Posted by Frank Mooney, in TEAE Forum March 24, 2005
The March 9, 2005 issue of the Irish Times gave the history of a Sunbeam win in 1914 in a car with a new color, British Racing Green.
It all began in 1903 when the first truly international road race was held in Ireland which at that time was part of Great Britian. The participating team colors were allocated as follows: FRANCE-Blue, GERMANS-White, AMERICANS-Red, BRITISH-Emerald Green.
The last being chozen due to the Irish venue. The Germams won in a Mercedes. The Americans withdrew for a few years and Red was reassigned to the Italians. In 1914, the big race, The Tourist Trophy Race, took place on the Isle of Mann. The British entered two Sunbeams each driven by two Anglo- Irish brothers with the surname Guinness. Emerald Green had not been lucky for the past British entrants. There was controversy about the reguired color mix to arrive at a consistent Emerald Green.. It appeared that anything and everything to do with Ireland and the Irish was at best a mixed bag. A fresh color was needed and Kenelm Guinness’s Sunbeam in the new shade of dark green, later becoming known known as British Racing Green, decisively won the race. I have a 1966 Alpine in the same dark green color but I don’t believe Rootes ever used the BRG designation for the Alpines of the 1960’s. A rose by any other color.