215 replies to this topic

[Mohican]

A different thread (on Tecno cars, where I mentioned the 1973 F! car, unsuccessfully driven by Chris Amon), set me to thinking about that car's Martini sponsorship.

Has there ever been any other sponsor active in top-line motorsport over such a long period ? More than 30 years ?

And has there ever been any other sponsor with such a clear sense of dramatic colour schemes and presentation ? The original Parmalat Brabhams, perhaps. The JPS look doesn't come close in my book. The Benetton "flag"-painted Toleman of '85, maybe - but all these were short term wonders.

Just consider the following:

Porsche Salzburg Racing 1970-71, Tecno 1973, Brabham 1975-77, Lotus 1979, Porsche works team 1975-79, Lancia works rally and sports protype teams 1980's'-early 90's and now the Ford works rally team.

My favourites are the Porsche 917, the Tecno, the original red Brabham-Alfa and the green Lotus 79 - all sponsored by Martini Racing. I believe they raced as Martini & Rossi in the US.

Martini Racing deserves more recognition.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Mohican
Has there ever been any other sponsor active in top-line motorsport over such a long period ? More than 30 years ?

Marlboro perhaps?

[dmj]

I must disagree... but only in choice of best looking Martini cars. It has to be one of Lancias (prototypes or Raly 037)... or perhaps a Porsche 935. "Dramatic" is too modest a word for any of these.

[FEV]

Has there ever been any other sponsor active in top-line motorsport over such a long period ? More than 30 years ?

Gulf although with some off periods. France's national cigarettes brand Gitanes has been active from the Matra Sportscar heydays untill the end of the Ligier F1 Team.
About Martini we could add the powerboat racing schemes. Some were great looking and Martini was deeply involved in boat racign for a long time too. Truly a sponsor with a passion for motorsports !

[Mohican]

Yes, I thought of Marlboro; but:

They have only really been in Formula 1 (and the Mitsubishi rally team during the past few years, admittedly), and they have to my mind never really evolved the sponsorship graphics - has been unable to, in fact; as the chevron design is really part of the brand.

Martini has a dramatic sense of design - and uses it. The Parmalat Brabham design (the original one that is, in 1978) was really a copy of Martini. It did evolve when they dropped the Alfa engine and colour and went all Parmalat white and blue. So Parmalat and the early Benettons are probably second best.

[FEV]

They have only really been in Formula 1

I wouldn't say that : Penske in CART, Yamahas in FIM Grand Prix, F2 Onyx, F3000 DAMS, Joest Group C, just to name a few...

[BRG]

Yes, the Martini livery is a great one (but I prefer the "proper" white based one, rather than the one sometimes used with a red base colour).

I do think that the Parmalat Brabham livery was my all time favourite though - it was neat, uncluttered and elegant. A guy that I kew who worked at Brabham as a "gofer" in those days told me that Bernie personally supervised the exact design of the livery and precise location of every sponsor sticker. So he apparently has got good aesthetics (if not good ethics ;) )!

My next favourite is the gold Warsteiner livery used on the early Arrows. Very nice indeed! And the JPS livery on the Lotus was very tasteful.

As for whether Martini are the longest serving sponsor, Mohivan may well be right. If we exclude trade sponsors like Shell, Elf etc, I can't think of anyone else that has been around the motorsport scene for so long. Marlboro go back a long way to the early 70s, and with their F3 and F2/F3000 coverage as well as in rallying, have been a strong supporter as well (pity they sell such an awful product).

[Wolf]

I quite like the original BT45, with all the trimmings (like periscope air intakes and funny nose) in white Martini livery (in Hodges).

[cjpani]

Originally posted by Mohican


Just consider the following:

Porsche Salzburg Racing 1970-71, Tecno 1973, Brabham 1975-77, Lotus 1979, Porsche works team 1975-79, Lancia works rally and sports protype teams 1980's'-early 90's and now the Ford works rally team.

My favourites are the Porsche 917, the Tecno, the original red Brabham-Alfa and the green Lotus 79 - all sponsored by Martini Racing. I believe they raced as Martini & Rossi in the US.

Martini Racing deserves more recognition.

Just a little note, the Salzburg team in 1970-1971 was a different one than the "Team International Martini"

They were 2 different teams, aside the JWA/GO team.

regards
cj

[Barry Boor]

Here is the Porsche Salzburg 917 from Brands Hatch in 1970.



