The recent revival of the thread "Tobacco Racing" led me to muse about other groups of sponsors. One such, that would seem to be an obvious one for motorsport with its reputation for speed, international travel and general jet-settery, is the air industry.
Perhaps the best known is Alitalia*, the perennially bankrupt and now-defunct Italian state airline, which sponsored FIAT and Lancia works rally cars with a rather fetching and well-remembered livery. But did they sponsor anything significant on the race track? British Airways briefly sponsored rally cars for Ford's Boreham factory team and of course Paul Stoddart's European Aviation sponsored/owned Minardi for a while. However, beyond those my memory fails me, but surely there must have been (many?) others?
Although maybe the plight of Alitalia is a clue. Airlines seem to be always financially precarious and perhaps therefore unwilling to splash out precious funds?
(* back in my air industry days, Alitalia was said to be an anagram for Always Late In Takingoff, Always Late In Arriving)
