Listen, I'm not a smoker. I've never been a smoker. I also don't drink oil by the quart for breakfast, just for the record. But at the same time, for a longtime fan of motorsports, such as myself, it's awfully difficult to deny that from a design standpoint, some of the most phenomenal, eye-catching racing liveries on both motorcycles and cars have been borne from both oil and tobacco sponsorships.
And when I'm among other motorsports nerds, it's a subject that frequently comes up in conversation.
That said, do I miss the days when you could just smoke wherever and make everyone else breathe it in? Absolutely not (and I've had family that smoked, so believe me, I have experience). But it's hard to imagine the Schumacher Ferrari years without the Marlboro mountain, you know what I'm saying? An iconic mental image from a different time.
Likewise, there's no denying the instant appeal and pull of the Petronas FP1, simply based on its livery. It's the kind of design where I think that even if I didn't speak or understand English, I'd still recognize its power. Isn't that what good design is all about; something that breaks boundaries imposed by geography and language and simply gnaws its way into your soul?
When Gulf Oil and the Trackhouse Aprilia MotoGP team first announced their partnership at the end of 2024, anyone with two brain cells to rub together and a decent grounding in motorsport (or heck, even cinema) history knew what to expect. But still, I'd argue, it's one thing to know it in your brain, and completely another to actually see it come together in front of your eyes.
Friends, MotoGP fans, countrymen, lend this bike your eyeballs:
Gallery: Gulf Oil Trackhouse Aprilia MotoGP Livery
The 2025 Trackhouse Aprilia MotoGP team will be lining up for the first race of the season this weekend at Buriram in Thailand. Both Raúl Fernández and Ai Ogura are rolling this outstanding, history-laden livery, and they're rocking it on both their bikes and their leathers, as is customary.
Again, just look at it. LOOK AT IT. Sorry not sorry that I shout when I get excited. You would, too.
While it seems like the most natural thing in the world to see this livery in yet another motorsports application, it's actually not that common to see it on a motorcycle. Normally, you see it on cars, like the Ford GT40.
Or of course, Steve McQueen's iconic (sorry to overuse that word, but it absolutely applies here) Porsche 917 from the 1971 film Le Mans.
It's simply mesmerizing to see in static shots, but even moreso while it's moving. So if you don't have any plans this weekend, and you weren't already planning to tune in to the MotoGP Thailand 2025 round, you might want to. Sure, the racing will almost certainly be worth your time (even though we're sadly down one Jorge Martín, and most likely indefinitely). But really, how often do you get to see this livery out in anger in a top-level racing series anywhere in the world?
It's special every time, and I stand by that. I also can't wait to see how Ai Ogura does in his first actual MotoGP race, especially given how hard he owned Moto2 in 2024. Fingers crossed!
