And unless you're planning on using the same avatar on multiple forums and they all have different backgrounds and you don't want to set them up individually, you don't, and really shouldn't ever, use gifs for still images. Stick with png and jpg.
Okay, avatar-change time again. I hate doing this, but I'm not good at it myself. Could someone please do up a Virgin Racing avatar for me in the standard size? And a smaller 100x75 design, too, so I can run it on other forums. I'm kind of hoping you can do the black background, but with an extra red and grey bit, kind of like the logo in the top-right corner of the official website.