page_title: British racing green
section_title: International rise to prominence
hierarchical_section_title: British racing green / International rise to prominence
caption_attribution_description: English: Winner, 1954 Reims 12 Hours: Jaguar XKD404
context_page_description: British racing green, or BRG, is a colour similar to Brunswick green, hunter green, forest green or moss green. It takes its name from the green international motor racing colour of the United Kingdom. This originated with the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup, held in Ireland, as motor-racing was illegal in England. As a mark of respect, the British cars were painted shamrock green.
  Although there is still some debate as to an exact hue for BRG, currently the term is used to denote a spectrum of deep, rich greens. "British racing green" in motorsport terms meant only the colour green in general – its application to a specific shade has developed outside the sport.
context_section_description: The foremost British participant in International Motor Racing at the highest echelons both before and after the Great War was Sunbeam (from 1920 part of the STD Motors Combine). Green liveried Sunbeam Racing Cars won the 1912 Coupe de l’Auto as well as being the first (and last for several decades) British team to win the European Grand Epreuves Grand Prix in both 1923 and 1924. The Green Sunbeams driven by the likes of Henry Segrave and K L Guinness were during the vintage period, the prominent competitors to watch for.
  In the 1920s Bentley cars were hugely successful at the Le Mans 24h races, all sporting a mid- to dark-green. The first recorded use of the darkest green shades was on the Bugatti of Briton William Grover-Williams, driving in the very first Monaco Grand Prix, in 1929. This colour has become known as British Racing Green. In the 1950s and 1960s British teams such as Aston Martin, Vanwall, Cooper, Lotus, and BRM were successful in Formula One and Sports car racing, all in different shades of green. The British Racing Partnership team used a very pale green.  Scottish teams such as Ecurie Ecosse and Rob Walker Racing used a dark blue, which did not strictly conform to the CSI rules but was tolerated by officials. The Australian-owned but British-based and licensed Brabham team also used a shade of BRG, and this was augmented with a gold (later yellow) stripe, gold and green being the national sporting colours of Australia. Another British-based and licensed team, McLaren, made their debut at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix with the McLaren M2B car painted white with a green stripe, to represent a fictional Yamura team in the John Frankenheimer´s film Grand Prix.
  Under pressure from a number of teams, most famously the Lotus team who wished to use the Gold Leaf livery on the Lotus 49, in 1968 sponsorship regulations were relaxed in F1. Subsequently, Lotus made their debut in this new livery at the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix, becoming the first works team to paint their cars in the livery of their sponsors. In 1970 the FIA formally gave Formula One an exemption from the national colours ruling and the previously common green colour soon disappeared, being replaced by various sponsor liveries. This exemption has since been extended to all race series, unless specific regulations require the adoption of national colours.
caption: 1954 Jaguar D-type
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