This competition pitted the world’s leading automobile clubs against each other, so that in the end it was the nations that competed with each other, not the drivers. The first countries to sign up were Germany, Austria, Belgium, the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland.
The regulations established that the following year’s race would be organized by the winning country of the previous edition. The American Count Elliot Zborowski was the one who suggested that each country adopt a different color. In those first Gordon Bennett United States chose the color red, Germany white and France blue. These three were the colors of the British Union Jack flag, so Great Britain ended up choosing green.
With the arrival of the first sponsors at the end of the 1960s, and the introduction of private teams in the 1970s, little by little this gentlemen’s agreement that existed with the colors representing the countries began to be lost. To this day, in top competition only Ferrari continues to wear red and Mercedes-AMG silver grey.
White / Silver gray – Germany
Before 1934 the color used by Germany in competition was white. From that year it changed to silver gray, a change that came out just like that. Let me explain, Mercedes-Benz competed in the European Grand Prix Championship. The regulations of this category limited the weight to 750 kilos. The car was slightly over weight, so in the first race when they realized this problem the mechanics opted to sand the bodywork and thus remove the paint to reduce the weight. They managed to reach the desired weight and also left the aluminum body unpainted, when they won the race the legend of the “Silver Arrows” or “Silver Arrows” began, with which the German racing cars began to adopt the color gray silver.
Blue – France
France in the world of sports has always been used to being represented with the color blue, and not just any blue, the Bleu de France or Blue France. Of all the French brands that have competed throughout history, perhaps one of the best wearing the Bleu de France was Bugatti. In the 1920s and 1930s, his cars dominated competitions around the world. Delage, Talbot and others wore blue in the 1950s, between the 1960s and 1970s Alpine, Ligier and MATRA once again displayed the Bleu de France.
Green – Great Britain
At the beginning of the 20th century, road racing was prohibited in England, so the celebration of the 1903 edition of the Gordon Bennett Cup by Great Britain was held in Ireland. There it was decided to use the color green for the British team, a shade similar to Brunswick Green. A color that ultimately ended up being baptized as British Racing Green. Aston Martin and Vanwall in the 1950s and Lotus in the 1960s won in British Racing Green. Unfortunately, the introduction of sponsors ended up making it almost disappear.
Red – Italy
Another of the historic colors for a racing car associated with a country is red. In fact, it is one of the few that is still present today in the highest international competitions. The sponsors have not been able to make it disappear and thanks to Ferrari it continues to wear the bodywork of its Formula 1 single-seaters and its Gran Turismo cars. Since the 1920s, Alfa Romeo has achieved countless triumphs wearing the color red, Maserati since the 1930s and Ferrari since the 1950s.
White with two blue stripes – United States
The white with blue stripes associated with American racing cars was the brainchild of Briggs Cunningham. In the end, other Yankee private teams also adopted this decoration. The mythical Shelby Cobra of the 50s and 60s, as well as the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350, also wore the decoration devised by Cunningham. Even in the 21st century, when Dodge entered Le Mans with its atomic V10-powered Vipers, it did so in these Briggs Cunningham colors.
Other countries also have their own colors for the competition. Belgium is identified with yellow, the Netherlands with orange, Switzerland with red and white, and Spain with red and yellow.
