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YOUR GUIDE TO CLASSIC MOTORSPORTISSUE 01

ICONS OF MOTORSPORT - GULF OILS

DONINGTON HISTORIC FESTIVAL

HSCC IN PICTURES

ICONS OF

MOTORSPORT

GULF

Ialways tend to see whenever there is a Porsche racing event, that there is always at least one car painted in the legendary Gulf Oil livery. Light blue and orange – a combination of colours that are unforgettable.

In 1967 the Gulf Oils Corporation entered the world

of motorsport when it’s very own vice president entered both Daytona 24 and the Sebring 12 Hours in his own Ford GT40 in a dark blue and orange trim, which were Gulf’s corporate colours. In the same year Ford USA pulled out from motorsport and in turn Gulf Oil took over the sponsorship of the newly acquired GT40 race team – J.W.Automotive Engineering, also known as JWAE. At this point Gulf liveried racing cars were born.

Most people forget that the first properly liveried Gulf vehicle was the Mirage M1. This was a car based upon the main frame of a Ford GT40 but had a new body and roofline that would provide better aerodynamics: perfectly suited for the sports car racing holy grail, Le Mans. Although it did not achieve glory at Le Mans, an M1 did manage to win the 1967

Spa 1000km in its brief racing career. Unfortunately, only one remains today of the three originally made.

Of course, the moment everyone began to recognise the Gulf livery was in 1968 when JWAE would take the Le Mans win that they always wanted, driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi - Gulf Oils first international win. This would then be repeated the following year by Jackie Ickx and Jackie Oliver. This set the ball rolling for the Gulf liveried machinery, soon Gulf Oils livery was appearing everywhere in the motorsport world.

And we haven’t even gotten to the other infamously liveried racing machine. But first, a look at the colour itself: why does it work so well?

It is important to note that they were not just random choices. The colours of powder blue and orange were chosen by Grady Davis, Executive V.P. of Gulf, when Gulf became the sponsor of the J.W. Automotive team. There seems to be a general sense that he wanted the colours to be similar to Gulf’s navy and orange colour scheme, but felt the light powder blue was more exciting – perfect for a racing car.

The colours also seem to have an intensity all their own, however.

Blue and orange are complementary colours – meaning they look more potent when placed next to one another. Although it is not known if it was entirely intentional, the lighter powder blue has greater optical vibrancy in relation to the orange, compared to the darker navy blue of the Gulf corporate logo.

Without getting too technical, these colours are known as “Equiluminant Colours”. When we see colours that are equiluminant, our eyes have difficulty assigning positions to them. This results in an optical illusion where the colour seems to vibrate or move slightly. These colours next to one another suggest movement, and blur the outline. Because of the way humans perceive luminance, if two colours are the same luminance: we cannot see the edges. Thus, their positions become ambiguous and they seem the float or shift.

Now it is highly unlikely this was ever intended. It was most likely an accident, made more evident by the fact that at some point Gulf added a navy blue stripe to separate the main colour fields. Of course this helped to block this natural vibration of the colours from occurring. The colours still pop visually, but optically they vibrate less.

That fact seems to have had little

“The Gulf livery is world renowed”

impact on the car that cemented the Gulf Oil livery as one of the most legendary paint schemes to ever be applied to automobile. I am of course speaking of the Porsche 917. For Porsche itself, it was an enormous undertaking. In fact, it nearly bankrupted them. But the results after their hard work proved fruitful. They dominated the 24 hours of Le Mans in the early 1970s, with multiple victories. They ran other cars with the Gulf livery as well, including the Porsche 908, which they continued to run alongside the 917 - as it was lighter and suited the tighter, more complex tracks.

Intriguing to note, is that a Gulf liveried Porsche 917 never won Le Mans. Except, of course, in fiction. Part of the credit to the livery is so well known goes to the equally legendary Steve McQueen, who starred in the well-regarded racing film “Le Mans”. The racing cars used were Porsche

917s painted in Gulf racing colours. This of course brought the livery to even greater recognition.

Even decades on, it continues to be used. Most recently, it has been applied to the factory-supported Aston Martin efforts in Le Mans racing, including a GT1 class victory in 2008. What makes this livery endure? It may have to do with the intense colour pallet which was different from any other at the time it was introduced.

Regardless, it continues to be an unmistakable colour and design combination even almost 40 years after being introduced to world of motorsport. Here at Apex Magazine we hope Gulf Oils continues their support to the motorsport community.

Words: Christopher M.KPhotographs: Porsche/Gulf Archives

“Steve McQueen’s ‘Le Mans’ bought more recognition to

the livery.”

Photographs from Gulf Oils Ltd & Porsche Automobiles.

PHOTOGRAPHER DIARY

I was definitely born in the wrong decade. I’ve known this for many years now, but the Donington Historic has emphasised this point more than ever.

