Motorsports Trivia Thread!

[Roo]

No idea... but I know Hamilton (a different one) was DSQed from Le Mans in the 50s and went to a bar to drown his sorrows. When they were thoroughly drowned he was reinstated and drove the race. He hit a bird at 130mph and broke his nose, which seemingly had little effect.

1953, and they (Hamilton/Rolt) won. Although Rolt denied it actually happened.

Sounds like something Tommy Kendall would do.

It does, but it wasn't him.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Although Rolt denied it actually happened.

Ah, that's a shame, it's a great story!

 

[Liquid]

The 1997 Formula One season is quite interesting.

1st Jacques Villeneuve 81pts
(Michael Schumacher) 78pts
2nd Heinz-Harald Frentzen 43pts
3rd David Coulthard 36pts

20 drivers scored points and incredibly 15 different drivers scored podiums.

Spoiler: Podiums

Villeneuve - 1st (7), 3rd
M Schumacher - 1st (5), 2nd (3)
Frentzen - 1st, 2nd (2), 3rd (4)
Coulthard - 1st (2), 2nd (2)
Alesi - 2nd (4), 3rd
Berger - 1st, 2nd
Häkkinen - 1st, 3rd (2)
Irvine - 2nd, 3rd (4)
Fisichella - 2nd, 3rd
Panis - 2nd, 3rd
Herbert - 3rd
R Schumacher - 3rd
Hill - 2nd
Barrichello - 2nd
Wurz - 3rd

Also scored points: Trulli, Diniz, Salo, Nakano, Larini

Despite Villeneuve scoring seven wins and one 3rd place and Michael Schumacher winning five races and finishing 2nd 3 times, these two title rivals were never on the podium together in this season even though their podiums covered 16 out of the 17 races that year; Italy was the only race where neither man was on the podium at all.

Surely this is some sort of record for title rivals not sharing the podium throughout a season? Even for the 1990s 15 drivers getting podiums throughout the season seems pretty damn high too.

 

[Jimlaad43]

2008 was quite good

7 drivers from 5 constructors won races that year
Hamilton and Kovalainen - McLaren
Massa and Raikkonen - Ferrari
Alonso - Renault
Kubica - BMW Sauber
Vettel - Toro Rosso

6/7 of those drivers also scored pole positions (Alonso was the odd one out)

14 Drivers from 9 out of 11 teams also scored podiums.
Force India and Super Aguri missed out

 

[Pete05]

I always remember the 1982 season with Keke Rosberg clinching the World Drivers Championship despite winning only one race.
Consistency & the unreliability of others got him over the line.

 

[jontikis]

I always remember the 1982 season with Keke Rosberg clinching the World Drivers Championship despite winning only one race.
Consistency & the unreliability of others got him over the line.

Plus some unlucky events, like Villeneuve's death at Zolder and Pironi's crash in Hockenheim

 

[Liquid]

I always remember the 1982 season with Keke Rosberg clinching the World Drivers Championship despite winning only one race.
Consistency & the unreliability of others got him over the line.

1982 is a very intriguing season. It wasn't just the Monegasque race nobody wanted to win, it was the title nobody wanted to win.

Watson could have won the 1982 title and out of all the drivers who made it to the end of the season probably should have. 6 consecutive no-points finishes and he only missed out by 5 points. Any one win from that and he would have taken it. Even if he had levelled Rosberg's score Watson would have won on countback.

Pironi could have very easily won it and almost certainly would have. He ended up joint 2nd with Watson just 5 points behind Rosberg even though he broke both legs and missed the last 5 races of the season as well. With Pironi not starting the Belgian GP that cancels out the San Marino race Watson and Rosberg didn't compete in.

Prost was 10 points behind Rosberg and had 7 straight no-points finishes. One win and any other points position and everything changes.

Villeneuve died too early in the season to say. But then again, might he have taken Pironi's results had he lived?

It's all speculation of course. You can't take it away from Rosberg. He had the reliability that the others didn't and it's incongruent to "wish" reliability upon another driver. You could only fairly say that Pironi would have beaten him because he had the speed, points and reliability up until he was permanently injured and unable to contest the final quarter of the season.

