Motorsports Trivia Thread!

  • Thread starter Cap'n Jack
  • 7,210 comments
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Liquid
Perhaps intonation is the key.

The 1992 Belgian Grand Prix was the H-Box's last win.

So what about the others?
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I'd guess '91 Aus was the last championship, '92 Aus was the last... pole?, '95 Aus was the last start for an H-Box?
 
Roo
I'd guess '91 Aus was the last championship, '92 Aus was the last... pole?, '95 Aus was the last start for an H-Box?
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I'll give you that. You're pretty much there. :)

They are all the significant lasts for the H-Box transmission.

1991 Australian Grand Prix - Last pole position (McLaren MP4/6)
1992 Belgian Grand Prix - Last win (Benetton B192)
1992 Australian Grand Prix - Last fastest lap and points (Benetton B192)
1995 Australian Grand Prix - Last race (Forti FG01)
 
Dotini
By H-box, do you mean non-sequential?
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574px-Manual_Layout.svg.png
 
I believe Lotus began running the first non-H-box back in the 50's. Or maybe it was a Talbot with a preselecter?
 
Dotini
Or maybe it was a Talbot with a preselecter?
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I was wondering about that because my alternative question was going to be when was the first non-H-Box but I couldn't get any definitive details.

Chiron's 1946-1949 Talbot-Lago had a pre-selector and while they're not fully manual transmissions, do they count as automatic, semi-automatic or are they they a category of their own?
 
Liquid
I was wondering about that because my alternative question was going to be when was the first non-H-Box but I couldn't get any definitive details.

Chiron's 1946-1949 Talbot-Lago had a pre-selector and while they're not fully manual transmissions, do they count as automatic, semi-automatic or are they they a category of their own?
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I only dimly recall how the pre-selecter works. Obviously the next gear was pre selected, but not engaged until needed, I think by a kick to the "clutch" pedal.
 
Dotini
I only dimly recall how the pre-selecter works. Obviously the next gear was pre selected, but not engaged until needed, I think by a kick to the "clutch" pedal.
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Yeah, the Grand Prix pre-selectors had a lever on the steering wheel where the driver would select the desired gear and active it via a small 'button' on the floor with their foot.

What was Lotus' non-H-Box in the 50s you mentioned?
 
Liquid
Yeah, the Grand Prix pre-selectors had a lever on the steering wheel where the driver would select the desired gear and active it via a small 'button' on the floor with their foot.

What was Lotus' non-H-Box in the 50s you mentioned?
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Most of all it was a disaster!

Chapman, obsessed by weight and size, created his own motorcycle-style sequential shift gearbox. Yes, it was small, simple and light. But not reliable at all. In today's historic F1 races, the Lotus 16 seems to frequently prevail. Are they running the original Chapman 5-speed crashbox, a modified version, or something else altogether?
 
Dotini
Most of all it was a disaster!

Chapman, obsessed by weight and size, created his own motorcycle-style sequential shift gearbox. Yes, it was small, simple and light. But not reliable at all. In today's historic F1 races, the Lotus 16 seems to frequently prevail. Are they running the original Chapman 5-speed crashbox, a modified version, or something else altogether?
Click to expand...
If I remember one quote from Colin Chapman and his obsession with lightweight it was an occasion when he spotted a mechanic tightening up something and noticed a washer on the screw.
He is reported to have said, "What's that washer doing on my racing car? That's not going for a free ride. Get it off."
 
Pete05
If I remember one quote from Colin Chapman and his obsession with lightweight it was an occasion when he spotted a mechanic tightening up something and noticed a washer on the screw.
He is reported to have said, "What's that washer doing on my racing car? That's not going for a free ride. Get it off."
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Colin Chapman was a brilliant but also a flawed man in several important ways. There are many stories. His #1 team cars were creative and fast, showed the way forward and all. But his other cars were a horror show of bad craftsmanship and weak, dangerous parts.
 
I'm struggling to work out a way of phrasing this correctly, but here goes:

2 teams recently took their 100th victories with the make of car they race. Which teams, which makes and what's the casual link between them?
 
But Team Dynamics didn't always run Hondas. Back when Neal was independent he ran BMWs, Fords and Nissans.
 
True but they have raced Hondas since 2002/03 so they might have had 100 wins since then in a 30-race a season calendar.

Or maybe AF Corse and Ferrari. They with Corvette Racing could be linked by their semi-works status.
 
Perhaps.

Aside both teams having at least one Brit to their driving alumni, I really don't see how a Civic/Integra and a Corvette could be linked together whatsoever, though. Apart that one time Honda supplied V6s to GM for Saturn SUVs, but that's another story.
 
Corvette Racing is one. As it turns out, Team Dynamics took their 100th win with Honda in June (if my going through the results on Wikipedia is correct), but I didn't know that before just now and it's not the answer I had on the card, so to speak. There is another team that recently chalked up a ton with one manufacturer (although not all of their total wins for that team came with that make, i.e. like Team Dynamics they have more than 100 wins as a team).
 
Hmmm.

JAS and Honda? STW/BTCC/WTCC wins could be near the 100 mark. I think they've also raced Alfa Romeos in the past.
 
888 have stopped using Vauxhall in the BTCC but perhaps it's the 888 of Australia and their Holden team?
 
Liquid
888 have stopped using Vauxhall in the BTCC but perhaps it's the 888 of Australia and their Holden team?
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Yep. 100 wins with Holden for Triple Eight came courtesy of Shane van Gisbergen at Queensland Raceway on the 23rd July, the same day that Corvette Racing took their 100th win for Chevrolet at Lime Rock Park. The date should've been the link I suppose, but I only noticed just now.

I'll say your turn for coming up not only with Holden but also the Honda/Team Dynamics answer.
 

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