Grand Prix Rejects

August 17th

1975 - Vittorio Brambilla won the Austrian Grand Prix... and then binned it on the slowdown lap, although the wet conditions might have had something to do with that. It was also the only race for Jo Vonlanthen, a Swiss gentleman who was Frank Williams' driver of the week. He qualified last on the grid, beating only the non-qualifying Maki of Tony Trimmer and Wilson Fittipaldi's Copersucar. Earlier in the day Mark Donohue's March was catapulted into an advertising hoarding, killing two marshals. Donohue himself succumbed to a brain haemorrhage two days later.

August 18th

1985 - After a year away Kenny Acheson made his return to the RAM team to replace the late Manfred Winkelhock. He put the car 23rd on the grid but his engine blew after 23 laps. This was also the first all-turbo Grand Prix, as Martin Brundle failed to qualify his Ford Cosworth DFY-engined Tyrrell.

August 19th

1950 - Cuth Harrison won the Sheffield Telegraph Trophy driving an ERA.

August 20th

1961 - Tim Parnell drove his Lotus to 5th place in the Kanonloppet.

Yes, that's the best I can come up with.

August 21st

2005 - F1 visited Istanbul (not Constantinople) for the first time. Michelin suffered more tyre failures, but thankfully they were restricted to the two Williams cars of Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber, which earned them ROTR. And as a little bonus, here's an onboard qualifying lap with Robert Doornbos.

August 22nd

1947 - The other F1 driver named Scheckter was born. Ian Scheckter started out in F1 like most of the other drivers from southern Africa by competing in his home race in privately entered machinery. In Ian's case it was a Lotus 72E entered by John Love's Team Gunston. However, unlike most South African and Rhodesian drivers he did venture out into Europe on occasion, the first time with Hesketh in Austria later in the year. In both 1975 and 1976 he competed in the South African Grand Prix in a Tyrrell entered by Lexington Racing and also drove in Sweden and the Netherlands in 1975 for Williams. In 1977 Ian finally secured a full-time drive at March. Unfortunately, March were not as competitive as in previous years and Ian could manage no better than 10th all season. The 1977 Japanese Grand Prix would have been his last, had he not been detained and expelled from Japan due to only having a tourist visa on his South African passport and Japan's objections to the apartheid regime.

Ian had much more success in the South African Drivers Championship, winning six titles between 1976 and 1984, a record he shares with John Love and Dave Charlton.

Simtek wrote:August 22nd

1947

I knew he was Jody's older brother... but still...

August 23rd

2009 - Luca Badoer made his comeback to F1 after ten years away, taking the injured Felipe Massa's place at Ferrari. He qualified nearly two seconds slower than Jaime Alguersuari in Q1, started and finished last. This resulted in mostly undeserved criticism of his driving ability, earning him the not-so-clever nickname "Look-how-bad-you-are" and has since seen him unjustly ranked among the worst F1 drivers ever by people who can't look at things in context (hence why Al Pease is often found on the same lists). Luca had not raced in anything in ten years and had not been able to properly test the Ferrari F60 due to the ban on testing, which at least partly explains his lack of pace.

August 24th

2003 - HWNSNBM made himself known to the world at large when he stepped in for the injured Ralph Firman at Jordan. He split the Minardis in qualifiying and raced until his engine blew at half distance.

1991 - A certain Michael Schumacher did his Formula One debut at Spa Francorchamps, driving for the Jordan team. Schumacher, who was a Mercedes factory driver in the World Sportscar Championship, was drafted in by Jordan ir order to replace Bertrand Gachot, who was impriosined in London. Schumacher would surprise the paddock by qualifying seventh on the grid on his debut, outqualifying his very experienced team-mate Andrea de Cesaris. During race day though, luck was not on his side, and he retired on the first lap of the race with clutch problems. But immediatelly for the next grand prix, Jordan and Benetton we're fighting for his services for the Portugese Grand Prix, with the latter grabbing Schumacher's contract. He would score points in the next three races, and then retiring in the other two, and finished 14th in the driver standings. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Speaking of Belgium, on this date in 2013, the Caterham of Giedo Van Der Garde and BOTH Marussia drivers of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton started a superb 14th, 15th, and 16th respectively after a wild qualifying the previous day (which also had Van Der Garde 3RD!!!!! in Q1!!!). Alas the race day pace was not there compared to the other teams as VDG BIA & CHI would cross the line 16th, 18th and 19th. A consolation for the Dutchman would be he finished ahead of Maldonado albeit one lap down.

August 26th

1972 - On his way to a third straight South African F1 title, Dave Charlton won the False Bay 100 at the Killarney Circuit driving a Lotus 72.

