Motorsports Trivia Thread!

  • Thread starter Cap'n Jack
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24HuresdeLoL
THat team is WeatherTech Racing, where they (I believe) raced interchanedly a mercedes, ferrari, and Porsche in the span of two years. IMSA even made a rule basically stick to one car switch only bc of what they were doing.
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That's the one!

There's also the Falken team in VLN that races both a Porsche and a BMW at the same time, and Attempto in Asian Blancpain that races Porsches and Audis.
 
DesertPenguin
Has there ever been a sports car racing team that changed the car they're using in the middle of a season? Starting with one car, having a falling out or not liking the performance then switching to another car?
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John Maguire Racing started the 1991 BTCC with a Mitsubishi Lancer then switched to a Mitsubishi Galant halfway through the season.
Ian Khan started the 1994 BTCC with a Toyota Carina then switched to a Vauxhall Cavalier.
Team Dynamics started the 1997 BTCC with a Ford Mondeo and then switched to a Nissan Primera.

It's touring car and not sports car racing but those are the cases I know off the top of my head.
 
GTP_Nail
What was Bruce Mclaren’s trademark that made him instantaneously recognizable in F1 and the can am. Two items usually.
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He had Perthes Disease, didn't he? So one hip was shorter in length than the other, which affected his legs and how he would walk.

EDIT: And as for the cars themselves, from 1967 onwards to his passing in 1970, they were painted a bright Orange that stood out from virtually every other team on the grid?
 
GTP_Nail
What was Bruce Mclaren’s trademark that made him instantaneously recognizable in F1 and the can am. Two items usually.
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Bruce McLaren almost always wore a plain silver helmet, brimless, together with black rubber goggles, and often with a white bandana covering his face. Early on he was seen in blue Dunlop coveralls, but later wore white Goodyear suits.
 
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almost totally correct....his bell star was used from the year it was introduced till the day he died. You mentioned his white bandana, it was actually a white towel that he used to wipe his goggles, it started wrapped around his lower face and then after it was used it was clenched in his teeth! I watched him win at Spa from the patio of the hotel de la source....classic

I shared a table de la course on the wall with two Canadians. I am the one sitting up right above the FINA shield. A later picture from the same photographer with the tea towel in his teeth was used as the major picture for the Spa article in AUTOCOURSE, the F1 annual. He is followed by Ferrari’s new great hope, a baby faced Belgian kid named Jacky..

0B00A134-D08E-4C40-998A-69246BDFC075.jpeg
 
GTP_Nail
almost totally correct....his bell star was used from the year it was introduced till the day he died. You mentioned his white bandana, it was actually a white towel that he used to wipe his goggles, it started wrapped around his lower face and then after it was used it was clenched in his teeth! I watched him win at Spa from the patio of the hotel de la source....classic

I shared a table de la course on the wall with two Canadians. I am the one sitting up right above the FINA shield. A later picture from the same photographer with the tea towel in his teeth was used as the major picture for the Spa article in AUTOCOURSE, the F1 annual. He is followed by Ferrari’s new great hope, a baby faced Belgian kid named Jacky..

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Upon further recollection, may it be the towel was actually a chamois?
 
DesertPenguin
Has there ever been a sports car racing team that changed the car they're using in the middle of a season? Starting with one car, having a falling out or not liking the performance then switching to another car?
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This was one that came to mind from what was IMSA Continental at the time.

https://www.imsa.com/news/072017/volt-racing-ready-change-pace-new-ford-mustang

I don't think it's all that uncommon in IMSA, TBH. Does not happen in the top classes, but GTD and what's now Michelin Pilot challenge with GT4 and TCR, it's not unusual.
 
There have been nine tyre manufacturers in Formula One. Who is the only Formula One driver to have raced for a record four of them?

I don't have this verified as fact so if you can successfully prove that someone else other than whom I have in mind has also done it, you get the point.
 
Liquid
There have been nine tyre manufacturers in Formula One. Who is the only Formula One driver to have raced for a record four of them?

I don't have this verified as fact so if you can successfully prove that someone else other than whom I have in mind has also done it, you get the point.
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Kimi?
 
