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From the beginning of the 20th century until the late 1960s, before sponsorship liveries came in use, vehicles competing in Formula One, sports car racing, touring car racing and other international auto racing competitions customarily painted their cars in racing colors (which sometimes resembled political national colors). The colors most likely have their origin in the national teams competing in the Gordon Bennett Cup, which was held annually in 1900-1905, and were definitely established in the 1920s and 1930s era of Grand Prix motor racing, when blue Bugatti and red Alfa Romeo dominated many races.

Due to the weight limit for GP cars introduced in 1934, German Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union teams did not apply the traditional white paint in order to save weight, and the bare sheets of metal gave rise to the term Silver Arrows. When aluminium was replaced by fiberglass materials in the 1960s, some German teams (like Porsche and BMW) returned to white paint. Others German manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz and Audi used silver paint when they returned to international racing in the 1990s.

In spring of 1968, sponsorship liveries, which already had been used in the United States for years, were allowed in international racing. Team Lotus was the first F1 team not only to paint their cars in a tobacco livery, but also to change the team name accordingly. The British Racing Green vanished soon from the cars of private teams, while the Rosso Corsa used by Italian manufacturers like Ferrari is in continuous use to the present day.

Although this color scheme was abandoned by the FIA for most racing disciplines in the 1970s, it is still informally used, especially by Italian, British and German automakers and teams that want to emphasize their traditions. Often, sponsorship agreements respect this. Many concept cars follow the color scheme, and many amateur racers prefer them as well.

German Blitzen Benz (1909)

French Bugatti Type 35C (1926)

German Silberpfeile (1930s)

Japanese Honda RA272 (1965)

British Lotus 49 (early 1968)

Italian Alfa Romeo 33 (1977)

German Audi R8 (2006)

Code	Country	Body	Bonnet	Other Colors	Numbers	Illustrated example
A	Austria	Blue			Black on white
ARG	Argentina	Blue	Yellow	Chassis: Black	Red on white
AUS	Australia	Green	Gold	Blue
B	Belgium	Yellow			Black
BR	Brazil	Pale yellow		Chassis/Wheels: Green	Black
BUL	Bulgaria	Green	White		Red on white
C	Cuba	Yellow	Black		Black on white
CDN	Canada	Traditional colors are white and green parallel stripes		After the Canadian flag was changed in 1965 Red with wide lengthwise white stripes became popular	Black
CH	Switzerland	Red	White		Black
CS	Czechoslovakia	White	Blue/white	Underframe: Red	Blue
D	Germany	White		bare metal (aluminium, "Silver Arrows")	Red
DK	Denmark	Silver-grey		National flag as a lengthwise stripe on bonnet	Red on white
E	Spain	Red	Yellow	Chassis/Springs: Red	Black on yellow or white on red
ET	Egypt	Pale violet			Red on white
F	France	Blue			White
FIN	Finland	White		Two blue stripes on bonnet shaping a Latin cross	Black on white
GB	United Kingdom	Green		Scottish entrant Rob Walker used dark blue with a white noseband and Ecurie Ecosse also used dark blue; the Arrol Johnston team pre-World War 1 used navy tartan	White
GR	Greece	Pale Blue		Two white lengthwise stripes on bonnet	Black on white
H	Hungary	Front: White Rear: Green	Red		Black
HJK	Jordan	Brown			Black on white
IND	India	Sky blue[1]		sky blue
I	Italy	Red			White
IRL	Ireland	Green		Horizontal band of orange all around	White
J	Japan	Ivory White		Red disk on bonnet	White on black
L	Luxembourg	Tricolor lengthwise stripe (red/white/blue) from front to rear			Black on white
MAS	Malaysia	Yellow		White	Black on white/Black
MC	Monaco	White		Red lateral stripe around car	Black on white
MEX	Mexico	Gold		Blue cross-stripe on bonnet	Red on white
NL	Netherlands	Orange			White
NZ	New Zealand	Green and silver		Black and silver[2]
P	Portugal	Red		Underframe: White	White
PL	Poland	White		Underframe: Red	Red on white
RCH	Chile	Red	Blue	Underframe: White	Blue/red or red on white
S	Sweden	Blue bottom, yellow top, three cross bands of blue on top of bonnet			White
T	Thailand	Pale blue with yellow horizontal band around body and bonnet		Wheels: Pale yellow	White on blue
U	Uruguay	Pale blue with large red band around the lower part of bonnet			White on black
USA	United States	White with blue lengthwise stripes		Underframe: Blue	Blue on white
ZA	South Africa	Gold	Green		Black on yellow

• go-faster stripes on notes about US racing color.

1. ^ India's car turns sky blue
2. ^ Doug Nye: "McLaren, The Grand Prix, Can-Am and Indy Cars", page 73
   McLaren - The Cars by model number

• 1960 Road & Track article
• 1903 Leinster Leader article
• Motorsport Memorial website - page about country automotive abbreviations and racing colours