Club Arnage

From Pistonheads,

ASTON TO RACE IN GULF COLOURS
Aston GT1 to compete in classic blue and orange

Aston Martin is to defend its GT1 title in one of the most evocative racing colours ever – the blue and orange livery of Gulf Oil.

Two Aston Martin DBR9s will look to emulate Gulf’s first victory at the 24 hour race 40 years on.

David Richards, chairman of Aston Martin, said: ‘Endurance racing is engrained in the heritage of both Gulf and Aston Martin and we have also both been intrinsically linked through Le Mans for many decades. 

‘It was perhaps destined that, in the year we defend our GT1 title and Gulf celebrates the 40th anniversary of its win, we would finally race together at La Sarthe.’

Alain Dujean, Gulf Oil vice president international, added:  ‘This is arguably the most important year ever for Gulf in motorsport. 

‘The famous Gulf racing colours first tasted victory at Le Mans in 1968, so 2008 already had great significance for us, but for Gulf to have joined up with Aston Martin Racing for this year is fantastic – the coming together of two great automotive names, for what I hope will be a long and fruitful partnership.’

The two Aston Martin DBR9s for 2008 will be entered as numbers 007 and 009.


A couple of pics here

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=17443

Certainly seems to be an AM news day.

2008 - it's getting better all the time.

could someone post the pics on here as i cant get on PH here at work  :-[

Here you are Kev

(http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc170/ajwCA/aston2-L.jpg) (http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc170/ajwCA/aston1-L.jpg)

Ade

Cool 8)

Anyone know where you can get Gulf flags from?

No ALMS program, still scared of the vettes  ::)

wimps

-Lee

Outstanding.  Excellent.  What a great marvellous and evocative combination to link to the original....

MG Mark

bl**dy lovely ;D
That'll be a nice one for you to build Mark.

Haven't found a UK source yet, but there's one in the US:

http://www.worldclassflags.com/prod-gulf-flag.htm (http://www.worldclassflags.com/prod-gulf-flag.htm)


Too right - would probably interrupt every other build that is on the go at the moment!


MG Mark

Everything bar a flag


http://www.alexreade.net/acatalog/Clothing_Gulf_Racing.html

£25.00 for a T Shirt! :o

This lot sell everything but, on their website.

http://www.grandprix-jackets.com/english/index.html

But I beleive their shop in the village was selling ~A3 sized flags last year.

Cheers mate :)

that is STUNNING imo  8)

ive asked my mate who works for pro drive to see if he can get any :D

OOh, Do I like Orange and Blue.

Now getting very excited and its still 6 months away

That looks very very nice.

Starting to have second thoughts about giving this years race a miss in favor of the classic.

Maybe if I am good between now and June Mrs Nordic will rubber stamp two trips in one year.


btw. anyone know interfloras phone number?

and again: lovely :D

sweet,
nuff said  ;D :P

Damn fine looking car that  ;D

And we'll be able to spot the works team a tad easier this year aswell.

And here's the new Prodrive line up for Le Mans 2008 !  ;D

The finest colours to ever grace a racetrack! ;D Far better than the factory Tench colours....

errrrr, you can get even more excited as its now only 5 months away....

Dam it he right....   ;D

Sorry,  pointless post but after 3 years that my 50 chalked up.

Here's my twopennyworth.

 As much as I like the Gulf Racing colours, and there have been some stunning examples over the years, I don't like thr DBR9 in it. I have been coming back to these pictures since they were posted hoping that I would get to like them, but no, they are not for me. Keep them British Racing Greenish I say.

True, all Aston Martins should be Aston racing green.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2208/2185265140_7701a7d67a.jpg)

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2057/2185265142_d5fe87f0a8.jpg)

Great to see the Gulf colours on a beautiful car, but it just doesn't look right somehow. You know, with the funny orange outline at the nose, the stripe on the engine cover being a cone, no orange on the roof...

