Sir, The decision of the Sky cycling team to paint only 25 per cent of a bike’s frame is not the first time this weight-saving measure has been used in sport (“Chains of thought: how Sky plan to be the world’s best” , Sport, Jan 18).
In motor racing one of the main regulations for the 1934 Grand Prix season was a maximum weight for the car of 750kg. The Mercedes team were struggling to keep under the weight limit and decided to remove the white paint, stripping the cars down to the bare alloy. Hence were born the “Silver Arrows” and German racing cars were usually silver thereafter, replacing the national colour of white.
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National colours largely disappeared when sponsorship came in during the 1960s but it is noticeable that silver is still the most popular colour for the prestige German makes (Mercedes, Audi, BMW), Italian racing red is the predominant colour of most Ferraris and Alfa Romeos on the road, and many people still prefer their Bentleys, Jaguars and Aston Martins in green.
Gareth Tarr
Chertsey, Surrey