Starting numbers in historic racing
10/09/2012
In the early days of motor racing, it was simple. When it was realized that starting numbers were needed to differentiate the cars, the drivers or car owners had them painted on the vehicles.
Nobody thought about sponsors and uniformity back then. Major manufacturers set themselves somewhat higher aesthetic goals and applied start numbers that matched the overall design.
In historic racing, the world is divided into two parts. In America and England, the drivers are still responsible for affixing the start numbers and can decide for themselves (within the framework of the rules) how their start numbers should look.
In Central Europe, however, it has become customary for the race numbers to be provided by the organizer.
This has the advantage for the vehicle owners that they do not have to worry about it, while the organizer can make the sponsors happy by printing their logos on the start numbers and can also give the event a certain uniformity with the start number. However, not all organizers always have a happy hand in the design of the start numbers and some vehicles would look better with the original - hand-painted - start number from the time than with modern stickers. But this is probably a matter of taste.
