|
A
BRIEF HISTORY OF RACING STRIPES
"Racing Stripes" (also called
"Rally Stripes") were originally applied to the hood of
closed-wheel race cars so as to provide a straight line in alignment with the
driver's line of sight. Contrasting colors were used, and they assisted the
driver in determining the direction of a car in the event of a spin, when
tire smoke or dust could cause temporary disorientation. They were often
extended up over the roof and onto a car's rear deck in an effort to
provide the car with grafically balanced look.
These stripes were initially fairly narrow, and sometimes were single,
double, triple or the familiar narrow-wide-narrow design. They varied in
widths, to the point where the racing Cobras - and later the GT350 - had a
pair of wide stripes, often referred to as "LeMans
Stripes," centered on the car's body. They were wide enough so that
the left edge was aligned directly in front of the driver's line of sight,
but that was more or less a coincidence. By the time LeMans
stripes gained widespread usage - on the GT350 street cars - they had lost
their original purpose and were used merely to evoke a competition image.
|
