If it looks fast, it'll be fast, according to one racing saying - but it doesn't always happen. There have been some undeniably pretty racing cars that haven't been that good so, following a couple of threads on aesthetics that still seem to be going strong, I thought I'd start one for cars that haven't really lived up to their looks.

This was partly inspired by a trip to the Beaulieu Motor Museum the other week, and seeing the McLaren MP4/9. The 1994 Peugeot-powered car actually sets the bar pretty high, since it took multiple podium finishes, including second places in Monaco and (inherited) in Belgium. But compared to McLarens of previous years it was a flop, despite a simple, neatly packaged design and that red and white livery that made almost all McLarens look good (its successor being a notable exception!).

For true lack of success, the Andrea Moda S921 has to qualify - with that menacing black livery it was certainly a looker, but only once saw a race start and didn't get much further than that. From the wider world of racing, I'd also nominate the sinister black Epsilon Euskadi EE1 - far and away more successful than the Moda, but with only one season of racing it wasn't given chance to show its potential.

Got to be plenty more than that, but that's a good-looking trio of failures (of varying degrees) for starters...