Racing stripes, also called Le Mans stripes or Rallying stripes, were originally applied to racecars to help identify them in the field during races.[ Le Mans Stripes.]
Racing cars
Racing stripes were applied to the Cunningham 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 would use the converse blue with white stripes and would compete in the 1964 and 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Road cars and "go-faster stripes"
The first road car to implement racing stripes was the 1965 Ford Shelby Mustang.
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".
, the first road car to feature racing stripes]]
GTS with "Viper 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.
See also
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Fin flash
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List of international auto racing colours
External links
