78 replies to this topic

[maxim]

I recall only James Hunt's Hesketh (anedcotes about it will be very appreciated ;) )
Did any other team ever race a GP without any kind of sponsor ?

[JohnS]

There were certainly one or two Tyrrell's without a major sponsor, but they probably had minor ones.

And of course Ferrari used to just have the likes of Agip, rather than a sponsor as such (not counting FIAT of course!).

John

[Vitesse2]

Works Brabhams carried no sponsorship until 1972.

And I don't think the Connew ever had a sponsor .... (sorry Barry!)

[ensign14]

Arrows had plain white cars at the start of 1983, when they picked up a 5th and some 6ths with Marc Surer, then got sponsorships on a race by race basis (including Grand Prix International, an art gallery, Golia and a whole menagerie on Thierry Boutsen's car).

Walter Brun ran his team for a year and a half without sponsors.

[Bostromi]

If you me cars without sporsor logos the Ferrari team raced Monza 2001 with plain red cars (som black on them as well).

Per

[MrAerodynamicist]

I don't have any photos to hand, but I'm pretty sure Andrea Moda had no more than a handle of minor sponsors.

edit: If you're interested in such 'all but no sponsorship' cases, then http://f1rejects.crosswinds.net/teams/ is a good place to start!

[David M. Kane]

During the early races of 1974, the March 741 was raced by Howden Ganley
with no sponsorship. In fact, that is why he left the ride to take up
the Maki offer...money. The ride was later taken over by Brambilla with
his Beta backing.

[mikedeering]

Originally posted by maxim
I recall only James Hunt's Hesketh (anedcotes about it will be very appreciated ;) )
Did any other team ever race a GP without any kind of sponsor ?

Lord Hesketh stated at the time that he wanted to promote Britain - through a white car with red and blue stripes. He considered British Racing Green for his cars, but felt it was too "understated", so went with the white scheme.

During the 1975 season the team begin to experience financial difficulties (ironically when they were at their most successful). The team hunted around for a sponsor, but all proposed deals fell through at the last minute. Hunt said later that he blamed Hesketh for these failures - the team owner apparently not being willing to adorn his car with logos...

[Henri Greuter]

Going through the Autocourse annuals recently (Needed some `ammo` for future use ...)

1992: Leyton House/March whatever it was at the time ran a few races with only Ilmor adverttising at the bodywork, Autocourse '92 team directory March/Leyton house has a pic of it. See for yourself.

Henri Greuter

[ghinzani]

dont forget Hector Rebacques Lotus and eponymous creation!

[Frank de Jong]

Wasn't that sponsored by some coffee brand?

[VAR1016]

I recall that Louis Stanley ran BRMs without sponsorship some time in the early 1970s. I remember thinking how nice the cars looked in plain dark green

VAR1016

[cheesy poofs]

Back in 1992, a local Montreal journalist ran a story about the under-funded March team ( driven by Karl Wendlinger and Paul Belmondo ) that was coming to the Canadian GP. After reading the article, several businesses decided to sponsor the Marches for this event and were rewarded with Wendlinger's fabulous 4th place !

[312B]

Hi everyone, i've been reading this forum for a while now and decided it was time to join in

Wasn't the Tyrrell's completely without sponsors for the first part of 1985 when they were still using the DFV, i can't remember any sponsor logos except small ones for Goodyear and Ford. Otherwise they were dark blue with Tyrrell written down the side...

[Doug Nye]

Welcome 312B - your observation prompts an intriguing question - how many major livery changes (as opposed to tinkering with individual decals and minor lettering) did Team Tyrrell cars actually undergo during its long career? Was this a record? Who has the time to research it??? Is the moon made of green cheese????

DCN

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
Is the moon made of green cheese????

DCN

Possibly - but were the BRMs? - I think we should be told ;)

VAR1016:smoking:

[No27]

The Spirit-Honda, that Stefan Johansson ran in 1983 had no sponsors. Come to think of it, I believe that Spirit never had any sponsorship at all! Can only remember plain white cars, with the exception of Huub Rothengatters', that was painted orange for the Dutch Grand Prix in 1984. To atract sponsor's, that was.

