Motorsports Trivia Thread!

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Until Qatar and Saudi Arabia have their races in the next few weeks, Morocco is currently the only country to have ever hosted only one Formula 1 Grand Prix.
 
Something peculiar I read up about today in some fact checking:

The Jordan 198 was sponsored by Repsol, a fuel and lubricants company, but their actual fuel and lubricants were supplied by Elf. I'm at a loss to think of a similar situation? It seems really odd to, in layman's terms, be sponsored by one petrol company but get your petrol from somewhere else.
 
Verstappen is also the first F1 world champion to have started his career after the introduction of limited testing.
 
Teammate Tracer

Jean Alesi -> Rickard Rydell

Jean Alesi -> Johnny Herbert -> Gianni Morbidelli -> Rickard Rydell

Valtteri Bottas -> Walter Röhl

Charles Leclerc -> Scott McLaughlin

Haven't finished working out the last two yet.
 
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Liquid
Charles Leclerc -> Scott McLaughlin
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Leclerc -> Vettel -> Raikkonen -> Montoya -> Power -> McLaughlin

I tried to use the Fabian Coulthard -> Lewis Hamilton link but couldn't think of an easy way from Hamilton to Leclerc. Best I can do after a brief look is Leclerc -> de Vries -> Vandoorne -> Button -> Hamilton -> F. Coulthard -> McLaughlin.

Edit: you can also go Hamilton -> Premat -> McLaughlin should you so choose.
 
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Liquid
Valtteri Bottas -> Walter Röhl
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Bottas -(Mercedes F1)> Hamilton -(ART, 2006 GP2)> Premat -(Audi Sport Team Joest, 2007 LM24h)> Rockenfeller -(Audi Sport Team Phoenix, 2010 Nurburgring 24h)> Hans Stuck -(Porsche, 1993 LM24h)> Rohrl

Alternatively you can go Rockenfeller -(Buenos Racing, 2005 Daytona 24h)> Hurley Haywood -(Porsche, 1993 LM24h)> Rohrl.
 
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Open Question:
Which Formula One driver has driven for the greatest number of featured tobacco sponsors?

I stress featured because it has to be a title sponsor or something otherwise prominent; a little sticker on a winglet won't count.

My first thought:
Nigel Mansell drove for four; John Player Special, Camel, Marlboro and Rothmans. He also tested for Jordan at the request of Benson & Hedges.
 
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Liquid
Open Question:
Which Formula One driver has driven for the greatest number of featured tobacco sponsors?

I stress featured because it has to be a title sponsor or something otherwise prominent; a little sticker on a winglet won't count.

My first thought:
Nigel Mansell drove for four; John Player Special, Camel, Marlboro and Rothmans. He also tested for Jordan at the request of Benson & Hedges.
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I'm guessing Graham Hill was the first F1 driver to have a tobacco sponsor. Did he have more than just the one in the '68 Lotus?
 
Dotini
I'm guessing Graham Hill was the first F1 driver to have a tobacco sponsor. Did he have more than just the one in the '68 Lotus?
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Definitely Embassy with his own team and possibly Marlboro at BRM.
 
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Liquid
Definitely Embassy with his own team and possibly Marlboro at BRM.
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When Hill drove for BRM (gawd, what an awful organization), no cars carried sponsorship. Except for maybe the Yeoman Credit Coopers.
 
Dotini
When Hill drove for BRM (gawd, what an awful organization), no cars carried sponsorship. Except for maybe the Yeoman Credit Coopers.
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I thought he drove for them again in the early 70s.
 
Liquid
Open Question:
Which Formula One driver has driven for the greatest number of featured tobacco sponsors?

I stress featured because it has to be a title sponsor or something otherwise prominent; a little sticker on a winglet won't count.

My first thought:
Nigel Mansell drove for four; John Player Special, Camel, Marlboro and Rothmans. He also tested for Jordan at the request of Benson & Hedges.
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Does the 1999 BAR count as 1 (BAT) or 2 (Lucky Strike and 555)?

If it's 2, then Jacques Villeneuve drove with sponsorship from Rothmans, Winfield, Lucky Strike, 555, and Mild Seven.

Martin Brundle - West, Camel, Gitanes, Marlboro, B&H.

Other thoughts: despite driving for plenty of teams, neither Andrea de Cesaria nor Roberto Moreno had that many tobacco sponsors; Mika Salo had Mild Seven, Lucky Strike, 555 and Marlboro; Senna had JPS, Camel, Marlboro and Rothmans.
 
Liquid
At the 1957 German Grand Prix, Fangio was at least 30 seconds ahead of Hawthorn and left the pits 48 seconds behind him so I'd say 2 minutes, give or take. And of course, Fangio made up the three-quarters of a minute and won the race.

If you overlook the traditional definition of a "pit stop", Coulthard was in the garage for at least 4-5 minutes at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix before rejoining after having his rear wing replaced.
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Late as hell, but I'll one up this with the 1993 Hungarian GP which saw Alain Prost go into the pits from 3rd and rejoin 7 laps off the pace.
 
Roo
Does the 1999 BAR count as 1 (BAT) or 2 (Lucky Strike and 555)?

If it's 2, then Jacques Villeneuve drove with sponsorship from Rothmans, Winfield, Lucky Strike, 555, and Mild Seven.

Martin Brundle - West, Camel, Gitanes, Marlboro, B&H.