August 27th

1967 - The first World Championship Canadian Grand Prix. Two local drivers were entered for the event: Eppie Wietzes in a factory Lotus and Al Pease, one of the most decorated drivers in Canadian motorsport, in a privately entered Eagle. Wietzes qualified 8 seconds slower than polesitter Jim Clark in the same car and was eventually disqualified from the race for attempting to receive outside assistance when suffering an ignition failure. Pease, on the other hand, worked his way around such reliability problems himself. He had to change his battery on the grid, which already cost him six laps. He then suffered another flat battery after spinning on the opposite side of the Mosport circuit. Still not giving up, Al ran all the way back to the pits in the soaking rain, got another spare battery and ran back to the car to fit it himself. His perseverance allowed him to take the chequered flag, he was 43 laps down, but what matters is the spirit he showed.

Simtek wrote:August 27th

1995 - The first World Championship Canadian Grand Prix. Two local drivers were entered for the event: Eppie Wietzes in a factory Lotus and Al Pease, one of the most decorated drivers in Canadian motorsport, in a privately entered Eagle. Wietzes qualified 8 seconds slower than polesitter Jim Clark in the same car and was eventually disqualified from the race for attempting to receive outside assistance when suffering an ignition failure. Pease, on the other hand, worked his way around such reliability problems himself. He had to change his battery on the grid, which already cost him six laps. He then suffered another flat battery after spinning on the opposite side of the Mosport circuit. Still not giving up, Al ran all the way back to the pits in the soaking rain, got another spare battery and ran back to the car to fit it himself. His perseverance allowed him to take the chequered flag, he was 43 laps down, but what matters is the spirit he showed.

I'm fairly sure the race was in Montreal in 1995 mate!

roblomas52 wrote:

Simtek wrote:August 27th

1995 - The first World Championship Canadian Grand Prix. Two local drivers were entered for the event: Eppie Wietzes in a factory Lotus and Al Pease, one of the most decorated drivers in Canadian motorsport, in a privately entered Eagle. Wietzes qualified 8 seconds slower than polesitter Jim Clark in the same car and was eventually disqualified from the race for attempting to receive outside assistance when suffering an ignition failure. Pease, on the other hand, worked his way around such reliability problems himself. He had to change his battery on the grid, which already cost him six laps. He then suffered another flat battery after spinning on the opposite side of the Mosport circuit. Still not giving up, Al ran all the way back to the pits in the soaking rain, got another spare battery and ran back to the car to fit it himself. His perseverance allowed him to take the chequered flag, he was 43 laps down, but what matters is the spirit he showed.

I'm fairly sure the race was in Montreal in 1995 mate!

Ah, yes... I was originally going to do Spa 1995 before finding an even better race on the same day...

August 28th

1994 - The Grand Prix début of Philippe Adams. He and his backers had an agreement with Lotus for him to drive in two rounds if they could raise $500,000 - yes, he was a pay-driver. The first of the two rounds was his home race at Spa, where he was nearly seven seconds slower than his teammate Johnny Herbert on a slippery track in qualifying, putting him last on the grid. He spun off after completing fifteen laps in the race, but he wold be back in Estoril...

Simtek wrote:August 28th

1994 - The Grand Prix début of Philippe Adams. He and his backers had an agreement with Lotus for him to drive in two rounds if they could raise $500,000 - yes, he was a pay-driver. The first of the two rounds was his home race at Spa, where he was nearly seven seconds slower than his teammate Johnny Herbert on a slippery track in qualifying, putting him last on the grid. He spun off after completing fifteen laps in the race, but he wold be back in Estoril...

He actually paid a big part of it (i think he mentioned something like 200000 or 250000) by a loan (similar to Lauda, but with different results). It took him about 20 years to earn that money back.

August 29th

2004 - A memorable Belgian Grand Prix took place at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, a race that saw Michael Schumacher win his historic seventh and final world title, Kimi Raikkonen take McLaren's only win of the season, Olivier Panis score his last points, Christian Klien score his first, Antonio Pizzonia lead a Grand Prix and so much more. It's all right here (in Croatian): http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxppa8 ... rt-1_sport

August 30th

1998 - Another memorable Belgian Grand Prix took place at Spa. Yes, this was the one with the big crash. David Coulthard managed to wipe out half the field coming out of La Source. The race was naturally red-flagged, with Barrichello, Panis, Salo and Rosset unable to take the restart. The second start saw another accident involving the other McLaren driver. Hakkinen was hit by Johnny Herbert's Sauber, taking them both out. Then Coulthard tangled with Wurz, prematurely ending the Austrian's race. At the end of the first lap, only 15 cars remained, with Damon Hill leading for Jordan.