[maxim]

Originally posted by Vitesse2


And I don't think the Connew ever had a sponsor .... (sorry Barry!)

Didn't team Connew enter his car with Capricorn logos?

[312B]

Hi Doug

Thanks, nice to talk to you. Off the top of my head i've come up with the following:

1970-1976 Elf (dark blue all over)
1977-78 National Express Travellers Cheques (blue on the sidepods and wings with white around the cockpit and engine cover)
1979-80 Candy (dark blue again on the cockpit and wings, but with red background on the sidepods I also think for a period of time they were unsponsored and again were dark blue except for Tyrrell written down the cockpit and engine cover, the only logos would have been for small logos for Goodyear and Ford)
1981?
1982-1983 Benetton (Black on the sidepods and wings, green on the cockpit)
1984 DeLonghi Heaters (Was this purple?)
1985 No sponsors (plain dark blue livery all over)
1986-1987 Courtaulds (black sidepods and wings with white cockpit surround and engine cover)
1988 Courtaulds again but changed to an all black livery

As i said this is without looking at photos, just from general recollection and missed the last 10 years........

[maxim]

Nice job .Welcome aboard 312B!
In 1981 Team Tyrrell started without sponsor except for Kevin Cogan who brought along a Michelob sponsorship at Long Beach.
Since Imola GP the cars were sponsored by IMOLA Coop Ceramics.

[mikedeering]

Tyrrell's schemes:

IIRC they changed from race to race/car to car during the early/mid 1980s - 1983-85.

1989 - All blue with black wings and Tyrrell logo for first half of the year.

Camel sponsorship on engine cover from France

1990 - Blue & White with Epson as main sponsor

1991 - Black & White with Braun as main sponsor

1995 - Nokia main sponsor.

Can't remember the rest!

Basically they were always black/blue/white - and tended to get a main sponsor every couple of years. In between they tended to have a mix of sponsors that varied from race to race.

Certainly an awful lot of changes.

[dolomite]

As I recall, Walter Wolf Racing ran without any major sponsorship at least for the first couple of years until Olympus arrived with James Hunt?

[Rainer Nyberg]

More prominent than 'Courtaulds' were 'Data General' logos on the Tyrrell's during '86-'87.

The car was even called a 'DG016' during 1987.

[Haddock]

In 1992 -93 Tyrrell were sponsored by Club Angle and Calbee
In their last years I think they had sponsorship from ICL, and they were the first team to carry sponsorship from European Aviation

They weren't sponsorless through the whole of 1985 either. I have some photos somewhere taken at the European Grand Prix where they're running 'Porchester Group' logos.

I don't know what exactly these companies actually did (ICL and Euro Aviation aside), but then when I was seven and first started watching F1 I knew that marlboro and john player were cigarettes and that Olympus made cameras, but I was damned if I knew what Skoal Bandits might have been.

Come to think of it, I still don't know what on earth Beatrice was - it was plastered on the sides of the Haas Lolas in 1985-86.....


Makes me wonder how much of what passes for F1 sponsorship is actually anything to do with selling products, when even quite well-informed fans don't actually know what products are being advertised.


Is anyone else amused to see the Worldcom logos still on this years Williams ?

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Haddock

Come to think of it, I still don't know what on earth Beatrice was - it was plastered on the sides of the Haas Lolas in 1985-86.....

"Massive American consumer conglomerate" according to Grandprix.com - a Google search under Beatrice Companies Inc turns up a lot of people who used to work there, but as far as I can see they were involved mainly in food processing, although I did spot one reference to them owning Playtex!

[Rob29]

I believe that company was taken over by another conglomerate who then withdew the sponsorship,ending that F1 team.

'Skol Bandits' were chewing tobacco,popular at one time in the USA.Now illegal in UK since proved 10 times more lethal than smoking the stuff!