Teams running in Gulf colours have had little except misfortune in recent years. Think burning McLaren F1's etc.  :o

I'm on Bob's side, I don't really like it. The curvaceous Aston doesn't lend itself to the iconic Gulf blue and orange colour scheme, which is best suited angular designs like the GT40 and Mirage Ford IMO.

What about the orange on the nose of the green aston ???
The Gulf colours look great and I think it is a very good marketing move for Gulf too.

An open question to all of you that like the Aston in Gulf colours.


Imagine this.

   Your circumstances are such that you are in a position to be able to cash buy a DBR9. This is a dream come true. You intend to cruise down to Le Mans in it, turn up on the campsite on Wednesday morning and watch the admiring looks as you proudly park it next to lesser cars. You feel absolutely fantastic. You have driven to the World's greatest motor race in one of the World's greatest cars.

  A week earlier you arrived at the Aston dealer and he had a choice of two.

  One is in a beautiful shade of metallic green that perfectly reflects the history and racing heritage of a famous British marque. A colour that will always be associated with British motor sport.

  The other is in a Putrid wishy washy gay hairdresser shade of sky blue.

  Which one ya gonna buy?

i wonder as the astons are sponsored by gulf - they will fill the sodding thing up - unlike 2006  ::)

I'd buy the one that is quicker to be delivered, then race it off to the nearest car painter and have it painted a beautiful shade of metallic pink 8)

Imagine this...

Its the 1950's  you own a famous british sports car manufacturer,  you want to go racing,  now to choose a colour for your cars,  you are superstitious so green is out (and its Irish anyway), your wife likes a pale duck egg blue,  the first race is on her birthday, you want to go to the race but you know she will cause trouble, unless....  you paint the cars in her favourite colour....

40'odd years later someone wants to paint your cars green,  but it doesn't suit them as they've always been blue....

Anyway,

My cars are green (colour, not environmentally of course) plus I do like the DBR9's in Aston Racing (almond) Green, but then I also like the JetAlliance colour scheme too.  I quite like the DBR9's in Gulf colours, but it will be interesting to see how they "mark" the 2 cars as being different, easy when one has yellowy/green lipstick and the other red....

Yes, Astons should be in Aston Racing Green from a heritage point of view, but from an emotive point of view, it is just nice to see that Gulf colours will be going out on the track.  We've had them in recent years with the Porsche, McLaren, Audi R8, and an LMP2 car, and each time seeing them just adds a little something.  Yes, ini an ideal world GT40 Chassis 1075, that won twice in the Gulf colours, would be brought out of honourable retirement and Ickx would stroll across the track and win by a few yards.....but in the meantime, I'll just be happy to see the Astons out there in Gulf colours. ;D ;D

MG Mark

Which Aston dealer do you think would have TWO DBR9's for sale? It's obviously a lot posher up your neck of the woods than I thought  ;)

The only one I've found so far is here

http://www.racecarsdirect.com/listing/13813/Aston_Martin_DBR9_Race_Car.html

But personally I wouldn't bother. It's LHD and doesn't even have a stereo  :o

Personally I wouldn't bother about a stereo. It would just get in the way of the beautiful sound of the engine.

Porsche 917 does it for me over the GT40 anytime Mark  ;)

Lady PP totally agrees with the above colour choice. Does anyone have the skills to doctor a pic of the Gulf liveried DB9 into House of Colours pinks in contrasting shades to keep the lovely ladies happy?
Petra... I think you will like something lady PP got for Christmas... and its not rude or dirty!
PP

Yup, Steve, with you every time.

I was at the show on Thursday and was at the unveiling and the car look the dog's you know what.