There were plenty more incidents in this race, but the most infamous of them was Michael Schumacher clipping the back of Coulthard's McLaren while coming up to lap him. The Scotsman was slow to let the Ferrari driver pass. In very poor visibility Schumacher hit Coulthard's rear wing, tearing off his own right-front wheel. Both drivers made it back to the pits, where a less-than happy Schumacher marched down to the McLaren garage to sort things out with Coulthard the old-fashioned way. Members of the two opposing teams restrained their respective drivers and the conflict was soon resolved without violence.

Meanwhile, Damon Hill was leading Ralf Schumacher in a Jordan 1-2. Eddie Irvine spun out of the race, while Gianarlo Fisichella hit the back of Shinji Nakano's Minardi. The Benetton came to a stop beside the pit wall, where it then caught fire. This left just six cars in the race. Coulthard and Nakano rejoined the race after their cars were repaired as they had a shot at some points. Points didn't come their way in the end, but you can't blame them for trying. In the end, Hill led Schumacher home for Jordan's first win, with Alesi 3rd, Frentzen 4th, Diniz 5th and Trulli 6th for Prost's only point of the season. Coulthard and Nakano were 7th and 8th respectively, 5 laps down.

This wrote:

Simtek wrote:August 28th

1994 - The Grand Prix début of Philippe Adams. He and his backers had an agreement with Lotus for him to drive in two rounds if they could raise $500,000 - yes, he was a pay-driver. The first of the two rounds was his home race at Spa, where he was nearly seven seconds slower than his teammate Johnny Herbert on a slippery track in qualifying, putting him last on the grid. He spun off after completing fifteen laps in the race, but he wold be back in Estoril...

He actually paid a big part of it (i think he mentioned something like 200000 or 250000) by a loan (similar to Lauda, but with different results). It took him about 20 years to earn that money back.

Did he ever say it was worth it or not?

Izzyeviel wrote:

This wrote:

Simtek wrote:August 28th

1994 - The Grand Prix début of Philippe Adams. He and his backers had an agreement with Lotus for him to drive in two rounds if they could raise $500,000 - yes, he was a pay-driver. The first of the two rounds was his home race at Spa, where he was nearly seven seconds slower than his teammate Johnny Herbert on a slippery track in qualifying, putting him last on the grid. He spun off after completing fifteen laps in the race, but he wold be back in Estoril...

He actually paid a big part of it (i think he mentioned something like 200000 or 250000) by a loan (similar to Lauda, but with different results). It took him about 20 years to earn that money back.

Did he ever say it was worth it or not?

Yep, i can't remember where it was, i suppose it was in an interview in the build up to a F1 race in Belgium and don't remember much of the details. So i'm saying this from memory, which isn't 100% sure. He also said he didn't regret anything, and would do things exactly the same way, despite all the financial worries. He's proud that he even reached F1. He seems to be a rather normal person nowadays with a small business. (i have no idea what exactly his business is). A very down to earth person as far as i remember.

August 31

Mike Thackwell would DNQ in his F1 debut in the 1980 Dutch Grand Prix.

Source from Wikipedia:
"He was invited to the Dutch Grand Prix by Tyrrell as a spectator, both to learn about the track and the Tyrrell 010 when Arrows team boss Jackie Oliver approached him after the first unofficial practice session to ask if he'd like to drive the Arrows A3. Oliver's regular driver, Jochen Mass had been injured at the previous grand prix, but his car was at Zandvoort. Although the car was still set up for Mass, including his seat and pedal arrangement, Thackwell got permission to drive the car from Tyrrell and though he failed to qualify, eventually set a faster time than Keke Rosberg in the Fittipaldi."

September 1st

1963 - Tony Settember brought the Scirocco home in second place in the first Austrian Grand Prix, although he was five laps down on race winner Jack Brabham and many of the usual front-runners such as BRM and Ferrari were absent from this non-championship event. Still, I'm sure he got a nice trophy for his achievement

Simtek wrote:September 1st

1963 - Tony Settember brought the Scirocco home in second place in the first Austrian Grand Prix, although he was five laps down on race winner Jack Brabham and many of the usual front-runners such as BRM and Ferrari were absent from this non-championship event. Still, I'm sure he got a nice trophy for his achievement

Sounds like Settember had a September to remember...

Yeah, it's been a busy day...

September 2nd

1990 - Sweden's greatest F1 driver of the 21st century, Marcus Ericsson was born.

