Motorsport Quiz

[rbs]

A very clever question Chris, I had not considered Fangio as a retirement in this race as I knew he won it. I just forgot he shared the car with Musso later in the race.

[Gerard C]

Yes very good question, kudos and thanks for the brain work it represents. As to Fangio sharing a car, just for fun, can you make a crazy list with the remaining names? Senna and Prost for instance…

[E.B]

Originally Posted by E.B

Of the WDC's Piquet and Mansell (and Prost as per my previous post) Piquet was a spin, and Mansell a collision... all other WDC first race of the season DNF's were mechanical failures.

I might have been a little unkind to Señor Piquet.... Yes he did spin, but it would seem his spin was caused by his transmission locking or failing, so rather than him being on the self inflicted list he should probably be thought of as a mechanical DNF.

[Gerard C]

And this collision for Mansell is not the one when he smasehed his skull against an iron bar…

[E.B]

I was also a little too kind to Alonso.... I broke the golden rule of assumption. I knew Alonso in 2016 was in the McLaren with the "GP2" Honda engine and had it in my mind it was an engine failure.

In reality it was a case of Fernando with one of his misjudged pulling out from behind another car overtake moments at 180mph, as he drove into the Haas of Gutierrez (literally!) and ended up rolling over into the sandpit suffering "rib fractures" and a partially collapsed lung... enough to keep him out of the car for Bahrain on Doctor's orders..

[crmalcolm]

OK - next question:

A multi-part question – with the intention of highlighting some interesting F1 (and wider motorsport) history.

Starting with a poster for an event –
What F1 first was set on the same day as the race in the poster below?
What links that F1 first to the poster?
Now the bonus part – the engine that powered the F1 first was based on something that raced in the Indy 500 of 1962. What was significant about this?

[E.B]

I think re that engine, there was also a link to something that raced at Sandown down my way in the early sixties, driven. by a gentleman whose (brief) F1 career was over by then

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by E.B

I think re that engine, there was also a link to something that raced at Sandown down my way in the early sixties, driven. by a gentleman whose (brief) F1 career was over by then

If you are referring to the Tasman races / Sandown International Cup - the engine in question was an 'alternative' to the most commonly used engine in the early '60s at Sandown - and (I think) first made an appearance in the 1966 Tasman Series.

[rbs]

Wasn't this Brabhams 1st win in a car bearing his own name. Fairly sure the engine was based on a Buick block.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by rbs

Wasn't this Brabhams 1st win in a car bearing his own name.

Yes - and what links it to the poster?

Originally Posted by rbs

Fairly sure the engine was based on a Buick block.

I realise now my question wording was misleading.

Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be:

The engine that powered the F1 first was inspired by something that raced in the Indy 500 of 1962. What was significant about this?

You are right about the Indy 500 entry being a Buick block - why was it significant at the Indy 500?

And now that the Buick block is mentioned - the actual engine used in Brabham's car was based on a different block. What was that block?



To summarise the question so far:
What F1 first was set on the same day as the race in the poster below? Brabham won in a car bearing his name. The first F1 driver to win in a car they were a manufacturer of.
What links that F1 first to the poster?
The engine that powered the F1 first was inspired by something that raced in the Indy 500 of 1962. What was significant about this? [We are looking at a Buick block]
What block was used as the basis for the engine in Brabham's car he won the F1 race in?

[morninggents]

Was it a Repco block based on the Chevvy/Holden unit?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by morninggents

Was it a Repco block based on the Chevvy/Holden unit?

It was a Repco engine. The block was not a Chevrolet or Holden.

[E.B]

The Sandown link to which I referred was that in 1962 at Sandown Jack had seen potential in the engine used in Chuck Daigh’s Scarab Buick, driven AFAIK at Sandown Tasman Cup by the ex F1 driver Lance Reventlow.

The engine was based on a production / stock block, at least unusual in Indy racing at the time. It also was a 'linerless' engine with an alloy block without wanting to get too technical.

There were actually two engines with detail differences, the Oldsmobile F85 and Buick 215. The Oldsmobile was to Jack more competition suitable as it had 6 stud head mounts against 5 of the Buick. I always thought it was the Oldsmobile block rather than tthe Buick. I need to do some reading to clarify.

But in terms of the question What Block, I am saying Oldsmobile as opposed to Buick.

I know the engine was the RB 620.... as mentioned I always though that to be Oldsmobile F85 based. The RB prefix standing for Repco Brabham, the name of the new Repco Division set up to build the race engines. Repco was a road car parts manufacturer principally (originally called REplacement Parts COmpany before it became Repco)

Many of the Repco engines were built for Australian Sports cars like Matich, Elfin, Renmax in capacities right up to 5 litre.

