Actually, I always thought it primarily to identify a particular car as an aid to the crew. Some cars during night races used identifying lights on the roof. All before the days of cheap radio communication, of course.

Also, it seems to me that it was used (the blue/white theme) to identify U.S. cars. Cunningham used the blue stripe/white car color scheme.

All sorts of old lore regarding national colors and the quirky ways in which they evolved abound!

Jim <img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

 

I have been told that racing stripes were originally put on long distance race cars (way before the circle track stuff). Their purpose was to form an optical illusion of distance, which decreased driver eye strain. This is why you see it only on the drivers side hood on really old race cars. The stripes were doubled and extended down the rest of the car for aesthetic purposes.

Then again, I may be wrong.

 

There was actually another very functional reason Shelby put those stripes on, almost had to. Think about the size and power of the engine he used in the Cobra. Then think about the little British chassis that he used...

 

ok...so whos going to email this guy and tell him that were making fun of his car on this board so he can come and bitch us all out...

space

 

It's hard to tell with stripes. They're as simple as a Nirvana riff.

My dad's been putting a pair of stripes over the driver's side wheel well for over a decade...then one day Chevy decides to introduce a limited edition model with the same damn stripes. "What're those stripes? Do you have a Vette?" <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

I don't think it's that stripes look bad on a 968...just those...too thin and...like, white...gew...

 

I had always thought they were used to reduce glare from the sun and help reduce the vision distorion from the engine heat. That's why true racing(or rally?) stripes were always dark in color, at least that's what I've been told.

 

I had always thought they were used to reduce glare from the sun and help reduce the vision distorion from the engine heat. That's why true racing(or rally?) stripes were always dark in color, at least that's what I've been told.

 

[quote]Originally posted by jim968:
<strong>I'd love to hear this sad barstid's explaination as to why his '95 is "the most desirable" model year of the 968... essentially identical in all model years, AFAIK, and certainly in MY '94 & '95...</strong><hr></blockquote>

Well, the 94-95 year got the polen filter for the HVAC....

 

I think rookie stripes were diagonal on the trunk.
Who's up on their racing history ?

 

From my old PRO-Rally days in the late 80's and early 90's, I was told that they were used on the driver's side of rally cars to identify the driver's side of the car when it get's balled up into a little ball of sheet metal and he has to be cut out. That way you can tell who was the driver and who was the navigator. Not to be morbid, but that was the running story. Probably just a joke, though...

Tifosiman

 

As you can tell from the info when I post, I too am from Virginia Beach (the location of the 968 for sale) Dont worry, the car is NOT mine, but it really doesnt look all that bad in person. The owner lives in the same neighborhood as I and we have talked a couple times about porsches and he is a nice guy and actually fairly well informed. The car is in really nice shape and he takes good care of it, also the place he has it worked on is by far the best in all of Virginia Beach. I think that racing stripes really dont look good on porsches, but this one doesnt look half bad. I wouldnt do it to my car, but I probably wouldnt pay to have it taken off either. Just my opinion. In the pictures it looks much worse.

 

"they were used on the driver's side of rally cars to identify the driver's side of the car when it get's balled up into a little ball of sheet metal and he has to be cut out."

Ok, ok, here's the scoop on the history of those racing strips. Yes, it was Shelby that used them on his Cobra. And it was for a fully functional reason. His giant Ford motor was about twice as heavy and 4x as powerful as the one originally used in the British AC. That caused a tremendous amount of body-flex in the corners under power. So the strips were added as a way for the driver to gauge the amount of twist in the body. The driver could actually measure the amount of flex, and how close he was to the car's limit, by the deflection of those stripes.

 

Danno--

Thought it was Cunningham who first used the stripes on his racers. No?