Statistical anomalies in motorsports.

  • Thread starter Carbonox
  • 315 comments
  • 50,923 views
Pete05
Craig Lowndes has a similar track record in ATCC/V8 Supercar history, largely thank's to being teamed with the most successful driver in championship history, Jamie Whincup.

Between 1996 & 2018, Lowndes scored 106 race wins, including 7 Bathurst 1000 victories giving him the best podium record in Bathurst history.

1996: claims the triple crown in his rookie year by taking out the championship, Sandown 500 & Bathurst 1000.
1997: Formula 3000 with RSM/Marko
1998: 1st
1999: 1st despite missing a Round following a roll-over at Calder & knee surgery.
2000: 3rd making it 2:1 over 3 years as teammate to 5-time champ, Mark Skaife.
2001-04: Four lean years after switching brands to Ford with results of 11th, 7th, 5th & 20th.
2005: Joins Triple Race Engineering after being signed by Roland Dane, and for the next twelve years will finish no lower than fourth in the championship standings, including six times as runner-up.
2017: 10th
2018: 4th including his final Bathurst 1000, 22 years after his first win.

This is just his ATCC/V8 Supercar career.

A remarkable career of success & duration that will take some beating from anywhere as competitive in the world.
Click to expand...
106 wins and only three titles? Good grief!
 
Har1MAS1415
106 wins and only three titles? Good grief!
Click to expand...
I do hope I have failed to see the sarcasm in your reply?

If not, let me offer you some kind of idea on just how many points/places Craig lost.

In Supercars, each team shares a pit bay with another car, just like the current situation in Formula One.

When a caution/yellow is needed, the default strategy is for everyone to pit so as to not have to do so later under 'green' conditions.
When there are two cars from the same team running in close proximity to one another, the second car will lose positions by having to 'stack' in pit lane, waiting for the pit bay to become vacant.

This could scenario could be best represented in picture form with a simple photo of one Craig Lowndes.
In a category as close as Supercars, you just cannot do that and win championships when the guy your fighting for the title shares the same pitbay.

For Craig to finish 2nd in the championship chase, so many years in-a-row, speaks volumes about the guy's ability to recover lost positions once back on the track.
 
Is it possible that the 1999 Calder Park injury took away some of his raw pace for the rest of his career, or has that been debunked at some point?
 
Carbonox
Is it possible that the 1999 Calder Park injury took away some of his raw pace for the rest of his career, or has that been debunked at some point?
Click to expand...
Calder 1999 has never come up as a question with regards to his pace.

Craig, and everyone else involved, knows that it was just one of those freak, opening lap accidents that happen every now & then.

Don't worry, as a fan of his my heart stopped beating until I watched the other drivers get to his car, and from their reactions, know he was ok.
 
Pete05
I do hope I have failed to see the sarcasm in your reply?

If not, let me offer you some kind of idea on just how many points/places Craig lost.

In Supercars, each team shares a pit bay with another car, just like the current situation in Formula One.

When a caution/yellow is needed, the default strategy is for everyone to pit so as to not have to do so later under 'green' conditions.
When there are two cars from the same team running in close proximity to one another, the second car will lose positions by having to 'stack' in pit lane, waiting for the pit bay to become vacant.

This could scenario could be best represented in picture form with a simple photo of one Craig Lowndes.
In a category as close as Supercars, you just cannot do that and win championships when the guy your fighting for the title shares the same pitbay.

For Craig to finish 2nd in the championship chase, so many years in-a-row, speaks volumes about the guy's ability to recover lost positions once back on the track.
Click to expand...
I was not being sarcastic at all, simple as that.

Colin Turkington won the 2018 British Touring Car title with only 1 win from 30 races.

Now there's consistency for you!
 
Liquid
Under the Matt Kenseth rule, I am horrified to announce the BTCC play-offs.
Click to expand...
Who are the group of fans yelling about the BTCC needing to create drama to compete with the Premier League?
 
Well we are talking a season in which 17 different drivers won a race. It wasn't just Turks, Runner-Up Tom Ingram had only 3 wins, 3rd place Tom Chilton just 1, 4th place Ashley Sutton had one more win than all three put together!
 
Blitz24
Who are the group of fans yelling about the BTCC needing to create drama to compete with the Premier League?
Click to expand...
Semi-serious, I bet ITV wouldn't mind after losing the rights to Champions League football coverage.
 
Liquid
Under the Matt Kenseth rule, I am horrified to announce the BTCC play-offs.
Click to expand...
Winston Cup, every 5 years: Well, one driver is bound to run away with things, despite our scoring system which keeps things close.