Here's a few more pics of the car

(http://www.rdj-pics.co.uk/Photos/2008/Autosport-Show/slides/Auto0023.jpg)

(http://www.rdj-pics.co.uk/Photos/2008/Autosport-Show/slides/Auto0024.jpg)

(http://www.rdj-pics.co.uk/Photos/2008/Autosport-Show/slides/Auto0042.jpg)

(http://www.rdj-pics.co.uk/Photos/2008/Autosport-Show/slides/Auto0043.jpg)

I saw it in the flesh on Saturday, and it does look quite good. At least we'll be able to spot the factory cars from a distance.

(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o155/nickliv1205/DSC00012.jpg)

I still think it looks great.

I will probably be accused of being a Satanist or worse, but IMHO the factory cars looked a bit dull in BRG :o

Dare I suggest that BRG looks great on the classic race cars, but does not look so good on modern cars. :o

(Barry now runs for the deepest bunker he can find to avoid the flak ;D)

only pic i got as every berk in the place kept walking in front of me :(  >:(

(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/kev_mk3/autosport%20randoms/Autosport021.jpg)

I still don't like the way they put the orange on the car. And I guess the ACO is responsible for the number being in a square rather than a circle?

PS: is it just the pictures or have they really chosen the wrong shade of orange? It looks to me to be too light, should be a bit darker and duller.

The blue doesn't look right either, maybe it's the harsh lighting in the exhibition hall.

It looks like the paint shop used an old faded photo for the colours.  The 1960/70s and more recent colours and are a lot lighter than the real ones e.g. the Gulf MacLaren colours of ten year ago, and a lot better, but this looks so bleached

And this ..... lovely

The GT40 raced in both variants of the Gulf colours - the pale and the dark blue - in the 1960s, and looks gorgeous in either.  And the 917 did/does look nice in the Gulf colours too....

MG Mark

I beleive the darker blue is the original Gulf blue. The pale blue has something to do with the marketing boys or something along those lines. (seem to recall reading it somewhere).

Never thought this shade looked right on either the F1 or the Kremer Porsche. The F1 in 98 had a lighter version with more black and looked better.

I think the Aston does look pale compared to the Iconic GT40 and 917 versions but its not to bad. (looked better in Aston BRG though)

http://rupert8766.fotopic.net/p35991797.html

http://rupert8766.fotopic.net/p2810157.html

I think you are right there - http://www.racingicons.com/gt/1049.htm (http://www.racingicons.com/gt/1049.htm) - as 1049 was a '67 car it seems to indicate that the darker blue was used before the powder blue, as the John Wyer Gulf cars appeared in the latter from '68 - http://www.racingicons.com/gt/1076.htm (http://www.racingicons.com/gt/1076.htm) - when JW Automotive was set up, as distinct from John Wyer operating under Ford.  No clue as to the origin or the reason for the powder blue.

MG Mark

JW used to 'work' for Gulf Oils (no?) at the same time as 'consulting' on the early GT40 program.

It is possible that AM have chosen their own shade of blue and orange to suit their own marketing needs, but the association is still clearly Gulf colours.

The 917s used a Porsche selected shade of blue and orange which was different to what JW had used previously on the Fords.

The AM colours will just go down as another iteration of a theme.

It think that John wyer worked for Ford as a director/VP of something, and was involved with the GT40 programme and Advanced Vehicles, until he split away when Ford finished the Le Mans programme, by buying the Advanced Vehicles set up in Slough to create JW Automotive with (I think, John Willment) around 1967/68.  The then VP of Gulf Oil was (again I think) one of the main instigators of the Gulf and JW connection in 1967 which resulted in the JW team running in Gulf colours with the GT40 and Porche 917

MG Mark

Don't forget that Wyer was Team Manager of Aston Martin (I wonder what happened to them) in the 1950s, and joined Ford for the GT40 project, leaving when they moved to the US to ensure "an American win", as the GT40, even the MkII was seen as British.

In 1967 he ran the GT40 based Mirage, with 5.7 litre engine, and slippery, carbon reinforced body.  I'm sure it was the light blue.  With the 3 litre prototype limit in 1968, he went back to GT40s, which were light blue, and played with a 3 litre BRM engined special, also called a Mirage, until Porsche came along.

