Some interest info/pics about russia's autosport

[f1-gast]

I was search for some pics about chernobyl and found this great site.
I was just spitting through the articles and if ound this one.

http://englishrussia.com/2011/03/17/ret ... more-40436

It goes abou the Russia Autosport in history !
Hope you guys enjoy

[dr-baker]

Quick-moving cars quickly became winners in this race.

That's generally the idea of how to win.

More seriously, I noticed, just over half-way down, a photo of a car with the name Toivo Asmer on it. A relative of Marko Asmer, unless I'm very much mistaken?

Edit: I'm right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marko_Asmer

[dinizintheoven]

Notable comments:

Most Soviet formula cars were made in Estonia. Also called Estonia.
also check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia_%28race_car%29 and http://www.toomasnapa.com/

So I did...

Estonia 10 (1964) Soviet F1 car 2500cc. 1 made.
Estonia 11 (1964) Also Soviet F1. 1 made.
Estonia 14 (1966) Soviet F1 car. 1 made.
Estonia 17 (1974) Soviet F1 car. 1 made.

If only the Soviet government had said "We will take on Westerrrrn capitalist pigs at own game and enter Forrrrrrmula 1! We beat them with fine Soviet Lada engine!" in the 1960s or 1970s. I think the profile they'd undoubtedly have had on this site would make very interesting reading.

Instead... we get Vitaly Petrov and his exploits in the Lada Cup in 2002, which make Sebastian Vettel look like a complete amateur.

[f1-gast]

Well acually he USSR did have F1 projects but they all failed because of a lack of power and know how

[The Mountain Man]

Oh yes, the Moskvitch G5. This was to be the "Soviet F1". The engine deserves a bit of mention: called GD-1 it was a V8 built out of four cylinder blocks taken from the Vostok S360 racing motorcycle (actually a Jawa) and reworked to use two common camshafts per bank. Since the Soviet industry lacked the capability to built proper carburetors these were imported twin body Weber units. Power never exceeded 162 hp: it wasn't very far off the Coventry Climax V8 but reliability was a bit of issue due to lack of funding which in the end killed the project.
It's curious to note the G5 was the first cars built in the USSR featuring brake discs on all four wheels and it wasn't consigned to the scrap heap: it was fitted with a heavily tuned Moskvitch 142 engine and used in national races.

[WeirdKerr]

http://www.f1rejects.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4221 some of those images remind me of this

[The Mountain Man]

Speaking of racing in the Soviet Bloc has anyone ever heard of Heinz Melkus?
This man was nothing short of one of the unsung heroes of motorsports. He was a tuner active in the DDR in the '60s and '70s. He started out by building Formula Junior cars for the national championship: the first cars were powered by the Trabant two stroke twin, then he was able to get his hands on a supply of Wartburg three cylinders. In spite of limited resources he was able to tune these engines to an almost incredible 70 HP, allegedly by leveraging on two stroke technology coming from the famous MZ motorcycle factory.
In the '70s the DDR government acknowledged his work and gave him more resources, including access to aerodynamics facilities and a supply of Russian-built Lada engines, which he managed to tune to a whooping 120 HP. The end result was the MT-77 Formula 3, a car which was used in national championships in the Eastern Bloc up until the fall of the Berlin Wall.

[David AGS]

Wheres Sergei Zlobin, the former Minardi tester!

Aka 'The Gasprom Man'

[Pointrox]

Wheres Sergei Zlobin, the former Minardi tester!

Aka 'The Gasprom Man'

He's in Mother Russia, racing some midgets