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Coloured [number] roundels used at the TT - but why?


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#1 EDWARD FITZGERALD

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Posted 30 August 2005 - 07:58

I have often wondered about the coloured roundels used at Goodwood TTS , can anyone fill in this blank in my education ?

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#2 D-Type

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Posted 31 August 2005 - 21:41

I assume you mean the number roundels. I think that different classes had different colours. (Motorcycles use or used to use a similar system in UK, at least at club level).

At Le Mans the small RAF-type roundels signified that the car had qualified for the Rudge-Whitworth Biennial Cup, either because the entrant or one of the drivers had finished the year before. We discussed this before but nobody seemed to know what the Biennial Cup regulations were.

#3 Stephen W

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Posted 01 September 2005 - 10:45

Karts also use different coloured backgrounds for the differing classes.

:cool:

#4 Macca

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Posted 01 September 2005 - 10:56

Bikes used to as well - yellow for 500s, blue for 350s, green for 250s, black for 125s, white for 50cc and F750 - which made it easier to ID photos, as well as seeing the numbers in a race, compared to nowadays where the number is lost in the 'pavement pizza' paintwork.


Paul M

#5 Arjan de Roos

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Posted 01 September 2005 - 11:09

Originally posted by D-Type
At Le Mans the small RAF-type roundels signified that the car had qualified for the Rudge-Whitworth Biennial Cup, either because the entrant or one of the drivers had finished the year before. We discussed this before but nobody seemed to know what the Biennial Cup regulations were.


I always thought that the small yellow, blue or redwhiteblue roundels indicated the material from which the body had been made. This as a safety precaution if in case of an accident a driver had to be cut out of the body. Is this false info or only partly correct?

#6 EDWARD FITZGERALD

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Posted 01 September 2005 - 21:14

yes, the number roundels , some one will have have the answer , didnt know about the RAF type roundels at LM ,assumed a British connection .

#7 jph

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Posted 02 September 2005 - 08:39

I think the coloured number roundels used at the Goodwood TTs must have been to denote engine capacity/class, but I'm not sure in which years they were used. The only colour pictures I have been able to find are for '63 and '64, plus some film of the '61 race. In '64, there does not appear to be any consistent use of roundels - some cars have white or black numbers applied directly to bodywork, some have black numbers on white background etc. In '63, it appears that the over 3 litre cars had blue roundels and the 2 litre to 3 litre cars had yellow roundels. Not sure about the up to 2 litre cars - white? In the 1961 race, it looks as though the over 2 litre cars had grey roundels, the 1.3 litre to2 litre cars had yellow roundels and the under 1.3 litres, white - but the quality of the colour on the film is not good!

#8 D-Type

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Posted 30 November 2011 - 20:33

I always thought that the small yellow, blue or redwhiteblue roundels indicated the material from which the body had been made. This as a safety precaution if in case of an accident a driver had to be cut out of the body. Is this false info or only partly correct?

Since this was posted I have read similar information elsewhere. But that was somewhat later than the use of "RAF-type" roundels for the Biennial Cup

Edited by D-Type, 30 November 2011 - 23:27.