September 3

1950 Italian Grand Prix

The finale to the inaugural Formula One season included one of the most fascinating cars I've heard of...The Ferrari-Jaguar Hybrid (#22) driven by Clemente Biondetti. It may not have been a success, lasting only 17 laps after starting 25th out of 27 entrants, but Biondetti will be credited as the man who really gave Jaguar its F1 debut.

September 4th

2005 - For the third time ever, there were no retirements in a Grand Prix. However, unlike the previous two occasions there were no non-starters and every driver that was entered for the race finished it. Narain Karthikeyan became the first driver to finish 20th in a race since Karl Wendlinger in the rain-shortened 1991 Australian Grand Prix.

5th September 1963 - Taki Inoue born.

What a momentous occasion. Happy Birthday Inoue-san!

September 6th

1969 - Ernesto 'Tino' Brambilla, older brother of Vittorio 'The Monza Gorilla' Brambilla, drove in qualifying for Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix. He set a time of 1:30.86, the second slowest, and had to hand his car over to Pedro Rodríguez for the following day's race, as he was two seconds quicker.

September 7th

1975 - Jim Crawford drove his second of two World Championship Grands Prix in F1, both of them for Lotus. His first was earlier in the year at Silverstone, where he earned the distinction of being the 500th driver to start a World Championship race. This second race was at Monza, where he had started an unremarkable 25th and finished 13th. He went on to win the British F1 Series in 1982 with an Ensign and competed in several IndyCar races with moderate success. He also became a regular competitor at the Indy 500, a race he came rather close to winning in 1988.

September 8th

1966 - John Taylor succumbed to the injuries he sustained a month earlier in the German Grand Prix. He had collided with the F2 Matra of Jacky Ickx between Quiddlebacher and Flugplatz and was badly burned in the wreck. He was 33.

September 9

1979 Jody Scheckter won his 10th and final Formula One Grand Prix at the Italian Grand Prix while drivers like reject Jan Lammers, debutant Marc Surer, Arturo Merzario in the reject team of his own name, and Hector Rebaque in the equally rejectful (though scored a miraculous point) team of his own failed to qualify.

September 10

1961: Roberto Lippi, whose profile was listed on the first website, made his Grand Prix debut in the Italian Grand Prix. He only lasted 1 lap before his engine expired. However it was a tragic race on that same lap...

1972: Lotus wins the Constructor's championship with 61 points at the time, all by Emmerson Fittipaldi...the other driver was Dave Walker, who was dropped because he was testing a Formula 2 car.

Two very rejectful events for today!

September 11th

2011 - At the start, Vitantonio Liuzzi made contact with Heikki Kovalainen on the way into Variante del Rettifilo and slid across the grass, taking HRT further up the field than ever before in doing so, as he collected Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg.

1988 - The one race McLaren couldn't win. Prost retired with engine trouble, while the Ferraris were beginning to eat into Senna's lead. The question of whether Berger and Alboreto would have caught and passed the Brazilian was rendered moot when Senna collided with Jean-Louis Schlesser while lapping the Frenchman, who had been substituting for Nigel Mansell, who was ill. This was to be Jean-Louis' only Grand Prix start.

Simtek wrote:September 11th

2011 - At the start, Vitantonio Liuzzi made contact with Heikki Kovalainen on the way into Variante del Rettifilo and slid across the grass, taking HRT further up the field than ever before in doing so, as he collected Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg.

I was there in the grandstand at that chicane when that happened. 4 years ago, how time flies...

I somehow keep managing to forget to name the race where these events happened, or remember to put it in the post at the last minute. Anyway, I'm sure everyone knows the location of today's events from the hints provided

Simtek wrote:I somehow keep managing to forget to name the race where these events happened, or remember to put it in the post at the last minute. Anyway, I'm sure everyone knows the location of today's events from the hints provided

Yeah, the first one was the Manx Grand Prix and the other was the Grand Prix of Vanuatu. Right?

September 12th

1993 - Clearly not content with a traditional formation finish behind his Minardi team-mate, Christian Fittipaldi hit the back of Pierluigi Martini at the finish of the Italian Grand Prix, causing Christian's car to flip and land the right way up again. After the damage caused to Christian's wings and suspension, and the safety concerns that must have arisen from such a stunt, this unique finish has not been seen in F1 since.

Video of the collision.

September 13th

1992 - Fondmetal bowed out of the sport at the Italian Grand Prix. Both cars qualified but retired, which was no surprise, given that they had recorded two finishes all season. This was also the last appearance of Andrea Moda, albeit not on-track, as they were thrown out of the paddock and the championship for bringing the sport into disrepute.

September 14

Fernando Alonso was given the ROTR at the 2003 Italian Grand Prix.