hulme/conrod straight

[thunder road]

Denny hulme,world champion.Can-Am champion,a champoin person,died with his boots on ,doing what he 'loved' most,racing a car(BMW)touring car,this was not a racing accident, 'god' just decided,there and then that he had a spot on his team for Denny,and when the 'Big Man calls!!!!,so my point is,Conrod Sraight/bathurst,as a mark of respect ,to a true world championshould be re-named,"HULME?CONROD STAIGHT",your thoughts???????????

[Morris 1100]

Nice idea but...
All the deaths at Bathurst in cars happened on Conrod Straight and I feel it would not be fair to all the others that died on Conrod.
Jack Johnson 1949
Reg Smith 1960
Bevan Gibson 1969
Tom Sulman 1970
Mike Burgman 1986
Denny Hulme 1992
Don Watson
And we should not forget the two spectators that died on Conrod at Easter 1955.

[Falcadore]

Sine we're talking about the name of the straight, its Con-Rod Straight, not Conrod.

[FalconEL]

Falc,

I always thought it was Conrod, can you elaborate a little more re: the Con-Rod thing??

CD.

[BJAY]

Originally posted by FalconEL
Falc,

I always thought it was Conrod, can you elaborate a little more re: the Con-Rod thing??

CD.

It was named so because drivers thought they would break their Connecting Rod in the engine if they pushed too hard on the long straight.

Therefore it is Con-rod.

BJ

[William Dale Jr]

IIRC, wasn't it a broken con-rod in Frank Kleinig's Hudson that led to the name? Can't quite remember the full story off-hand.

[thunder road]

Hulme/Con-rod; point taken with regard to the other racers, but none of them where a F1 world champion, put it this way,most other tracks, world wide, would under take this oportunity as a mark of respect !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bigguy]

Can somebody please explain the difference between a con-rod and a conrod? I can't sleep

[Bruce Moxon]

So the start/finish straight at Le Mans should be named for Pierre Levegh, or the 80-odd specators that went with him? How about the entry to the first Lesmo, should that be Von Tripps corner now? What about the Tamburello - heretofore known as the Senna Curve. Even the Ostkurve at Hockenheim hasn't had its name changed - it's not the Jim Clark Kurve, is it?

That's just off the top o' me head. There are plenty of places where drivers have died and there's no naming rights.

I'll grant you that Levegh and Von Tripps were not World Champions. But Levegh was a top sports car driver and Von Tripps was probably going to be World Champion, until his crash.

Yes, there should be a memorial to Denny. The name of the straight should not change. Same goes for other traditionally named bits of track that now have commercial sponsors - but that's another rant.


Bruce Moxon

[BlueBlood]

Bigguy, i think because con rod is short for two seperate words (connecting rod) it is written with a space or a hyphen. i.e con rod or con-rod.
If it is a product name it seems to be written as conrod.
Confused?

[Just Do It!]

I am lead to believe that William Dale Jr. is correct.

Also as a point of order: Denny Hulme died on Con-Rod/ Conrod Straight at Bathurst 1992. He wasn't killed. Denny had a heart attack.
As such, the passing of Denny Hulme at Mt Panorama, was due to natural causes.

As an interesting point of interest, there is an article on 10-10ths written by Denny's partner of the time, Sandy Myhre.....

[mountainstar]

I don't see any need to change the name of con-rod, maybe naming one of the buildings after him would be better.

[William Dale Jr]

That raises another point, are there any actual memorials around the track in rememberence of these men? There was one for Mike Burgmann in the wall just before the Dunlop Bridge, is it still there?

BTW Bruce, the first chicane that was later installed was named after Jim Clark, and there's a memorial nearby. Whether it's still there now they've torn up the old track, I'm not sure.

[jetsetter]

Originally posted by thunder road
Hulme/Con-rod; point taken with regard to the other racers, but none of them where a F1 world champion, put it this way,most other tracks, world wide, would under take this oportunity as a mark of respect !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't see why as a former World Champion that Danny Hulme's life was more important than Mike Burgman's, Tom Sulman's or any of the other drivers who have tragically lost their lives at Mt. Panorama. I think to single out Danny Hulme for that particular honour would be a slap in the face for the families of the other drivers.

