1:24 Sparco Martini Racing 6-Point FHR (Red)

Colors the racing world recognizes at once

The stripes of the Italian drinks brand are among the most famous sponsor marks in the history of motorsport. They were carried by Porsches of the early 1970s, later by a whole range of Lancia machines from the Stratos through the 037 to the Delta, with which the company dominated the World Rally Championship. The combination of dark blue, light blue and red on a white base moved from the circuits onto clothing, onto drivers' equipment and finally onto safety belts as well.

Sparco is a Turin maker of racing equipment whose seats, overalls and belts you will find from club events up to top-level championships. The set in this treatment is a six-point one and carries a fitting for use with a head restraint, an arrangement that is the standard in closed circuit cars today.

Why it works on a model

A multicolor striped strap is exactly what cannot be painted with a brush at this scale. The printed sheet carries the whole artwork at once and its relief surface adds thickness to the webbing, so the belt on the seat does not look like a sticker. The cockpits of modern racing kits tend to be glazed and generously lit, so a viewer sees into them and notices missing belts straight away.

It is also worth mentioning how long this treatment lasted in motorsport. It appeared on sports prototypes at the start of the 1970s, accompanied competition machines throughout the Group B era and returned to World Rally Championship cars again in the new millennium. Few color combinations have stayed in the memory of fans for so long and few are equally recognizable from a single stripe in a photograph.