Great Motorsport Quotes

[Steve Holmes]

Motor racing is an emotional sport. The object of teams and drivers giving 100%, putting in insanely long hours, all in an effort to be first to the chequer, can bring out the best and worst in people. Sometimes people say things in the heat of the moment they might not normally say. But that is part of the sport, and something the media and fans thrive on.

Motor racing also has more than its fare share of larger than life figures, show-men, and silver tongued characters to whom the fans hang off every word.

The sport has produced some classic quotes over the years, and although the media and sponsorship pressures in modern motorsport are increasingly shaping drivers into robots who carefully pick and choose what they say, and limit their words and emotions to avoid getting themselves into hot water, The Roaring Season is a historic website, and one which celebrates history, and all the larger than life characters of the past who weren't suffocated by the limitations brought about by political correctness.

So how about a thread dedicated to great racing quotes.

I'll kick off with one of my favourites, Aussie Kevin Bartlett, at Bathurst in 1981, when his Channel 9 Camaro was punched off the track and out of a potential race win when he collided with the Commodore of Ron Wanless when coming up to lap him.

Back in the pits, as his team set about trying to repair the damage, and with a fuming Bartless still sitting in the car, tv commentator Evan Green thought it would be a good time to get KBs thoughts:

"Its just a complete and utter amateur nincompoop got in the way and turned right, just went straight across my path and put me straight in the fence and I took him, mate, that guy has to be black flagged, I'm going to punch him in the mouth when the race is over!".

[AMCO72]

Good one Steve.......these should fill up a page or two.

Jody Schecter............Some of these drivers think their mirrors are for shaving!!

[pallmall]

I'll kick off with one of my favourites, Aussie Kevin Bartlett, at Bathurst in 1981, when his Channel 9 Camaro was punched off the track and out of a potential race win when he collided with the Commodore of Ron Wanless when coming up to lap him. Back in the pits, as his team set about trying to repair the damage, and with a fuming Bartless still sitting in the car, tv commentator Evan Green thought it would be a good time to get KBs thoughts:

"Its just a complete and utter amateur nincompoop got in the way and turned right, just went straight across my path and put me straight in the fence and I took him, mate, that guy has to be black flagged, I'm going to punch him in the mouth when the race is over!".

The conclusion to this one was far from a punch in the mouth, but rather a back down by KB when he was told that the other driver was Ron Wanless, speedway driver, and former pro boxer, and a bit larger than KB.

[Murray Maunder]

"Gentleman Jim" Richards on winning Bathurst in the Nissan Skyline was booed and jeered on the podium by the (Holden/Ford, delete which doesn't apply) fans. Taking the microphone "You're nothing but a pack of assholes, this one's going to stay with me a long time!"

I like Aussie forthrightness but not their parochialism like booing before a player takes a penalty kick or as they come onto the field. I thought motorsport fans had better sportsmanship but obviously not, that was a deserved roasting by one of the good guys of motorsport.

[Steve Holmes]

Paul Hawkins at a press conference at the 1968 Sebring 12 hour, after his John Wyer GT40 was eliminated by the AMC Javelin of Janet Guthrie and Liane Engeman. Engeman had outbraked herself and nearly stopped on the track, and was hit by a Porsche 911, right behind which was the Hawkins/David Hobbs GT40 which was comfortably leading the race, and which collected the Porsche.

Hawkins was quoted as saying: "The bloody awful girls are not remotely qualified to go motor racing. The bloody birds were all over the bloody road. Birds belong either in the bloody kitchen or the bloody bedroom, and if they're no good in the kitchen, send them back to the bloody bedroom. They were only in it for the publicity".

[AMCO72]

I suspect Steve that by quotable quotes ,you meant something a bit more substantial than one liners, but some of those hit the nail on the head so to speak. This one from an unrecorded GP driver.........Some drivers used to believe in God, now they think they are God!!

