And now, everyone together: Happy 100th birthday!
Wrapping modern race cars in the style of a famous classic from the past is all the rage right now. At Le Mans four years ago, Ford fielded a fleet of GTs in the Holman-Moody look, and two years ago, Mercedes-AMG brought a modern “Red Pig” to the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. But what do you do when, as a nineteen-time series champion, you have more iconic paint schemes than race cars on the starting grid? That’s right: you just use them all.
And so the Porsche 963, in the version fielded by the factory for the 100th anniversary of Le Mans, is adorned with the red and white of the Salzburg 917, the pink of the “Red Pig,” the green and dark blue of the “Hippie 917,” the orange and light blue of the Gulf 917, and the yellow of the Penske Spyder. The red and blue are also arranged to form the Martini stripes of the 936. A touch of beige-gold in just the right spot also ensures that the Rothmans colors of the 962 shine on the rear.
With so many famous signatures on this four-wheeled birthday card, the 24-hour birthday celebration in June can hardly fail to be a success. Porsche’s 20th overall victory would be a fitting gift.