[BTCC] The liveries of the field

[dyewat808]

Couldn't find this anywhere, so thought I'd start a thread on this.

Which car do you think is the most distinctive? Which leads me onto my next point:

Does anyone else think that at Thruxton the cars all looked a little bit samey?

As in the liveries all looked too similar? For instance, too much white and not enough orange?

I'm looking at the spotter guide (Andy Blackmore - great guide!), and too many cars in my eyes use white as a major part of their paint scheme.

For instance, the Airwaves BMW's, the Honda's, the Team AON's, the Forster Motorsports, and TH Motorsport.

The cars of Triple Eight and Pirtek Racing are the most distinctive I'd say.

[FIRE]

Missing the AmD Volkswagen in your list. Belongs in top 3 op best looking liveries.

The big teams (WSR, Motorbase, 888) did all a very poor job.
Arena's livery is better looking as in 2009.
The Dynamic Honda's look ok.
The Pirtek livery from Down Under looks much better. Jordan used the wrong blue.

[Tim Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by dyewat808

Does anyone else think that at Thruxton the cars all looked a little bit samey?

As in the liveries all looked too similar? For instance, too much white and not enough orange?

For instance, the Airwaves BMW's, the Honda's, the Team AON's, the Forster Motorsports, and TH Motorsport.

Yes, and posted this in the Thruxton thread.

Would be nice to get some colour in there as it 1. makes it easier to pick out which car is which, and 2. means there's some sponsor money coming in (hopefully).

[andy_b]

I'm not a fan of white on cars as they look too privateer, but when you are chasing sponsors, then white bg is excellent. Lets say you have a sponsor who is well known with their Blue logo, then arent going to be so interested in a Black car when another team is offering them space on a white base car. Some companies want to be in their house colours, some are quite relaxed....so white is often a long term bet....

...however, in saying that, with the days of full-body wraps, it shouldnt be so much of an issue now.

On the subject of the Arena Focus. When we designed the livery we decided to use two pieces of legacy/heritage. Ford had previous run a Blue/White gradient as a concept livery for their proposed S2000, WRC Focus. Dont think this ever ran, but we decided to play with this as Arena also had a history of a Gradient with their Super Touring Laguna.

For quite a while, the 'AON' branding was to appear in Blue or White (depending on the position of the gradient), but ultimately, they wanted to run with their house colour at the last moment. For 2010, we adjusted and angled the blend, which works better (I think).

With Hamilton's Honda, we were limited with what we could do as the ex-Syncro car was still Blue bottom, Silver top. White panel worked for the sponsor (for exactly the reason above), while I pushed to get the bottom half changed to red to work with the then title sponsors corporate ID. Once they saw the mock-up, agreed to change the bottom to Red. Simple job, that one
Ruling out my two liveries, I like the Jordan Pirtex livery, but as stated wrong blue ( ) and like the Foster's GB Style graphics. I quite like the Chevys, but they are very busy with jagged colour breaks fighting with the dots around the Silverline logo.

Team Sunshine is simple and effective.

[awrb]

I think the Aon cars look fantastic this year, good job Andy! The changes have just perfected last years design really. One question I do have though andy, why was it decided to run in the Ford colours rather than the Aon ones in the first place? Is this not effectively giving Ford a bit more publicity, making it look like a works entry, for free? Or was the idea that Ford may see these cars in their colours and throw their support behind the project?

As for the rest of the grid, I agree Jordan's car looks good, and was surprised at how good Pinkney's car looks on track (possibly helped by the fact the white stripes no longer go over the lights). The Sunshine cars look good, and proof BTCC sponsorship does work, I'm about to book my second holiday through them (yes because they are cheapest, but I wouldn't have looked had I not heard of them through the BTCC)

[andy_b]

Livery was designed and the go-ahead before Aon came onboard.

[awrb]

Oh ok, that makes sense andy. It was something I thought about last year when watching the races but didn't think of asking. It is a great looking car though, so well done.

[safc_fan89]

I think Jordan's livery looks awful myself, just a complete mess...each to their own...

[Bramzel]

Jordan and Pinkney's liveries are definitely my favourites. Really like the Honda as well, but thats more from a nostalgia point of view. Forster is nice in terms of design, but I'm not a fan of the baby-blue. AON's blue is very nice, but I'm no fan of gradients. 888 and WSR aren't ugly, but they are very boring. Mess-of-the-year award definitely goes to the Airwaves BMW, it looks horrible.

[Icebaby]

The liveries this year are the worst I can remember, Aon, Chevy, Sunshine, AMD and 888 are the exceptions, the rest just dont cut it.

AMD are a good example of how a small team can really get a livery right and give maximum exposure to their sponsers. For a works team the Honda is a mess with stickers simply plastered all over it dilluting the exposure to each company.

[steve_r]

I miss the Team RAC orange. I like the UNIQ team's paintwork, and the golf looks good. Out of the white cars, the Focuses look best IMO.

I preferred last years Sunshine.co.uk colour scheme. I thought this years would have a bit more red now that Jag are a major sponser.

[dyewat808]

Originally Posted by steve_r

I miss the Team RAC orange. I like the UNIQ team's paintwork, and the golf looks good. Out of the white cars, the Focuses look best IMO.

I preferred last years Sunshine.co.uk colour scheme. I thought this years would have a bit more red now that Jag are a major sponser.

Same here - you're not the only one - hence why I said "not enough orange"!

It was bold and distinctive, and I've always liked the BTCC for its often bold and distinctive liveries. However this year...

Originally Posted by Icebaby

The liveries this year are the worst I can remember, Aon, Chevy, Sunshine, AMD and 888 are the exceptions, the rest just dont cut it.

I was about to type almost exactly the same thing!

Glad I'm not the only one here with this opinion!

PS: Sorry guys for forgetting the AMD Golf, I tried to find all the favourites and just missed it, which is kinda stupid considering it has no white on it, unlike the vast majority of the field this year!

[medius]

My faves are the Pinkey and Jordan Vectras. Its not surprising that I think V8SC's are the best looking saloons (livery-wise) in the world though.

[andy_b]

The series and the teams have set the standard in v8 supercar over the years for striking liveries. I have proposed numerous liveries in the style of V8 Supercars for BTCC and WTCC, but they are a more conservative bunch! LOL

[dyewat808]

Originally Posted by andy_b

The series and the teams have set the standard in v8 supercar over the years for striking liveries. I have proposed numerous liveries in the style of V8 Supercars for BTCC and WTCC, but they are a more conservative bunch! LOL

No surprises there, the folks are after all, Europeans!

[crmalcolm]

My vote would be for the Hondas.

In a strange way, they seem to have a retro cool about them!

[redshoes]

Motorbase have now added some 'Motorbase Performance' logos on the side of the cars to help fill in the gaps. From a spotters point of view they've made it easier to identify the two cars from a distance. Both cars now have coloured door mirrors, an extra strip above the windscreen and flashes on the A-pillars - Kane's in dayglo yellow, Jackson's in dayglo orange. Glad to see they've done this as the black/blue Airwaves windscreen strips just weren't different enough to be distinctive.

Nash's Triple Eight car is now in plain black with no sponsors other than the small trade logos on the sill.

[Pato]

The Chevy Cruze's imo. Love that livery.