[Shano]

The oft-repeated motorcycle quote, which was originated by Mike Hailwood as far as I know.

"Which way does the track go and what's the lap record?"

[beowulf]

The oft-repeated motorcycle quote, which was originated by Mike Hailwood as far as I know.

"Which way does the track go and what's the lap record?"
I think that the quote was a Croz one liner.
Wasn"t it Bernie Ecclestone who suggested that woman should be dressed in white to match the kitchen.

[Shano]

Nope, Croz borrowed it, as have many people over the years but as far as I know Hailwood was the original.

[AMCO72]

Something a bit closer to home........Alan Grice 1986........'I drive as hard as I possibly can, all the time, and damn the machinery'

[bry3500]

FRANK GARDNER

I never wanted to be the fastest driver in the world, just the oldest", and regarding Porsche 917, "The computer reckoned 8 inch tyres were wide enough, but the computer wasn't trying to steer the thing around the Eifel Mountains".

I know, I've been there and done that. I can't see the logic of a bloke earning good money here wanting to go to America to get his backside blown off.”
On whingers - "If you want to complain, go buy yourself a Labrador. A good listening dog the Labrador: nice tail action...."
On the past - "We usually find, the older we get, the better we were"
On the Porsche 917 - "I didn't want to be the quickest bloke in motor racing , just the oldest. And that car was certainly going to interefere with those plans "
On himself - "It's not that I am better than these people, it's just that experience allows you to spot the warning signals earlier"
'After my first practice lap, I tore up my victory speech' !!
From the 1985 Bathurst 1000, when both his cars ended up in the sand trap at the same corner, “Hero to Zero in nothing flat”.

One that has stuck with me was one of the Porsche cars with a gauge on the dash with a constant pressure reading, when Frank enquired from one of the German engineers whether the gauge was correct/broken etc the reply went something like this.... Herr Gardner,when the gauge drops to zero you shall drive the wagen very slowly back to the garage, that gauge is the pressure contained in the chassis tubes & if the pressure drops it means the chassis is broken,.... Franks reply was along the lines of....'' stuff that ,if that bloody gauge even flickers Ill park the bloody car & walk back to the pits!!

[bry3500]

Denis Hulme
"Teretonga Park? It wasn't the end of the world. But you could definitely see it from there. It was a good place if you liked penguins."

[bry3500]

You might not think that's cricket, and it's not, it's motor racing.
Murray Walker
I will drive flat out all the time. I love racing.
Gilles Villeneuve
Running an airline is a normal job. Racing is more.
Niki Lauda
Anything happens in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does.
Murray Walker ( again)

[bry3500]

Keke Rosberg is as calculating as a slot machine.
Louis T. Stanley
Nelson Piquet looks like a jockey being strapped into his car. Alan Jones looks like a commando on his way to Vietnam.
Charlie Crichton Stuart

Nigel Mansell is so brave, but such a moaner. He should have 'He Who Dares Whines' embroidered on his overalls.
Simon Barnes The Times (1993)
On receiving an OBE from the British government- When I drove for British teams ... they called me The Tadpole' because I was too small to be a frog.
Alain Prost (1994)
On starting from the back of the grid- My dad once said that you meet a much nicer class of person there, but I'm not sure.
Damon Hill (1993)
The best classroom of all times was about two car lengths behind Juan Manuel Fangio.
Stirling Moss

"Oh, we're just looking for the ear"
- Niki Lauda replying to somebody asking what the former world champion was doing back at the site of the 1976 accident that nearly killed him at the Norschleife circuit.

