Motorsport history: counting laps?

Erdbeerenrex · Aug 17, 2021

Hi guys.

Well, it simply got me curious on how they were able to count the laps back then.

Considering that GPS and electronics weren't a thing during the previous century but they were already holding 1000+ km races and involving hundred laps worth of race distance.

Are there like marshalls/stewards in the pit lane who simply count and tally them in their notes? This is incredibly tedious especially at night.

I tried searching for google but I can't get any decent results. I have the feeling some of you may know the answer to this. Anyways thanks for reading.

MidnightRun85 · Aug 17, 2021

Erdbeerenrex
Hi guys. This is a bit off-topic regarding motorsports history.

Well, it got me curious on how they were able to count the laps back then.

Considering that GPS and electronics weren't a thing during the previous century but they were already holding 1000+ km races and involving hundred laps worth of race distance.

Are there like marshalls/stewards in the pit lane who simply count and tally them in their notes? This is incredibly tedious especially at night.

I tried searching for google but I can't get any decent results. This is unrelated to the thread but guess I have the feeling some of you may know the answer to this. Anyways thanks for reading.

Going back to basics, I would assume they had a team counting the laps, taking note of a batch of cars each. No doubt they would have marked them all down on a chart or notebook or something along those lines.

RacingGrandpa · Aug 17, 2021

MidnightRun85
Going back to basics, I would assume they had a team counting the laps, taking note of a batch of cars each. No doubt they would have marked them all down on a chart or notebook or something along those lines.

Back in the days they used to have a Marshall shed/post at the start/finish line with a blackboard to jut down times and lap numbers, and then stop watches to take lap times with.
A lot of work, but the only way