Never heard of a livery? No sweat. A livery is a specific paint scheme and sticker design on a sports car or race car that allows sponsors to advertise their company and logo, enabling them to reach a wider and worldwide audience. A livery also helps identify cars during a racing event. These days, new liveries are being churned out every day, from BMW’s M4 GT4 in a distinctly aggressive revision of company colors to Porsche’s GT3 R latest offering. The greatest liveries are certainly remembered by their sponsor colors and logos; Rothmans, Martini, and John Player Special, while some remain in the darkest depths of obscure online archives, never to see the light of day again.
The liveries in this list are duly defined by the unwavering successes of the metal they’re glued to, from the household heroes to the ones shrouded in secret.
10 Ken Block Hoonigan RX RS
Any derivation of the dearly departed drift king’s Hoonigan liveries are conspicuously recognized for their appearances in Ken Block’s physics defying Gymkhana series that took the world by storm. Whether it be Gymkhana 5’s Ford Fiesta ST RX43 or the rally cross winning Ford Focus RX RS pictured above, each wildly colored design followed the same clear-cut ethos from the ghosted stars, powdered wheels, and zebra camo to the acid green Monster logo slapped on every set of rear haunches.
Unlike the rest of the liveries in this list, the Hoonigan livery will serve forever as an ode to a man that rewrote automotive history.
9 Manthey Racing KUS
If you don’t know who Kevin Estre is, you’re probably not a fan of GT3 racing. The no-holds-barred circuit series is a combination of the full contact brutality of NASCAR with the tight packed skill of F1.
The lizard livery of the Manthey-Racing GT3 R, piloted by Kevin Estre, is famous for more than just his incredible P11 to P1 Nürburgring 24 Hrs victory, but for a crazy fast pass on the grass that got them the victory.
8th Subaru World Rally
The bronze rimmed blue bodied combination of the most well recognized rally car is iconic in itself, honoring one of the most successful rally manufacturers of all time. The scampering highlighter yellow starred Subie was a sight to behold on its first iteration on Subaru’s 22B STi rally car. So much so that even in 2022 the latest generation of STi sports a near identical color scheme, give or take some sizing changes.
7 Rothman’s Porsche
Say the word Rothmans to a motorsport mega fan and a few ideas will spring to mind. Everything from Mazda’s amazing rotary 787B to the original 911 Dakar.
At the forefront of them all would be the Group C Porsche 962 festooned in the Rothmans’ contemporary clad livery. A precursor to Porsche’s eventual construction of the light speed PDK gearbox, the 962 was the first Porsche to feature a semi-automatic dual clutch gearbox.
6 Martini Porsche
The booziest brand that ever made its way to the front of a car has one of the most iconic designs to date. Commonly recreated on modern day Porsches with a center running design, the Martini livery initially had its signature stripes over the fenders of cars from the Group C era.
It’s a livery featured on other brands like Lancia, yet is primarily synonymous with the performance maestros out of Stuttgart.
5 pink pig
The German “Die Sau” translated to “The Pig” is certainly one of the most creative liveries ever produced. The design isn’t focused on the promotion of any sponsor, even while the Shell branding flanks either side of the front bumper. In fact, the dotted lines dissecting the body get labeled to represent different cuts of meat from everyone’s favorite bacon producer.
What sparked the idea for such a design in the first place? Designer Anatole Lapine claims the pudgy disposition of the Porsche 917 reminded him of the stout stature of a very fast pig.
4 mobile 1
Curious how Porsche fans hated the fried egg headlights of the 996 production models yet swooned at the simply bonkers GT1. The Mobil 1 livery served as a companion in chaos, delivering a wacky design as outrageous as the car it was originally based on. The GT1 killed the competition in the 1998 Le Mans season, earning the Mobil 1 livery a superstitious rabbit’s foot that Porsche racing series would call upon in moments of need.
Porsche’s GTLM team did exactly that in 2018 following a difficult season, adopting a revamped version of the original livery in the hopes of drawing on some primordial magic to guarantee victory in their future.
3 Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil’s influence on the motorsport world spanned beyond any one car. The commonalities between those lucky few that wore the pale blue and screaming orange uniforms was that they didn’t just win, they blew everything else out of the water.
From the 1969 Gulf Oil GT40 that used power and patience to win one of the greatest years of Le Mans to the unbelievably expensive McLaren F1 GTR that captured the hearts of even the most serious suit and tie adults.
2 Castrol
A livery arguably made famous for the wrong reasons, Castrol’s iconic spotted regalia found itself in hot water in the debut year of the Toyota Celica ST205 GT-Four.
In 1997, the next generation GT-Four’s first year came to a crashing halt when the Japanese manufacturer got accused of using illegal restrictor plates on its turbochargers, catapulting the ST205 on the straights well ahead of the rest of its competition, who were showing up the Celica considerably at the beginning of the season.
1 John Player Special
The John Player Special made his name on the back of a few ’70s Lotus F1 cars and while the wins are important, the livery was in a league of his own. Not only is the black and gold design alluring, it is also extremely thoughtful.
The pinstriped lines that wrap around the cars it adorned looked almost like they wire framed the frame beneath it. The UK-based Radford is a coach building company revitalizing the glory of Lotus’ storied history, even going so far as to trademark the JPS livery for its ultra-exclusive 62.2 hypercar.
