Why Is Aston Martin Green?

Early international races assigned each country a color so spectators could tell the national teams apart. Britain's 1902 entry could not use red, white or blue because other nations had already taken them in 1900. For the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup, motor racing on public roads was illegal in Great Britain, so the race was held in Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom. As a mark of respect for their Irish hosts, the English Napier cars were painted shamrock green. Napier's Selwyn Edge won, and green became the British racing color for decades (see the British racing green article).

Green stopped being compulsory in Formula One once sponsors' colors were allowed. Team Lotus, which had been running green, was the first works team to appear in sponsor livery in 1968, and the sport formally exempted itself from the national color rule in 1970.

Aston Martin's racing green is tied to its sports racing cars of the 1950s. The DBR1 was built between 1956 and 1959, and only five were made. One of them won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans with Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori driving, which remains the company's only outright victory at the race. The cars raced in British racing green, the national color of the period.

That is why the company still reaches for the shade whenever it celebrates that era. The 2019 DBS 59 special edition, a run of 24 cars named for the Le Mans year, was finished in Aston Martin Racing Green after the maker studied the DBR1's own paint.