One of the most exciting things about pre-season is seeing the cars, seeing what colours we need to look out for on the grid. While most cars look great, there are some that just stand out for all the right reasons.
Whether that be an iconic livery, a moment you associate with your favourite team or driver, or simply you think it looks good and therefore becomes a favourite of yours.
We’ve delved into the archives and found five of our favourite liveries from the last five years of the British Touring Car Championship, with so many to choose from creating a list wasn’t easy.
5. 2016 Team Dynamics Honda Civic
Honda and Halfords, it’s a combination we’ve become used to over the years watching the British Touring Car Championship. Gordon Shedden took the title for Team Dynamics in his orange Honda with some beautiful black accents to compliment the design. The FK2 Civic is one of the most successful BTCC cars of all time, and suited the colour scheme perfectly.
4. 2020 Excelr8 Hyundai i30N
With the COVID-19 pandemic restricting fans to watching on TV, the Hyundai ran by Excelr8 often caught the eye. Driven by Senna Proctor and Chris Smiley, the vivid blue and black colour scheme really helped accentuate the i30N’s features. The red around the grille stood out and made the car easy to spot during races.
3. 2018 Motorbase Ford Focus Pink Edition
As part of the BTCC’s 60th anniversary celebrations at Snetterton, Sam Tordoff revealed a pink liveried Ford Focus which definitely caught the eye. When asked about why he chose it, Tordoff stated: “We wanted to choose a colour that really made an impact on the track and also on TV. Bright pink has become my signature colour over recent years and we wanted something special for the car, so it was a no-brainer to run with it!”
2. 2019 WSR BMW 330i M Sport
BMW’s M Sport brand is one of the most recognisable in motorsport, and while the iconic colours were used on the 1 Series in the few seasons prior, the colours really shone on the new-for-2019 330i. Colin Turkington drove to the title in the white BMW, with splashes of red, light blue and dark blue. Side note, the Pirtek livery used by Andrew Jordan also really suited the 330i, but the white machine used by Turkington and Tom Oliphant, was just a cut above.
1. 2017 WSR Pirtek BMW 1 Series
Our favourite livery of the past five years is this stunning metallic Pirtek livery used by Andrew Jordan. It was used in 2016 on his Ford Focus but following his move to WSR, the livery followed. A shining blue with Pirtek’s signature yellow and red logos, this livery caught the eye and really shone. A move to a matte finish akin to Red Bull’s recent liveries followed in 2018, and while pleasant it wasn’t as striking as the metallic versions.
These were just five of our favourites, honourable mentions include Tom Oliphant’s metallic green Ciceley Mercedes Benz A Class from 2018, and BTC Racing’s matte grey Honda Civic FK8 with pink accents.
As we wait for the cars to hit the track, we will sit back and marvel at these beautiful machines a little longer.
(All image credits: BTCC Media)