Bit of history below:
British racing green, officially known as deep brunswick green is the international motor racing colour of Great Britain.
The dark green colour was used for the uniforms of the cavalrymen of Braunschweig, Germany, and later by British riflemen in the late eighteenth century. The current British Royal Family traces its origin to the House of Hanover, also known as the House of Brunswick, Hanover Line, and Brunswick Green therefore acquired British national symbolism.
It was chosen as the colour that large, fast British railway engines were painted, such as the Flying Scotsman, starting in the late nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, this heritage of speed resulted it in becoming the colour chosen for British racing cars in international competition, before the displaying of the logos of sponsors became common.
In the days of the Gordon Bennett Cup, every component of a car had to be produced in the competing country, as well as the driver being of that nationality. The race was hosted in the country of the previous year's winner. When Selwyn Edge won the 1902 race for Britain it was decided that the 1903 race would be held in Ireland. As a mark of respect for their hosts the British cars were painted green and this has remained the traditional colour for British racing cars to this day.
William Grover-Williams, driving for Britain, won the very first Monaco Grand Prix in a dark green Bugatti. This colour became known as British Racing Green and was regarded as the "official" colour between 1962 and 1973, when British teams dominated Formula One and won twelve World Championships.The history of the famous greens came to an end when Jaguar,the last team in Formula One bearing the colour was sold to Red Bull by Ford in 2004.The New Red Bull Racing team abandoned the British Racing Green henceafter.
See also
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-r ... up-race-1/
Posted: Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:34 +0000
