British racing green: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:12, 27 April 2006

Revision as of 10:17, 3 May 2006

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Certain British railway companies, such as the [[Great_Western_Railway|Great Western Railway]] chose to paint their locomotives in this colour, starting in the late [[19th century|nineteenth century]]. In the [[20th century|twentieth century]], this heritage of speed resulted it in becoming the colour chosen for British racing cars in international competition, before the displaying of the logos of [[sponsorship|sponsors]] became common.

In the days of the [[Gordon Bennett Cup in auto racing|Gordon Bennett Cup]], every component of a car had to be produced in the competing country, as well as the driver being of that nationality. The race was hosted in the country of the previous year's winner. When [[Selwyn Edge]] won the [[1902]] race for Britain in a [[Napier]] it was decided that the [[1903]] race would be held in [[Ireland]], Motor Racing being illegal at the time in [[Great BritianBritain]] and the opening of [[Brooklands]] was still 4 years in the future. As a mark of respect for their hosts the [[British]] cars were painted green and this has remained the traditional colour for British racing cars to this day.

[[William Grover-Williams]], driving for Britain, won the very first [[Monaco Grand Prix]] in a dark green [[Bugatti]]. This colour became known as ''British Racing Green'' and was regarded as the "official" colour especially in the 1950s and 1960s, when British or UK-based teams like [[Vanwall]], [[Cooper Car Company|Cooper]], [[Team Lotus]], [[BRM]], [[Brabham]] were successful in [[Formula One]]. Green cars dominated the grid.