The Cars of Martini Racing will be featured at the Amelia Island Concours 2018, scheduled for March 9-11 at the Golf Club of Amelia Island at Summer Beach in Florida.
The 23rd annual Concours will honor the legendary racing and rally cars that wear the iconic red and double-blue stripes and the famed “bar-and-ball” of the Martini International Racing Team. The cars that have worn Martini’s internationally famous colors are an all-star squad of some of the greatest cars in motorsport history.
The centerpiece at the 2018 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance field will be the 1971 Le Mans-winning Porsche 917 that set speed records that took four decades to beat. That was followed by a second and third Martini Racing Le Mans 24 Hour victory in 1976 and 1977 with Porsche’s turbocharged 936 spiders.
In Formula 1, Martini Racing earned victories in the 1975 Brazilian and German Grands Prix. There were seven Martini World Rally Championships with Lancia from 1983 through 1989 plus three World Endurance Racing Championships with Porsche in 1976, 1977 and 1981. Then an amazing and unprecedented double World Sports Car Championship in 1976 with a total of 20 World Sports Car and Endurance Championship race victories from 1975 through 1989.
“Martini not only makes vermouth they create motorsport history. They have an extraordinary record of victories and championships with legendary cars,” said Bill Warner, founder and Chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. “The Martini stripes and their iconic insignia are instantly recognizable and have reached the zenith of motorsport success at Le Mans, in Formula 1 and even in the brutal World Rally Championship. No wonder Martini’s ‘bar and ball’ emblem is one of the most famous and recognizable motorsport logos of all time.”
The 23rd annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance is scheduled for March 9-11, 2018. For more information, visit AmeliaConcours.org.
[Source: Amelia Island Concours; photo: Autosports Marketing Assoc.]