Once an accident has started happening, you've just got enough time to say 'Sh*t, I'm having a shunt!'
James Hunt
"Christ - I used to complain that this thing was underpowered, I must have been mad"
- Chris Amon after driving a 1970's F1 car up the hill at Goodwood.
"Break a leg"
- Grid Girl at 1999 British GP offering some 'advice' to Michael Schumacer pre-race. A few hours later Michael was in a hospital and his leg was in plaster, following an early race shunt

Never think of your car as a cold machine, but as a hot-blooded horse.
Juan Manuel Fangio (1958)

"Aerodynamics is for those who cannot manufacture good engines"
- Enzo Ferrari.
"Rene Arnoux is coming into the pits ... lets stop the startwatch"
- Murray Walker,( Again again)

"Anyone who doesn't speak English isn't worth speaking to"
- Bernie Ecclestone.

"The car is such a dog we should have tied it to the fence"
- Dick Johnson, former Australian Touring Car Champion, discusses an obviously less than brilliant vehicle....
When a V8 gets running bad, it's like it's in labour. It's only a matter of time before everything goes.
A. J. Foyt (1976)

[bry3500]

"Flavio would not recognise a diffuser even if it were stuffed with money." - Frank Williams

Interviewer: Mika, Jean Alesi said that going through Eau Rouge flat out is like having an orgasm, what do you think about it?
Häkkinen: I think Jean is sh***ing his pants and mixing up those feelings

"A lot depends on Carlos (Reutemann)'s mood. If he feels like winning, then he goes like the Argentine air-force. If he feels unhappy, then he fades away like the Argentine army."Clive James

"A weekend isn't a weekend unless you're in a flame-retardant suit."
(no idea who said it, but I´d love to know)

Murray : And there are flames coming from the back of Prost's
car as he enters the swimming pool!
James Hunt: Well that should put them out then!

We make history - you only write about it" - Ron Dennis to journalists

"On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, 'Okay, this is the limit'. And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high." ( Guess who?)

"Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting. " -Michael Delaney (Steve McQueen) in Le Mans

[bry3500]

Innes Ireland describing a crash he had at Monaco in the fragile Lotus when as usual something broke causing a crash...'came out of the tunnel minus the bloody car...'

"...as the day went on, all the horsepower sort of dribbled out the exhaust pipe".Dick Johnson,

Johnny Rutherford, Bathurst 1977, on the topic of the Mt Panorama circuit, which he was seeing from behind the wheel of a Ron Hodgson Torana:

When you leave the pits, you've got balls like melons... when you get back down off the Mountain, they're like raisins

More from Frank Gardner and the Porshe 917
"The chassis flexed so much that the position of the gearchange was never the same twice in a row. You'd reach out for the lever and it wasn't there anymore. I was asked to drive it at Le Mans, the money was great too, but I told them 'I never wanted to be the quickest bloke in motor racing - just the oldest- and that Porsche was going to interfere with my plans.

"Then there was the engine. You had about 300 horsepower at 5000 revs, and then between 5000 and 6000 you picked up another 300! So it was a bit of delight, really, and it was on narrow nine-inch rims all round. The computer had said that nine-inch rims would make the car very quick in a straight line, but the computer wasn't strapped in the bloody seat up in the Eifel mountains, where you tend to get the odd corner...

"David did one lap at the Nurburgring and said he was too young to die. It snowed and poured, the car was snapping sideways and aquaplaning at the same time. It was one of the few times I extended my concentration levels above and beyond what I possessed, but we finished 5th".

"Late one Friday in 1969 the telephone rang. Hello Frank, this is Husche (von Hanstein). We would like you to drive our new car at the Nurburgring 1,000 kilometres this weekend. I said I was busy and recommended he call Brian Redman. 'Brian has had a crash, and is in hospital.' Jo Siffert was my next suggestion. 'Jo has had a crash and is in hospital.' 'What the bloody hell is going on there?' Our new car is not easy to drive, Frank' - and he wasn't kidding!

"I did not win - I merely finished first. The just and deserving winner is Nuvolari, the greatest racing driver in the world." – Clemente Biondetti.[

"You do things, you fuck people, it's racing." – Niki Lauda.

