There are a lot of sources of inspiration for the paint scheme that goes with a car customisation job, and the best choice is often a matter of taste as much as anything else.
Whether you want a unique branded decal, a replica of an existing legendary paint scheme or something far more esoteric such as the unusual world of Itasha, the only real limit to a car’s paint scheme is imagination and what you want to be at the wheel of.
However, if you are struggling for inspiration, a great place to start is the national identity of the car itself, and many of the countries with the biggest car modding scenes have national motor racing colours.
The most well-known of these is the famous British racing green, largely because the colour itself is intrinsically linked to racing, but there are five others, and a rather unusual origin behind the use of racing colours in the first place.
The Six Colours Of Car Racing
There is of course one major caveat to make before discussing the six main racing colours, and that is the fact that at various points in history, a lot of countries have had their own racing colours, including the yellow of Brazil, the violet of Egypt and the red and white of Portugal (and reversed for Poland).
There are a lot of traditions and tweaks with tradition over the years, but the origin of the colour tradition came with one of the first racing competitions ever organised, the Gordon Bennett Cup from 1900 to 1905.
The idea behind the competition was to have a motor racing world championship, but rather than being raced between individuals, teams or constructors, it was a contest between national automobile clubs.
Because of this, each country in the initial running of the competition had a colour assigned to them, although only two of them would ultimately stick.
France kept the Bleu de France that they have used in practically all sporting competitions ever since along with white numbers. As blue is part of their flag and has been part of their heraldic iconography since the 12th century, it has since been kept as a symbol of French racing.
Germany’s colour assignment was white, which whilst unusual to modern observers, was a reference to the Imperial Flag of Germany used at the time, which was black white and red.
This eventually became silver due to the heraldic similarities between white and silver, leading to the now-famous nickname of “Silver Arrows” which is now most commonly associated with Mercedes-Benz.
Unusually, the United States opted for a red colour scheme and Belgium chose a shade of yellow which would be intermittently whenever Belgian teams raced in Motorsport.
The next colour to be fixed for the following century was Great Britain. The red, white and blue of the Union Jack had all been claimed by other teams, so they instead opted for green, a colour largely associated with trains and heavy machinery at the time.
This later moved from olive green to Shamrock green as a tribute to Ireland, the host country of the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup. This colour later became British racing green, and to this day has become the standard colour for British racers.
After the Gordon Bennett Cup finished in 1905, the next colour to be defined was the “Rocco corsa” the racing red colour that to this day is invariably associated with Italian motorsport. To this day it is still widely used by Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.
This would force a change for the American racing colours, which started with a white body and blue chassis. However, when cars started to use bodywork to cover the chassis entirely, this eventually evolved into the “Cunningham colours”, a combination of a white body with blue stripes.
This was used from 1951 until about 1964 when the Shelby Daytona Coupe used the blue with white stripes most commonly associated with American racing cars, particularly the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Viper.
The final racing colour to be defined was Japan's. After Germany switched from white to silver, Honda adopted a colour scheme of a white body with a red circle on the bonnet to represent the “Nisshoki” or the national flag of Japan.
These six national colours are still widely established but stopped being universal after 1968 when the Lotus Formula One team became one of the first major teams to accept a sponsorship that fundamentally changed its racing colours.
Despite this, the fond tradition of international racing colours does still exist, and if you are in any doubt about what colour to respray your car, try one inspired by national heritage.
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