The past weekend (26/27 July 2025) was a bit of an epic weekend for British sport with the England Women’s football team retaining the European title and McLaren dominating the Belgian Grand Prix with a 1-2 placing.
While the Euro 25 victory is rightly getting most of the press today, as a Formula 1 fan, it is the victory at Spa-Francorchamps that gets my attention and as a retailer of tobacco-free nicotine pouches, we have an F1 connection with the 77 Valteri Bottas flavours and the VELO McLaren Sweet Papaya nicotine pouches. However, with Bottas (currently) not having a drive in F1 and McLaren’s ascendency over the last 18 months, it is the Woking based manufacturer that we are going to focus on.
The Birth of Papaya Orange
For any fan of motorsport, the sight of a McLaren racing car instantly conjures images of speed, innovation, and a distinctive, vibrant hue: Papaya Orange. This unmistakable colour has become synonymous with the Woking-based outfit, adorning their Formula 1 cars, road cars, and team apparel for decades. But the story behind this iconic livery is one rooted in innovation, practicality, and the personal touch of a visionary founder.
The origins of McLaren's Papaya Orange can be traced back to the late 1960s, a period of immense experimentation and rapid development in motorsport. Before the advent of ubiquitous sponsorships, teams often chose their colours based on national racing colours or, more simply, what stood out on track. For Bruce McLaren, the ambitious New Zealander who founded the team, visibility was key.
Mean to be seen
Bruce McLaren was a pragmatist. He understood that in the high-speed, often chaotic world of racing, it was crucial for his cars to be easily identifiable, not just to spectators but also to his pit crew and fellow drivers. Traditional racing colours like British Racing Green or Italian Rosso Corsa, while classic, were used by the other racing teams.
It was in 1967, with the advent of the revolutionary Can-Am (Canadian-American Challenge Cup) series, that the Papaya Orange truly bloomed. The Can-Am series was a wild, unrestricted playground for powerful sports cars, and McLaren quickly became the dominant force, earning the moniker "Bruce and the Orange Outlaws." The decision to paint the cars in this vivid shade was a deliberate one. Bruce McLaren himself is often credited with choosing the colour, recognizing its striking contrast against the tarmac and the often green backdrops of race tracks.
The exact shade was reportedly chosen from a colour chart, with some accounts suggesting it was even inspired by the colour of a common fruit – the papaya – hence the enduring nickname. Its luminescence ensured that the McLaren cars were instantly recognizable, even from a distance, giving the team a distinct visual identity that further amplified their on-track success.
The Papaya Orange wasn't just about aesthetics; it was a practical choice that served a crucial purpose in the high-stakes environment of racing. As Bruce McLaren famously said, "Visibility, that's what we want."
While the iconic orange was a staple in Can-Am, its transition to Formula 1 was more intermittent in the early years. McLaren's F1 cars often sported different liveries due to sponsorship deals, including the famous Marlboro red and white that dominated the 1970s and 80s. However, the spirit of the Papaya Orange never truly faded and the shade has been joined by some other fantastic orange hues.
50 Shades of Papaya
The Papaya Orange seen on the number 5 car has evolved into a series of amazing McLaren Oranges
In more recent times, particularly with the push for a renewed identity and a connection to its heritage, McLaren has wholeheartedly embraced the Papaya Orange once again. From the 2017 Formula 1 season onwards, the team's F1 cars have prominently featured the vibrant hue, much to the delight of long-time fans. It represents a tangible link to the team's pioneering spirit, its founder's vision, and an era of unbridled innovation and success.
Today, Papaya Orange is more than just a colour; it's a symbol of McLaren's enduring legacy, a tribute to its origins, and so we give you our list of the 10 Best Looking Amazing Orange McLarens.
The List!
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M8 - The M8, in all it’s incarnations, is a phenomenal racer with an incredible sounding V8 engine that sounds like thunder trying to tear the sky in half. It is the origin of that wonderful Papaya Orange and it took the Can-Am series by storm in 1969, winning for 4 years until Porsche showed up with the equally beautiful 917.
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720s - One of McLaren’s most recent supercars (although now superseded by the 750s), it’s also V8 powered and is incredibly able as one of the most agile and comfortable supercars you can buy. The 2 we show here are particularly unusual though, with one being a full-sized Lego model. Although there is a simple metal platform and a frame for the real 720s wheels, the rest is made entirely of Lego, many of which are Papaya hued. There are over 280,000 bricks in the car, which took 2000+hours to build and it weighs just 30 kg more than the real thing at 1451kg.
As far as the real car, its speed and agility means that it was used by the Goodwood Members Meeting as a safety car, leading out some of the fastest racing cars ever built.
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F1 - The McLaren F1 is still the fastest naturally aspirated car in the world, more than 30 years after it set the record and there were some versions of the car, like the extremely limited LM edition that only came in Papaya Orange. Although in the 90s, McLaren had to end production early due to lack of interest, it is widely thought of as the greatest car of all time and regularly auctions for around the £20 million mark.
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Solus - Not road legal, but incredible looking with a cockpit that slides forward to let the pilot into his Judd V10 powered monster. Weighing less than 1000kg and with more than 1200kg of downforce means that it could theoretically drive on the ceiling, or in a more practical way, hurl you up the Goodwood Hillclimb in just 45.34 seconds (enough to win the Hillclimb in 2023). Although this one isn’t strictly speaking in Papaya Orange, it still is very orange and I think you’ll agree, looks pretty good.
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PI/P1 GTR - The P1 and it’s track only GTR version both look pretty good in Papaya Orange, and show why they earned their place in the hypercar “holy trinity”.
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Senna/Senna GTR - Named after the incredible Ayrton Senna, the Senna is a wild looking vehicle, for something that is road legal. Of course, McLaren, with their track heritage had to make a track only version of that, but they both look suitably special with their orange livery.
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650s GT3 - This GT3 racer is another McLaren which can’t be driven on the roads but the body kit that they gave it makes it look amazing. The Papaya Orange works particularly well on that Liberty Walk-esque widebody, with a front spoiler millimetres above the ground.
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675LT - Although the LT (for Long Tail) designation always seemed a little odd being that the 650S based 675 was just 33mm longer, because of its bigger wing and front spoiler, this was a very special car that has retained its value much better than many McLarens. Youtuber Freddie Hernandez (Tavarish) has a lovely blue 675LT with gold accents that he has an entire video series on but I’m sure you’ll agree that it also looks quite special in Papaya Orange.
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MP4-12C - Although they’d made the F1 in the early 90s and helped Mercedes with the Mercedes-McLaren SLR in the early 2000s, McLaren started their road car business with the MP4-12C, which was stunning debut that matched or beat its Ferrari rival at the time. Even though it is nearly 15 years old now, this example looks amazing in Papaya.
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Formula 1 - Formula 1 is where McLaren really made its name, from the early days when Bruce McLaren was still alive to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s current championship leader, and Papaya has featured for quite a bit of it. Although tobacco sponsorship in the 1980s and early 90s gave McLaren the iconic red and white livery that Prost and Senna took to the very top of the sport for several years, they have brought back the wonderful Papaya Orange and it seems to have worked (along with all the aerodynamic, suspension and powertrain development). In 13 rounds so far McLaren have 10 wins, including the last 3, and have more than double the points of 2nd place Ferrari, leading them by 268 points at the moment.