Edit:

2008 was quite good

That is good but Hamilton and Massa shared the podium six times. The 0 times for Schumacher and Villeneuve is near impossible to equal in today's era.

It seems that, to no-one's surprise, that good title fights are often seasons where multiple people are scoring podiums instead of the same three.

 

[Liquid]

Is Jacques Villeneuve the only world champion to wear glasses whilst actively a driver?
Yes, he obviously wore contacts when actually racing.

A few drivers like Patrick Watts in the BTCC wore glasses too but I don't know of world champions.

Other major racing disciplines welcome!

 

[Roflwaffle]

Is Jacques Villeneuve the only world champion to wear glasses whilst actively a driver?
Yes, he obviously wore contacts when actually racing.

A few drivers like Patrick Watts in the BTCC wore glasses too but I don't know of world champions.

Other major racing disciplines welcome!

Sebastien Bourdais

Not sure about him winning a championship with them though...

 

[Pete05]

Is Jacques Villeneuve the only world champion to wear glasses whilst actively a driver?
Yes, he obviously wore contacts when actually racing.

A few drivers like Patrick Watts in the BTCC wore glasses too but I don't know of world champions.

Other major racing disciplines welcome!

Allan George Moffat, Larry Clifton Perkins & John Bowe definitely wore glasses when racing successfully in Australian Touring Cars.
Moffat won titles and Bathurst many times, Perkins won Bathurst 6 times.
Bowe has gone on record saying how his specs would fog in wet weather races.
As if racing in the wet isn't hard enough already.

 

[Silver Arrows]

Is Jacques Villeneuve the only world champion to wear glasses whilst actively a driver?
Yes, he obviously wore contacts when actually racing.

A few drivers like Patrick Watts in the BTCC wore glasses too but I don't know of world champions.

Other major racing disciplines welcome!

I very much remember Paul Tracy wore glasses in the 90's in Indy.

Funny too because he looks like one of the lost members of the Proclaimers.

Also, Bobby Rahal in the 80's:

 

[Jimlaad43]

Bourdais won a load of CART championships wearing them

 

[Roo]

During a Petit Le Mans, who drove almost a whole green-flag lap whilst drunk?

It was Justin Marks at the 2006 Petit, if anyone's interested. His BMW failed at turn 3, and whilst his pit crew had stopped trying to shout instructions and had gone back to the pits to think on it, someone turned up at the fence with a yard of beer. Which seemed like a good idea at the time. Then the mechanics got back, passed Marks a replacement fuse, the car started up and he had to drive it back to the pits. Justin told the story at 30:33 into episode 46 of Dinner With Racers.

 

[Silver Arrows]

Also, for the glasses, more modern examples include Jari-Matti Latvala:

and Theirry Neuville

 

[Jimlaad43]

Here's a something I should be able to find out easily, but can't be bothered now, so I'll just ask it here.

Albert Park has hosted 21 Grand Prix so far and the track layout has not changed. Are there any other circuits which have hosted 21 or more races on the exact same layout?

 

[Dotini]

Albert Park has hosted 21 Grand Prix so far and the track layout has not changed. Are there any other circuits which have hosted 21 or more races on the exact same layout?

I'm guessing you mean F1 GP races? In case you don't, then surely the Indianapolis Motor Speedway should be noted, as it has remained essentially unchanged since 1911 in terms of length, layout, banking and corner radius. The surface change from bricks to asphalt took place gradually.

 

[TheCracker]

Here's a something I should be able to find out easily, but can't be bothered now, so I'll just ask it here.

Albert Park has hosted 21 Grand Prix so far and the track layout has not changed. Are there any other circuits which have hosted 21 or more races on the exact same layout?

Imola held 14 races before the track was revised following the deaths at the 1994 GP. The original long Spa held 18 consecutive GPs before a temporary chicane was added. The Canadian GP circuit has been unchanged since 2002. Has Sepang changed at all since 1999? Can't think of any others off the top of my head.

