Motorsports Trivia Thread!

[Dotini]

HAH! That's easy - it's the cheapest ticket ever to the Monterey Historic grid! The H-Bomb Mercury Special was built by Dan Odenborg from Oregon to race in the SCCA H Modified class, and was sold on Craiglist some years ago for 9500$. Back in the day it was incredibly effective, blowing away the competition at Laguna Seca - from what I read its design was so clever it got the car featured on Sports Car Graphic.

P.S: here's a vid of it running in 2010.

Yes, I have that issue of Sports Car Graphic, as well as the issue that covers his later 1300cc six-cylinder two-stroke Mercury powered Sceptre. Dan, whom I spoke to on several occasions, died tragically in a fall before he could develop it. This F-Modified car still exists. I think his son is restoring it.

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Click to enlarge.

Odenborg in the F-Modified Sceptre entering the hairpins, Pacific Raceways. If developed - particularly with correct expansion chambers and bigger rubber, this car could have been a crazy fast world-beater. The saddest words are, "It might have been".

^I've taken this turn at least 1000 times.

 

[ClydeYellow]

I can't think of a decent question... I think I'll pass.

 

[dingodile_r89]

I can't think of a decent question... I think I'll pass.

I'll have a go, then.

The 2012 Spanish GP was Maldonado's first ever F1 win. But celebrations were short lived for the team.

What was the incident that cut the team's celebration short?

 

[Jimlaad43]

Their garage caught fire after an incident with barrels of fuel

 

[Liquid]

Either that or the realisation that he's now in the same tier as Jean Alesi.

 

[Dotini]

I'll have a go, then.

The 2012 Spanish GP was Maldonado's first ever F1 win. But celebrations were short lived for the team.

What was the incident that cut the team's celebration short?

31 people were injured in the fire, with 7 hospitalized. Maldonado was obliged to run into the fire to rescue his 12 year old cousin with a broken foot. And at the very next race, Monaco, Maldonado suffered 15 grid position penalties and failed to complete a lap either in qualifying or the race. He has not appeared on the podium since then. Somehow he and his Williams team incurred the enduring disfavor of the racing gods.

 

[TheCracker]

Somehow he and his Williams team incurred the enduring disfavor of the racing gods.

Karma.

 

[dingodile_r89]

Their garage caught fire after an incident with barrels of fuel

Your go, my good sir.

* secretly pleased that @Dotini didn't get it earlier *

 

[Jimlaad43]

Which event has Lewis Hamilton down as it's only winner?

 

[Dotini]

Which event has Lewis Hamilton down as it's only winner?

That would be the 2004 Bahrain Superprix.

 

[Jimlaad43]

That would be the 2004 Bahrain Superprix.

Yes it is

 

[Dotini]

Below are seen two of my all-time favorite cars, the Lotus 19, here driven by Stirling Moss, and the "mystery car".
Identify the mystery car and its driver if you can.

This special has a Chevy V-8 connected to a Halibrand differential through a 3 speed transmission, and utilizes a deDion tube rear suspension.

@dingodile_r89
EDIT: It should be simplicity itself to research the answer. From the first two photos you should be able to deduce the race track and the year. Simply look up the results.

2nd Edit: When Phil Hill, Dan Gurney and Ritchie Ginther joined the Grand Prix circus in the late fifties, they spread the word of big money ("grand prix") to be won on the US west coast in the fall, after the GP season, racing big hairy sports cars. The Old Yaller and Lance Reventlow's Scarabs were showing the biggest, baddest Ferraris the quick way around such tracks as Riverside and Laguna Seca. It wasn't long before international professionals like Moss, Brabham and Clark joined the fray. This tradition ultimately blossomed into the legendary Can-Am series.

 

[Ryk]

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/campbell-corvette-special-1961.310565/

Malibu's own, Bob Harris drove the car

 

[Dotini]

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/campbell-corvette-special-1961.310565/

Malibu's own, Bob Harris drove the car

America's first mid-engine Chevy V-8 powered racer.

Campbell Corvette Special

 

[Ryk]

"My father(1) has lead the F1 world championship, though he never managed to win it.
My father took over a record that was set previously by Graham Hill. He was succeeded by an Italian Driver(2).
The first doctor(3) on the scene at my fathers final F1 race (Which ended in a crash) is also the father of a current F1 driver(4)."

Lots to have a dig at. You can even name the driver in the picture(5)

 

[Jimlaad43]

1: Jacques Laffite
2: Ricardo Patrese
3: Jonathan Palmer
4: Joylon Palmer
5: Margot Laffite

 

[Ryk]

ALL correct - The record in question was most Grand Prix Entered.

 

[Dotini]

ALL correct - The record in question was most Grand Prix Entered.

I remember well the days that Graham Hill held that record. He was no longer competitive, and was racing "for his own amusement", as he quipped. Today, I don't think it is even conceivable that a driver could afford to do that. Hill had his own team, and the technology was low, with Cosworth engines and Hewland transaxles.

Can we say with any confidence who was the last driver on the F1 grid to be racing as a vanity project, on his own private team or budget?

 

[Jimlaad43]

Here's a bunch of pitlanes used in F1 since 2000. Name each track they are from. The winner is the first person to correctly identify all 11 in the same post.

 

[Ryk]

1. - Abu Dhabi
2. - Baku
3. - Silverstone
4. - Constantinople - or is it Istanbul?
5. - Estoril
6. - Indianapolis GP
7. - Valencia
8. - Rell Bull Ring/ A-1Ring/ Spielburg
9. - Korea
10. - Imola
11. - Shanghai

Many Horrific guesses in that lot!
- All gut picks that ignore logic (Estoril looks so right, but was that axed well before 2000?)

 

[Jimlaad43]

6 of those are correct

 

[Ryk]

Wonder how many I goofed up on just by getting the direction right!

Just hope three of that six are not pitlane 8! (Especially as it looks a bit like the old Silverstone pit lane after Woodcote now.)

Is 9 closer to Central France than Southern Korea?
And 7 closer to Inland Belgium than Coastal Spain!

Fun question by the way!

 

[dingodile_r89]

I think 7 might be Spa

5 is definitely not Estoril since the last race was 1996

 

[Roo]

@Jimlaad43

Tough but good question. I reckon:

1 - Abu Dhabi
2 - Montreal
3 - Silverstone
4 - Istanbul
5 - Fuji
6 - Indianapolis
7 - Spa
8 - Red Bull Ring
9 - Magny-Cours, pre-facelift
10 - Imola
11 - Sepang

 

[Jimlaad43]

@Jimlaad43

Tough but good question. I reckon:

1 - Abu Dhabi
2 - Montreal
3 - Silverstone
4 - Istanbul
5 - Fuji
6 - Indianapolis
7 - Spa
8 - Red Bull Ring
9 - Magny-Cours, pre-facelift
10 - Imola
11 - Sepang

All correct, well done

 

[Roo]

I took this rather average photo some years ago of a driver who has gone on to greater things. Who is it?

 

[Clark]

Nick Tandy? I don't know if he actually ever drove for his late brother's team.

 

[Roo]

Nick Tandy? I don't know if he actually ever drove for his late brother's team.

He did, but that's not the right answer.

 

[Jimlaad43]

That would be Josef Newgarden

 

[Roo]

That would be Josef Newgarden

It is.