Motorsports Trivia Thread!

[daan]

Good job Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton didn't crash then...

But at Le Mans in 1953, the pair shared a common disappointment. During pre-race practice their Jaguar C-type was disqualified on a technicality, so they headed to a bar to drown their sorrows. After a night of solid drinking, at 10am they saw a Mark VII Jaguar pull up and out got Jaguar supremo William Lyons, with the news that they were ‘back in the race’ – which would be starting shortly. According to Hamilton, they overcame their hangovers by drinking brandy during the pit-stops (although Rolt strongly denied this).

Whatever the truth of it, the pair came through an eventful race (at one point a bird struck Hamilton in the face – at 130mph – and broke his nose) to take the chequered flag and win the world’s greatest endurance race. Few lives can capture the true spirit of motor racing in the early 1950s better than Hamilton’s combination of driving skill, roguish charm and derring-do.

 

[Liquid]

If that doesn't capture the spirit of gentleman racers, winning Le Mans whilst drunk as a skunk, then I don't know what does. The birdstrike must have been painful.

 

[Liquid]

Sporcle Quiz Time

One of the minefield games. There's a big list/group of names and you have to click the drivers who have never won a GP. If you click a driver who has, it's game over.

Order is different every time you play.

 

[Carbonox]

I got 49. My problem in general is that I just don't know these Indy 500 winners. (And for the record, I don't get why a completely unrelated race would have counted for championship points in the 50's anyway)

 

[TenEightyOne]

And for the record, I don't get why a completely unrelated race would have counted for championship points in the 50's anyway

By that token the Brazilian race is completely unrelated to the British race. It was because they were all part of the World Driver Championship.

 

[Carbonox]

By that token the Brazilian race is completely unrelated to the British race. It was because they were all part of the World Driver Championship.

It has more to do with the fact that the World Championship regulars never took part in the Indy 500 - and vice versa. The only Indy driver I remember having done an F1 race was Rodger Ward, and even he only showed up to the U.S. Grand Prix.

Also as it turned out, it was Luigi Villoresi that I forgot about on that first playthrough of mine.

 

[SagarisGTB]

By that token the Brazilian race is completely unrelated to the British race. It was because they were all part of the World Driver Championship.

Not at all comparable. Every British and Brazilian Grand Prix that was part of the World Championship was run to F1 regulations (with the exception of 1952 and 1953 when all WC GPs were run to F2 regulations). The Indy 500 was run to AAA and later USAC regulations, which F1 cars didn't conform to. Moreover, Indy qualifying was occasionally held on the weekends of the Swiss or Monaco GPs. In 1960, the Indy 500 race was held the day after the Monaco GP!

The Indy 500 was a completely unrelated race that counted as part of the F1 World Championship. It's like having a round of the BTCC count towards the WTCC driver's championship. Bit nonsensical.

 

[Liquid]

The Indy 500 was a completely unrelated race that counted as part of the F1 World Championship.

The comparison between the Brazilian and British GPs is spot on but as TenEighty points out, it wasn't part of the "F1 World Championship". It was part of the World Championship For Drivers, established to compete with the Motorcycle Championships which came in 1949. It's that "loophole" name which allowed it to use F2 regulations in 1952-53 and it wasn't until 1961 that it was effectively decided that by dropping the Indy 500 the World Championship For Drivers would be exclusively for F1 races and the championship became an F1 World Championship.

I agree it's anomalous and odd retrospectively given the difference and shift in technology and style between Formula One and Championship auto racing but at the time I don't think the gap was as great and it probably made sense to have such a prestigious race as part of a World Championship even if drivers from either series didn't participate in the other. And you're right about Indy being held at the same time as Monaco. It really didn't make sense if it was supposedly part of the same championship.

To be honest, I find it more anomalous that prestigious, actual F1 races weren't part of the championship. Looking back, non-championship races seem more bizarre in this day and age. The Oulton Park Gold Cup, Race Of Champions and BRDC International Trophy are two races which ought to have counted towards the championship but I suppose that would have been too much bias towards English events.

Related to that, if non-championship events had counted, Giancarlo Baghetti would surely be better known in modern parlace. He won his first two Formula One races at Syracuse and Napoli before his "debut win" at the 1961 French Grand Prix. That's three Grands Prix wins in a row from his first race.

 

[Dotini]

The Indy 500 was a completely unrelated race that counted as part of the F1 World Championship.

