The top 10 Martini-liveried cars

The Martini racing stripes, and the different varieties in which they have appeared, have provided some of the most recognisable sponsorship colours in motorsport history.

Martini has appeared on successful cars in sportscars, touring cars and the World Rally Championship, as well as Formula 1.

With Williams now bringing the famous name back to motorsport, we thought it was a good excuse to pick out, in chronological order, the coolest cars from Martini's history.

PORSCHE 917
Sportscar legend

Martini's successful collaboration with Porsche began in 1968 when the famous stripes appeared on the three-litre 908 sports-racer.

The relationship continued in 1971 with the formidable 917, and highlights were victory at Sebring for Vic Elford and Gerard Larrousse in the silver Martini car and a Le Mans win for Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep in the white version.

The #22 917 set a distance record in the French classic that would not be broken for almost 40 years.

At the end of the year, the Martini squad and the similarly factory-backed Gulf JWA team had helped Porsche secure the manufacturers' championship.

Porsche 917 (Martini) notable successes: Two wins (1971 Sebring 12 Hours and Le Mans 24 Hours).

BRABHAM BT44B
F1 beauty

After an unsuccessful tie-up with Italian Formula 1 minnow Tecno in 1972-73, Martini returned to F1 for an altogether more high-profile and fruitful partnership with Brabham.

The plain-white BT44 of 1974 was upgraded to B-spec at the start of '75 and sported those stripes.

South American heroes Carlos Reutemann and Carlos Pace helped the team to second in the constructors' championship, thanks to nine podium finishes, including a win apiece for the two Carloses.

Surely one of the finest-looking grand prix cars of all time.

Brabham BT44B notable successes: Two wins (1975 Brazilian and German GPs); seven other podiums (Reutemann five, Pace two); one pole; one fastest lap.

PORSCHE 936
Endurance dominator

So called because it used the 930 turbo powerplant and was devised to contest the Group 6 category of international sportscar racing, the 936 arrived in 1976.

The open-cockpit prototype, with a 2.1-litre, flat-six turbo motor won the World Championship for Sports Cars (its Group 5 cousin won the concurrent World Championship for Makes) and Le Mans in its first year.

The 936 continued its winning run in 1977, still in Martini colours, with another Le Mans win, once again anchored by factory ace Jacky Ickx.

Porsche didn't encourage customer teams to run the 936 - although it did offer unofficial support to some, notably Reinhold Joest - so most of its success came in factory-entered, Martini-liveried guise.

Porsche 936 (Martini) notable successes: Two Le Mans wins (1976 and '77); wins in 1976 Monza, Imola, Enna-Pergusa, Dijon and Salzburgring World Championship for Sports Cars.

BRABHAM BT45B
Red rocket lacking luck

The Alfa Romeo-powered BT45 of 1976 didn't produce the goods in the same way that its Cosworth-powered predecessor had done; its best result - second - came in the Argentinian GP of the following season while Bernie Ecclestone's team readied the 45B.

The replacement car appeared for the fourth race of '77 on the streets of Long Beach, still resplendent in the red Martini livery.

John Watson was unlucky not to win several races that year; second place in France for the Irishman was complemented by two third-place finishes for his team-mate Hans Stuck in this sensational-looking car.

Brabham BT45B notable successes: Three podium finishes (Stuck two, Watson one); one pole; one fastest lap.

PORSCHE 911SC
Marathon rally raider

Four years before Martini began one of the longest and most profitable partnerships in motorsport sponsorship - a decade with Lancia in rallying - its colours adorned the Porsche 911SCs used by future world champion Bjorn Waldegaard and his African team-mate Vic Preston for the 1978 Safari Rally.

Local hero Preston finished second, with Swede Waldegaard taking fourth in the 5000km marathon.

Porsche 911SC notable successes: Second place, 1978 Safari Rally (Vic Preston Jr).

PORSCHE 935-78
Prototype eater

Dubbed affectionately as 'Moby Dick' in deference to its aerodynamic whale tail, Porsche's final evolution of the venerable 935 moved the Group 5 goalposts off the pitch.

The 3.2-litre machine was created for the Le Mans 24 Hours but made its first appearance in the World Championship for Makes-qualifying Silverstone 6 Hours in May, with Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass defeating the older 935/77 of Bob Wollek and Henri Pescarolo by seven laps!

