Great Martini racing cars in pictures - F1 Fanatic

Great Martini racing cars in pictures - F1 Fanatic
UPDATE: pictures of the McLaren 650S - Top Gear
Auto Expo 2014: Maruti Celerio launch in Pictures! Slide 1 - Zigwheels

Posted: 14 Feb 2014 12:54 PM PST

One of the most iconic liveries in motor racing will return to Formula One this year courtesy of Williams.

The Grove team's cars will appear in the colours of new sponsor Martini, who have a long tradition of supporting teams in Formula One, sportscars, rallying and more.

The distinctive blue and red stripes on a white background last appeared on a Formula One car in 1975. Carlos Pace and Carlos Reutemann carried them to victories at Interlagos and the Nurburgring respectivaly.

Brabham retained Martini's backing for four more seasons, but favoured a predominantly red colour scheme during that time. In 1979 Martini also sponsored world champions Lotus, adding their stripes to the team's green cars, then pulled out of the sport.

Martini's logos had a modest presence on the Ferraris of 2006 and 2008. But it has been in other forms of motor racing that their livery has had the most impact.

Their association with Porsche in sports car racing has been a long and successful one. Their colours adorned the 917K which claimed Porsche's second Le Mans 24 Hours victory in the hands of Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep. Martirni's backed Porsche 936s also triumphed in 1976 and 1977.

Martini did not enjoy quite the same success when they switched their allegiance to fellow Italians Lancia soon afterwards. The later LC2s in particular went as well as they looked but were plagued by technical glitches.

While Lancia's sports car programme proved a disappointment, their rallying venture was entirely the opposite. Between 1987 and 1992 Lancia set a record for winning six consecutive constructors' championships with the Delta, examples of which were resplendent with now highly recognisable stripes.

The classic colours returned to rallying with Ford in the 2000s. They have appeared in other series since then, notably on Sebastien Loeb's Porsche Supercup racer last year. Continuing their association with Porsche, the colours have also appeared on the new 918 Spyder.

In an field of increasingly colourless F1 cars, the return of this instantly recognisable livery is surely going to stand out.

: Porsche 917 K

: Porsche 917

: Porsche 917, Le Mans

: Porsche 917 Long Tail

: 1973 Brabham-Cosworth BT42

: Brabham BT42 (1973), Goodwood, 2012

: Brabham BT42 (1973), Goodwood, 2012

: Brabham BT42, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2013

: Brabham BT45 in Rush

: Porsche 935

: Porsche 935

: Porsche 935, Nordschleife

: Porsche 935 'Moby Dick'

: Porsche 935 'Moby Dick'

: Porsche 936

: Porsche 936, Le Mans, 1976

: Porsche 936, Le Mans, 1977

: Lotus 80, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2013

: Lotus 80 (1979), Goodwood, 2012

: Lotus 80 (1979), Goodwood, 2012

: Lancia LC1

: Lancia LC1, Nordschleife

: Lancia LC1

: Lancia LC2

: Lancia LC2

: Lancia LC2, Norisring

: Lancia LC2, Monza

: Lancia 037

: Lancia 037

: Lancia 037

: Lancia 037

: Lancia S4, 1985

: Lancia S4, 1985

: Lancia S4, 1985

: Lancia Delta, Sweden, 1988

: Lancia Delta, Finland, 1989

: Lancia Delta, Corsica, 1990

: Lancia Delta, Monte-Carlo, 1990

: Lancia Delta, 1992

: Lancia rally cars

: Porsche 911

: Porsche 911

: Porsche 911 RSR

: Porsche 911 Carrera RSR

: Porsche 911 Carrera RSR

: Ford Focus WRC, Argentina, 2000

: Ford Focus WRC, Australia, 2000

: Ford Focus WRC, Italy, 2000

: Ford Focus, Monte-Carlo, 2000

: Ford Focus WRC, Sweden, 2000

: Ford Focus, Finland, 2000

: Ford Focus WRC, 2000

: Ford Focus, New Zealand, 2000

: Porsche 911 Supercup, 2013

: Porsche 911 Supercup, Monza, 2013

: Porsche 911 Supercup, Circuit de Catalunya, 2013

: Porsche 918 Spyder

: Porsche 918 Spyder

: Porsche 918 Spyder

: Porsche 918 Spyder

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Images © Ford, Lancia, Porsche, F1 Fanatic

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UPDATE: pictures of the McLaren 650S - Top Gear

Posted: 12 Feb 2014 06:09 AM PST

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UPDATE: pictures of the McLaren 650S have leaked onto the internet ahead of the official Geneva Motorshow reveal. Here is what we know so far about the new car from Woking...

McLaren has announced a new model. It's called the 650S and it'll slot into the model range between the 12C and the P1. So no, this isn't the P13 'baby' McLaren that we've been waiting for, but unfortunately that is pretty much all we do know until closer to this car's global reveal at the Geneva Motorshow on the 4th March.

However, we're going to try a bit of supposition. It's likely to be based on the 12C, but probably an uprated version of it, with - and this is surely a no-brainer - 650bhp from the same twin turbocharged 3.8-litre V8. Expect torque to climb a similar amount and, provided weight hasn't changed a significantly, acceleration figures to fall a fraction. Think three seconds flat to 60mph and six seconds flat to 100mph. Top speed? Well, it'll probably go up a little. You'd be safe to assume it'll probably go round corners faster and lop a couple of seconds off it's Nurburgring lap time. Not that McLaren will ever share that information with us.

The positioning is more interesting. This is pretty much guaranteed to be a more expensive model - you don't give a car more power and charge less for it, so we'd anticipate it being a more driver-orientated version of the 12C - that badge is pictured on a carbon panel for a reason. So the obvious explanation here is that this is McLaren's take on Ferrari's 458 Speciale. The other, more cynical explanation, might hold that Lamborghini is pulling the wraps off its new Huracan at the same time and this is a McLaren spoiler.

Let's hope it's the former. Because if, as McLaren's statement and the leaked pictures suggest, it does indeed take learnings from the P1, we'd predict that it might have some P1-style aero treatment. And that would hint that McLaren has gone further with it than just taking some weight out, and giving it more power and stickier tyres. So there we are - that's all we know, plus a lot we're guessing at. Share your thoughts and ideas below.

Auto Expo 2014: Maruti Celerio launch in Pictures! Slide 1 - Zigwheels

Posted: 07 Feb 2014 11:13 AM PST