[rbs]

The Brabham is the 3rd car in the poster.

Just looked at the only non offenhauser engine was a Buick in the Mickey Thompson special of Dan Gurney.

[S griffin]

Yes it's definitely a Brabham. Interesting facts about the Indy engines guys!

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by E.B

The Sandown link to which I referred was that in 1962 at Sandown Jack had seen potential in the engine used in Chuck Daigh’s Scarab Buick, driven AFAIK at Sandown Tasman Cup by the ex F1 driver Lance Reventlow.

The engine was based on a production / stock block, at least unusual in Indy racing at the time. It also was a 'linerless' engine with an alloy block without wanting to get too technical.

There were actually two engines with detail differences, the Oldsmobile F85 and Buick 215. The Oldsmobile was to Jack more competition suitable as it had 6 stud head mounts against 5 of the Buick. I always thought it was the Oldsmobile block rather than tthe Buick. I need to do some reading to clarify.

But in terms of the question What Block, I am saying Oldsmobile as opposed to Buick.

I know the engine was the RB 620.... as mentioned I always though that to be Oldsmobile F85 based. The RB prefix standing for Repco Brabham, the name of the new Repco Division set up to build the race engines. Repco was a road car parts manufacturer principally (originally called REplacement Parts COmpany before it became Repco)

Many of the Repco engines were built for Australian Sports cars like Matich, Elfin, Renmax in capacities right up to 5 litre.

Pretty much sums up everything about the question.

The entry at the Indy 500 was significant because it was the first appearance of a stock block engined car at Indy since 1945.


For more context - Jack checking out the Buick engine in the Scarab at the 1962 Sandown International Cup:



And spot on - it was the F85 Oldsmobile that was used as the basis for the RB620.




First appearance was in the Tasman Series in 1966, in the BT19.



The misconception that it was a Buick 215 block came from press reports accompanied by the tagline 'The F1 Championship Engine based on a Buick, built in a tin shed in Australia and held together with Araldite’!

[E.B]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

The misconception that it was a Buick 215 block came from press reports accompanied by the tagline 'The F1 Championship Engine based on a Buick, built in a tin shed in Australia and held together with Araldite’!

It is interesting that as far as I am aware the Repco Brabhams were build in a new purpose built factory.

In fact Repco still exist today and is where I buy my car parts. They supply both trade and retail and I can walk in there and off the shelf buy pretty much anything for my Audi off the shelf. The trade swear by them.

Looking at their timeline of the sixties from their website https://www.repco.com.au/en/about-us

1960's
Boom times for Repco with 14 factories in 1960 increasing to 38 factories by 1970

Not sure too many tin sheds were involved.

Now they have over 400 stores and 4000 employees.

[S griffin]

Brabhams were always well prepared and the link from Repco helped. Of course nothing lasts forever, but at least the factory has been turned into something else motoring wise and it’s a good business.

Interesting as always to look back at the 60s, very interesting time for Grand Prix racing

[rbs]

Next Question,

Name the the 3 drivers with the worst entry/start rate in F1. These 3 drivers all made several entries into GP's but failed to start any of them? There are no did not arrive's or withdrawn entries here. How many events did they fail at?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by rbs

Next Question,

Name the the 3 drivers with the worst entry/start rate in F1. These 3 drivers all made several entries into GP's but failed to start any of them? There are no did not arrive's or withdrawn entries here. How many events did they fail at?

I think:

14: Claudio Langes - 14 times failed to Pre-Qualify
13: Pedro Chaves - 13 times failed to Pre-Qualify
10: Volker Weidler - 9 times failed to Pre-Qualify, 1 time excluded

And next on the list would be:
8: Perry McCarthy - 6 times failed to Pre-Qualify, 1 time excluded, 1 time refused entry (plus 1 withdrawn, 1 did not participate (no engine) and 1 did not arrive)

[rbs]

That did not last long, thought it would have been trickier than 10 minutes!

[S griffin]

Some questions have been easier than others, but some have been really tough!

[crmalcolm]

OK - this one might be easy (I think):

Lauda did this in 1984, Hulme achieved this in 1967.
What have they done that has not been repeated since?

[BTCC frog]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

OK - this one might be easy (I think):

Lauda did this in 1984, Hulme achieved this in 1967.
What have they done that has not been repeated since?

Won the championship with no pole positions.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by BTCC frog

Won the championship with no pole positions.

Yes - that's right.