Motorsports Trivia Thread!

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Open question: The 1972 Rally of the Ivory Coast had no finishers. How often has this ever happened in any top level motorsport?

Discuss.
 
Jimlaad43
Not in F1 at least. I cant really go any further though.
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I remember there was a Monaco race in the 60s with 6 cars still running at the end... but due to the new 90% rule only 4 were classified as finishers. I can't think of any motorsport events with 0 finishers though (outside the one I just learned about from @Liquid) :)
 
Im pretty sure there were F1 races even more recently than that with only 6 finishers, but I wouldn't know where to start on any with none.
Maybe an early endurance race or rally?

EDIT: Since it is not relevant to the question, I will add detail - the 96 Monaco GP only had 7 classified finishers, but of them, only 3 took the chequered flag. 3 crashed on the penultimate lap and the 4th pulled into the pit lane instead of taking the flag, allowing them to be classified.
 
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The 1996 Monaco race is the F1 race with the fewest finishers (3 but 4 running as Frentzen pulled into the pits on the penultimate lap as the last runner). Very strange that the podium finishers were the only ones to cross the line and that people who scored points for 5th and 6th had actually retired but were still classified.

I'd guess that other rallies or endurance races might have fewer to no finishers. Just something I was wondering about after reading that trivium on the '72 Ivory Coast rally.
 
Barra333
Im pretty sure there were F1 races even more recently than that with only 6 finishers, but I wouldn't know where to start on any with none.
Maybe an early endurance race or rally?
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There was only 6 finishers in Indy 2005. And 6 starters. I don't think there has been an F1 race at least with 0 finishers. Unless you count when the race didn't go to full distance. Technically nobody finished the full calendar race distance. E.g. Monaco 2008 and others.
 
Liquid
Open question: The 1972 Rally of the Ivory Coast had no finishers. How often has this ever happened in any top level motorsport?

Discuss.
Click to expand...

You would probably have to go back to the 1910s or 'the early 1920s to get a result like that, but I'm not so sure myself.
 
What distinction links Naoki Hattori, Alex Caffi, Martin Brundle, Mark Blundell and Michele Alboreto?
 
Well it's not that they were the only ones to qualify last that season, as Pedro Chaves also did. It's not that they were the last ones to get a DNPQ, as Gabriele Tarquini and Hattori got that. It's not last to not qualify, as Blundell and Alboreto qualified for Aus '91, plus the HRT's failed to qualify in 2011 and 2012.

They were the last drivers to take part in a DNPQ session, but Tarquini wasn't listed.
 
Whoops, my fingers slipped and I forgot Tarquini. The answer is that they were the last drivers to take part in a pre-qualifying session; Australia 1991.

Jimlaad43
It's not last to not qualify, as Blundell and Alboreto qualified for Aus '91, plus the HRT's failed to qualify in 2011 and 2012
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There were a fair few DNQs between 1996 and 2012 actually, not just HRT. Minardi, Tyrrell, BAR, Forti, Jordan, Arrows, and Lola have all succumbed to the 107% rules at one time or another.
 
Liquid
Whoops, my fingers slipped and I forgot Tarquini. The answer is that they were the last drivers to take part in a pre-qualifying session; Australia 1991.



There were a fair few DNQs between 1996 and 2012 actually, not just HRT. Minardi, Tyrrell, BAR, Forti, Jordan, Arrows, and Lola have all succumbed to the 107% rules at one time or another.
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HRT were last to fail though, that's what I was getting at
 
Liquid
Whoops, my fingers slipped and I forgot Tarquini. The answer is that they were the last drivers to take part in a pre-qualifying session; Australia 1991.



There were a fair few DNQs between 1996 and 2012 actually, not just HRT. Minardi, Tyrrell, BAR, Forti, Jordan, Arrows, and Lola have all succumbed to the 107% rules at one time or another.
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Sorry to be that guy, but they weren't the last drivers to take part in a pre-qualifying session - the last one was held at the 1992 Hungarian GP, the last one to be entered by Brabham before they collapsed. The participants were Tarquini, Eric van de Poele, Ukyo Katayama, Roberto Moreno and Perry McCarthy.
 
We all know that the 1989 Ferrari was the first Formula One car to have a sequential gearbox.

Which was the first British Touring Car to have one?
 
Liquid
We all know that the 1989 Ferrari was the first Formula One car to have a sequential gearbox.

Which was the first British Touring Car to have one?
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I'd guess, with a new model and Williams connections, the '94 Laguna?
 
Roo
I'd guess, with a new model and Williams connections, the '94 Laguna?
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It's either that or it'll be something weird from the 60s with a motorbike engine...
 
No, it was a supertouring car but not the Laguna. By the time the Laguna was introduced in 1994, all the works cars had sequential gearboxes.

Edit: In fact, the season they were first used there were three cars using them so there's a greater chance of finding one of them. :)
 
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Was it the Ford Mondeo?
 
DK
@Liquid Vauxhall Cavalier?
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That was one of the first three and good enough to keep this thread rolling.

The Vauxhall Cavalier, Nissan Primera and Toyota Carina of 1993 all had sequential gearboxes; whichever one of them was built first would take the true accolade.

The Renault 19, BMW 318, Mazda Xedos, Ford Sierra and Peugeot 405 were all still using H-boxes. The Mondeo also used a sequential shifter but didn't debut until the final third of the season.

Interestingly (or not) the Cavalier was unique in having a steering wheel mounted shifter which was carried on with the Vectra right up until 2000.
 
So @Liquid, is it my turn or do I have to guess which was actually the first to use a sequential gearbox in the BTCC?
 

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