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26 Mar 2007, 00:13 (Ref:1876311) | #1 | ||
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Motor Racing terminology
After attending motor racing for some 30+ yrs, I've never really given any thought to some of the terminology used. Terms such as, the pits, dummy grid, paddock, etc I know that some of the terms come from horse racing (am I correct) with regard to Stewards and paddock etc. But terms such as 'dummy grid" have me wandering. Is there any where on the net where these terms are explained. Or can someone out there provide a list of terms. Just find it interesting. I'm sure most of the terms are the same in England as they are in Australia, but the USA would have their own terminology!!
Any helpers, thanks. |
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26 Mar 2007, 09:34 (Ref:1876548) | #2 | ||
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Paddock and stewards are just two of the imports from horse racing - in the early years you had to have serious money in order to race cars and many of the early car owners were also involved with the turf. Certainly the administration of races at Brooklands was done in the same way as had been done in racing for decades: the owner/jockey theme was even carried over with the drivers wearing colours and it was only after a few meetings that the cars were all numbered.
"Pits" comes from the 1906 Grand Prix de l'ACF. They literally were pits, dug alongside the race track, in which the support team sheltered and where spares could be stored. There were strict rules which meant only the driver and riding mechanic could work on the car, so the "pit crew" were really only there in an advisory capacity. Other races copied the idea, but the familiar "pit counter" quickly evolved. Nevertheless, the name stuck. "Dummy grid": a fairly recent coinage - 1970s? |
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26 Mar 2007, 16:53 (Ref:1876854) | #3 | ||
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Mock grid is also commonly used here. Basically same as the starting grid but formed up elsewhere. Same would apply to dummy grid.
Now how did Shunt come about? No comments about Mr. Hunt please. |
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26 Mar 2007, 18:44 (Ref:1876957) | #4 | |
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Shunt - does that come from rail? as in pushing two carriages up against each other?
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27 Mar 2007, 10:13 (Ref:1877490) | #5 | |
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when did mechanics become 'technicians' ?
I find 'spanner' a derisory term myself, it was always a reference to someone who was a bit of a Divvy when I was at school ! |
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27 Mar 2007, 11:30 (Ref:1877548) | #6 | ||
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Slightly off the topic, but one of my favourite Motor Racing phrases is:
From the engine builder: The car retired due to an electrical problem. Meaning that a con-rod has gone straight through the distributor! Last edited by VIVA GT; 27 Mar 2007 at 11:32. |
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27 Mar 2007, 12:40 (Ref:1877605) | #7 | |||
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These comments are my personal opinion, they do not reflect the views of others at Carr Racing. Born into racing! Will never leave racing, ever! Its in my blood! |
27 Mar 2007, 14:43 (Ref:1877694) | #8 | ||
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Quote:
...so soon the mechanicing spannering 'gofor' will become a fully fledged race engineer... ...spectators become race observers... ...marshalls become incident officials... ...scrutineers become health and safety inspectors... ...drivers become operatives of competing vehicles... arf arf arf...etc.... |
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27 Mar 2007, 15:38 (Ref:1877719) | #9 | |||
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28 Mar 2007, 09:52 (Ref:1878306) | #10 | |||
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He said that their mechanics basically 'paint by numbers' - unbolt one part and replace with a similar part. Similar to the kid who services your road car by following a list telling him what to change, rather than checking what needs to be done. He also complained that Lola's price list has nothing that costs less than a pound (e.g. they don't do pennies) and given it even includes nuts, bolts and washers some of the 'cost cutting' in these formulas does anything but save money. Given that - spanner is possibly an appropriate term for a lot of the current race mechanics. |
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29 Mar 2007, 09:52 (Ref:1879033) | #11 | |
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Another one that used to amuse me was Fitter . . .my Step Dad is a qualified Fitter and as such is able, and also tought me how to make proper repairs to things as well as make tools and parts. He used go nuts when he ran a tool hire shop because the 'fitters' he had inherited struggled to do anything more than unbolt a broken bit and bolt on a new one . . .and even that could be a challenge too far!
The day scrutineers become health and safety officials is the day racing dies ! |
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29 Mar 2007, 11:55 (Ref:1879119) | #12 | ||
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I used to manage a team of agricultural engineers and if anyone ever mentioned the name Fitter youd get lynched! They all hated that one and reckoned fitters were people who walked round a factory kicking things! then they all evolved into technicians,then field service operatives,senior product support analasysts.Guess our boss laid awake thinking of job titles all night! Think my favorite is senior sales executive. Spotty faced youth with stripey suite selling BMWs!
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29 Mar 2007, 13:21 (Ref:1879189) | #13 | |||
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These comments are my personal opinion, they do not reflect the views of others at Carr Racing. Born into racing! Will never leave racing, ever! Its in my blood! |
29 Mar 2007, 20:39 (Ref:1879466) | #14 | |
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Terminology
A few weeks ago I required the services of a plumber so I looked up Yellow Pages and found a number under 'plumbers'. When the telephone was answered I said 'Hello, I'm looking for a plumber...' There was an exasperated sigh at the other end and through gritted teeth the response was 'I am not a plumber. I am a Heating Engineer...'
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29 Mar 2007, 21:05 (Ref:1879492) | #15 | |||
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30 Mar 2007, 12:01 (Ref:1879823) | #16 | ||
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