And the Team AAW 908 from the same race.

[VDP]

The first time Martini sponsored a Porsche it was in 1969 on a 907 I saw it normally on
W von Wendt car at spa

The car in background is the car from International Martini Racing, I suppose that the front one also. Wasn't Hans Laine car not entered by A. Wihuri ?


Robert

[cjpani]

John Wyer Automotive/Gulf oil:



Salzburg:



International Martini:



coolest car ever built

cj

[Roger Clark]

When Martini sponsored Team Lotus in 1979 they told Chapman "Put the Martini stripes on, but otherwise make it look like Jim Clark's car". If only other sponsors had the same attitude.

[Megatron]

Off the top of my head, I can remember Marlboro on:

World Rally Cars (recently Mitsibishi)
Indy/CART (Patrick, Penske, Hogan, lots of small associate deals, etc)
Motorcycles
Joest Porsche 962, Toyota GT1, other sports cars
Formula 3
I seem to remember a Dakar Rally with Marlboro somewhere...

[paparadiation]

Does anyone remember the red Martini Lancia Deltas at the 1989 San Remo rally? That colour scheme was used only in that rally. IMO the best looking Lancia livery, but why only for San Remo and then back to white with the stripes? Some kind of a promotional trick, just like the yellow Marlboro McLaren at Estoril 1986?

[Barry Boor]

Wasn't Hans Laine car not entered by A. Wihuri ?

Quite right, VDP. Team AAW stood for Anti Arnio Wihuri (apologies to all Finns for possible spelling errors!)

[VDP]

Wasn't Leo Kinnunen married to Wihuri daughter ?


Robert

[William Dale Jr]

Originally posted by paparadiation
Does anyone remember the red Martini Lancia Deltas at the 1989 San Remo rally? That colour scheme was used only in that rally. IMO the best looking Lancia livery, but why only for San Remo and then back to white with the stripes? Some kind of a promotional trick, just like the yellow Marlboro McLaren at Estoril 1986?

I knew the red livery was on the Lancia Delta Integrale, but think it was on Alex Fiorio's twin-pedal? car. I say twin-pedal car, but I can't actually remember what new technical gizmo it had on it. Does anyone else know?

[Mohican]

I stand corrected on the differences between Porsche Salzburg and the Martini Porsche. Always thought that the Martini livery worked better on silver (compare the 917 picture above) or red (Brabham/Lancia) background; better than on white, that is - although the Martini Racing Brabham BT44 and BT45 were supremely elegant cars.

As for the red Integrale, did not somebody have a fairly enormous accident on that San Remo rally ? Auriol, perhaps ? It struck me that this might account for the car reverting to white in subsequent events.

Re Marlboro, i certainly agree that they deserve respect for being such long-standing sponsors (forgot the Penske CART cars) - as do Gitanes/Gauloises - but the thing is that I have far more sympathy for Martini as their product is so much nicer ! All tobacco sucks, with the possible exception of a Cohiba...

[Barry Boor]

All tobacco sucks, with the possible exception of a Cohiba...

Being a lifetime non-smoker, I can't really comment, but I suspect you should try lighting it, rather than sucking it!

[TODave2]

Where's a good source of Brabham Martini photos...?

JPS livery I always thought looked good. The 95 Lotus would make my Top 5 best looking racers ever... (is that a new thread?!)

[2F-001]

Wasn't there also a black-based martini livery, used briefly on the works Porsche 936?

Marlboro sponsorship reached as far down down the food-chain as Formula Ford in the UK. (Eg, Bertrand Gachot, IIRC...)

[Milan Fistonic]

Originally posted by William Dale Jr


I knew the red livery was on the Lancia Delta Integrale, but think it was on Alex Fiorio's twin-pedal? car. I say twin-pedal car, but I can't actually remember what new technical gizmo it had on it. Does anyone else know?

The red livery was only on the works cars of Biasion and Auriol and I think it was just to mark the debut of the 16v Delta Integrale. Fiorio's Jolly Club car was in its usual Totip colours.

The two-pedal system (Valeo) was not used on Martini cars in World rallies in 1989.

