not to his liking, so McQueen had the car stripped down and repainted in British Racing Green together with a retrim of black upholstery.
In , James Gordon Bennett Jr. When Britain first competed in , the Union Jack colours of red, white and blue, had already been taken for the race by America, Germany and France respectively, therefore a different colour had to be selected.
The annual race was hosted in the country of the previous year's winner, and when Selwyn Edge won the Gordon Bennett cup race for England in his Napier, it was decided that the race would be held in Ireland - as motor racing at the time was illegal in England.
As a mark of respect for their Irish hosts, the English Napier cars were painted shamrock green, and the traditional colour of British motor racing was born. However, the entry from Fiat was painted red — the colour that was adopted by Italy following the victory of a red Itala in the Peking to Paris race. British Racing Green and chequered flags went hand in hand throughout the later s, as supercharged Bentleys dominated the Le Mans 24 hours race.
The Bentley Boys won the famous endurance competition in successive years from to During the s and s, British Racing Green continued to be the chosen livery for successful British motor racing teams such as Aston Martin, Cooper, Lotus and Vanwall, but in , under pressure from sponsors, the FIA gave Formula One an exemption from the national colours ruling, and cars began to race in the corporate colours of the companies that were funding them. In , the famous shades of dark green began to make their way back onto the track, with Jaguar Racing applying the colour to its Formula One cars, but the team was sold to Red Bull in and they used their own colours.
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