[mountainstar]

Originally posted by jetsetter
I don't see why as a former World Champion that Danny Hulme's life was more important than Mike Burgman's, Tom Sulman's or any of the other drivers who have tragically lost their lives at Mt. Panorama. I think to single out Danny Hulme for that particular honour would be a slap in the face for the families of the other drivers.

You are right about that, but I think not a memorial but naming something after Hulme is more a celebration and recognition of his achievements in life than his death.

[Armco Bender]

Why not rename Pukekohe Denny Hulme Raceway?,after all he is a Kiwi,Bathurst wasn't a large part of his racing career.
But then even in NZ is achievements have largely gone unheralded.

[Morris 1100]

Originally posted by William Dale Jr
That raises another point, are there any actual memorials around the track in rememberence of these men? There was one for Mike Burgmann in the wall just before the Dunlop Bridge, is it still there?

BTW Bruce, the first chicane that was later installed was named after Jim Clark, and there's a memorial nearby. Whether it's still there now they've torn up the old track, I'm not sure.

A lot of people forget that there is (was?) a memorial alongside Jim Clarks memorial for another driver. Can any of the Kiwis tell me who it is for?

[PVDA]

September 29 this year will actually be the 10th anniversary of the death of Don Watson at Bathurst.

That also means that early next year it will be 10 years since Greg Hansford died in a crash at Phillip Island.

Between those two there were two drivers who died at Winton on consecutive weekends from medical problems (non crash) while competing as well.

All in all a very black period in motorsport.

There were/are memorial plaques around Mt Panorama at the various fatal accident locations in tribute to those killed.

[Falcadore]

Originally posted by William Dale Jr
IIRC, wasn't it a broken con-rod in Frank Kleinig's Hudson that led to the name? Can't quite remember the full story off-hand.

What he said

[Falcadore]

Originally posted by Bruce Moxon
So the start/finish straight at Le Mans should be named for Pierre Levegh, or the 80-odd specators that went with him? How about the entry to the first Lesmo, should that be Von Tripps corner now? What about the Tamburello - heretofore known as the Senna Curve. Even the Ostkurve at Hockenheim hasn't had its name changed - it's not the Jim Clark Kurve, is it?

That's just off the top o' me head. There are plenty of places where drivers have died and there's no naming rights.

I'll grant you that Levegh and Von Tripps were not World Champions. But Levegh was a top sports car driver and Von Tripps was probably going to be World Champion, until his crash.

Yes, there should be a memorial to Denny. The name of the straight should not change. Same goes for other traditionally named bits of track that now have commercial sponsors - but that's another rant.


Bruce Moxon

And Bruce, the rash of tiny chicanes which were suddenly labeled Senna Chicane the world over during 1994/95, surely he would not have approved the naming of corners he would have despised is his honour?

There should be an apropriateness to the honour.

[Bruce Moxon]

Indeed Mark - although Senna was fantastic to watch through those chicanes!

BM

[Bruce Moxon]

Sorry, not the ones that appeared after his death, of course. Sheesh - silly me. He was good in the ones that were around before he died.

Gawd, next we'll have him sharting a flat with Elvis....


BM

[Just Do It!]

Armco Bender: You have a great idea there, but objections may come flooding in now that it is essentially a branch of Westbury Stud

[Placebo]

Originally posted by Bigguy
Can somebody please explain the difference between a con-rod and a conrod? I can't sleep

I'm with you Bigguy. Wouldn't (or shouldn't) it be written as con'rod? Isn't that the way it's written (or s'posed to be) to signify missing letters. I'd have to say I've never been very good at English so I can't be sure. It'd take a scholar to be definite so we'll have to wait and see if there's any 'round.

[Amaroo Park]

Originally posted by Falcadore
Sine we're talking about the name of the straight, its Con-Rod Straight, not Conrod.

Yes and the corner leading onto Con-Rod Straigth is Forrest's Elbow not Forrest Elbow