[dmj]

I can see a great new theme for Goodwood or Monterey (but I certainly hope not for Pebble Beach : ) - Martini-liveried racing cars! Both events are probably already prepared for 2002 but it could be a great gathering next year...

[dmj]

And, as we discuss the best looking F1 car liveries, I have a soft spot for most black cars, especially ones from 70's, when Shadow, Lotus and Wolf were at the grid, all of them looking gorgeous! Were there at any race all three tems present, wearing black? I believe not, but I'm not so sure about Shadow colors in seasons when Wolf also raced. If we had all three teams in black, does someone have a picture of their cars together?

[VDP]

Wolf dark blue ;)

[dmj]

Always? In some pictures it really looks black.

[VDP]

The only exception Wolf Theodore white with red

Robert

[Mohican]

Walter Wolf Racing colours were originally ('76-'78) dark blue wth gold details + a Canadian flag. I think that you are referring to the Olympus-sponsored Wolf car that ran in '79 driven by James Hunt and, after JH's retirement mid-season, by Keke Rosberg.

1976. Wolf-Williams dark blue, Lotus black, Shadow black.
1977: Wolf dark blue, Lotus black, Shadow white (Villiger/Tabatip colours).
1978: Wolf dark blue, Lotus black, Shadow white.
1979: Wolf black, Lotus green, Shadow black.

So, they never ran in black at the same time. Sorry.

[dmj]

Eh, I was 8-9 years old at the time and had a b/w TV... So, Wolf somehow stuck in my head as an always black car for all these years. Maybe trigerred also with Walter Wolf's personalized Countach, black with his remarkable red W... And, of course, 1979 was first year I watched most races...

[Dennis David]

This brings up an interesting question, who has supported motorsport for the longest period and is still there today? My guess is Shell.

[dmj]

From other thread:

Not a GP car, but Barney Oldfield in the 1910s used to have 'My only life insurance - Firestone Tyres' painted on his motors. Is this the first overt use of sponsorship?

It would make them longest supporters.
Also, sorry for my ignorance, but what was the story behind short-lived Martini F1 team of 1978? If it was Martini's official team why they left F1 so quickly?

[Mohican]

I am afraid that you confuse Martini & Rossi, the sponsor (i.e. Martini Racing) with Tico Martini, the racing car constructor.

Tico Martini was the boss of Automobiles Martini, who were successful constructors in lower formulae (F Renault, F3 etc) and then graduated to F2, winning the 1975 F2 championship with a BMW-powered car driven by Jacques Laffite.
The following year, they switched to renault power, winning the F2 championship again with René arnoux in 1977. The following year they then graduated to F1, fielding a conventional DFV-powered car for Arnoux to drive. Unfortunately, the money (what there was of it) ran out and the team folded mid-season - Arnoux' career was saved by John Surtees who offered him a drive in a Surtees TS20 (following Brambilla's injuries at Monza) in the US GP that year. Which in turn led to Arnoux being hired for the works Renault team in '79; ironically after Team Surtees closed down at the end of '78.

Automobiles Martini survived and were active for many years afterwards in lower formulae, but never again so high up the scale.

But there was no connection to Martini Racing.

[dmj]

Thank you, I could suppose so - it is hard to believe that Martini Racing effort should be so short-lived.

[McRonalds]

Originally posted by 2F-001
Wasn't there also a black-based martini livery, used briefly on the works Porsche 936?

Yes, there was a black Martini Porsche in 1975 at the 500km race at the Nurburgring.

[Mohican]

The very first race for the 936, in fact - and I think that it may have been the only time it ran that year.

The 1975 WSC was won by the privately-entered (but factory-supported) Alfa Romeos, sponsored by the Redlefsen sausage company (interesting sub-thread: "great cars with odd sponsors"), and was quite poorly supported following the withdrawal of Ferrari and Matra-Simca. Having finally won the championship, Alfa then withdrew for 1976 - but instead we had the works Porsche team, sponsored by Martini Racing, versus the works Alpine-Renaults. And by then the Porsches ran in white Martini livery.

[Frank de Jong]

Hate to correct you, but the Martini 936 did not race in 1975; it was tested during the winter of 75-76 (all black), after that it raced initially in black Martini livery (1976 Nurburgring IIRC), later it was repainted and brought in line with the white 935 works car.

