My favorite racing liveries

I think the most important thing for a race car in order to look cool is the livery. It doesn’t care if the design of the car is ugly, if it has a nice livery, it will look amazing, for example: The 2012 Lotus F1 car. So here are my favorite liveries in no particular order. Keep in mind that this is just my thoughts and opinions.

Renault F1 Team (2004-2006)

I started to watch Formula 1 when I was very little, I remember waking up sundays early to watch the races with my dad. One of the cars that always standed out for me were the Renaults. And now, 12 years later, I still love this livery.

The combination of the light blue and yellow works amazing in my opinion, and the design itself with mixed tones with dark blue front and rear wings are my favorite parts compared to 2002-03 where Telefonica didn’t sponsor the car yet and those parts where white.

And I always prefered Alonso’s car over Fisichella’s or Trulli’s, because of the little red stripe painted on the tip of the nose.

Subaru World Rally Team (1999-2007)

Of course the iconic blue and gold combo will be on this list. I mean, how can you not like this livery? Just as much as I liked F1 when I was a little boy, I really enjoyed the World Rally Championship. And obviously the cars that really caught my attention were the Subies, with the crazy sounds and crazy colors.

My favorite one is the post-McRae design with the brand’s logo on the side instead of the 555 sponsor. I think it suits the car better with the yellow extending now to the front doors. There, I said it, don’t come at me. My top picks are the 1999, 2004 and 2007 models.

Vodafone McLaren F1 Team (2007-2013)

Over the years, the Woking team always had amazing liveries: the original Papaya orange cars, the red and white Marlboro cars, the West ones. I really like all of them but my pick without a doubt is the Vodafone era.

My favorite year was 2008, the peak of the aerodynamics in the category. That silver MP4-23 with all those winglets looked like a very futuristic spaceship. And the red accents worked very well with the mirror-like body. The cherry on top for me was the yellow helmet from a very young and promising Lewis Hamilton. This is one of my favorite F1 cars of all time.

HKS Team (Nissan Skyline GT-R Gr.A - 1993)

This is nineties in a nutshell. HKS used this design in a lot of cars, but my favorite by far it’s the R32 that ran in the Japanese Touring Championship. It’s a rolling piece of art. +10 for the green tinted headlights!

Scuderia Ferrari (2007-2009)

It was very hard to pick between the Schumacher-era Vodafone livery or the barcode one. But I always liked the latter a little more, so that’s my choice. That dark metallic red really suits the car, and I love the not-so mysterious mysteriousness of the barcode.

My favorite is the F2007. I prefer the slimmer barcode compared to the 2008-09 design that tried to imitate the whole Marlboro logo. In terms of looks, 2007 and 2008 are my favorite F1 years.

Citroen World Rally Team (2008)

I really like the design of the C4 WRC, out of the three championship-winning cars from the french brand, this is my favorite. I remember that my friend had this as a 1/64 toy car and I always played with that car when I went to his house. Also, a lot of my car magazines are from 08, and it offered a lot of high-res pictures of this car.

I really like the Red Bull sponsor on the front, it looks a lot better than the boring all-red 2007 livery. And I pick 2008’s design over the latters because it didn’t have the white back, it was all red and blue.

Mazda 787B (1991)

Green and orange are my favorite colors, so obviously I LOVE the livery of the 787B that won Le Mans in 1991 after so many years of trial and error. Those gold wheels really suits the design. And the sound that the 4-rotor makes. Orgasmic. I love this car.

Arrows F1 (2000-2002)

I first saw this car on an old F1 magazine my father had on his shelves. I really like the orange and black combination with matching wheels. Sure, it was a backmarker, but it looks so cool.

Team Ukyo (BMW Z4 GT3)

This might be a little controversial, but I don’t care. I’ll admit it: I love this livery. I’ve got nothing else to say.

Lancia Delta Integrale Jolly Club (1993)

f I mention the Delta, a lot of you will think of the Martini livery. And I get it, that is one of the best designs in the history of motorsport. But I prefer the Repsol sponsored model that Carlos Sainz used in the 1993 season. And this is a special one because it was the last year that Lancia ran on the top category of the WRC.

The combination of the orange and dark blue is really nice for me. Don’t come at me x2.

Brawn GP 001 (2009)

I remember when I saw on a TV program that Formula 1 regulations changed in 2009, I was pissed. I didn’t like the narrow rear wings and the lack of winglets and aerodynamic parts. I hated how all the cars looked, except one: the Brawn GP.

It was so weird to see a car running almost sponsor-free. And that lime green livery was amazing, with the lime green wheel covers. I still like a lot this car.

Jagermeister (Porsche 934 - 1976)

Okay, this is epic.

Subaru Legacy RS Gr.A (1992)

I really love this combination of blue, green, pink and gold. I don’t know why, but I like it a lot.

Ford Fiesta RX Ken Block (2014)

I’m a big fan of the HHIC. I love his Gymkhana videos, specially Gym5. And I always liked the liveries on his cars. All the way from the Subarus to the Hoonicorn. But my favorite is this: the pixel camo zebra.

The blue accents on the wing, mirrors and hood are amazing. And just look at those Turbofans. 10/10.

Toyota Corolla WRC (1998-1999)

Now I will finish this post with possibly my favorite livery of all time: the iconic Castrol livery from the Toyota Team Europe. And I know that prettier cars like the Celica GT-Fours used it but I prefer the one used on the Corolla. The blue from Movistar added a lot to the mix, and also a lot of new forms were used, mainly on the back with the red and green lightnings.

1998 particulary was the best year of this livery in my opinion, because from the Safari onwards, every rally had it’s own design with characteristic things from each country. Australia had kangaroos, Finland had pines, UK umbrellas and so on.

So that’s it, what are your picks for favorite liveries?