Racing stripes, also called

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

stripes or rally stripes, were originally applied to

racecars Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

to help identify them in the field during races. The term "racing stripe" is also used to refer to diagonal lines painted on watercraft hulls, usually on vessels belonging to a country's coast guard.

Racing cars

Racing stripes were applied to the

Cunningham Cunningham is a surname of Scottish origin, see Clan Cunningham. Notable people sharing this surname A–C *Aaron Cunningham (born 1986), American baseball player *Abe Cunningham, American drummer * Adrian Cunningham (born 1960), Australian ...

team's racecars beginning in 1951. Usually two parallel blue stripes running from front to rear in the centre of the white body, they helped spectators identify the cars during races. These evolved from the traditional FIA-registered American racing colours of a white body and blue chassis, which dated from when racing cars had the chassis exposed. The two blue stripes were a symbolic echo of the chassis colours. In 1964, the Shelby Daytona Coupe would use the converse blue with white stripes and would compete in the 1964 and 1965

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

Road cars and "go-faster stripes"

The first road car to implement racing stripes was the 1965 Ford Mustang GT350. From the 1960s, stripes have sometimes been applied to road cars as well as racing cars. Such cars as the Renault 8

Gordini Gordini () is a division of Renault Sport Technologies (Renault Sport). In the past, it was a sports car manufacturer and performance tuner, established in 1946 by Amédée Gordini (1899–1979), nicknamed "Le Sorcier" (The Sorcerer). Gordini be ...

had stripes fitted as standard. They are sometimes referred to as "go-faster stripes" on road cars. An alternative style features stripes which wrap around the car sideways instead of running down the center of the vehicle, called " bumblebee stripes". These stripes were featured prominently on the Dodge Charger Daytona racecar. Dodge's "Scat Pack" performance package for 1968-1971 muscle cars featured the bumblebee stripe as a signature. In 1996, a pair of 8-inch wide stripes were used on the Dodge Viper GTS, starting a revival of the fashion.Fast Car magazine, June 1998 Since then, they have often been referred to as "Viper Stripes". File:Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 (Centropolis Laval '10).jpg, 1965 Mustang GT350, the first road car to feature racing stripes File:SAAB96V4-front.jpg, Saab 96 with "go-faster stripes" File:1969 Dodge Charger Daytona (13420094943).jpg, 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona with a "bumblebee stripe" File:Draginline waiting.jpg, Dodge Viper GTS with "Viper Stripes" File:Fifth generation Camaro SS, Transformers edition.jpg, Chevrolet Camaro with " Bumblebee Stripes"

Use on watercraft

Many coast guard-type organizations have diagonally-slanted lines on their vessels' hulls, which are referred to as "racing stripes". An example is the service mark of the United States Coast Guard. File:Albanian Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Albania File:Logo de la Prefectura Naval Argentina.svg, Argentina File:Bangladesh Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Bangladesh File:Canadian Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Canada File:China Coast Guard racing stripe.svg,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

File:Croatian Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Croatia File:Cyprus Port and Marine Police racing stripe.svg, Cyprus File:Egyptian Coast Guard Racing Stripe.svg, Egypt File:European Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, European Union File:Finnish Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Finland File:French Maritime Gendarmerie racing stripe.svg, France File:Georgian Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Georgia File:German Federal Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Germany File:Hellenic Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Greece File:Icelandic Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Iceland File:Indian Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, India File:BAKAMLA Racing Stripe.svg, Indonesia File:Guardia Costiera.svg, Italy File:Japan Coast Guard racing stripe.svg,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

File:Libyan Coast Guard Racing Stripe.svg, Libya File:Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Racing Stripe.svg, Malaysia File:Maldives Coast Guard Racing Stripe.svg, Maldives File:MarcaBuquesSEMAR.png, Mexico File:Myanmar Coast Guard racing stripe.svg,

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

File:Netherlands Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Netherlands File:Norwegian Coast Guard Racing Stripe.svg, Norway File:Peruvian Coast Guard racing stripe.png, Peru File:Philippine Coast Guard Racing Stripe.svg, Philippines File:Romanian Border Police racing stripe.svg, Romania File:Russian Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Russia File:Singapore Police Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Singapore File:Korea Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, South Korea File:Sri Lanka Coast Guard racing stripe.svg,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

File:Swedish Coast Guard racing stripe.svg,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

File:Taiwan Coast Guard Administration racing stripe.svg, Taiwan File:Turkish Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Turkey File:Ukrainian Sea Guard racing stripe.svg, Ukraine File:UK Border Force racing stripe.svg, United Kingdom File:CGMark W.svg, United States (Coast Guard) File:U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Mark.svg, United States (civilian) File:United States Customs and Border Protection racing stripe.svg, United States (police) File:Vietnam Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Vietnam File:Yemen Coast Guard racing stripe.svg, Yemen

References

{{reflist

External links

Cover of ''Time'' magazine dated, April 26, 1954
��the links at the bottom of the page lead to various years of production

��with link to views * ttp://www.briggscunningham.com/BSC%20Drivers.pdf Full list of Team Cunningham drivers��presented on site along with many other informative pages
Road Racing Drivers Club
��see deceased members list for the biography

��tribute 2003 Vehicle modifications Automotive styling features

Racing cars

Road cars and "go-faster stripes"

Use on watercraft

See also

References

External links