Winston Cup, every 50 years: One win champ?!? We have to prevent that from happening again, by creating a system whereby one win eventually lets you rest on your laurels.

Everyone else: just reformat the scoring system so that points and wins actually mean something
 
Last edited:
RACECAR
I don't remember if this was ever mentioned here before but I recently watched a video about the 2003 British Grand Prix and after doing some digging, might've stumbled across one of the strangest oddities I can remember: Every time a track invasion occured (During the race, not any other session as what happened with practice for the 2015 Chinese Grand Prix), a Ferrari manages to win it.
Click to expand...

You can also add the 1970 Mexican Grand Prix, whereby many fans approached the track limits on race day, and crowd control was frighteningly minimal.

pescarolo_1970_mexican_gp-1600x1067.jpg


The winner was Jacky Ickx in his Ferrari 312B. The losers were the Mexican organizers for the next 15 years and one poor stray dog.
 
Last edited:
Har1MAS1415
Well we are talking a season in which 17 different drivers won a race. It wasn't just Turks, Runner-Up Tom Ingram had only 3 wins, 3rd place Tom Chilton just 1, 4th place Ashley Sutton had one more win than all three put together!
Click to expand...
And funnily enough, that 2003 Winston Cup season also had Ryan Newman with his 8 wins out-winning the top 3 in points combined while finishing... 6th in points. Even if you added 5th place Kevin Harvick into the mix with that top 3, Newman still prevails 8-7.
 
Jake Dennis (British) won the Formula E world championship in the championships 9th year

Mike Hawthorn (British) won the Formula 1 world championship in the championships 9th year
 
1961 F1 World Champion - Phil Hill
1962 F1 World Champion - Graham Hill

Consecutive surnames back-to-back but they weren't related. Has this happened elsewhere?
 
Liquid
1961 F1 World Champion - Phil Hill
1962 F1 World Champion - Graham Hill

Consecutive surnames back-to-back but they weren't related. Has this happened elsewhere?
Click to expand...
Interestingly, that also makes it three people with the same surname to win a F1 World Championship (Thanks to Graham's Son Damon), Something I don't think has happened ever since.
 
In 1994 JJ Lehto drove with both of Benetton's numbers; the 6 car as a teammate to Michael Schumacher and the 5 car alongside Jos Verstappen when Schumacher was banned.

Incredibly, Alex Zanardi did it the same year for Lotus; the 11 car partnered with Johnny Herbert for much of the season and the 12 car as Herbert's replacement when the Englishman left for Ligier. Philippe Adams temporarily subbed for Zanardi in the 11 car and then Herbert left the team, bringing Zanardi back in the 12.
 
Last edited:
Liquid
In 1994 JJ Lehto drove with both of Benetton's numbers; the 6 car as a teammate to Michael Schumacher and the 5 car alongside Jos Verstappen when Schumacher was banned.

Incredibly, Alex Zanardi did it the same year for Lotus; the 11 car partered with Johnny Herbert for much of the season and the 12 car as Herbert's replacement when the Englishman left for Ligier. Philippe Adams temporarily subbed for Zanardi in the 11 car and then Herbert left the team, bringing Zanardi back in the 12.
Click to expand...
The 2017 United States Grand Prix saw two drivers in the same team do one race in the "wrong" cars. Daniil Kyvat had been replaced for Malaysia by Pierre Gasly, but Gasly had to skip the United States GP to go and try to win the Super Formula championship (which he failed to do as the race was rained off by a Typhoon). Brendon Hartley was brought in to replace Gasly that weekend, but the team also lost Carlos Sainz that weekend, as he had been parachuted into Jolyon Palmer's seat at Renault for the rest of the season. That meant Toro Rosso had to get Daniil Kvyat back, to race in Sainz's car after also letting Seal Gelael do FP1 in it. When Gasly returned, Hartley then moved across to Sainz's old chassis to finish the season. Hartley then ended up racing as #39 for one race and #28 for the rest of the season.
 
Liquid
In 1994 JJ Lehto drove with both of Benetton's numbers; the 6 car as a teammate to Michael Schumacher and the 5 car alongside Jos Verstappen when Schumacher was banned.

Incredibly, Alex Zanardi did it the same year for Lotus; the 11 car partered with Johnny Herbert for much of the season and the 12 car as Herbert's replacement when the Englishman left for Ligier. Philippe Adams temporarily subbed for Zanardi in the 11 car and then Herbert left the team, bringing Zanardi back in the 12.
Click to expand...

I could have sworn one team swapped drivers' numbers mid-season, somewhere in those deep entry lists of 1989-90...want to say Rial?
 
