TR3S Le Mans lineup -- color photo in period

[Don H.]

This image came through on the Triumph TR3 Facebook page courtesy of an Italian Triumph group. I don't think I've seen the 1959 TR3S Le Mans lineup in color like this before?

 

https://www.facebook.com/TriumphInItaly/photos/a.270328969820980.1073741828.269219723265238/428889540631588/?type=1&theater

[somefrenchTr3guy]

Thank you for the link, Don.

These guys have assembled a huge collection of stunning images, most unknown by me at least, the kind I like.

[saffrontr]

Super photo Don,

 

Thanks for sharing the link

 

cheers

 

Derek

[Andrew Smith]

Not seen by me until now either.

 

I wonder what the significance of the colours are rather the red, white and blue?

 

Cheers

Andrew

[Don H.]

Not seen by me until now either.

 

I wonder what the significance of the colours are rather the red, white and blue?

 

Pretty common for teams to have some identifier on their otherwise identically-liveried team cars. Probably to enable differentiation at a glance where the number may not be visible or easily distinguished. Look at how the modern Audis have had different colors on their rear fin.

[Andrew Smith]

Yes, I know that Don, but was wondering why yellow red and white and not red, white and blue.

 

Cheers

Andrew

[Alec Pringle]

Hi Andrew,

 

visibility under the very limited illumination at night was, I suspect, the primary reason . . . . . blue merges into green at a distance, and that red is more of an orange because it stands out better at night. Coloured running/marker lights were a rarity back then, came into wider use in the 60s.

 

Cheers

 

Alec

[Graham Robson]

Concurring with Alec - and here is more detail.

 

When we were re-opening the 'works' department in 1962, we chose powder blue as the 'team colour' for the TR4s, and the rally Spitfires which followed them.

 

White was discarded because it gets mucky quickly, and advertising agencies complained. Dark blue tended to look like dirty green in pictures. Red was fine, but BMC already used red on their Big Healeys. As for yellow - well, no-one could warm to that ....

 

We had to use BRG on the Le Mans Spitfires because the organisers demanded the use of 'National' colours on their International event.

 

Hon. Pres.

[Don H.]

Ahh... -- got it, Andrew. Possibly yellow-red-white because of how those colors stand out against BRG, especially in low light? There's been a lot of science in that kind of recognition -- I'd need to check where blue on green fits in perception ranking.

 

 

PS: Oops -- late to hit "post" when the phone rang mid typing. Alec and Graham have covered my point better than I did anyway!

Edited September 4, 2015 by Don H.

[Don H.]

Here's an article on color combinations and perception:

http://designworkplan.com/design/signage-and-color-contrast.htm

 

The key chart is here, where higher values mean greater perception due to contrast differences.

 

Note yellow and white on green are good contrasty combinations. Although I like the look of red on BRG, that might not have been the most contrast. "Beige" might have been better technically, although it woulda looked yucky on a race car! The more orangy the red, the better, from this study. Note that Triumph racing green in those days is probably somewhere between green and black on the chart above.

[Andrew Smith]

Thanks chaps, I can see the logic behind the choice now.

 

Cheers

Andrew

[Dave Larnder]

Hi Fellahs

 

As we are going to Lake Garda area next year, I was wondering WHERE in Italy those shots of Triumphs and lesser cars were taken, maybe a visit there could be on the cards. Does anybody know?

 

Dave

[Don H.]

Dave, you must be speaking about some other shots on that FB page than the TR3S shot linked above. You're gonna have to be more specific, perhaps in a separate posting, about the images you're referring to -- most folks here aren't using this thread to track that FB page.

[roy53]

I see that the same three colours were used on the spitfires in a similar line up photo at le mans

[john.r.davies]

Just for comparison, here is a line up of the Jigsaw TRio (!?) ADU1B and replicas of the other two, that didn't get to enter in 2014.

 

 

John

[Don H.]

I see that the same three colours were used on the spitfires in a similar line up photo at le mans

 

Yes, and on the TRS cars, too.

[roy53]

Thanks for the first photo Don ,do you have one of the TRS line up ????

 

ROY

[Dave Larnder]

Don

 

Directly above the photo , top left hand corner is a website address, not the one at the top. Click on that address, then click again on the picture and there you have it at least two hundred photos first in colour then B&W. Plenty pics of the Italia and one or two of a Spitfire graveyard. There is even a pic of the badge Sports Car Club Of America, just to make you feel at home along with a couple at an American Fire station.

Leave you to discover the rest, but as I asked, where in Italy were the first coloured pics taken?

I would be interested in your thoughts on some of those very early B&W pics around 1959, and the Earls Court motor shows.

BTW. I don´t have, or use Facebook.

Dave

[iain]

doh!

Edited September 6, 2015 by iain

[Don H.]

Don

 

Directly above the photo , top left hand corner is a website address, not the one at the top. Click on that address, then click again on the picture and there you have it at least two hundred photos first in colour then B&W. Plenty pics of the Italia and one or two of a Spitfire graveyard. There is even a pic of the badge Sports Car Club Of America, just to make you feel at home along with a couple at an American Fire station.

Leave you to discover the rest, but as I asked, where in Italy were the first coloured pics taken?

I would be interested in your thoughts on some of those very early B&W pics around 1959, and the Earls Court motor shows.

BTW. I don´t have, or use Facebook.

Dave

 

Dave, I presume you're speaking of all the other -- non Le Mans -- photos on the page of the person who controls the "Triumph in Italy" Facebook page. There's an eclectic collection there.

 

The Earls Court and other early motor show photos there have been taken -- without attribution and without paying license fees, one suspects -- from the Revs Digital Library of Stanford University Libraries and The Revs Institute for Automotive Research. There are a number of threads on this forum talking about that amazing collection of images. It's well worth spending a few hours in the Revs site.

 

That image of the fire chief of Rochester, New York and his TR3A in front of the fire station has been reprinted a number of times in quite a few sources.

 

The modern color images of cars driving along a Northern Italian lake are the ones you're interested in, yes? Your guess is as good as mine exactly where they were taken -- looks like the east side of Lago di Garda within the last few years to me. Pretty far from 1959 and the TRS cars.

[Dave Larnder]

Don

 

If it is Lake Garda then that´s good as that is our destination next year.

In two weeks time we are driving the original Route Des Alpes from Menton on the French coast on the Med. to Lake Geneva. From there on 3rd October we will be at the Swiss British Classic Car Meeting further along the lake at Morges just before Lausanne.

 

Dave