Other thoughts: despite driving for plenty of teams, neither Andrea de Cesaria nor Roberto Moreno had that many tobacco sponsors; Mika Salo had Mild Seven, Lucky Strike, 555 and Marlboro; Senna had JPS, Camel, Marlboro and Rothmans.
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The 1999 BAR does count as two so Villeneuve is on five.

Good call on Brundle. Five in Formula One and with Silk Cut and Marlboro, he's at seven branching out to sportscars.
 
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That's just reverting from one model of car to another; it has to have happened at some point before spare cars were disallowed.

I think it happened a few times in the 1970s, usually down to the back of the grid if someone was a no-show or injured. The most curious one was at the non-championship 1970 International Trophy at Silverstone. Jackie Stewart practiced in the Williams-entered De Tomaso but started the race in his Tyrrell-backed March. Piers Courage was handling a sports car race early in the weekend.

In 1976, Jody Scheckter drove a few laps for Wolf-Williams during practice in Mosport, so I guess Ken Tyrrell was just pretty cool with that as well. After all, the Williams wasn't much of a points-scorer that year, and it happened to have two less wheels than his regular mount.

I'm not aware of it happening in the 1980s to today; pretty sure that wouldn't fly at a championship meeting. There's been a few oddities like Marc Surer having no ride at all during the start of practice for the 1981 Brazilian GP, but wound up with Ricardo Londono-Bridge's seat at Ensign. He didn't qualify for the newfangled Superlicence (to be fair, it was a recent requirement to the sport). So after he was sidelined, Surer jumped into a car paid for by another driver and gave the team their best result.

Closest thing you had was Mansell giving Senna a ride after 1991 British GP (though Alliot went one better to give two drivers a ride back to the pits on the cool-down lap of the 1986 Mexican GP).
 
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The Maserati 4CLT/48 I think was the very first car to be 100% designed and built directly to F1 regulations, first defined in 1946. Not only was it lithe, beautiful and successful, it featured highly advanced engine and suspension design. Twenty of these were made, and one campaigned up til 1955. 1948 specs: 1.5 liter supercharged, 650 kg, 260 hp.


An ex-Reg Parnell Maserati 4CLT/48
1948 Maserati 4CLT/48 Gallery
 
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WITHOUT LOOKING, name all the manufacturers that had cars entered during the supertouring BTCC era of 1991-2000 inclusive. This is not exclusively factory entries; if the manufacturer had a car on the entry list, it counts.

There are fifteen by my count.
 
If you count Vauxhall and Opel as 2 different makes ( If I'm not mistaken someone did race either a Vectra or a Cavalier as an Opel at some point in a BTCC round) I'm at 13.

Alfa-Romeo
Audi
BMW
Ford
Honda
Peugeot
Renault
Toyota
Volvo
Mazda
Nissan
Vauxhall/Opel

I was thinking MG but that was 2001 forwards, with the Hot Wheels and Atomic Kitten sponsorship.
 
Liquid
WITHOUT LOOKING, name all the manufacturers that had cars entered during the supertouring BTCC era of 1991-2000 inclusive. This is not exclusively factory entries; if the manufacturer had a car on the entry list, it counts.

There are fifteen by my count.
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-Fred-
If you count Vauxhall and Opel as 2 different makes ( If I'm not mistaken someone did race either a Vectra or a Cavalier as an Opel at some point in a BTCC round) I'm at 13.

Alfa-Romeo
Audi
BMW
Ford
Honda
Peugeot
Renault
Toyota
Volvo
Mazda
Nissan
Vauxhall/Opel

I was thinking MG but that was 2001 forwards, with the Hot Wheels and Atomic Kitten sponsorship.
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I know the answer only because I watched a season of the BTCC recently where the two obscurities missing from @-Fred- 's list in the previous post were both mentioned ;).
 
-Fred-
If you count Vauxhall and Opel as 2 different makes ( If I'm not mistaken someone did race either a Vectra or a Cavalier as an Opel at some point in a BTCC round) I'm at 13.

Alfa-Romeo
Audi
BMW
Ford
Honda
Peugeot
Renault
Toyota
Volvo
Mazda
Nissan
Vauxhall/Opel

I was thinking MG but that was 2001 forwards, with the Hot Wheels and Atomic Kitten sponsorship.
Click to expand...

Including Opel, all thirteen of those are correct. The last two are obscure, unsuccessful entries from the start of the supertouring era.
 
Dodge had a Stratus Supertourer - there's one currently for sale on Racecars Direct. But i don't remember it ever competing in the BTCC.
 
TheCracker
Dodge had a Stratus Supertourer - there's one currently for sale on Racecars Direct. But i don't remember it ever competing in the BTCC.
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As far as I know, the Dodge only ever competed in the short-lived U.S Super Tourer series.
 
Pete05
As far as I know, the Dodge only ever competed in the short-lived U.S Super Tourer series.
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Seat had a Toledo that they ran in the Spanish and French domestic series, but again, i'm pretty sure it was never run in the BTCC.

edit - Mitsubishi had a Lancer built for the Swiss championship and Hyundai a Lantra in the Australian. Someone also looks to have converted a Merc 190E to early Supertourer spec from DTM spec and used it in Australia, which is odd as the 190E had stopped being produced by '93.
 
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If I'm not mistaken, the two BTCC obscurities missing should be Rover and Mitsubishi?

I know Mark Hales briefly ran both a Galant and a Lancer in the early Super Touring years. Otherwise a Rover 200 made a brief appearance in around that time as well I believe. Can't remember the year(s) of the top of my head, though I want to say 1991-'92 without resorting to Google.
 
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