Well, yes and no. The only non-car related sponsor, yes, but there were a number of tyre firms, spark plug manufacturers that were involved in sponsorship to a lesser extent (payment in kind kinf of stuff).
Yea, they were sponsors, but strictly fuel, oil, tires, spark plugs...only in exchange for cheaper/free stuff. And even then, on inconspicuous parts of the car.
Ok, here's the next question:
What race was the only to have its laps cut short on account of possible nightfall?
Yea, they were sponsors, but strictly fuel, oil, tires, spark plugs...only in exchange for cheaper/free stuff. And even then, on inconspicuous parts of the car.
Japanese GP of 1976 at Mt Fuji was definitely a delayed start due to torrential rain and I seem to remember something being said abotu them running out of time to start it due to the lateness of the hour, hence I'll go with that for want of a better guess.
I suppose that I'd say in response that it can't be a Formula 1 (or event) as they weren't Formula One cars. I suppose that you could consider it an F1 race as it counted towards the F1 WC, but I don't know if I'd agree with that. World Championship race, yes.
After a bit, ahem, okay, a lot of hunting I think I've got it.
1978 Italian Grand Prix?
After the first incident (I'm sure we all know which one) the race was ready for the restart - almost.
The race was going to be restarted but as the cars were getting ready Scheckter lost a wheel in the Lesmo and crashed heavily. The barriers did not hold up well and so repairs had to be made and it was nearly six o'clock before the race started again with 19 cars (six drivers being in their spares and five being unable to start).
Other possible clues: The race was only 232.00km's long (40 laps), taking only 1hr07m04.54s to run.
Do they still perform the annual raft race?
I remember Tyrrell won the raft race in 1988...ostensibly their last win!
I think the first semi-automatic gearbox was developed by John Barnard and Ferrari during 1988 in their prototype 639 chassis. Berger, Alboreto, Mansell, and Roberto Moreno all put in some testing on the V12-powered car.