MA bans historic tobacco sponsorship liveries

The issue of historic tobacco sponsorship livery unexpectedly came to a head at the recent Muscle Car Masters meeting at Sydney Motorsport Park when the event’s telecaster, Fox Sports, elected at the last minute not to broadcast Touring Car Masters races because some cars were running colour schemes inspired by period tobacco sponsorship liveries.

On previous occasions television broadcasters have chosen to blur signage of historic tobacco liveries in high profile instances such as pre-Bathurst 1000 parade laps of old Bathurst race cars. However, up till now the historic racing fraternity has been unaffected by any broadcast censorship.

Since the banning of tobacco sponsorship of sport, genuine historic period-correct pre-1992 tobacco liveries and some tribute liveries have been acceptable under CAMS/Motorsport Australia (MA) regulations. (The tobacco ban was enacted by the federal government in 1992 but pre-existing tobacco sponsorship contracts were allowed to continue up to the end of 1995.)

However, in the wake of the fiasco at Sydney Motorsport Park, MA has updated its rules on markings on competing cars to reflect the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Act 2023. Previously MA’s rules were based on the 1992 Act.

The new ruling in the MA Manual of Motorsport recognises the 2023 Public Health Act 2023, nothing that it prohibits the ‘display, publication, or promotion of any regulated tobacco product, including on historic racing cars’. It states:

“Any Automobile livery that promotes or is likely to promote a regulated tobacco product must be removed or covered.

“Where there is any dispute as to the eligibility of an Automobile for tobacco advertising signage, the onus of evidence to show that the livery does not promote and is not likely to promote a regulated tobacco product is the responsibility of the Competitor.”

What constitutes ‘promoting a regulated tobacco product’ in a current-day retail environment in which the actual brand logos themselves have been banned and the tobacco products, presented in generic packaging, are by law hidden from public view at the point of sale, might be a moot point.

After all, if the logos/liveries from the 1970s-’90s no longer exist as marketing tools, can they really be used in a meaningful way to sell the product? Proving it one way or the other, however, would likely be a protracted legal exercise.

One solution proposed by BMW M3 Heritage Touring Car driver David Towe is to present a petition to have historic race cars exempted from the advertising laws in place under the 2023 Act. The petition can be accessed here. 

Towe was one of several Historic Group A and C entrants at SMP that were forced to cover their tobacco sponsorship liveries. He railed against the enforcement of the rule on social media:

“Motorsport Australia are now enforcing the ruling again and they’re taking it a step further. We’re not to be seen in public, not only on the track, but not in public with any cigarette sponsorship on our cars.

“…Does that then extend to my jumper? It’s got the JPS logo on it, all the guys in my team wear these things. Do I now have to start [covering] this as well? This looks kind of ridiculous.

“How far is this going to go? We’re censoring history with these cars. This is how they ran. CAMS historic rules were that cars had to run now as they did back in the day in the livery but complying with the mechanical regulations of the day.

“Now I can’t run it as it did. So we’re censoring history.”