With MotoGP celebrating their 75th anniversary in 2024 the paddock went all retro to celebrate this milestone at the Silverstone round with all the teams showcasing some stunning liveries for the occasion.

The Repsol Honda Team had quite a dramatic transformation from their usual colour scheme as the RC213Vs lined up on the grid with a tribute to the 1983 Honda NS500 of Freddie Spencer.  It wasn’t just the bike getting in on the action as Joan Mir also unveiled a replica Randy Mamola helmet that he wore for Sunday’s race.

In the LCR Team garage Johann Zarco’s Castrol colours evoked memories of Mike Hailwood's 1966 250cc World Championship-winning design, while his team mate Takaaki Nakagami's had nods to Japanese heritage and the team's sponsor, Idemitsu.  A brilliant surprise sight was Zarco’s LCR team arriving on the grid complete in vintage white and green Castrol overalls really adding to the old-school atmosphere of the weekend.

One-off liveries are nothing new, take yourself back to 2001 and Valentino Rossi ditched the yellow on his Honda NSR500 at Mugello in favour of a bold Hawaiian inspired design which brought him luck for pole position and a firm favourite of Rossi fans the world over.

2003 was a turnaround in fortunes for Rossi’s choice of special livery in what turned out to be the last race and victory for the Italian riding a Honda in the premier class. The striking 'Austin Powers' theme on his RC211V came about from a competition between main sponsor Repsol and a Spanish motorcycle magazine to design a paint scheme for the race, in what is now an iconic livery. Yeah, baby!

The Honda RC212Vs of Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa in 2008 were in an all-white colour scheme commemorating Repsol’s 40th year of competition and replicating their retro rally colours from the 70s and 80s. It proved successful for Pedrosa as he took a second place on the podium at the season-ending Valencia race.

The 2011 Aragon round saw Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa with a standout orange livery by local designer David Delfi at a race where they took a one-two finish, which was also the 100th victory for Repsol Honda in the premier-class.

It’s not always about two wheels though and one of the most memorable F1 liveries of recent times was at the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix where the Honda RA272 car, in which US racer Richie Ginther secured Honda’s first Formula 1 win at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix, was the inspiration for the RB16B of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.  This now iconic Japanese livery has become a firm fan favourite and was even pictured with the famous Shinkansen bullet train.