[Vicuna]

The pale blue Amon was largely unsponsored during its entire F1 history.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Vicuna
The pale blue Amon was largely unsponsored during its entire F1 history.

All one race of it ....

[garyfrogeye]

In 1992 -93 Tyrrell were sponsored by Club Angle and Calbee
In their last years I think they had sponsorship from ICL, and they were the first team to carry sponsorship from European Aviation

They weren't sponsorless through the whole of 1985 either. I have some photos somewhere taken at the European Grand Prix where they're running 'Porchester Group' logos.

I don't know what exactly these companies actually did (ICL and Euro Aviation aside), but then when I was seven and first started watching F1 I knew that marlboro and john player were cigarettes and that Olympus made cameras, but I was damned if I knew what Skoal Bandits might have been.

Come to think of it, I still don't know what on earth Beatrice was - it was plastered on the sides of the Haas Lolas in 1985-86.....


Makes me wonder how much of what passes for F1 sponsorship is actually anything to do with selling products, when even quite well-informed fans don't actually know what products are being advertised.


Is anyone else amused to see the Worldcom logos still on this years Williams ?

The Porchester Group was an Insurance Brokers famed for their "alledged cold calling and hard sales techniques who a had a long running battle with the Sunday Mail regarding an Expose which they did about the company and its chairman Trever Deaves

[MaserGT]

The answer to the precise question of any F1 era cars without any kind of sponsorship is almost certainly “No”.

The inferred matter of cars without any (or without major) sponsor logos on their livery would include the 1993 Sauber C12, which ran much of that season in plain black livery adorned only with “Concept by Mercedes Benz”.

Edited by MaserGT, 16 November 2011 - 00:55.

[HeskethBoy]

[quote name='MaserGT' date='Nov 16 2011, 10:43' post='5402000']
The answer to the precise question of any F1 era cars without any kind of sponsorship is almost certainly “No”.

The early Hesketh F1 car ran with no sponsorship at all - only the coloured lettering on the sidewalls of the Firestone Tyres displayed any commercial link.
Firestone wanted decals on the car but His Lordship refused to have them.

Later the Red and Blue stripes were added to reflect "Racing for Britain".
Finally the blue/green Seahorse appeared on the nose - but what this single singage cost remains a wellkept secret.

[arttidesco]

IIRC correctly Ensign got up and running at the French Grand Prix in 1973 without any sponsors and styed like that until 1974 when the cars went from a lovely shade of BRG to orange. (At the behest of Teddy Yip ?).

Speaking of which I don't recall the Theodore adventure carrying much in the way of sponsors logo's either.

I'm quite sure ATS went effectively sponsorless for much of their time at the top table of motor sport although ABBA drummer Slim Borgudd carried ABBA decals effectively sponsoring himself IIRC.

The same might also be said to be true for Gunter Schmidts second seating under his RIAL Wheels organisation.


The wonderful Silver and Green BRM's were of course carrying MOTUL logo's which helped secure rides for Beltoise, Pescarolo and Migault.

[Ralf Pickel]

And speaking of ATS, there was the HOTEL ARAWAK logo, too.
Of course - this did also belong to Günter Schmidt...

[Bauble]

All depends on what you regard as 'sponsorship', I am under the impression that 'proper' sponsorship started with the Yardley BRM's, certainly in the fifities no cars would have been considered sponsored. Tyre and fuel companies supplied their products with only a small logo on the cars to show, but could advertise their success.

Was Rob Walker sponsored?

[Rob]

The first proper sponsorship I believe was Team Gunston.

[Arjan de Roos]

Sauber ran half a season with Broker as a sponsor. However they never paid. Is this one to be included or should we start a separate thread "Sponsor who nevr paid"?

[Rob]

Sauber ran half a season with Broker as a sponsor. However they never paid. Is this one to be included or should we start a separate thread "Sponsor who nevr paid"?

I seem to remember that Shannon, who were responsible for turning the Fortis green midway through 1996, didn't pay up in the end.

