Trackside: Grand Prix farces
13 November 2006 And A1 Grand Prix suffered embarrassment at its first ever street race in China: The track was too small for the cars, loose manhole covers caused chaos, and a marshal blocked the track during the race. Trackside: Keith Collantine looks back at motor-sports’ most embarrassing blow-outs. Tyred out Even ultra-professional Formula One can get it wrong. Michelin discovered their tyres could not cope with the unique banked corner on the Indianapolis track – which meant that 14 of the 20 starters could not race.
Unwilling to risk causing multiple high-speed accidents, the Michelin teams withdrew, and only six cars participated. The farce did enormous damage to F1’s reputation. Blackouts and wipe-outs When the Indy Car series began practicing for their first race at the new Texas Speedway in 2001 a series of unusual and inexplicable accidents troubled the organisers. After a brief investigation they discovered that the speed of their cars combined with the angle of the oval banking was exerting intolerably high G-forces on the drivers – in excess of those experienced by fighter pilots. The crashes were being caused by the drivers blacking out.
Where is everyone? The 1982 Formula One championship was riddled with controversy. When Brazilian Grand Prix winner Nelson Piquet was disqualified after the race, his Brabham team and many others reacted by boycotting the San Marino round. This left the Ferraris and Renaults as the only competitive entrants in a field of 14 instead of 31. But even then there was controversy as Ferrari driver Didier Pironi refused to heed team orders to finish behind team mate Gilles Villeneuve. An incensed Villeneuve stated his intention never to speak to Pironi again, before crashing to his death in qualifying for the next round in Belgium. Racing round-up A1 Grand Prix, Beijing, China The organisers successfully managed to widen the track and fix the manhole covers in place before the races. Amid the chaos Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands) and Enrico Toccacelo (Italy) took a win apiece. British debutante Oliver Jarvis managed a seventh and a second to move Team Britain to third in the standings. Champ Car World Series, Mexico City Sebastian Bourdais capped his championship triumph by winning a thrilling finale with a gutsy pass on Britain’s Justin Wilson on the final lap. But it was a tough race for British rookies Dan Clarke and Katherine Legge. Clarke suffered engine failure and Legge was tipped into the pit wall on the first lap by Mario Dominguez. Auto Trader links |
Discussions began to find a compromise solution but Max Mosley, the President of the FIA governing body, refused to allow the track to be changed.
After unsuccessful attempts to reduce speeds by changing the rear wings CART were forced to cancel the race, and the struggling series took one more step towards its dissolution in 2003.Page 1
