Random Rant: Identical Race Cars

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures) 09/04/2013 at 19:07 • Filed to: rants, motorsports

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I grew up a race fan without cable and only dial-up internet so I was effectively raised on NASCAR with the occasional Indy race thrown in. As a result I became used to seeing 43 individually painted cars battling it out on a track, that was my norm. Once technology (read: youtube) made it possible for me to escape those shackles of limited motorsports exposure I watched and became a fan of a multitude of forms of racing. I love V8 Supercars and live for Bathurst, I love Formula 1, even when an annoying German is winning every race, I’ve stayed up the duration of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and with the rest of the motoring world watched in stunned silence as the now-infamous Rockenfeller crash played out (“What car was it? Where’s the driver? Where’s the CAR?”), I’ve bought property in Hinchtown and joined in the jubilant chorus of “SATOOOOOOOO!” I’ve even taken a casual interest in rallying. But through it all there’s one main gripe I have with the way much of the world handles team cars. In short: STOP PAINTING YOUR GODDAMN CARS IDENTICAL YOU ASSHATS!

I realize in most of the major forms of global motorsport (F1, rally, WTCC, WEC, V8SC, etc) there’s usually a single primary sponsor for the entire team, but painting the cars identical still doesn’t make sense to me. And yes, I know they’re not truly identical and there are little details to tell the cars apart, from window numbers/names to flags on roof scoops to different colored helmets etc. But they’re race cars, designed to go past at absurd speeds. You shouldn’t have to try to stare at the car and run down the mental checklist of things to look for to figure out if it’s Alonso or Massa. It’s like trying to follow a shaky cam movie fight. And what about the poor casual race fan or a race fan’s friend/romantic partner who is trying to follow along.

“So Webber is leading?”

“No, honey, that’s Vettel.”

“I thought you said Webber was the Red Bull car.”

“He is, but his has yellow highlights on the antenna over the scoop.”

“That’s it, I’m going shopping.”

There are plenty of ways to make team cars compliment eachother without being identical. Swap colors, invert colors, add an extra design somewhere. It’s not like it hasn’t been done:

Honestly, when John Force can make each Castrol GTX car in his 200 bajillion car fleet look uniqe and immediately identifiable from eachother how hard can it really be to give a separate scheme to each car on a team?

EDIT: I have been informed that the FIA requires both cars on a team to be identical, which I should have guessed to be the case. Once again there’s a muppet to blame for my frustrations.

Blondude > Dusty Ventures 09/04/2013 at 19:12

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But but but...

f86sabre > Dusty Ventures 09/04/2013 at 20:05

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Remember when BAR Honda tried to run two different paint schemes from their main sponsor British American Tabbaco? Bernie/FIA said no so they ran the zipper car.

Dusty Ventures > f86sabre 09/04/2013 at 20:14

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So does that mean the FIA requires team cars to be identical?

nobody > Dusty Ventures 09/04/2013 at 20:20

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They do.

Teams must run their two cars with essentially the same race livery throughout the season and must seek prior approval for any major changes.

Dusty Ventures > nobody 09/04/2013 at 20:44

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Ah. So my gripe is with the FIA, not the teams. Though that doesn't excuse M-Sport Qatar from running the same scheme as Qatar M-Sport, or any of the V8 Supercar teams...

The Smoking Waffle > Dusty Ventures 09/06/2013 at 01:00

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Real race fans now how tell "identical" team cars apart. Geeezzzz......

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > nobody 09/06/2013 at 01:02

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Honestly, what problem is that rule trying to solve?

Dusty Ventures > The Smoking Waffle 09/06/2013 at 02:38

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aeternitas > Dusty Ventures 09/06/2013 at 04:20

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It's like trying to tell if a $20 bill is fake while it's bouncing around in a stripper's g-string.

Tetrisaurus > f86sabre 09/06/2013 at 04:54

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They missed a trick by not having the 555 car with gold wheels. But yeah, it is a tragedy that both cars need the same scheme, it'd be nice to see some variation.

ZeFookus > Dusty Ventures 09/06/2013 at 07:28

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I find the worst offenders (at least in F1) to be Mercedes, since for me at least, the helmets tend to be the easiest way of telling the two cars apart, yet Lewis and Nico's helmets look INCREDIBLY similar at a glance.

Illustrating my point:

At 180+ MPH, That's a pretty difficult distinction to have to make.

Rickster3rd ¯\_()_/¯ > Dusty Ventures 09/06/2013 at 08:37

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Old but relevant.

Bakkster, touring car driver > Dusty Ventures 09/06/2013 at 08:45

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I like that ACO sports cars tend to do a decent job of this, with the windshield banner and trim being complementary colors. You might not remember who's in which car without a spotter guide, but you can at least say 'the orange Corvette' or 'the black Viper'.

Dusty Ventures > Bakkster, touring car driver 09/06/2013 at 10:43

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The Vipers are a perfect example of how I think it should be done. The Vettes, in my opinion at least, need a bit more differentiation

Bakkster, touring car driver > Dusty Ventures 09/06/2013 at 11:27

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You can see in the Vette picture, they also have different colored lights in the hood for night racing :)

I can agree that additional trim would be a nice differentiator, it's plenty for me to explain the difference to a newbie. The windscreen banner is a lot bigger than the roll hoop on the P2s...

Dusty Ventures > Bakkster, touring car driver 09/06/2013 at 11:36

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Those P2s are definitely on my list. And part of my issue with the Corvette banner is it only helps if you're looking at the car from the front.

Bakkster, touring car driver > Dusty Ventures 09/06/2013 at 12:09

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That's true. I think the endplates are usually complementary as well, but from behind it is definitely much tougher. Complementary black/yellow on the rear bumper could solve that, or just fully yellow/black wings.

Part of the trouble with a factory team, trying to be consistent. The yellow front, black rear is so iconic for the team it would be tough to change like some others. The BMWs have it easy, just paint the M-Sport stripe on two different backgrounds.

Dusty Ventures > Bakkster, touring car driver 09/06/2013 at 13:01

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I think Corvette has options. They ran inverse schemes on the Jake the Skull cars, and I know the #4 C6R did at least one race with the entire car yellow, including the rear

Bakkster, touring car driver > Dusty Ventures 09/06/2013 at 13:04

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I could go for that.