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The Story of Supercar Driver - 15 Years in the Fast Lane
Not many people know the full story of Supercar Driver, where it started, why it started, and how it’s evolved over the last fifteen years.
October 22, 2025
When buying a supercar, colour can totally transform its image. I've driven silver and black GT3s with massive wings that don't get a second glance, and yet our Python Green 718 Spyder seems to stop people in its tracks.
As much as the desire to blend in or stand out, colour has become a big expression of personality with the rise of PTS, MSO, Ad Personam and Tailor Made, but before that, certain colours were almost synonymous with their brands, and those colours are what we're shopping for today.
Rosso Corsa is Ferrari, but believe it or not, it actually predates Ferrari, when it was used on racing cars from Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Lancia as early as the 1920s. A century later, the colour is still the most popular choice for Ferraris, and a look on AutoTrader shows that more than a third of cars currently for sale are painted in some shade of red, most commonly Corsa.
2011 | 7,000 Miles | £154,950
As with Ferraris as a whole, red is the most popular hue for the 458, and with the car becoming ever more appreciated for being the last naturally-aspirated mid-engined model, colour is an important decision with many favouring the iconic Rosso Corsa when considering future values.
Not quite as synonymous with Porsche as Rosso Corsa is with Ferrari, Guards Red has been used by the brand since 1974, when the 911 RSR race cars were painted in it, followed by the 930 Turbo road car a year later. 50 years on, Guards Red is still a staple of the standard colour palette.
2018 | 9,800 Miles | £297,995
The 991 GT2 RS really embraced Guards Red by carrying the theme on throughout the interior, with the seat inserts, belts, steering wheel and even headlining trimmed in bright red Alcantara, in case the bold exterior wasn't quite enough. Since there has been no successor just yet, the GT2 RS is still your choice if you're after a modern widowmaker 911.
Yellow has been liberally used on Lamborghinis to further enhance their flamboyance since the Miura, although that car was painted Giallo Fly. Giallo Orion has been hugely popular in more recent years though, first used on the Diablo SV and reborn as New Giallo Orion on the Aventador SV.
2003 | 15,250 Miles | £399,995
Giallo Orion was the launch colour for the Murcielago and has become almost synonymous with that car. So many of them were painted in the shade, and both examples currently on sale at DK Engineering share their colour. I've chosen this Coupe because it's a highly sought-after manual.
Papaya Orange was introduced on the late '60s Can-Am cars with the hope that it would stand out from the crowd even on black and white televisions. As soon as McLaren was reborn with the 12C, the colour was reborn and continues to be used heavily to this date, being heavily definitive of the McLaren Brand thanks to its use on the logo and the F1 car.
2025 | 2,466 Miles | £195,990
Ok, this is Papaya Spark, an MSO three-layer pearl version of Papaya Orange, so maybe not quite the same, but perhaps even better when you see it in the sunlight. The Artura might not seem like quite the sales success of the 570S just yet, but those who have them love them, and it has been named Britain's Best Driver's Car by Autocar and Performance Car of the Year 2025 by Auto Express.
For such an iconic colour, it's difficult to find much about the history of Blu Tour de France, other than it being named after the famous motor race Ferrari won nine times between 1956 and 1964. I've found sporadic examples of its use on cars as far back as the '60s, but it became particularly popular with the F355 in the '90s, and today is used fairly liberally on Ferrari's grand tourers.
2021 | 8,210 Miles | £329,995
The 812 wears Blu Tour de France exceptionally well, especially with this Atelier spec sporting a white stripe (or Dreamline in Bianco King in Ferrari speak), and the interior is a contrasting combination of white and dark blue. The Tour de France theme is capped off nicely with the wheels, which were first used on the F12 TDF.
This is far from a liberally used colour, but Rubystar, or Rubystone as it was originally known, became a distinctively Porsche shade when it was used on the 964 Carrera RS in the '90s. After being used on a few 993 RS, it went quiet until the rise of PTS, and recently it became popular enough for Porsche to offer it as a factory option on the 718 and 992 models.
2024 | 536 Miles | £144,991
It takes a bold person and a bold car to pull of Rubystar, and the GT4 RS suits it perfectly for me. It's a real little terrier of a car that will blast your ear drums to smithereens, so why not paint it pink?
Much like Giallo, Verde has been around since the Miura days. That eye-popping colour was Verde Scandal, which is still available today, but sadly I couldn't find any examples on the market, so the hugely popular and very similar Verde Mantis (Mantis Green) has stepped in.
2015 | 33,500 Miles | £124,990
The Huracan massively popularised Mantis Green and it just works, doesn't it? A colour that shouts even louder than the V10 at full chat, in typical Lamborghini fashion. £125k seems like good value for a car that looks and goes like this too.
Is silver a colour? Either way, it has been the definitive Aston Martin paint since the iconic DB5 of Goldfinger put the brand well and truly on the map. That colour was Silver Birch, but today, a colour named after a Bond film, Skyfall Silver carries on the legacy in a very classy manner.
2021 | 15,736 Miles | £79,995
The Vantage manages to add some aggression to the usually classy Skyfall Silver, and it drives in an aggressive manner too thanks to its snarling V8 and short wheelbase. These are looking like quite a buy at under £80k too!