Things didn't go as well at Le Mans, however. The car qualified third with drivers Manfred Schurti and Rolf Stommelen, and its 235mph top speed enabled it to steam past the open prototypes on the Mulsanne. But engine problems in the race limited the monster to eighth place, 43 laps off the winning distance.

Porsche 935-78 notable successes: Victory in 1978 Silverstone 6 Hours.

LANCIA LC1 and LC2
Taking on the might of Porsche

Lancia lifted the up-to-two-litre crown in the 1979 and 1980 World Championship for Makes with its Group 5 Beta Monte Carlo, but shifted its programme to the ageing Group 6 formula for 1982, bucking the trend of the all-new Group C machines in order to circumvent fuel-limit rules.

The slippery-shaped, open-top, Dallara-built LC1 prototype took pole on its debut at Monza in 1982 with F1 star Riccardo Patrese, then won three times. It was piloted by a roster of single-seater aces, including Patrese, Michele Alboreto, Teo Fabi and Piercarlo Ghinzani.

When Lancia did commit to Group C - and thereby qualify to score points in the manufacturers' championship - the exquisite LC2 racer (above) was born.

Pole on its debut, at Monza in 1983, came courtesy of Ghinzani, but the car was no match for Porsche's 956.

The first win came in a European Endurance championship round at Imola, although the first world sportscar championship victory didn't arrive until the end of 1984.

There was one further win - in 1985 - before Martini chose to focus its efforts on rallying.

Lancia LC1 and LC2 notable successes:
LC1: Three World Sportscar championship wins (1982 Silverstone, Nurburgring, Mugello)
LC2: One European Endurance win (1983 Imola); two World Sportscar wins (1984 Kyalami, 1985 Spa).

LANCIA 037
Last hurrah for rear-wheel drive

The two-seat Lancia 037 was conceived for the FIA's Group B rallying regulations for cars that only needed limited-number production models to satisfy entry criteria.

The car was a collaboration between styling house Pininfarina, tuning wizard Abarth and chassis guru Dallara. It made its debut in a European championship round in Italy in 1982 before appearing for the first time in the WRC in Corsica that year.

Five wins for Markku Alen and Walter Rohrl gave Lancia the manufacturers' crown the following year and the 037 remains the last two-wheel-drive car to win the title.

Alen won in Corsica the following year, before the 037 was vanquished by the four-wheel-drive cars from Audi and Peugeot in 1985, necessitating a move by Lancia to create a car to take the fight to the Quattro and 205 T16...

Lancia 037 notable successes: Six WRC victories (1983 Monte Carlo, Corsica, Acropolis, New Zealand and Sanremo; 1984 Corsica); winner of 1983 manufacturers' WRC.

LANCIA DELTA S4
Ultimate Group B monster?

Not even the most-passionate Lancia fans, the ones who'd spent almost four years having their knees clipped during the heroics of Markku Alen, Miki Biasion, Walter Rohrl and Henri Toivonen in the two-wheel-drive 037s, could have prepared themselves for the Group B S4 that appeared for the first time in the World Rally Championship on the 1985 RAC Rally.

The turbocharged and supercharged monsters of Toivonen and Alen romped to an easy one-two in the British forests.

Further success in 1986 was overshadowed by Toivonen's death in Corsica, with the sport's most dangerous cars outlawed at the end of that year.

Martini and Lancia continued to dominate the sport with the advent of Group A, taking the manufacturers' crown every year between 1987 and 1992 with the Delta HF Turbo and Integrale models.

Lancia Delta S4 notable successes: Four wins (1985 RAC, 1986 Monte Carlo, Argentina and Olympus).

ALFA ROMEO 155 DTM
Technological tin-top

British Touring Car Championship fans will recall fondly the Alfa 155 making an instant mark on the series in 1994, but a more-muscly, bewinged version of the car had already made a huge impact on the German-based DTM.

Italian Nicola Larini secured the drivers' title in 1993, winning 11 of the 22 races. His team-mate Alessandro Nannini also won twice. The duo repeated its winning ways in '94, racking up nine further victories.

The 1995 season heralded the advent of the concurrent ITC, an attempt to give the DTM a global reach, and with it came Martini sponsorship for the factory Alfa Corse 155s. Larini and Nannini won 10 races across the balance of the '95 DTM/ITC and '96 ITC campaigns in what were arguably the most distinctive tin-top machines of all time.

Alfa Romeo 155 (Martini) notable successes: 10 ITC wins (1995 Helsinki; 1996 Estoril x2, Nurburgring x2, Magny-Cours x2, Mugello, Interlagos x2)