Grand Prix Rejects

novitopoli wrote:February 7th

1981 - The South African GP opened the 1981 season. Rejects Chico Serra and Siegfried Stohr debuted driving for respectively Fittipaldi and Arrows, while local star Desirè Wilson had a one-off in a Tyrrell and DNF'ed after 51 laps, thus making her the third woman to race in the World Championship...hadn't the race been axed from the Championship due to the ongoing FISA-FOCA war. The race was in fact run under Formula Libre regulations, with most teams fielding their 1980 cars sporting side skirts and other devices which were deemed illegal by the Federation. Those teams who stood by the FISA's side (Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Renault, Ligier, Osella and Toleman) didn't take part in the race.

Ah, the exact thing I was going to write about!

February 8th

1975 - The South African F1 Championship kicked off with Dave Charlton winning the Cape South Easter Trophy in a McLaren M23, the first of three victories in a campaign that would end with him winning his sixth consecutive title.

February 9th

2000 - Sylvester Stallone abandoned his plans to make Driven an F1 movie, instead shifting the setting to the world of CART, resulting in the utterly horrendous film that came out a year later. His reasons for abandoning the F1 project were to do with the fact that the sport was not very open, a situation that continues to be viewed as a problem to this day.

Simtek wrote:February 9th

2000 - Sylvester Stallone abandoned his plans to make Driven an F1 movie, instead shifting the setting to the world of CART, resulting in the utterly horrendous film that came out a year later. His reasons for abandoning the F1 project were to do with the fact that the sport was not very open, a situation that continues to be viewed as a problem to this day.

Based on what happened around the Indianapolis 500 time trials last year, I say Driven actually predicted nothing but flips for every crash (except Pippa Mann's but her crash was pretty hard as well).

golic_2004 wrote:

Simtek wrote:February 9th

2000 - Sylvester Stallone abandoned his plans to make Driven an F1 movie, instead shifting the setting to the world of CART, resulting in the utterly horrendous film that came out a year later. His reasons for abandoning the F1 project were to do with the fact that the sport was not very open, a situation that continues to be viewed as a problem to this day.

Based on what happened around the Indianapolis 500 time trials last year, I say Driven actually predicted nothing but flips for every crash (except Pippa Mann's but her crash was pretty hard as well).

I'm still wondering was Driven is one of the factor of the death of CART? Let's say Stallone did it with IRL. Maybe we might see cars flying out to the top of the grandstands (I mean the roof) thanks to oval racing

AxelP800 wrote:

golic_2004 wrote:

Simtek wrote:February 9th

2000 - Sylvester Stallone abandoned his plans to make Driven an F1 movie, instead shifting the setting to the world of CART, resulting in the utterly horrendous film that came out a year later. His reasons for abandoning the F1 project were to do with the fact that the sport was not very open, a situation that continues to be viewed as a problem to this day.

Based on what happened around the Indianapolis 500 time trials last year, I say Driven actually predicted nothing but flips for every crash (except Pippa Mann's but her crash was pretty hard as well).

I'm still wondering was Driven is one of the factor of the death of CART? Let's say Stallone did it with IRL. Maybe we might see cars flying out to the top of the grandstands (I mean the roof) thanks to oval racing

Driven could not have had anything to do with CART's demise. It just happened to be released at around the same time the series began its serious decline.

February 10th

1923 - Theo Fitzau, one of four drivers to represent East Germany, was born.

February 11th

1973 - The first world championship Brazilian Grand Prix was also the only race for Brazilian driver Luiz Bueno. The 36-year-old qualified and finished last in a third car entered by Team Surtees.

February 12th

2009 - Something we never got to see in an F1 race: A sandstorm. Testing in Bahrain was called off because of one. Ferrari, BMW and Toyota opted to test at the Bahrain International Circuit to avoid the risk of rain disrupting things...

Simtek wrote:February 12th

2009 - Something we never got to see in an F1 race: A sandstorm. Testing in Bahrain was called off because of one. Ferrari, BMW and Toyota opted to test at the Bahrain International Circuit to avoid the risk of rain disrupting things...

It's also Tora Takagi's birthday today!

February 13th

1948 - Jim Crawford was born. He had a couple of outings for Lotus in 1975, making very little impact. He later went on to be an Indy 500 regular, being in contention for what might have been a shock win in 1988. He passed away due to liver failure in 2002.

February 14th

1971 - Alan Rollinson won the F2 Bogotá Grand Prix at the wheel of a Brabham BT30 entered by Irish Racing Cars.

February 15th

2006 - Soopah Aguri announced their drivers for the season. Takuma Sato was a foregone conclusion given the team was virtually made especially for him. In an effort to make it an all-Japanese lineup the other driver was announced to be 31-year-old Formula Nippon runner-up Yuji Ide. Fun times were had by all, as Christijan Albers can attest...

February 15th

2000 - Minardi announce that Gaston Mazzacane would be part of the their line-up for the upcoming 2000 season.

