Funny Racing Stories

Racing events, drivers, cars or anything else from the past.
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futuretiger9
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#31

Post by futuretiger9 »

Bottom post of the previous page:

Great story! Did you get to the Led Zeppelin gig, and how was it?
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Everso Biggyballies
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#32

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

futuretiger9 wrote: Great story! Did you get to the Led Zeppelin gig, and how was it?
Thanks re the Fun Day story. Fun to look back on but scary at the time.

Yeah I got to the gig, and it was great. Louder than a Mazda megaphone exhaust. A couple of days ago I actually emailed a friend of mine from UK, who I took to the races that day as we were both going to Led Zep to verify some points for that story.

He answered me just today and confirmed it was like I said, but reminded me of my trying to reverse park 'the rig' in a side street space that was a little ambitious. There was a nice new car behind.... the owner of which came out from his flat to check what was happening, and told me it wouldnt fit the space. Apparently I very confidently said 'Oh yes it will', and continued to inch towards his car. At which point he screamed out Stop, pulled his keys out and moved his car to another spot up the road. Who said size doesnt count or mean anything! :tongue: :haha: :wink:

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
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Cheeveer
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#33

Post by Cheeveer »

My god, were you at Zeppelin's gig at Earls Court 18th May 1975? I am listening to a bootleg from that gig right now! I also have a DVD with parts from that! :tongue:
***Some say you should live each day like it was your last... but who wants to live each day in wild panic and extreme death anxiety?

The universe, look at the hugeness of it... it is a dizzying thought that little ol' me is the centre of it all!***
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Everso Biggyballies
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Location: Just moved 3 klms further away so now 11 klms from Albert Park, Melbourne.

#34

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Cheeveer wrote:My god, were you at Zeppelin's gig at Earls Court 18th May 1975? I am listening to a bootleg from that gig right now! I also have a DVD with parts from that! :tongue:
Not sure if it was the 18th but I guess it was the Sunday night I would have been there after the race. They played more than one night, maybe 4or 5 nights I think. ......I remember the feeling and reports in the media said it was their best concerts ever.... Better than the Bay City Rollers for sure!

Just checked and there was a Mallory Meeting on the 18th so I guess YES! :shock: :thumbsup: :wink:

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
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CevertAngel
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#35

Post by CevertAngel »

Cheeveer wrote:My god, were you at Zeppelin's gig at Earls Court 18th May 1975? I am listening to a bootleg from that gig right now! I also have a DVD with parts from that! :tongue:
Strange co-incediences going on here ...........I went to that show at Earl's Court...............I still have the ticket stub ..........Its framed along with a poster thing I got a the show.............It was my first rock concert that Id gone too at age 15 , Iwent with my two older cousins Ray (19) and his brother Mike (21) and Mike's Girlfriend then now wife Laurena (22)....... :shock:

It is a very, very small world isnt it.......... :dunno:
Always One Of Great Brilliance on the Track and Great Kindness Of It... - Francois Cevert (1944-1973) .... Loved and Missed Always,
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Everso Biggyballies
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#36

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

I actually posted this as part of another post in another thread but I think it is quite amusing so for those that may not have read it there.....

It relates to James Hunt in his 'Hunt the Shunt' days of F3
At the final race of that year, Hunt’s machine wound up straddling a fence. Jabbing furiously at the starter button, full of adrenaline, enraged that the engine would not start, he sat shouting oaths at it, until it was pointed out to him by a marshall that his engine was on the other side of the track, well detached from the tub he was sat in........

A bit similar to other 'It wouldnt start' stories
:whistling: :wink:

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
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futuretiger9
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#37

Post by futuretiger9 »

James did work himself into a bit of a state before a race, and there are the stories about him throwing up before getting into the car. He maintained that this was worry at potentially damaging the car, and the resultant financial effects, rather than fear.

When the race ended, prematurely or otherwise, the adrenaline had to be dissipated, hence the much-publicised incidents involving Dave Morgan, and marshals in Canada and Monaco.
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Everso Biggyballies
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Location: Just moved 3 klms further away so now 11 klms from Albert Park, Melbourne.

#38

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Michael Andretti, during his short F1 career had a very demanding wife at the
time - Sandy. She very quickly upset the Ronster, making herself a nuisance
within the squad.

Used to the all-access, big-stars-and-trappings approach of American motorsport,
she asked for not only pit passes but also headphones to listen in on her man
when he was in the car. This was a bit of a no-no request in the world of the F1 paddock, by then well past the days where you would see the likes of Bette Hill, Nora Tyrrell and others looking after the stop watches and timing or similar. It was by then a closely-guarded sanctum where access is limited, computers ruled and where rights are on a needs basis only, and where partners and wives stand
unobtrusively looking worried, gasping and biting their nails, but never actually getting involved.

Rather than Sandy being over-anxious for her husband, it was a known fact that
she liked the limelight herself, and was a bit of a media slut. Her outfits, more suited to 'other occassions' than the F1 pits, attracted disdain and comment. She was not one to wear the sponsors shirt and cap, and look the part!

Legend has it that Ron Dennis was so against her swanning around the pit like she owned the place that he especially employed someone with their only duty being to take Sandy shopping, using retail therapy to get her out of the team environment and pitlane on race weekends. :haha: :haha: :haha:

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
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futuretiger9
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#39

Post by futuretiger9 »

Judging by Sandy's taste in gaudy clothes and jewellery, I don't think that the shopping trips laid on by Ron will have eaten into the McLaren budget THAT much!

