Cunningham was instrumental in changing the perception of Americans as ‘hot-rodders’, gaining respect for American teams from Europeans, and creating a style of car that would capture the imagination of the world.Ĭunningham’s cars (appropriately called Cunninghams) were painted in American white, but to make them more recognisable at speed, blue stripes were added, running up the hood, over the top and extending down the rear deck. By the end of 1955, the Cunningham team, although never actually winning, had come third and fifth at Le Mans, carrying the American flag to European sports car racing and had done so with an All-American racing car.
#Blue racing stripes drivers#
Briggs pioneered road racing, where drivers tore through public streets and highways, and continued to build his reputation winning races at purpose-built venues and then on private road courses. Two colours were adopted by American race teams which stuck and also became common outside FIA racing:Īmerican millionaire Briggs Swift Cunningham enjoyed a love of auto racing, and in 1940, began a long career of constructing and entering cars of his own design. British teams chose green (hence ‘British Racing Green’) Italian teams chose red, French chose Blue. The colour was not determined by the country the car was made in, nor by the nationality of the drivers, but by the nationality of the team entering the vehicle.
Which left us thinking: why do racing cars have particular colours, who assigns them, and where did the distinctive stripes come from?įor FIA competition in the 1950s and 1960s, race teams customarily painted their cars in standardised racing colours. The striking colour of the Guardsman Blue, and distinctive Competition model Le Mans stripes won our hearts hands down. We didn’t have to ponder those questions for very long. And what about the stripes? Do we prefer it with, or without stripes? And what colour – Viking Blue or Guardsman Blue. So, our immediate question for the Cobra was: is this the right model? Should we produce the 289, or would the GT Championship-winning Daytona be a better choice. If we love them, we know you’ll love them.īut there’s always a period of questioning that comes after that initial ‘love at first sight’ moment: could we do anything better? That’s pretty much how we choose our models. When we first set eyes on the Cobra 427 S/C, we were in love.
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