The best looking cars in motorsport (outside of F1)

cider_and_toast

Exulted Lord High Moderator of the Apex
Staff Member
Valued Member
We've had many threads on here in the past which have debated the best looking F1 car, The best livery etc etc.

Here's a thread for all those other cars outside of F1 that look simply stunning but don't get the same amount of coverage. Post your favourite motorsport cars (not road cars by the way, they must have been used in racing) on this thread.

NB. If demand is strong enough we can do a favourite looking road car as well.

I'll start the ball running with the stunning Le Mans winning Ford GT40

and the totally crackers MG Metro 6R4 (designed by the Williams GP team on behalf of Austin Rover !!)

fordGT406.jpgMetro6R4.jpg
 
A couple more of my personal faves.

The D-Type Jag. Far better looking than the E-Type in my opinion.

And it wouldn't be me if there wasn't a Lotus. This car is an absolute stunner.

Jaguar_D-type.jpg1961_Lotus_Elite_S2.jpg
 
Hi Matthew,

Some of your images aren't showing up as Planet LeMans doesn't allow hotlinking (bandwidth theft) so we just see a message saying please visit the PLM site.

The best thing to do is download the image to your PC and either attach it to your post or upload it to somewhere like ImageShack.
 
Brogan said:
Hi Matthew,

Some of your images aren't showing up as Planet LeMans doesn't allow hotlinking (bandwidth theft) so we just see a message saying please visit the PLM site.

The best thing to do is download the image to your PC and either attach it to your post or upload it to somewhere like ImageShack.
Here's a FAQ on adding images to posts: http://www.cliptheapex.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=128#Section4


Just read your message, Brogan. :o :o

I went ahead and downloaded the image(the second one was the problem image, I believe) onto my computer, uploaded the picture onto Imageshack and then used the link from there(the picture should come up now everytime......). Thanks for the advice. :thumbsup: :)
 
cider_and_toast said:
I always thought that the Silk Cut Jag looked superb. :thumbsup:


The Silk Cut Jags' always seemed to look and sound wicked on-track; of course, back then, the cars(and drivers, when you think about it...) carried a certain....what's the right word here.......spirit or panache', maybe......that's seemingly absent from a good part of the motorsports world today....... :o

I mean, just look at, for example, a modern-day Formula 1 race car or an IndyCar, for that matter; sometimes, I think Tilke not only designs racetracks......I think he designs racecars at times, they can be that sterile.
 
Matthew Little said:
I mean, just look at, for example, a modern-day Formula 1 race car or an IndyCar, for that matter; sometimes, I think Tilke not only designs racetracks......I think he designs racecars at times, they can be that sterile.

I totally agree with you Matthew. It's the old problem of Form over Function. Since in a less technical era most of the teams relied on the worthy sentiment of "If it looks quick it will be quick" though this wasn't always the case, it did lend itself to some stunning cars. In modern motorsports any design is functional and beauty has to be an after thought that sometimes occurs by luck but not often.

I once read a story about a Lotus (I think it was a 25 but early 60's anyway) where Chapman insisted that all the suspension tubes be chromed. Unfortunatly as part of the process the metal turned brittle. Jim Clark took the car out for a shake down and all four wheels broke off !!!
 
cider_and_toast said:
I always thought that the Silk Cut Jag looked superb. :thumbsup:

I just looked at that and it just reminded me of some photo's i found just last weekend hiding away in the loft from a raceday at brands hatch back in july of 88 which includes the silk cut jag & sauber mercedes amongst others and also benneton B188. WHen i get organised and rescue my IT kit from storage (eventually) i'll get them scanned and posted.
 
cider_and_toast said:
[quote="Matthew Little":u1n2g5ja]I mean, just look at, for example, a modern-day Formula 1 race car or an IndyCar, for that matter; sometimes, I think Tilke not only designs racetracks......I think he designs racecars at times, they can be that sterile.

I totally agree with you Matthew. It's the old problem of Form over Function. Since in a less technical era most of the teams relied on the worthy sentiment of "If it looks quick it will be quick" though this wasn't always the case, it did lend itself to some stunning cars. In modern motorsports any design is functional and beauty has to be an after thought that sometimes occurs by luck but not often.

I once read a story about a Lotus (I think it was a 25 but early 60's anyway) where Chapman insisted that all the suspension tubes be chromed. Unfortunatly as part of the process the metal turned brittle. Jim Clark took the car out for a shake down and all four wheels broke off !!![/quote:u1n2g5ja]

Another story that comes to mind along those lines as the Lotus story above involves one of North America's great motorsports innovators, Smokey Yunick, who once opined that, "If it isn't expressly prohibited, it is implicitly allowed." In other words, he was a master at "interpreting" the rulebooks' so-called "grey areas" and then exploiting those "grey areas" to full effect(or as long as the rule-meisters would let him). Case in point.........how to drive a racecar away with no fuel tank.

Story goes as follows...........Following a race down at Daytona back in the 60's, several NASCAR officials(including Bill France, Sr., a/k/a Big Bill France) confronted Yunick and accused him of cheating in regards to various things on his stock-cars, basicially giving him a list of nine different items to fix before he'd be allowed to race. Well, one of the officials(supposedly Big Bill himself) orders the fuel tank removed and challenges Smokey to drive away with no fuel tank........so Smokey gets in the car, starts it up and drives back to pit lane, telling them, "Better make it ten!". Turns out, instead of using the then-standard 2-meter(7-8 foot) long, 1-inch wide fuel line in his car, Yunick had installed a 3-meter(11 foot), 2-inch wide fuel line which added an extra five gallons or so of fuel to his car WITHOUT messing with the fuel tank what-so-ever. LOL 8-) The thing was, the rules at the time specified the size of the fuel tank BUT not the size/length/width of the fuel line connecting said fuel tank to the engine.

Of course, that was then.............try something a tenth' or so along those lines now and you'll likely catch a ton of flack from the tech-inspectors and stewards, if not worse.......... :o :o :o
 
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