Motorsports Trivia Thread!

[Pezzarinho17]

World Touring Cars wasn't American either.

No, to qualify said driver as a world drivers champion. We have been looking only at Formula 1 world champions so far. After winning the World Touring Car series, Frank raced over in American series and that is what I was looking at.

@TheCracker your clue points me towards Indy Car itself which has disbanded and reformed under various names throughout the years. So many "Firsts" there...

 

[Liquid]

It's hard to give you a clue without giving it away...

Small clue might be that you'd probably never associate the driver or the car with the race series - a race series that's been run on and off for almost half a century. Or the car with the driver. For that matter.

That sounds like the sports car championship. IMSA, ALMS, Rolex, Can-Am... could be any of those. So I think I'll stick with Hans-Joachim Stuck winning the first IMSA event. In a Porsche.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

Walter Rohrl (WRC Champion 1980 & 1982) was the first driver to cover the pikes peak sprint in under 11 minutes, driving an Audi Quattro?

 

[TheCracker]

Just to throw the cat among the pigeons. Pezzarinho is correct to mention that WDC does indeed mean F1 Champ.

And it's a first 'first' not a reborn first.

 

[Liquid]

Hm. Did Schumacher win the IROC?

 

[Pezzarinho17]

Damn, I thought I had found the flaw! Drawing board - we meet again.

 

[GTPorsche]

Well, that narrows it down quite a bit.

I don't think it's Schumacher... so Wolfgang Von Trips... I just don't know what series he would have ran in...

@Liquid Schumacher was invited but never accepted since it was an off-shoot of NASCAR by that time. Something he laughed at.

 

[Liquid]

German F1 champions:

Jochen Rindt (German born)
Michael Schumacher
Sebastian Vettel

 

[GTPorsche]

Right.. Von Trips lost that by a point after his death..

 

[TheCracker]

The event i'm thinking of certainly didn't happen post-winning the WDC

 

[GTPorsche]

Can probably rule out Vettel. I don't think he raced on US soil until his F1 debut.

 

[Dotini]

So. My go then....?

Q) Which German-born WDC also won the very first race of a very American series in a very un-American car?

Driver - Series - Car

Jochen Rindt - Trans Am - Alfa Romeo GTA

 

[Pezzarinho17]

Yeah but we did all the work for you, just come in and steal the show like that, mumble mumble...

Nice one!

 

[Dotini]

Yeah but we did all the work for you, just come in and steal the show like that, mumble mumble...

Not quite. I'd been thinking it was Mario Andretti, who was born in Croatia at about the time when it was under German sovereignty. But I've been wracking my brains for hours thinking what series Mario won the first race in a non-American car.

So I earned it fair and square.

 

[GTPorsche]

Bah.. didn't even cross my mind about Trans-Am being a start up in the late 60s.

 

[Dotini]

Who won the first WDC on a continent other than Europe?

 

[Liquid]

Hawthorn won his in Africa in 1958.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

Sebastian Vettel.

No idea who was the first though!

 

[Dotini]

Hawthorn won his in Africa in 1958.

Take a bow then take a shot.

 

[Liquid]

One driver has a 100% podium record from F1 grand prix starts: Dorino Serafini's only Formula One race was the 1950 Italian Grand Prix where he finished second in a Ferrari.

But this is a one time wonder. Which driver is second in the % of podiums from grand prix starts?

 

[TheBook]

Might it have something to do with the Trans-Am series? Only place I can think of that hasn't been mentioned yet, but I'm not sure when that was formed off the top of my head.

 

[GTPorsche]

Might it have something to do with the Trans-Am series? Only place I can think of that hasn't been mentioned yet, but I'm not sure when that was formed off the top of my head.

You're late to the party on that one.

 

[TheBook]

Well, crap.

 

[Dotini]

One driver has a 100% podium record from F1 grand prix starts: Dorino Serafini's only Formula One race was the 1950 Italian Grand Prix where he finished second in a Ferrari.

But this is a one time wonder. Which driver is second in the % of podiums from grand prix starts?

The technically correct answer is Luigi Fagioli (85.7%). But the most impressive podium percentage stats are those of Fangio (67.32%), Prost (52.48%)and Schumacher (50.32%).

 

[GTPorsche]

Fangio or Farina? I know they had relatively success, short careers. They've got to be decently above 50-60%...

 

[Liquid]

The technically correct answer is Luigi Fagioli. But the most impressive podium percentage stats are those of Fangio, Prost and Schumacher.

Luigi Fagioli entered 7 races in 1950 and 1951 and was on the podium for 6 of them. His sole retirement was at Monaco 1950 in a first lap accident involving several drivers when a wave crashed over the harbour and onto the track at Tabac. 6 podiums from 7 races gives him a starts to podium ratio of 86%. He even won his final race in 1951 at the venerable age of 53, making him the oldest driver to win a Grand Prix.

 

[Dotini]

Britons hold an enviable place in the annals of the Land Speed Record.

Name the car, driver, location, date and speed for the most recent time this record was set on British (UK) soil.

 

[Liquid]

I couldn't give you the specifics, but I think the last time it was broken in the UK was Malcolm Campbell in 1927 with Bluebird at Pendine Sands in Wales.

 

[Dotini]

I couldn't give you the specifics, but I think the last time it was broken in the UK was Malcolm Campbell in 1937 with Bluebird.

False, false, and false again.

In 1937, Eyston went 312mph in Thunderbolt at Bonneville.

 

[Liquid]

False, false, and false again.

Edited. That was my immediate thought without thinking it over carefully.