Motorsports Trivia Thread!

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They would count, but I don't think they've got any high speed records.
 
Well, Le Mans' speed record is a 1988 non-works Peugeot sportscar which recorded a speed of 252mph in the Le Mans 24hrs. I can't see many other public road records being faster than that.

dy5upwotioxmjgexlwnk.jpg
 
Liquid
Well, Le Mans' speed record is a 1988 non-works Peugeot sportscar which recorded a speed of 252mph in the Le Mans 24hrs. I can't see many other public road records being faster than that.

dy5upwotioxmjgexlwnk.jpg
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Liquid
Would a circuit like Le Mans or Spa-Francorchamps count as a public road?
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Those portions of LeMans and Spa which are closed off public roads would count. and that Peugeot is honking fast, but it is an incorrect answer. The record is faster than that.
 
Dotini
So what's the highest speed ever officially clocked on a (closed off) public road?

Give date, place, driver, car and speed.
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January 28, 1938 • Autobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstadt • Bernd Rosemeyer • Auto Union Streamliner • 268mph ?
 
Dang, I'd overlooked the Autobahn trials.
 
TheCracker
January 28, 1938 • Autobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstadt • Bernd Rosemeyer • Auto Union Streamliner • 268mph
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Very good attempt, but two of your five facts are quite wrong.
 
Dotini
Very good attempt, but two of your five facts are quite wrong.
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Blame Wiki
:p

Must be Caracciola in the Merc then?
 
TheCracker
Blame Wiki
:p

Must be Caracciola in the Merc then?
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Yes, it was the W125, a contemporary Grand Prix car with a streamlined body and the 8 cylinder engine replaced with a V-12.
 
Dotini
Yes, it was the W125, a contemporary Grand Prix car with a streamlined body and the 8 cylinder engine replaced with a V-12.
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So it went from this:

1280px-Mercedes-Benz_W_125_Donington.jpg


To this:

mercedes-benz-rekordwagen-06.jpg
 
So. My go then....?

Q) Which German-born WDC also won the very first race of a very American series in a very un-American car?

Driver - Series - Car
 
Hm, interesting. Schumacher and Vettel are the only German F1 champs, so if we're including pre-war champions, Lang/Mueller, Caracciola and Rosemeyer.

Did one of those win the first NASCAR event?!
 
Schumacher competed in sports cars for Mercedes. It later became ALMS so I wonder whether he won the first race in the Mercedes C8?

EDIT: Oh so very wrong...
 
I think Rosmeyer won the Vanderbilt Cup once, but I don't think that's the answer.
 
Jochen Rindt won the 1969 American GP in a Lotus - but it was only a first for him.
 
When did AAA/USAC begin? That came before IndyCar in 1996 and CART in 1979, but I can't imagine Rindt and certainly not Caracciola or Rosmeyer winning the first AAA/USAC event.
 
Liquid
When did AAA/USAC begin? That came before IndyCar in 1996 and CART in 1979, but I can't imagine Rindt and certainly not Caracciola or Rosmeyer winning the first AAA/USAC event.
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AAA (1904-1955)
USAC (1956-1978)
 
Caracciola was alive and did race sporadically in 1955, but there's no way he could have won the first USAC race with a 'non-American' machine.

It's got to be something like Schumacher winning the first IMSA GT event or whatever successor series came about in the late 80s. I'd consider something like the first endurance race at Daytona but not won by a German-born WDC.
 
Schumacher was a Mercedes driver though, so I don't know if he would have been in an American car...

Oops.. misread... Either way.. I don't think Mercedes raced in IMSA.
 
GTPorsche
Schumacher was a Mercedes driver though, so I don't know if he would have been in an American car...
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The question is also about winning in a very 'un-American' car so a Mercedes might fit that description... hm, it's a tough one.
 
Yeah, I edited after I noticed I was wrong.

Might it be Hans Stuck in the Audi 90 in IMSA GTO class?
 
I even looked into World Touring Cars, with only Frank Biela fitting the German WDC role... Still a world drivers champion. Raced Audi's in America as well...
 
Hans Stuck Sr. was certainly a successful hillclimbing champion of the 1930s but I don't know if that would qualify him as a 'world' champion. Hans-Joachim Stuck Jr. certainly was a world champion, world sportscar champion in 1985.

But one of those two winning the first of a distinctly American event in un-American machinery..? Perhaps Hans-Joachim Stuck won the first IMSA GT event in a Porsche.
 
It's hard to give you a clue without giving it away...

Small clue might be that you'd probably never associate the driver or the car with the race series - a race series that's been run on and off for almost half a century. Or the car with the driver. For that matter.
 
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