I tend to think all race cars look pretty cool, even the “ugly” ones. There’s something about being purpose-built to do one thing – run a quarter mile, circle an oval, set a land-speed record, climb a hill, cross a desert – that transcends what mere styling can do on its own. There’s nothing fake on a race car (headlight decals excepted); if there’s a vent or fin or intake, you can bet it’s doing something, and it’s placed exactly where it needs to be based on whatever it takes to go fast (and to follow the rules, at least sometimes).
That said, some race cars are certainly better looking than others. I couldn’t resist asking our resident car stylist/F1 fan/opinion-haver Adrian Clarke what competition cars most appeal to his obviously impeccable taste:
I’ll leave you to Google those if they’re not already in your brain, or as I like to call it, Actual Intelligence (I realize the initials are still “AI,” clearly I need to workshop this). As for the race cars that I like, I have a real soft spot for the “wheeled cigar” look of the 1960s as seen below (in Tamiya 1/20 scale model form) with the Lotus Type 49 and Honda RA272.
I really should buy these kits, they’re lovely
Less beautiful, or perhaps “so ugly, they’re beautiful” are the delta-wing cars fielded by Panoz and Nissan, which I’m sure will be a rabbit hole I dive into as soon as I publish this.
Honestly, in red with an open cockpit, I think this thing looks pretty fantastic. But put a roof on it …
… and oof, yeah, that’s pretty grim. But hey, eye of the beholder and all that. How about you? What do you think are the best/worst/weirdest/wildest cars to ever roll under a green flag? See you in the comments!
Top graphic image: Bring a Trailer
Mick Doohan’s Repsol NSR500.
(I know it doesn’t have the ‘right amount’ of wheels but whatever)
I’ve never looked at any EV race car twice, and I’m an EV fan.
It’s not just the looks, it’s that they are so uninteresting to me, and that makes them unattractive.
Even a heavily discounted EV race car Lego set is a hard pass for me.
Audi 90 IMSA GTO is :chefskiss:. Also any and all rally cars are beautiful and hideous all at once. I love them.
Jordan 191 is the first thing that came to mind for me (in the best looking category).
Nissan GT-R LM Nismo is decidedly on the ugly side of the spectrum IMO. Very interesting engineering project though.