Pupik
I could have sworn one team swapped drivers' numbers mid-season, somewhere in those deep entry lists of 1989-90...want to say Rial?
Click to expand...
Pierre-Henri Raphanel started the season with Coloni but moved to Rial by round 11 and drove both the 38 and 39 car for Rial by the end of the season but he was the only one:

Christian Danner drove the 38 with Pierre-Henri Raphanel in the 39.
Gregor Foitek took over the 38 for one race with Raphanel in the 39.
Bertrand Gachot replaced Foitek for the final two races but Raphanel took over the 38 car and Gachot was given the 39.
 
Liquid
Pierre-Henri Raphanel started the season with Coloni but moved to Rial by round 11 and drove both the 38 and 39 car for Rial by the end of the season but he was the only one:

Christian Danner drove the 38 with Pierre-Henri Raphanel in the 39.
Gregor Foitek took over the 38 for one race with Raphanel in the 39.
Bertrand Gachot replaced Foitek for the final two races but Raphanel took over the 38 car and Gachot was given the 39.
Click to expand...

1994 was a really strange year for so many reasons. Lots of driver changes...

There's probably some other backmarker 1970s teams that did this in the days of revolving drivers.
 
Last edited:
Pupik
1994 was a really strange year for so many reasons. Lots of driver changes...

There's probably some other backmarker 1970s teams that did this in the days of revolving drivers.
Click to expand...
Without looking it up, there's a part of my Grey matter that says, one of the seasons around 1989/90 holds the record for the most drivers in a season.
I can recall Pre-Qualifying being a thing, where 30, maybe 32 drivers would turn up every race with only the fastest 26 lining up to start the race.
Pretty sure one of these years there was over 40, maybe close to 50, having turned laps in an official Formula One session of some sort.

In a similar way, I think the Pacific team had at least six drivers on staff throughout 1994/95.

It was this sort of thing, and Lola's failure to even make a race (1996?) that led the FIA to require a substantial deposit before accepting a Team's entries for the season.

That's what I seem to recall from 30 odd years ago anyway.
 
Last edited:
I had to look up 1989 for the Pierre-Henri Raphanel fact and it was that year with the most entrants. There were initially 21 entrants with First but they dropped out.

I've written about the merry-go-round in 1994 before, Simtek, Lotus and Larrousse used lots of drivers that year and Pacific the year after.

In fact, in 1994 Tyrrell, Minardi, Footwork and Pacific were the only four teams out of thirteen who had the same two drivers all season.
 
Last edited:
Pete05
Pretty sure one of these years there was over 40, maybe close to 50, having turned laps in an official Formula One session of some sort.
Click to expand...

I can't remember the exact year, but in the 1950s, there were sometimes races which had loads of one-off drivers (1952 and '53 German GPs), though I forget if that also included the Indy 500, which naturally featured 33 drivers that almost never competed in any other races in the same year.
 
Pupik
I can't remember the exact year, but in the 1950s, there were sometimes races which had loads of one-off drivers (1952 and '53 German GPs), though I forget if that also included the Indy 500, which naturally featured 33 drivers that almost never competed in any other races in the same year.
Click to expand...
The Indy 500 was a round of the F1 season from 1950-1960.

The German Grand Prix (in which exact years I'm not sure) included Formula Two competitors.

I am sure this was a practice adopted by other Grand Prix, over the early history of the F1 championship, Monaco for example, but the specifics fail me.
 
1952 holds the record for most drivers in an F1 Season with 76 drivers (including non-starters/qualifiers but excluding Indy 500 entries).
 
Last edited:
Red Bull have finally been Schlessered. The invincible season by a team still cannot be done.

Ron Dennis exhales a significant quantity of air as a comforting outburst.
 
Believe I caught a stat post race that showed Michael is still the only driver to podium every race in a season & RB's streak of 102 consecutive Q3 appearances ends just short of Bottas' 103.
 
Last edited:
Liquid
In 1994 JJ Lehto drove with both of Benetton's numbers; the 6 car as a teammate to Michael Schumacher and the 5 car alongside Jos Verstappen when Schumacher was banned.

Incredibly, Alex Zanardi did it the same year for Lotus; the 11 car partered with Johnny Herbert for much of the season and the 12 car as Herbert's replacement when the Englishman left for Ligier. Philippe Adams temporarily subbed for Zanardi in the 11 car and then Herbert left the team, bringing Zanardi back in the 12.
Click to expand...
Jarno Trulli at Jordan in 2001, started out in car #12 for the first 12 races, moved up to #11 when Jean Alesi joined the team for the last 5 races.
 

Latest Posts

Back