Ferrari's true colours: I see red, I see red, I see white

Ferrari - fastest in red. Photo / Suppled

The colour red has been used to identify Italian cars and drivers since the earliest days of motor racing.

After sponsor-inspired liveries were introduced to Formula 1 in the 1960s, Ferrari remained the only constructor to stick with tradition and continue to clothe its single-seaters exclusively in the classic red.

Consequently, its production cars and sports cars were identified with that colour for quite some time thereafter. In fact, there was a saying around Modena that went "cinc sghei pusse ma russ" (a few liras more so long as it's red).

For a long while, red was seen as an almost obligatory colour choice for Ferrari owners. In fact, during the early 1990s, 85 per cent of all Ferraris built sported red liveries. That dynamic has now changed radically and clients can choose from a vast range of colours and types.

This is one of the personalisation areas that has developed rapidly in the past few years.

Of late, there has been something of a surge in the popularity of two-tone liveries - one for the roof and the other for the bodywork.

Two-tone liveries were fashionable in the past too, the most notable example being the 1957 250 GT with its white body and a green roof.

The personalisation programme provides another option: the possibility of providing a colour sample from which their car's paintwork will be copied.

There are also the "Challenge" liveries, mimicking the paintwork stripes sported by covered-wheel racing cars. First launched as a signature look for the 430 Scuderia, the Challenge liveries were an instant hit for all the mid-rear-engined sports cars, and now encompass everything from the stripes inspired by classic racing cars used to help identify the various drivers competing, to the Italian tricolour.

But traditional red continues to predominate, accounting for about 45 per cent of all cars built over the last few years. That aside, however, the colour choices being made by owners have diversified radically in that same period.

Special order finishes, for instance, went from just 1 per cent of output in the early 2000s, to over 10 per cent in 2010. The message being, of course, that it doesn't have to be red to be a Ferrari anymore.