Whilst looking back through some old magazines i noticed -fourty four years after i would have first seen it! - that the Texaco Stickers that used to be positioned on the Lotus 72 rear wing endplates, and the integrated Texaco decal that was positioned just below the screen leading edge , were missing from the cars at the 1972 French GP at Clermont Ferrand.
In the case of the screen sticker, a piece of black tape had been placed over the word Texaco although the surround and pin striping, which i believe was painted on along with the rest of the JPS livery, remained.
The sticker was there at the previous round, Nivelles, and reappeared at the British GP at Brands Hatch.
Interestingly, in the French GP edition of Aurtosport the report carries a frontal shot of Emerson's car showing the taped over decal a couple of pages after a Texaco advert hailing his 2nd place in the race on 'free' Texaco !
The Texaco decals were in place at the following years French GP and also on the McLarens when racing in France in the following years of the Marlboro/texaco sponsorship.
So what was the reason? Cheque in the post? Marketing clash in France with another brand?
We need to be told...