Racing lines and classic graphics in the paddock at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Strolling around the Cathedral Paddock at the Goodwood Festival of Speed allows mere mortals to get up-close and personal with incredible historic racing cars at rest – or just getting fired up to take on the famous event’s hill climb route. The following photographs are testament to that proximity, zooming in to celebrate the often-overlooked graphic splendour atop these amazing feats of engineering.

There’s a practical as well as aesthetic beauty to these liveries too, a point brought into sharp focus on a visit to the 2026 Le Mans 24-hour race. At the speeds being driven, especially at night, keeping track of the various entrants’ positions wasn’t easy. But the good ones – visually speaking and otherwise – stood out for their clean number font and/or sponsor’s carefully considered logo placement in relation to the racer’s wider colour way and bodywork.

Speaking later to a head of car design at a brand with significant current racing activity, he gently talked about the difficult balance inherent in accommodating the various demands of multiple sponsor logos on modern motorsport vehicles with the desire to create a racing car as iconic as some of those published here.

In honour of that pursuit, here are some of our favourite motorsport liveries from the early 1960s to late 1990s, as snapped at this year’s Goodwood event, as curated by Wallpaper*

1960 Scarab-Offenhauser F1

This all-American F1 car didn’t do very well in racing but should win a prize for the clarity of its 99 number font and front-forward placement in an era when sponsor’s logos were far fewer, as they had to be racing-related, and so weren’t plastered all over the body.

1963 Watson-Offenhauser

The devil is in the detail of the beautiful rear end of this front-engined Watson Roadster which took victory at the 1963 Indy 500. Note the gold wheels matching the vehicle’s number 98 and the classy red Pegasus logo of Mobil Oil, subtly denoting the team’s choice of lubricant.

1965 Ford GT MkII

It might have ‘only’ come third in Ford’s famous Le Mans 1-2-3 clean sweep in 1966 – a collective victory further immortalised decades later in the 2019 Hollywood film Ford v Ferrari – but for our money, this gold and pink GT is the best-dressed.

1975 Shadow Cosworth DN5

Great team name (Shadow), world renowned engine (Cosworth), but iffy end results: a fourth place at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix was this car’s best finish. At least the team was lucky to have Lucky Strike cigarettes as a sponsor, whose iconic roundel logo was designed by the great Raymond Loewy, the man also behind the automotive logo for Studebaker and one of its most original (but commercially unsuccessful) designs, the 1963 Avanti.

1976 Chevrolet Camaro IROC

Beefy, brutal and cool – and with the orange and blue ‘76’ US petrol station chain logo cleanly adorning its front right – this Chevrolet Camaro was also a bona fide winner, its driver AJ Foyt taking the 1976 International Race of Champions (IROC) title entered by leading lights from NASCAR, IndyCar and more.

1976 Lancia Stratos

That the Lancia Stratos – originally launched in 1971 – is one of the sharpest-looking rally cars of all time, is no surprise when you know it was designed specifically for that purpose and by one of the greatest car designers of the 20th century, Marcello Gandini, then working for Bertone.

As he told this journalist about its origins: ‘I just wanted to make a car that attracted people regardless of whether it won races. There is a risk that a racing car might not win so what’s the point of it? But if it’s aesthetically appealing and doesn’t win, then it’s still a very appealing car.’

Luckily for Gandini, the Stratos was also a brilliant racer, winning three back-to-back manufacturer World Rally Championships in the mid-70s and looking fly as it flew too, courtesy of the carefully considered Italian airline Alitalia sponsor’s green, red and white paint job on this 1976 version.

1977 Porsche 934/5

Driven in the US by the wonderfully named Desperado Racing team, this Porsche got its unusual split number name on account of it being a 934 upgraded to a 935 via wider wheel arches – to fit larger wheels – and a bigger rear wing. Just ten were made and now change hands for big (up to seven-figure) money.

1983 Lancia Rally 037 Evo II

It’s hard to top Martini Racing’s navy, light blue and red stripes for motorsport livery clarity, even within a time when booze and cigarette sponsors created some of the most iconic ones. The Turin-born vermouth maker famously sponsored Porsche in the 70s and Lancia in the 80s, including this detail from a 1983 Lancia Rally 037 Evo II.

1997 Panoz Esperante GTR-1

Dan Panoz and his team raced this 6.0-litre V8 car in Europe and the US in 1997. Unusual at the time for its front-engine layout behind the front axle, the three bonnet nostrils are thus highly relevant while also interestingly animalistic.

The 2027 Goodwood Festival of Speed takes place from 15 - 18 July 2027 Goodwood.com, @FoSGoodwood