Martini Porsche did race in 1975, however; a 908/3 with the 911 turbo 2.1 engine, by Martini racing, mostly for Muller/van Lennep. Not a works car, however. The 908 was silver with Martini livery.

[VDP]

Frank
74
1975 was under ovoro bannier with M casoni

Robert

[Mohican]

When on the subject of the Martini-supported works Porsche team, we must not forget the early 911 RS's and RSR's that ran in '73-74 (before the launch of the Porsche types 934 and 935).
They even won the Targa Florio outright one year (cannot remember if '73 or '74) with Müller and van Lennep (I think) driving.

[2F-001]

A book to look out for, for you Martini drinkers...

"Martini Racing Story 1968 -1982''
published 1983
Editions Daniel Briand / Martini Racing
ISBN 2-903716-03-X
French text
(although I maybe saw a bi-lingual version with English once...)
A large format book with lots of colour pics of the various machines sporting Martini livery: Porsches, of course, from 907 to 936; Lancia; Tecno; Brabham; Lotus; Porsche and Lancia 037 rally cars; offshore and F1 powerboats. Lots of full- and double-page pics, inc Reutemann airborne at the 'Ring.
I'm not enough of a linguist to vouch for the words; anyway it's more of a 'coffee table' book, but quite a handsome one.

[McRonalds]

I recently discovered this F3 March (around '77/'78 I guess). Any idea who entered and who drove this car?!

[David McKinney]

All looks a bit American to me, though the "FA" on the side is a bit of a worry. Looks more like an FB car from where I'm sitting

[dmj]

A Martini Racing Jaguar XJ220 is for sale right now - and it's another proof thal all cars look great in Martini colours.

[Leif Snellman]

Originally posted by Barry Boor
Quite right, VDP. Team AAW stood for Anti Arnio Wihuri (apologies to all Finns for possible spelling errors!)

Antti Aarnio-Wihuri
One of the big names in Finnish business. The "old man" had made a fortune in shipping.
http://www.wihuri.com/eng/2/frame2.htm

AAW Racing team entered a Surtees TS-16 for Kinnunen in 1974.

[Mohican]

Originally posted by dmj
A Martini Racing Jaguar XJ220 is for sale right now - and it's another proof thal all cars look great in Martini colours.

Agreed.
I remember that you could order a Porsche 924 in Martini colours, straight from the factory, back in the late 70's; and I also seem to remember that there was at least one "limited edition" run of roadgoing Lancia Íntegrales in Martini colours sometime in the late 80's.

[Milan Fistonic]

Originally posted by David McKinney
All looks a bit American to me, though the "FA" on the side is a bit of a worry. Looks more like an FB car from where I'm sitting

FA = Formula Atlantic?

[dmj]

I remember that you could order a Porsche 924 in Martini colours, straight from the factory, back in the late 70's; and I also seem to remember that there was at least one "limited edition" run of roadgoing Lancia Íntegrales in Martini colours sometime in the late 80's.

Two, actually. And it was in early 90's. One series was called Martini 5, second Martini 6, although I don't know what was difference.

[Frank de Jong]

Originally posted by VDP
Frank
74
1975 was under ovoro bannier with M casoni

Robert

A bit late, but still.

The Porsche 908/4, as it was called unofficially, was raced by 2 teams in 1975.
- Martini Racing (Dr. Dannesberger, no works team), with van Lennep/Muller.
- Joest racing, which is the car you're referring to, with Joest/Casoni and Ovoro livery

Why am I so sure? In 1974, van Lennep/Muller raced for Martini in the works 911 turbo (2nd in Le Mans); in 1975 its engine and the 908/3 were mated into a new car. Joest did exactly the same. IIRC Porsche did not like this at all.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Ive long (which is relative given my age and the age of TNF) been a fan of the Martini Racing design, and I was wondering what the history of the paint work is. Is it just something where some guy in Bacardi/Martini's art department does the car liveries each year, or has there historically been one guy doing their racing art? Part of the reason im asking is im helping put together a sponsor proposal from a Le Mans winning manufacturer for the upcoming season, and id like to find someone involved in the designs so I can understand the thought process behind the art.



Thanks

[CSGPR]

Hi Ross

I don't know if you know this site: http://www.martinira...nt/timeline.asp

regards