February 16th

1920 - Early '50s F2 driver Tony Crook was born.

And in reading his Wikipedia page, I have found the answer to one of UgncreativeUsergname's questions.

February 17th

2006 - After the previous year's Indy debacle Bernie raised the idea of moving the US Grand Prix to Las Vegas, presumably not in a car park this time if anything was learned from the last time F1 ventured to that part of the world.

February 18th

1958 - Happy birthday to the living legend that is Giovanni Lavaggi!

February 19th

2007 - Jacques Villeneuve released Private Paradise, his début album and thankfully, his only album, which sold a meagre 836 copies.

February 20th

1937 - Happy birthday to Roger Penske! Why are we celebrating the birthday of one of American motorsport's most successful team owners? Because in the early sixties he raced twice in the US Grand Prix and didn't unrejectify himself. He was driving outdated machinery on both attempts, so we commend him for his efforts and once again wish him a happy 79th birthday.

February 21st

1913 - Belgian driver Roger Laurent was born in Liege. He had a couple of outings in the 1952 season, most notably finishing sixth at the German GP.

novitopoli wrote:February 21st

1913 - Belgian driver Roger Laurent was born in Liege. He had a couple of outings in the 1952 season, most notably finishing sixth at the German GP.

Beat me to it by mere seconds!

novitopoli wrote:Liège.

Et co'n fèye po nin l'rouvî...Allons Lîdje!

uhhhh, sorry about that

tommykl wrote:

novitopoli wrote:Liège.

Et co'n fèye po nin l'rouvî...Allons Lîdje!

uhhhh, sorry about that

Go back to the basement, walloon kiddo

February 22

1921: Marshall Teague was born. If you count the Indianapolis 500 events, he took part in 3 Grands Prix with a best finish of 7th in 1957.
Teague was an early NASCAR racer who took part in 22 races, winning 7 of them. From 1951 to 1952, he was a member of the Hudson Motors Team and drove the Fabulous Hudson Hornet car. He left NASCAR after a dispute with founder Bill France Sr. and found work in AAA (American Automobile Association) and USAC (United States Auto Club). Sadly, in 1959 Teague was killed while attempting a closed course speed record in a reconfigured Indy car at the newly opened Daytona International Speedway.

February 22nd

1922 - Jesús Iglesias was born. He only ever seemed to race in Argentina and was invited by Gordini to race in the country's Grand Prix in 1955. He suffered a transmission failure but he appeared to be on the brink of collapse anyway due to the record heat.

February 23rd

1947 - George Abecassis finished 2nd to Reg Parnell in the Stockholm Grand Prix.

February 24th

2005 - Narain Karthikeyan drew the ire of the Indian government as they told him to change his helmet design on account of the fact that it depicted an Indian flag, which was in direct violation of the Flag Code of India. Narain was displeased by this news, saying "If that is what the government wants, it is their loss. We as sportsmen are only doing the country proud by performing well. I have the tricolour on my helmet, but I can probably sell that space to sponsors and make a lot of money. I love India and I am proud to be an Indian and that's what I want to portray. But if I can't carry the tricolour on my helmet, it is the government's loss." The government changed their minds anyway and allowed Narain to race with the design.

1968 - Happy birthday to former March and Jordan driver Emanuele Naspetti!

1971 - Pedro De La Rosa was born. He started his career in Formula 1 by becoming Jordan's test driver in 1998, after a incredible season in Formula Nippon, where he got a 100% podium record during that season, winning 6 times in 10 races. In 1999, he signed with the Arrows squad, who came from a dysmal 1998 season, but their car in 1999 was one of the most awful things the F1 world has seen: even so, De La Rosa scored a 6th place in his debut, scoring his and his team's only points of the season. He stayed with Arrows in 2000, and scored two 6th places, using the incredible sleek chassis to his advantage, but even so, he was involved in the incredible accident in the first lap at Monza, with the wheel that detacched from his car hitting a marshall, killing him. Left without a drive for 2001, eventually Pedro was signed by Jaguar after 4 races, and finish a career best (at the time) in Monza, with a 5th place. He also finished 6th at Canada. He stayed with Jaguar in 2002, but eventually scored no points throughout the year.
He then joined McLaren to become their test driver, and eventually drove for the team in 2005 (scored 5th and fastest lap in his only race) and in late 2006, after JPM was fired, eventually getting his only podium in Formula 1 by finishing in 2nd place at the crazy Hungarian Grand Prix. It was his best season scoring wise, scoring 19 points, and finishing 11th in the standings. He stayed as the McLaren test driver until 2009.
In 2010, he was signed by "BMW Sauber" (Sauber only to be fair) to drive alongside Kamui Kobayashi. But evne so, Pedro only scored points once in the season, finishing 7th at Hungary. He returned for a one-off race in 2011, replacing Sergio Perez at Canada, and crossed the finish line in 12th place. But then came a surprise: De La Rosa signed with perennial backmarckers and GP Rejects favourites HRT for the 2012 season, alongside Narain Karthikeyan. The rest is history. De La Rosa then signed for Ferrari as development driver, eventually retiring from racing at the end of last year.

