I’m a little bit obsessed with the colour orange. Not in a mental way, you understand. But I do like to see an orange paint job on a car or bike. It’s colourful. The world doesn’t have to be all corporate, clinical, white and blue.

If you’re looking for a good orange livery, then the obvious place to start is Orange Arrows, active in Formula 1 between 2000 and 2002. Well, active in part of 2002, until the team ran out of money. It’s the obvious place to look, but not the best place: I think there are stronger combinations than orange and black.

Funnily enough, the team raced as Repsol Arrows in 1999, so orange was prominent even before Orange. But that colour scheme is better known in MotoGP, on the factory Repsol Honda bike – amongst others. Orange and red though? We can do better.

There’s somewhere else obvious to look for a bit of orange. Somewhere just over the North Sea.

It wasn’t a surprise that A1 Team Netherlands chose orange to represent their country in A1GP. But it was impressive just how pure the orange paintwork was.

The same can be said for the Hummer that Robby Gordon entered in this year’s Dakar. After losing Monster Energy sponsorship to BMW, he was left to run a livery based on his own Speed Energy brand. It was, to say the least, bright. Not bright enough to attract his team mate’s attention when Gordon was broken down on the side of the road in need of help – but that’s another matter.

BTCC

Still not the best use of orange in motorsport though. For that we have to come home, to the British Touring Car Championship. Specifically between 2006 and 2008, when the BTCC was blessed with orange cars from both Team RAC and Team Halfords. Of the two, Team RAC wins it for me: orange and white is a virtually unbeatable combination, isn’t it?

I’m optimistic for 2011, because the Dynojet Racing Toyota Avensis in which Frank Wrathall is contesting the BTCC is looking mentally orange. Perhaps not quite up to the standard of Team RAC, but pretty bold stuff going by the workshop shots from Toyota.

Now there’s a reason to be cheerful.

Photo Credits
Orange Arrows: Klaus Nahr, flickr – Some rights reserved
Repsol Honda: Honda
Robby Gordon Hummer: Hernán Valeriano, flickr – Some rights reserved
Dynojet Racing: Toyota UK, flickr – Some rights reserved