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
I think Rick Mears’s Indy Pennzoil “Yellow Submarine” is spectacular. Love seeing Penske bring it out again on Scott McLauglin’s car the last few years for the 500.
No love for Richard Petty here?
The best looking Australian racing cars of all time are:
Peter Brock’s 1984 HDT VK Commodore Touring Car with dayglo Marlboro livery.
Jim Richards’ BMW 635 CSi Touring car with JPS black/gold livery.
The best looking racing cars are the Meister Bräuser Scarabs. Everything else fights for second place.
My vote for one of the weirdest / quirkiest would be the MG Metro 6R4 rally car.
“Race cars are neither beautiful nor ugly. They become beautiful when they win.”
-Enzo Ferrari
I don’t know how Adrian can say SF24/25 when they ruined it with the HP branding. SF23 though for sure.
Some other beautiful race cars that haven’t been mentioned: Shelby Cobra Daytona, Corvette SR2, C7.R Corvette, Ferrari 156 F1 “sharknose”.
And for the worst, the 1961 Cadillac Le Mans “Le Monstre” I recently learned about.
My favorite is the mazda 787b, but I found out about the Oldsmobile Aurora GTS-1 last week and that thing looks insane when you think about how it’s even 1% aurora
mercedes amg clk gtr is number one for me and Maserati mc12 is number 2.
I’ve always had a thing for the Lola T70 coupe.
Many Lolas look like something from a dream.
Do you know about the dealer on Long Island that was selling Lolas for street use?
The whole 2014 F1 grid gets joint-worst from me.
Good: Panoz DP01, the final Champ Car. Very aesthetically pleasing car.
I’m also partial to the mid-00’s Lola prototypes, like the B06/10 or B08/60.
Bad: The original Grand-Am Daytona Prototypes, while very important for North American Sports Car racing in general, were some very ugly cars.
Grew up loving Jeff Gordon because of the rainbow livery! If you’re talking ‘60s F1 you have to include the Eagle 1!
McLaren M6A. McLaren’s first monocoque chassis, McLaren orange and velocity stacks. What’s not to like?
’50s Jaguar D-type. If you think their road cars were beautiful, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen their race cars.
So much this. Specifically the short nose with no fin, like the prototype, OVC501. That third headlight down by the front air intake is killer.
I can’t pick a best and this isn’t the worst, but I have to mention it because I was just looking at it, the Chevy Caprice NASCAR racer was pretty disappointing looking. I like the street car and usually the racer looks even better or makes an ugly street car cool, but not that one.
Jordan 191, Ferrari 641, and the Audi 90 GTO all immediately spring to mind for me as excellent looking race cars.
The Chaparral 2J was pretty ugly, but I suppose the other 2’s with the wakeboard wings above the rear axle was not the best looking either.
March 711 with the weird whale tail up front was pretty heinous too.
Dirt Late Model. Ugly duckling designed to the extreme.
Honorable mention goes to the NASCAR gen 4 “Twisted Sister” style cars. Turn left fast.
Sauber 9C. Teutonic sex
always had a soft-spot for the belly tank cars, such as the S-Cal Speed Shop “lakester”. https://www.classicandsportscar.com/features/meeting-alex-xydias-and-iconic-so-cal-belly-tank-lakester
Ferrari 330 P4 has to be up there in my book.
A few on my best list:
Cadillac GTPs. They also sound fantastic.
West-era McLarens. The MP4-17D was a lovely car, but my favorite is still the aborted MP4-18.
The Jeff Koons M3 GT2 “Art Car”.
The Williams FW14B.
The Panoz LMP-1 Roadster, while not exactly beautiful, was just such a cool looking thing. They sounded great too.
Dale Sr’s #3 Goodwrench Monte Carlos/Luminas will always be classics. Maybe not conventionally beautiful, but I thought they looked great.
Jim Clark’s Indy car Lotus. It’s rear engined, it’s green, It’s Jim Clark.
Bill Elliot’s blue #9 from 1991