 

[TeamCZRRacing]

Is Jacques Villeneuve the only world champion to wear glasses whilst actively a driver?
Yes, he obviously wore contacts when actually racing.

A few drivers like Patrick Watts in the BTCC wore glasses too but I don't know of world champions.

Other major racing disciplines welcome!

Johnny Benson, NASCAR:

 

[Liquid]

Here's a something I should be able to find out easily, but can't be bothered now, so I'll just ask it here.

Albert Park has hosted 21 Grand Prix so far and the track layout has not changed. Are there any other circuits which have hosted 21 or more races on the exact same layout?

Just off the top of my head:

I'm fairly certain that of the touring car tracks, Oulton Park has been unchanged since 1992 and Thruxton since 1988. I don't recall many changes to Knockhill over the years.

Of international tracks, Brno was opened in 1987 and is pretty much the same.

F1 tracks? Probably Sepang and Melbourne, yeah. When was the last real change to Monaco?

 

[Jimlaad43]

I'm talking F1 only

 

[DK]

What about Interlagos? It's been on the F1 calendar since 1990 in its present layout, although it's been re-surfaced since then.

 

[Liquid]

What about Interlagos? It's been on the F1 calendar since 1990 in its present layout, although it's been re-surfaced since then.

Apart from changing the both the pitlane entry and exit, that's probably the best answer.

Montreal has also been unchanged apart from the pitlane since 1995, one year longer than Melbourne.

I still don't think Monaco has changed that much since they introduced the swimming pool and chicane but when did Suzuka edit its final chicane? Apart from that Suzuka has been as-is for donkeys years.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

Apart from changing the both the pitlane entry and exit, that's probably the best answer.

Montreal has also been unchanged apart from the pitlane since 1995, one year longer than Melbourne.

I still don't think Monaco has changed that much since they introduced the swimming pool and chicane but when did Suzuka edit its final chicane? Apart from that Suzuka has been as-is for donkeys years.

2002/2003 roughly.

http://www.etracksonline.co.uk/News/stories/news_id091.html

 

[Jimlaad43]

Apart from changing the both the pitlane entry and exit, that's probably the best answer.

Montreal has also been unchanged apart from the pitlane since 1995, one year longer than Melbourne.

I still don't think Monaco has changed that much since they introduced the swimming pool and chicane but when did Suzuka edit its final chicane? Apart from that Suzuka has been as-is for donkeys years.

Suzuka also reprofiled Turn 5, Dunlop curve and 130R when they did the final chicane.

The swimming pool was redone in 2004, and then again in 2015 for Tabac and Piscine 1.

 

[daan]

Montreal has also been unchanged apart from the pitlane since 1995, one year longer than Melbourne.

According to this, they moved the hairpin in 2002.

 

[Dotini]

The layout if not the surface of the Nurburgring was almost entirely continuous from 1951 to 1976, a period of 25 years. After the 1966 event, in an attempt to lower speeds on the approach to pit area, the Bremscurve bends were added around Tiergarten. This changed the circuit length from 22.81km to 22.835km. However, the change did little to reduce speeds, as fastest lap improved by an astounding 34 seconds the following year.

Monza road course was unchanged from '57 through '71

 

[TenEightyOne]

According to this, they moved the hairpin in 2002.

Indeed they did, the hairpin was moved to be 30m "earlier" to give space for enhancing the runoff.

 

[Liquid]

AVUS was unchanged from 1940, when the Südkehre was changed to incorporate AVUS with the actual Autobahn network, until 1968, when the Nordkehre banking was dismantled.

Spoiler

Sadly when the track length was cut in half (twice) in the 1980s, the Südkehre was ripped up and forgotten about.

 

[Liquid]

I have been the teammate of Jean Alesi, Bertrand Gachot, Peter Kox and Martin Donnelly.

Who am I?

 

[jake2013guy]

Sebastien Bourdais

Not sure about him winning a championship with them though...

Bourdais won 4 ChampCar titles.