[arttidesco]

Looking at when Sponsorship started I always understood, incorrectly in the light of Robs post #35 above, that Gold Leaf Team Lotus was the first sponsored team, in post war Grand Prix racing to formula one rules.

However recently I heard that BRP ran as 'Yeoman Credit Racing' did they get away with that name as entrants on the Grand Prix entry lists of 1960 ?

[Stephen W]

There is a subtle difference between a car being SPONSORED and a car carrying another company's logo.

Logos were displayed on cars long before Gunston, Gold Leaf etc came along.

[Amphicar]

In 2007:



and 2008:



Honda ran their F1 cars without any commercial sponsorship logos or livery. Instead, they used the cars to promote the "My Earth Dream" environmental campaign.

[BRG]

The Renault RS01 only carried Renault 'sponsorship', apart from some Elf logos?

[URY914]

Interscope ran a few races and was self funded.

[Altitude]

I seem to remember that Shannon, who were responsible for turning the Fortis green midway through 1996, didn't pay up in the end.

I think that Shannon became the owners of the team rather than sponsors - they bought outfits in various categories, then didnt have the funds to keep them going.

[Rob G]

All depends on what you regard as 'sponsorship', I am under the impression that 'proper' sponsorship started with the Yardley BRM's, certainly in the fifities no cars would have been considered sponsored. Tyre and fuel companies supplied their products with only a small logo on the cars to show, but could advertise their success.

Was Rob Walker sponsored?

The earliest sponsor logos I recall seeing on a Rob Walker car was Hart Ski, I believe in 1968.

[MaserGT]

The early Hesketh F1 car ran with no sponsorship at all - only the coloured lettering on the sidewalls of the Firestone Tyres displayed any commercial link.
Firestone wanted decals on the car but His Lordship refused to have them.

Later the Red and Blue stripes were added to reflect "Racing for Britain".
Finally the blue/green Seahorse appeared on the nose - but what this single singage cost remains a wellkept secret.

Interesting detail on Hesketh's famous contempt for sponsorship and the absense of branding adornment on his cars. I was being rather pedantic about the absolute nature of "without any kind of sponsorship". Notwithstanding the absense of branding, I assume even Hesketh received some in kind consideration from suppliers of tyres, petrol, other components or consummables?

[ryan86]

Did Brawn have sponsorship on the car for the few sessions in Melbourne. I have a feeling Virgin only came on board on the Saturday morning.

[alansart]

Did Brawn have sponsorship on the car for the few sessions in Melbourne. I have a feeling Virgin only came on board on the Saturday morning.

Not sponsorship as such, but Brawn had the millions that Honda left as severance, only for Mercedes to take the glory

[RStock]

HRT raced for awhile with no sponsor.

HRT owner Jose Ramon Carabante has vowed to solve the awkward situation whereby phantom 'sponsors' adorn the Spanish team's 2011 car.

The F111 was launched with logos featuring enticements to potential backers, including 'This could you be you', 'Your logo' and 'This is a cool spot'.

"We're still alive, which in these times is no small feat," Carabante told the financial news agency Bloomberg. "The car's message is striking but we hope it disappears soon."

59-year-old Carabante, who revealed his team receives $10 million annually from the F1 television rights, said he is in talks with two potential Spanish sponsors but he would not identify them.

He also said HRT's staff is fully committed.

"When we need to work 10 hours instead of eight they do it," he insisted. "If they have to work 24 hours a day, then they do that too."

http://paddocktalk.c...ory-162404.html

[HeskethBoy]

The earliest sponsor logos I recall seeing on a Rob Walker car was Hart Ski, I believe in 1968.

IIRC the Hart SKI sponsor was actually brought to the Rob Walker team by Jo Siffert

[TooTall]

Here is a shot of Ongais in the Interscope Shadow during pre-qual at Long Beach.


And here is the Tyrrell of Jarier at Long Beach in 1979 with some minor sponsorship from model maker Tamiya.


Cheers,
Kurt O.