Greycap
Rubens Barrichello. Only one season in a Michelin car, the 2006 Honda, but it's enough.
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Jimlaad43
How about Barrichello? Did Honda use Michelin in 2006?
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Greycap just beat you to it!

But yes, Rubens Barrichello is the right answer; he raced with Goodyears 1993-1996, with Bridgestones 1997-2005 and 2007-2010, with Michelins in 2006 and in his final season he used Pirellis in 2011.
 
Open Question:

It's not uncommon in field sports to have a player/manager. What instances are there of driver/manager or roles in motorsport?

The one that leaps out at me is Derek Warwick who co-founded the Triple Eight Engineering touring car team and drove for them in the BTCC in 1997 and 1998. Tom Walkinshaw and Andy Rouse also drove for their own eponymous TWR and ARE teams which had works Jaguar and Ford contracts. I think Keke Rosberg drove for Opel's Team Rosberg in the 1996 ITC too.

I'm sure there are loads of examples in the United States that I'm unaware of but I'd like examples that are more about a professional, full-time team perhaps with a works contract rather than an independent, privateer or one-off.
 
Nick Leventis is the owner of Strakka Racing and drove for ages with them.

The BTCC is full of them. Warren Scott and Tony Gilham are recent examples I can think of off the top of my head, there will be more.
 
Liquid
Open Question:

It's not uncommon in field sports to have a player/manager. What instances are there of driver/manager or roles in motorsport?

The one that leaps out at me is Derek Warwick who co-founded the Triple Eight Engineering touring car team and drove for them in the BTCC in 1997 and 1998. Tom Walkinshaw and Andy Rouse also drove for their own eponymous TWR and ARE teams which had works Jaguar and Ford contracts. I think Keke Rosberg drove for Opel's Team Rosberg in the 1996 ITC too.

I'm sure there are loads of examples in the United States that I'm unaware of but I'd like examples that are more about a professional, full-time team perhaps with a works contract rather than an independent, privateer or one-off.
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The Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championship was littered with them.

Allan Moffat, Peter Brock & Dick Johnson just to name a few.

Glenn Seton would be the last to be recognised as an Owner/Driver enjoying factory support from Ford in 2002.
 
Brad Jones might not have had full factory support, but was an owner driver doing quite well for a while.
Did Andretti (any of them) ever drive for their own team?
Jack Brabham did quite well in his own car back on the day too.
 
Tony Stewart could possibly fit in as a case in NASCAR. Gene Haas, same guy who owns Haas F1 Team, started Haas CNC Racing in the early 2000's, when Tony Stewart bought into the team, rebranded as Stewart-Haas Racing, and drove for them from 2009 to the end of 2016.

Not sure how much of a "manager" role he had, but he was a co-owner with Haas.
 
Emerson Fittipaldi left McLaren to both drive for and be a founder of Fittipaldi Automotive, a venture with his brother Wilson Fittipaldi, who also drove for the team he founded. Not sure if that is a the same as being "manager" for the team though.
 
Alan Kulwicki was a NASCAR team owner/driver. He won the the 1992 Winston Cup Championship by what was the narrowest margin of victory in NASCAR history up to that point.
 
I can't think of a better example than Dan Gurney. The founder of All American Racers, driving for the team in Formula 1 (under the name Anglo American Racers) for a short while in the sixties and in Trans-Am in 1970, and then being the owner, chairman and CEO until 2011. Factory contracts with Plymouth in Trans-Am and Toyota both in IMSA and CART.
 
Liquid
Greycap just beat you to it!

But yes, Rubens Barrichello is the right answer; he raced with Goodyears 1993-1996, with Bridgestones 1997-2005 and 2007-2010, with Michelins in 2006 and in his final season he used Pirellis in 2011.
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Marc Surer also drove with four tire manufacturers: Goodyear, Michelin, Pirelli, and Avon. Teams in the end of the grid like ATS, Theodore, and Ensign weren't as loyal to tire companies.

Avon had a brief dip into F1 from 1981-82, which wasn't so much of a tire war, but a melee.
 

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