French Racing Green!

May I point out that the first car, with the possible exception of the 1900 Napier, to actually race with the colour green was the 40hp Panhard which Jarrott drove in the Paris-Berlin race on June 28, 1901.

As he recounts in Ten Years of Motor Racing, the factory painted the car green — the French lucky colour — to offset the effect of the number 13 which it had been allotted!

In the event he did so well, finishing eighth in the heavy class and tenth in the general classification in his first race, that he decided to adopt the colour as his own. It became known as Napier Green and later, of course, BRG.

DOC TAYLOR