I'm sure these were all the same colour, and darker the the latest AMR powder blue, but I have a faint recollection that they did start with the normal darker blue but quickly gave up because the didn't like it. 

My mate "Iain the Mullet" bought a gulf T-shirt last year at the race.

That was light blue :P

pre-emptive strike job done!!!!

Correct. After AM he joined Ford (FAV) and when they finished with the GT program he was granted the licence to make them and continue racing them under the JWA banner. JW standing for John Willment.

But I am sure at the time of joining Ford he was an exec at Gulf, and got one of the other execs excited about racing, and hence got Gulf to sponsor.

your sureness is spot on - appears he was the executive vice-president at Gulf before Ford invited him to join the GT40 project.
http://www.gulfoilltd.com/gulf_racing_enthusiasts/milestones_in_gulf_motor_sport_history/the_birth_of_the_gt_40/index.html (http://www.gulfoilltd.com/gulf_racing_enthusiasts/milestones_in_gulf_motor_sport_history/the_birth_of_the_gt_40/index.html)

And the subsequent wind up of the the Ford operation and the setting up of JW Automotive.
http://www.gulfoilltd.com/gulf_racing_enthusiasts/milestones_in_gulf_motor_sport_history/1966_gulf_and_ford/index.html (http://www.gulfoilltd.com/gulf_racing_enthusiasts/milestones_in_gulf_motor_sport_history/1966_gulf_and_ford/index.html)

MG Mark

That is great news.......my memory is not as bad as I though! ;D

I read words along those lines many years ago, and also an explanation about the colour shades used.....but cannot remember that bit.

Finally found the bit about the colours used - page 10 of this issue of Gulf's in-house magazine, which is an interesting read in itself:

http://www.gulfoilltd.com/cms_media/files/od6_compl.pdf (http://www.gulfoilltd.com/cms_media/files/od6_compl.pdf)

In brief: Gulf painted their original horse-drawn delivery tank wagons in a distinctive colour - orange - because fuel merchants often recognised brand by the tank colour.  Blue lettering was added in due course, and the orange disc with blue lettering first came out on a product called Gulfwax in 1920.  The company played with the logo in the 1950s and 1960s, and orange was allied to dark blue as the Gulf colour scheme.  However, when it decided to go racing, it wanted to create a scheme that would be memorable, distinctive, imaginative, cool etc - that led them to the orange and powder blue in the 1960s.  And a good job that they did too, or we wouldn't have had those evocative GT40s and 917s....

Anorak fact.  If the founders had formed the company a few weeks earlier in 1901, it would have become Texaco, as when they tried to register the name "Texas Oil Company", the name had been already been registered a couple of weeks earlier.  So they came up with the "Gulf Refining Company of Texas" after the nearby Gulf of Mexico, hence "Gulf".  Not a lot of people know that....

MG Mark

you wont mistake this aston for anything else tho on race day / weekend will you tho  ::)

Good work fella, the mystery is solved.  ;D

I think they're making some of this up

"Three Gulf Ford GT40s were entered into the 1964 24-hour Le Mans race"

Quite possibly......"1964 was to see the first attempt by Ford to win the Le Mans 24 Hour Race. Three cars were entered in the race which was held on 20th June, GT102 driven by Phil Hill and Bruce McLaren, GT103 driven by Richie Ginther and Masten Gregory. The final car was GT104 driven by Dickie Attwood and Jo Schlesser.

Unfortunately, not one of the three cars finished the race. GT104 was the first to retire when its engine bay caught fire on the Mulsanne Straight. GT103 followed shortly after with transmission problems, a problem which was to later cause the retirement of GT102.

The only consolation for Ford was that Phil Hill had managed to set a new lap record of 3 min. 49.2 sec (131.375 mph)."

These threee cars were white with black bonnets I believe. Maybe they carried some 'small' Gulf sponsorship decals.......