She was one of the reasons that people took against Michael when he entered F1. They just didn't seem CULTURALLY suited to the scene.
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#40

Post by CevertAngel »

Now this would be the only reason Id ever feel sorry for Ron Dennis.........I wouldnt wish the now ex- Mrs Sandy Andretti on anyone.......... :haha:
Always One Of Great Brilliance on the Track and Great Kindness Of It... - Francois Cevert (1944-1973) .... Loved and Missed Always,
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#41

Post by ReneLotus »

Scary lady, very scary lady... :tongue:
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futuretiger9
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#42

Post by futuretiger9 »

CevertAngel wrote:Now this would be the only reason Id ever feel sorry for Ron Dennis.........I wouldnt wish the now ex- Mrs Sandy Andretti on anyone.......... :haha:

Yeah, resolving the Prost-Senna feud must have seemed straighforward by comparison!
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CevertAngel
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#43

Post by CevertAngel »

futuretiger9 wrote:
CevertAngel wrote:Now this would be the only reason Id ever feel sorry for Ron Dennis.........I wouldnt wish the now ex- Mrs Sandy Andretti on anyone.......... :haha:

Yeah, resolving the Prost-Senna feud must have seemed straighforward by comparison!
Childs Play compared to the Ex-Mrs Andretti.........Even I would have rather put up with Prost and Senna trying to kill each other over her.........And thats sayng something conidering I dont like Mr Prost a great deal either....... :wow:
Always One Of Great Brilliance on the Track and Great Kindness Of It... - Francois Cevert (1944-1973) .... Loved and Missed Always,
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Everso Biggyballies
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#44

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Not really an actual race event, but it does relate to one of F1's most famous people, and I think it is really quite amusing.

It relates to the only man to have designed cars that have won multiple championships, both WDC and WCC, for three teams, Williams, McLaren and Red Bull. Interestingly those three teams have a total of approx 330 GP wins. This man accounts for nearly 140 of them.

I refer of course to Adrian Newey - designer and aerodynamist extraordinaire.

Many will know his education was unconventional for a guy in his position... He went to a private school, Repton, but was expelled at 16. Newey tells the tale of his expulsion:
Adrian Newey wrote:“A whole series of misdemeanours.” Newey laughs. “I’m not sure I have ever admitted this in an interview but I think the one that finally nailed it was that sixth formers back then were allowed to organise a pop concert for the end of term. That year, it must have been 1975, we got Greenslade.

“It was tangerine dreams time,” he adds by way of explanation. “An atmospheric band. Anyway, it was held in the Pears building, which was an 11th century hall complete with 11th century stained glass windows, which had survived Cromwell and everything else.

“The roadie’s sound mixer was in the middle of the auditorium and the guy went off for a pee so yours truly leapt to the controls and slid all the sliders to maximum. At which point the near 1000 year old stained glass window went boom just as the headmaster walked in…...”
:haha: :haha:


One thing I was not aware of, (although I knew he studied Aerodynamics at Southampton Uni in to 1980) is that he gained a 1st Class Honours Degree in Aero Dynamics - his thesis was written on ground-effect aerodynamics, which he had noted was about to revolutionize the whole of motor racing, particularly with F1. Note he specifically said "was about to", so it is not like he cribbed it all from Colin Chapman and Co. :omg:

Given the nature of his degree and its relevance to motor racing the reason he secured his first motor racing job is also a little unusual for such a specific type of job.... another "bit of a laugh....."
“After Repton I went to the local technical college in Leamington Spa, and having been to this very Dickensian public school I just went completely mad,” he continues. “Girls and motorbikes and all those other things of which I had been deprived."

“So I was writing around to all the teams I could find addresses for,” he says, “and generally getting the Catch 22 answer: ‘We only take people with experience’. But finally Harvey Postlethwaite, the technical director at Fittipaldi, asked me up for an interview.

So I went up on my Ducati ..... I was sitting in the lobby waiting for him, and he came out and saw me in my leathers. First question of the interview, ‘Oh, what have you got?’

“I said a Ducati 900SS. And he said, ‘Oh fantastic. I have a Guzzi Le Mans’, which was the big rival at the time. ‘Can I have a go?’

So off he went around the industrial estate and came back and said ‘Right, when can you start?’ That was the interview.”
:haha: :haha:

I knew that his early work was all created with pencil and drawing board, but I presumed that in these computer governed days it might have changed..... it appears not. He still does not use one!
“I am probably the only dinosaur left in the pit lane who still uses a drawing board rather than a CAD [computer aided design] system,” he shrugs. “I suppose I’m a creature of habit. As the computer generation came along, I have never worked with one.”

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
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#45

Post by theracer120 »

This comical story comes from a 1953 F1 non-championship race at Snetterton:
Anthony Crook's Cooper-Alta had it's clutch disintegrate. The bell-housing shattered, taking the brake pedal with it. Unable to stop, Crook ran far into a cultivated field, and was knocked out by a flying cabbage.....
Of all the ways to get injured in a race car, that has to be one of the more bizarre.
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SBan83
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#46

Post by SBan83 »

:lol:
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