February 25th

2010 - Lotus ran Fairuz Fauzy in the first day of testing at Catalunya. He set a 1:28.002, about a second slower than Lucas di Grassi in the Virgin.

February 26th

2007 - Honda unveiled... this:



I actually kind of liked that livery.

I'm sure walking up to that thing in person made it look great, but on the TV it just looked really murky. There was nothing standing out at you from the livery when you looked at it from a distance. Then again, I think that was some of the least of Honda's issues in 2007.

February 26

2003: Marked the death of Christian Goethals, 1928-2003. He was an amateur sports car driver during the 1950s, driving a Porsche Spyder. He drove a Cooper-Climax in the 1958 German Grand Prix in the Formula Two class but retired on the 4th lap due to a fuel pump issue (he was already the 10th retirement at the Nurburgring Nordschleife). It was to Goethals's only Grand Prix as he returned to sports cars until his retirement in 1960.

golic_2004 wrote:February 26

2003: Marked the death of Christian Goethals, 1928-2003. He was an amateur sports car driver during the 1950s, driving a Porsche Spyder. He drove a Cooper-Climax in the 1958 German Grand Prix in the Formula Two class but retired on the 4th lap due to a fuel pump issue (he was already the 10th retirement at the Nurburgring Nordschleife). It was to Goethals's only Grand Prix as he returned to sports cars until his retirement in 1960.

Because Christian Roger Xavier Marie Joseph Ghislain Goethals drove a F2 car, that means up to this day, there hasn't been a Flemish F1-driver yet, ever. Yes Stoffel, we all count on you!

February 27th

1965 - Happy birthday to Pedro Chaves!

This wrote:

golic_2004 wrote:February 26

2003: Marked the death of Christian Goethals, 1928-2003. He was an amateur sports car driver during the 1950s, driving a Porsche Spyder. He drove a Cooper-Climax in the 1958 German Grand Prix in the Formula Two class but retired on the 4th lap due to a fuel pump issue (he was already the 10th retirement at the Nurburgring Nordschleife). It was to Goethals's only Grand Prix as he returned to sports cars until his retirement in 1960.

Because Christian Roger Xavier Marie Joseph Ghislain Goethals drove a F2 car, that means up to this day, there hasn't been a Flemish F1-driver yet, ever. Yes Stoffel, we all count on you!

Well, Max Verstappen is, at least, half-Flemish...

novitopoli wrote:

This wrote:

golic_2004 wrote:February 26

2003: Marked the death of Christian Goethals, 1928-2003. He was an amateur sports car driver during the 1950s, driving a Porsche Spyder. He drove a Cooper-Climax in the 1958 German Grand Prix in the Formula Two class but retired on the 4th lap due to a fuel pump issue (he was already the 10th retirement at the Nurburgring Nordschleife). It was to Goethals's only Grand Prix as he returned to sports cars until his retirement in 1960.

Because Christian Roger Xavier Marie Joseph Ghislain Goethals drove a F2 car, that means up to this day, there hasn't been a Flemish F1-driver yet, ever. Yes Stoffel, we all count on you!

Well, Max Verstappen is, at least, half-Flemish...

Oh yeah, i forgot his uncle is Anthony Kumpen.

Februaey 28th

1966 - 50 years ago today two F1 rejects won the 24 Hours of Daytona driving the famous Ford GT40. They were Lloyd Ruby, one of the few drivers to have raced in both F1 and the Indy 500 in its World Championship era, and Ken Miles, an Englishman who never even drove in a Grand Prix, but was on the entry list for the US Grand Prix in 1961, the same one Ruby drove in. Miles was sadly killed a few months after winning the endurance classic in a 200 mph testing crash at Riverside. He was 47.

I was stuck for today, and even considered going a little abstract and writing about why February 29th is rejectful by its very nature (so slow it comes around only once every four years), but literally last night I found something a little more on-topic:

February 29th

1964 - Clive Puzey won the Rand Autumn Trophy.

One not to forget for February 29th:

1932: Admittedly this isn't reject history, but what were the chances that any F1 driver would be born on February 29th? Lower than average. Masten Gregory managed it, though.

Only five more days...

March 1st

1992 - While Nigel Mansell kicked off his historic 1992 campaign with a crushing victory at Kyalami, Andrea Sassetti was forced to pay the FIA $100,000, the standard entry fee for new teams. The shoe salesman argued that he had taken over the Coloni team and therefore his Andrea Moda outfit was actually a continuation of an existing team. Not convinced that taking over two cars and a workforce of 6 was sufficient to call it a continuation of another beloved reject team, the FIA insisted that Sassetti pay the fee.