Silverstone's retro look: every MotoGP livery for the British GP

The 2024 British MotoGP is set to go retro this weekend, with every team adopting a one-off classic livery in celebration of the 75th year anniversary of the world motorcycle championship.

Ahead of the race weekend on Thursday August 1, each outfit pulled the covers off their liveries for the first time in a live stream.

From touching tributes to sought-after throwbacks you can see the full list below, including background on where each team found their inspiration.

Across the weekend, there will also be numerous other events to commemorate the anniversary, including a classic motorcycle exhibition, the annual Day of Champions and Mike Trimby — who helped shape the world championship into what is today — will also be named a MotoGP Legend.

 

Aprilia Racing

Aprilia will pay tribute to one of its most dominant periods of world title success this weekend, with an all-black livery designed to take after the Aprilia RSV 250, which was ridden to three consecutive 250cc titles by Max Biaggi in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

 

Ducati Lenovo Team

Reigning world champion Pecco Bagnaia and team-mate Enea Bastianini will be championing the racing roots of Ducati this weekend, with their black and red liveries inspired by the GP3 machines on which Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss rode in 2003 — the brand’s debut outing in motorcycle racing’s premier class.

 

Gresini Racing MotoGP

Alex Márquez and Marc Márquez will race in a full white livery complete with a stripe in the colours of the Italian flag to celebrate the late great Fausto Gresini — who died from Covid in 2021.

The legendary Italian won two world titles as a rider — the first in 1985 and the second in 1987 (both 125cc championships) – and four championships as a team owner with Kato in 2001 (250cc); with Toni Elias in 2010 (Moto2); with Jorge Martin in 2018 (Moto3); and with Matteo Ferrari in 2019 (MotoE)

 

LCR Honda

LCR Honda has gone one step further than any other MotoGP team this weekend, as Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami will ride two different retro-liveried machines — each paying tribute to critical members of the team’s history.

On one side of the garage, Zarco will pilot a 1966-inspired green, white and red livery which celebrates Mike Hailwood’s 250cc World Championship. On the other, Nakagami’s ride for the British MotoGP takes inspiration from the team’s Japanese background as well as major sponsor Idemitsu.

 

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

It’s back! The famous all-white livery with bold red stripe became synonymous with Yamaha as early 1964 before it was then made legendary with the likes of Jarno Saarinen — who won the 1972 250cc world championship, becoming the first Finn to do so — and Giacomo Agostini — who won two of his 15 world titles aboard a Yamaha.

 

Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team

Owned and run by the Doctor himself, it’s little surprise that Valentino Rossi’s VR46 outfit has opted for a livery to commemorate his legendary career with an equally memorable look.

The style is called the Sole Luna — Sun and Moon in English — and was ever-present on Rossi’s helmet during his racing career, making for a particularly scary image in his rivals’ rear-view mirrors.

 

Prima Pramac Racing

Prima Pramac has chosen the 2024 British MotoGP to pay tribute to Angel Nieto, who on his similarly liveried Garelli motorcycle won the 1983 125cc motorcycle world championship.

The Spaniard died in 2017 but his racing legacy lives on with his nephew Fonsi Nieto, who is current Prima’s sporting director.

 

Red Bull GASGAS Tech3

The predominantly white design of Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez’s Red Bull GasGas Type3 bikes will pay tribute the liveries of the first GasGas trial bikes which succeeded the popular Bultaco and SWM brands in the mid-1980s.

In a sea of red and black, the Tech3 duo should stand out across the weekend and the all-white livery appears very similar to the colourway the Red Bull F1 team adopted at the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix.

 

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM will revisit its roots this weekend at Silverstone, as it dons a livery based on the KTM LC4 — a bike, designed by Wolfgang Felber, responsible for kicking off the Austrian brand’s road racing program and was ridden to victory by Felber himself at the German ‘Sound of Singles’ championship in 1989.

Its white and blue livery is also based upon KTM’s corporate logo of the time.

 

Repsol Honda Team

Freddie Spencer’s 1983 500cc world championship — in which he earned legendary status by defeating ‘King’ Kenny Roberts Sr by only two points — takes centre stage in Honda’s one-off livery this weekend. The famed red, white and blue livery which covered his NS500 is one of the most eye-catching designs ever ridden to overall victory in the world championship, and is one race fans will certainly be glad to see return.

 

Trackhouse Racing

American motorcycle legends Kevin Schwantz, Kenny Roberts, Wayne Rainey and Freddie Spencer all feature on Trackhouse Racing’s one-off livery for the British MotoGP.

In the team’s first season in motorcycle racing’s top flight, the American outfit has had little to shout about but this weekend will at least give both riders a chance to pay homage to the men who helped shape MotoGP into what it is today.