If I am not mistaken, the formula for Indy cars and Formula 1 was essentially identical from 1950-1951.

 

[Liquid]

Which driver, who competed in the inaugral 1950 Formula One season, had the subsequent longest driving career?

Just for clarity's sake, this excludes the Indy drivers.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Which driver, who competed in the inaugral 1950 Formula One season, had the subsequent longest driving career?

Just for clarity's sake, this excludes the Indy drivers.

I have to admit that first I glanced at a list of the entrants... of those I'd pick Chiron? Something in the back of my head says he was the oldest person ever to contest a grand prix... so him? Goodness knows when though

 

[Liquid]

He is the oldest competitor in an F1 race; he was 58 years old at the 1958 Monegasque Grand Prix, a record which will surely never be beaten, but he did not have the longest career from 1950.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Maurice Tringtignant. Monaco 1950-Italy 1964

 

[Liquid]

Yes.

 

[Dotini]

Hermann Lang had a Grand Prix career that spanned 1937-1954.

Luigi Fagioli's top-level GP career was 1926-1951, an incredible quarter century, but interrupted by WWII.

 

[Liquid]

Louis Chiron's first Grand Prix was in 1926 and his last was in 1958, an impressive 32 years.

 

[Dotini]

Louis Chiron's first Grand Prix was in 1926 and his last was in 1958, an impressive 32 years.

Maybe the most incredible thing about these guys is they didn't get killed - at a time when sometimes several drivers died in one race.

 

[Carbonox]

If that doesn't capture the spirit of gentleman racers, winning Le Mans whilst drunk as a skunk, then I don't know what does. The birdstrike must have been painful.

I'm just surprised he hit a bird at that speed and only got a broken nose, when Alan Stacey got instantly killed in a similar impact at Spa 1960...

 

[Liquid]

Maybe the most incredible thing about these guys is they didn't get killed - at a time when sometimes several drivers died in one race.

There's two other good pieces of trivium for Louis Chiron:

- Only man to win both the Rally (1954) and Grand Prix (1931) of Monte Carlo
- Only man from Monaco to do so*

*Grand Prix definitely, Rally almost certainly

 

[Jimlaad43]

There's two other good pieces of trivium for Louis Chiron:

- Only man to win both the Rally (1954) and Grand Prix (1931) of Monte Carlo
- Only man from Monaco to do so*

*Grand Prix definitely, Rally almost certainly

Daniel Elena...

 

[Roflwaffle]

I'm just surprised he hit a bird at that speed and only got a broken nose, when Alan Stacey got instantly killed in a similar impact at Spa 1960...

Stacey was killed from the resulting crash, not the impact with the bird itself.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Daniel Elena...

He never raced in F1.

Stacey was killed from the resulting crash, not the impact with the bird itself.

Correct, and the bird story itself was never proven. Interestingly he had a false leg which made his speed/talent all the more admirable.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Michael Schumacher has competed in 30 different Grand Prix (British, French etc). How many has he not taken victory in, and name all of them.

 

[Liquid]

South Africa and Mexico for sure. Sounds like a question we've had before; Turkey rings a bell.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

Michael Schumacher has competed in 30 different Grand Prix (British, French etc). How many has he not taken victory in, and name all of them.

Mexico
South Africa
Korea
India
Abu Dhabi
Singapore

 

[Jimlaad43]

Sounds like a question we've had before

I did the same for Vettel.

Both of you have named correct answers, but I haven't got a complete list yet.

 

[Liquid]

Luxemburg and Argentina. Something which wasn't around for very long in the 1990s.

Edit: Portugal? Banned in 1994, Coulthard's first in 1995, Villeneuve in 1996 and cancelled in 1997. Might have won it in 1993 though.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

Luxemburg and Argentina.
Edit: Portugal? Banned in 1994, Coulthard's first in 1995, Villeneuve in 1996 and cancelled in 1997. Might have won it in 1993 though.

He won the final Argentinian race in '98. Won in Portugal in '93.

New list is as follows;

South Africa
Mexico
Turkey
Korea
India
Abu Dhabi
Singapore
Luxemburg

 

[Jimlaad43]

He won the final Argentinian race in '98. Won in Portugal in '93.

New list is as follows;

South Africa
Mexico
Turkey
Korea
India
Abu Dhabi
Singapore
Luxemburg

Winner

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

Someone can take my turn.