Porsche 963 Hypercar Livery Shows Pride For Past Racing Achievements

The Porsche Penske Motorsport works team has unveiled a new livery for its Porsche 963 hypercars ahead of the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend, and it's a brilliant piece of design. Looking at the colors, one might assume that the livery shows support for those of all sexual orientations during Pride Month, but it has actually come together as a means of paying tribute to "historically significant racing colors."

In the year of Porsche's 75th anniversary and 100 years on from the first running of the historic endurance race in France, it's the perfect time to look back at some racing icons. Why? Because Porsche has achieved 19 overall victories and 110 class wins, making it the most successful manufacturer at the event.

The livery features seven distinctive stripes in yellow, red, dark blue, light blue, green, pink, and orange.

Orange represents the iconic Gulf colors seen on the Porsche 917, and the first time those colors were seen on that car was a bit of a mixed bag. There were high hopes for the British team of John Wyer Automotive Engineering after it had won the race the previous year. In 1970, the team switched to Porsche's prototypes and signed Gulf Oil as a sponsor. Unfortunately for the pilots, none of the three vehicles entered by the team finished the race, but the design was still on everyone's lips for all the right reasons. Steve McQueen was present that year, shooting his iconic film Le Mans, and in it, he was piloting a blue and orange prototype. Before the film hit the silver screen in October 1971, a Gulf-liveried Porsche 917 KH took second overall, which made its action in the film all the more potent.

The colors were seen on a Porsche again almost half a century later when they found a home on a 911 RSR in the World Endurance Championship and several 911 GT3 R entrants at the 24 Hours of Spa.

The Pink Pig is one of those Porsches with an unusual nickname, but the unusual name and color are what make it so special since it didn't do well at debut. More on that in a moment. While we don't know why he chose to do so, Porsche designer Anatole Lapine sketched butchers' cuts of pork on a pink basecoat and even labeled each section accordingly: snout, ham, pork knuckle, and brain. As a result, the car was given several nicknames, including the "truffle sniffer from Zuffenhausen," but "Sau" (sow) became the most common name in German-speaking countries while those that spoke English dubbed it "Pink Pig." Sadly, its livery was more memorable than its race pace.

In 1971, the Porsche 917/20 retired shortly before the end of the race, but when Porsche revived the color scheme for a 911 RSR at Le Mans in 2018, it won the GTE class.

More recently, the Pink Pig inspired a Pikes Peak racer that Ken Block and Hoonigan created based on a Porsche 911.

April 1969 saw Porsche hire a new chief designer named Anatole Lapine, who you've just read about. But his first work wasn't on the Pink Pig. A year after he was signed, his first piece of art in motorsport was revealed as a livery on a long-tail Porsche 917 driven by Gerard Larrousse and Willi Kauhsen. Using 1,500 spray cans, the designer painted a psychedelic green and purple livery on the car.

Porsche says that this wild design "caused some consternation in parts of the executive floor," but it proved to be an inspired design that helped set the car apart. Racing team owner Hans-Dieter Dechent and representatives of his sponsor Martini & Rossi thought it was wonderful.

Thankfully, the car also achieved on the track in the same year that Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood bagged Porsche's first overall Le Mans victory in 1970, coming home in second place.

1970 was the first year that Hans-Dieter Dechent sent his team out to Le Mans with Martini, which we just learned earned the car a podium position, but victory would come just a year later in a Porsche 917 KH draped in Martini Racing livery. Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep also set a distance record of 5,335 kilometers (roughly 3,315 miles), an almost incomprehensible record that would stand for 39 years.

Of course, the timeless light blue, red, and dark blue stripes continued to feature in motorsport for many years. For Porsche, 1976 stands out as the year that Jacky Ickx and Gijs van Lennep took overall victory in a Porsche 936. The following year, Jurgen Barth, Hurley Haywood, and Jacky Ickx won in another Martini car, this time a Porsche 936/77.

Say what you will about the health risks inherent to smoking, but there's no doubt that Big Tobacco has come up with some of the best-looking liveries in motorsport. John Player Special, Marlboro, Gauloises, and Rothmans have all had a hand in motorsport, the latter's colors adorning a team of three Porsche 956 racers that took all the podium spots at Le Mans in 1982. Remarkably, the closest runner seemed to have developed asthma, crossing the line a full 30 laps behind.

The following year, it wasn't a clean sweep, but a one-two was still pretty good. This was a golden era for Porsche at Le Mans, and it still fondly reflects on the time and marketing standards, as its 911 Dakar off-road sports car is available with a Rothmans-mimicking vinyl wrap. Martini colors are also available, by the way.

Rothmans colors were also seen in 1986 and 1987 on a Porsche 962C and in 2018 on a 911 RSR. The RSR set a new GTE-class qualifying record that year and finished second in its class behind a similar car with the Pink Pig livery.

In 1969, Porsche came agonizingly close to winning Le Mans overall for the first time. In 1970, it was determined to make up for its failings the previous year and had three cars entered under John Wyer's new works team, plus a few others entered under Porsche Salzburg, which flew Austria's national colors of red and white. The race itself was total carnage due to torrential rain, and only seven of 57 entries were classified come the end of the 24 hours.

When the flag was waved, Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood had built up a commanding lead of five laps in the No. 23 Porsche 917 KH. With the honor of Porsche's first overall victory under its belt, the red-and-white-liveried 917 holds a special place in Porsche history. No wonder the 963 hypercar was revealed with these colors.

The final element of the new 963 livery is a yellow stripe with a red border, which was inspired by past Porsche and Penske collaborations. This partnership achieved two titles in the CanAm series in the 1970s and did even better in the American Le Mans Series with the Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 prototype. At the time, DHL was the main sponsor, hence the mustard-and-ketchup color scheme.

This prototype took 24 victories and all available titles between 2006 and 2008, with a high point being overall victory at the Sebring 12 Hours in 2008, where the team managed to beat some of the more powerful LMP1 vehicles.

At Le Mans, the car also won its class twice in 2008 and 2009, but it did so without Penske's support. Hopefully, the partnership still has mutual success to enjoy.

The 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place 10-11 June.