I can’t recall ever attending a race weekend which has delivered so much – beautiful cars, brilliant racing and even some good weather (at least on the Sunday anyway). I could go on and write about how I enjoyed the friendliness of the paddock, how the Matra sounded fantastic, the incredibly close racing or perhaps the top class drivers that were competing; Frank Stippler Andy Meyrick, Alex Buncombe, Lord Drayson to name a

few. Instead I thought I’d write about something that I was very excited to see.

In the days leading up to the Donington Historic there was one race that I was looking forward to more than anything else – Group C. I’d never seen a Group C race before; I’d only previously seen them on display at various motoring shows and museums across the country. So I was eager to see twenty of them racing on a classic circuit such as Donington Park.

I decided that for the Group C qualifying I’d start in the pits, most of the Group C cars had a pit garage and after having a look around earlier on in the day it looked like it would probably be complete chaos with Group C cars appearing out of nowhere, providing some interesting photo opportunities. As the qualifying session was approaching I

Ever wondered what it’s like to be trackside photographing an event like the Donington Historic? No? Well, Adam Pigott is going to tell you anyway...

DONINGTON HISTORIC

BRING ON THE NOISEAfter the early morning start (leaving from Lincolnshire and heading to Donington) I welcomed the tremendous thunder of the Formula Two cars. Ears hurt afterwards though...

was surprised at the lack of activity – most of the cars were still in their garages and the drivers were no-where to be seen.

A few minutes later however, the pit lane exploded into a flurry of activity, the first Group C car to break the cover of the pit garages was an immaculate Spice SE89. Shortly afterwards most of the other Group C cars emerged and were pushed into position at the end of the pit lane for the start of the session. It was when the engines began to be fired up that I realised how spectacular these cars really are. Whilst I wouldn’t say that any of the Group C cars are ear-deafeningly loud (unlike the Historic F2 which had raced earlier) but each car had a beautiful, unique sound to it. My immediate favourites were definitely the Sauber Mercedes C9 and the Aston Martin AMR-1 – both having very unique qualities that seemed to shout above the rest.

I headed out towards the track to capture some of the on-track action in the qualifying session - I couldn’t get over the speed of the cars, and even the lower power Group C2 cars were lapping the Donington Park circuit in some seriously impressive times. Unfortunately a small rain shower meant that a lot of the cars returned to the pits after the dry running at the beginning of the session, this was only qualifying after all. But this short qualifying session had given me a glimpse of what was to come on Sunday; I literally couldn’t wait to see the cars out on track again.

Sunday felt like a day of waiting as Group C was set to be the second to last race of the day, I had a lot of time to kill before the main event. I took this opportunity to have a look around the paddock and capture some of the other racing at the festival. Rather surprisingly I was

THE RUSHThe rush of shooting trackside is something not enough people mention,

I’m certain that all photographers pretend that it’s just another day in the office. I’m sorry, but if I could work in an office with Group C Aston Martin’s flying past every 2 minutes I think I’d be changing job. I like to

try and convey this rush in my work by using slower shutter speeds to give a great sense of movement and excitement in the cars.

DONINGTON HISTORIC

very impressed with the entertaining racing which was going on; even though some of the cars were worth hundreds of thousands of pounds the owners were still driving them properly, putting on a good show for the crowd. The E-Type Challenge was particularly enthralling with an entertaining battle between Alex Buncombe and Jon Minshaw. Another race that I can’t ignore was the ‘1000km’ for Pre-’72 Sports-Racing Cars which took place on the Saturday evening – the combination of numerous Lola’s, Chevron’s, Fords and Porsche’s with an added bonus of a beautiful Matra 650 & Ferrari 512M was certainly a race not to miss.

During the other races I’d found time to explore the Donington Park circuit. Having only visited the track once before I was keen to get a better look around – by the time Group C came along I was already in position and was waiting to hear the aural assault from the twenty Group C cars roaring across the Donington Park circuit. Seeing these cars race was a fantastic experience. I can’t describe how the cars made me feel

– awestruck would do. There were a few heart in mouth moments as the cars twitched around, or in the case of Steve Tandy’s Nissan R90CK, hit the wall…

One thing that struck me during the race was how people of all ages seemed to be in awe of these fantastic pieces of machinery. I talked to a few people across the day about the Group C cars, the general consensus seemed to be that those who weren’t born when they raced in the World Sportscar Championship wish they had been, and those who did see them race back then had very fond memories of attending Brands Hatch, Donington, Silverstone and even Le Mans to see them race. It makes events such as the Donington Historic such important staples on the motorsport calendar – experiencing these cars whilst we still can.

It does, however, make me wonder if in 20 years’ time we’ll look back on the current generation of world endurance prototypes and yearn for them in the same manner as most people do now for the Group C era. I’m not so sure, but only time will

RACE STARTRace starts are always a bit of a rush, in the case of the F2 I decided to

take a different approach. Waiting in the pit lane allowed me to capture driver portraits as the cars waited to head out on track.

HSCC

IN PICTURES

HSCC

IN PICTURES

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