Porsche is celebrating its rich motorsports heritage with five vehicles in custom liveries. However, the vehicle it chose to represent the legacy of the brand is a bit of a mystery. Nevertheless, these custom Macan SUVs certainly captures the essence of classic Porsche race cars.
The Martini Racing livery is one virtually all motorsport enthusiasts know immediately.
First adorning the Porsche 917 in 1970, it’s a staple of the automaker’s past. Following the initial race at the Hockenheim circuit, the livery found its way onto several other Porsche race cars in a multitude of disciplines. From rallying to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, some of the most successful Porsche models in history wore the iconic red, blue and silver.
To celebrate the dominating performance at Le Mans in the ’80s, the second Macan pays homage to the Rothmans design — minus the tobacco company logo itself, obviously.
The livery first appeared on the 956 during its dominating 1-2-3 finish at the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 956 didn’t stop there though. It continued to steamroll the competition throughout the middle part of the decade.
Its other claim to fame is the overall record at the Nurburgring. During qualifying for the 1983 Nurburgring 1000km endurance race with the late Stefan Bellof at the wheel, it set a blistering 6:11.13 time. Even to this day, nothing’s matched it.
The Rothmans design also found its way into rallying when Porsche took the 956 racing in the infamous Group B.
It’s not every day you see a pink race car, but in the ’70s Porsche dipped the 917/20 in the bright hue. With a bulbous design and stubby nose, it quickly earned the nickname “Pink Pig”.
The 917/20 was an experimental car for future Can-Am platforms that mashed up a long and short tail version of the 917. Due to this, the Porsche racing team cleverly painted the car to look like a pig with butcher lines drawn across the various sections.
Both the car and the paint scheme were a hit. The 917/20 set the quickest lap time during the pre-race qualifying. It also stole the show from the first and second place 917K cars.
Honoring another successful 917, the fourth Macan dons the famous Salzburg livery.
The Salzburg design first appeared on the 917K at the 1970 Le Mans — an important race in Porsche motorsports history. The car, driven by teammates Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood, secured the first of 19 Le Mans victories for Porsche. Ever since that fateful race, Porsche continues to make a strong showing to this day.
With powder blue and bright orange, the final Macan gets perhaps one of the most iconic liveries of all time: Gulf Racing.
The Porsche legacy with the Gulf Racing colors owes itself to one man – John Wyer. Wyer was a race engineer and team manager for a number of different racing teams during his career. Almost all of the vehicles he worked with came with the famous livery due to his sponsorship with Gulf Oil.
After the GT40 could no longer meet regulations in 1969, Wyer moved from the partnership with Ford to Porsche — thankfully, bringing the livery along with him.
The Gulf Racing colors really secured their place in the history books in 1971. It was then that Le Mans, the seminal film featuring Steve McQueen, released. McQueen went on to win the race in the film, driving a 917K in the unmistakable Gulf colors.
With several other famous liveries from Porsche, this is only a small subset of the brand’s winning history. However, we think it’s a cool way to show off some rather historic designs. And on the plus side, a Macan tends to run cheaper than the last car to prominently feature classic designs. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be looking up used 918 Spyders…
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