[beowulf]

I think that the quote was a Croz one liner.
Wasn"t it Bernie Ecclestone who suggested that woman should be dressed in white to match the kitchen.
You are right Shano, I apologise for doubting you. It is on the back cover of Croz's very readable book

[Malcolm McLeod]

Each patch on his overalls, Keke is fond of saying, represents a house. He has lots of patches. I mentioned another driver, a far lesser light in Formula 1, but a man of considerable height. Imagine, I said, if you were that tall, how many personal sponsors' names you could accommodate on a driving suit.
"You're right!" he responded at once. "Maybe I should get myself stretched to his height. What's more," he added, "if I drove at his speed, you'ld be able to read them....."

Nigel Roebuck, "Grand Prix Greats", about Keke Rosberg.

[rf84]

Alan Moffat (never much liked by most Ozzie fans) at Sandown 1975. Moffat and Geoghegan were interviewed before the race. Moffat was boasting about what he was going to achieve with his brand new Capri. After the race (in which he was third) they were interviewed again. Moffat was full of excuses saying "if I had been allowed to run my wide tyres and if I had been allowed to run the fuel injection and if this had happened and----( a whole lot of "ifs" followed) I would have won. Geoghegan could be clearly heard saying "Yeah and if your aunty had balls she'd be your uncle!" The cheers of the Ozzie fans was deafening.

[rf84]

Alan Jones when asked if he had ever heard of Kenny Smith. "Hell yeah I knew Ken back in the days when sex was safe and motor racing was dangerous!"

[John B]

"Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built."
- Henry Ford

"Aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines."
- Enzo Ferrari

"If you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough."
- Parnelli Jones

[John B]

"You win some, you lose some, you wreck some."
- Dale Ernhardt Sr

"And that just shows you how important the car is in Formula One Racing."
- Murray Walker

"Rene Arnoux is coming into the pits ... let's stop the startwatch"
- Murray Walker

[zombie289]

Dick Johnson driving around Winton in his Sierra: "Its like trying to run a marathon around the bloddy clothes line!"
Eddie irvine or Jean Alesi once said whilst at Ferrari "We are testing two different cars for next year: one is F&$ked and the other one is totally f*#ked!"

[John B]

"Simplify, then add lightness."
- Colin Chapman

"Straight roads are for fast cars, turns are for fast drivers."
- Colin McRae

"Driving in Monte Carlo is like riding a bike in your house."
- Nélson Piquet

[John B]

Neil Crompton to Dick Johnson, live radio exchange during Bathurst...
"Good morning Dick Johnson, what is it like out there?"

Classic Johnson response...
"Mate I'm busier than a dog trying to bury a bone in a marble floor."

[ERC]

I can't remember the exact quote from DJ at Bathhurst when there were different makes and capacities but to the effect of complaining about the slower, smaller cars getting in his way, referred to as overtaking "a load of wombats in billy carts".

[Steve Emson]

Brian Redman addressed us at an after race function once back in the 70's.

Like Frank Gardners earlier quotes, Brian told us, that he got the call from Porsche to drive the 917. They took him to view the car, and asked him what he thought.

" I think it is a good car for Douglas Bader" (WWII Flying Ace with wooden legs)

When he drove it for the first time it started to rain. He turned on the wiper and it flew off the car. He was just getting out when the Germans asked him what he was doing. He told them the wiper flew off and it was starting to rain.

They told him "you will now drive the 917". He complained, and they then told him.

"You can go slow"

[AMCO72]

ERC.......that sounds like the sort of thing ex pastry cook, Allan Grice would say.
I'm sure the Australian posters on here will sort us out.

Quote from SCH Davis......1931......'Motor racing is a wonderful game. Drivers will experience that strangely fascinating mixture of good fortune and disaster, of difficulties and sudden unexpected luck, which makes the whole thing what it is'.

Two weeks to go!!!!!!!!

[Habu]

Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser. Period.
Keke Rosberg

[ElCoyote]

"Mate, it's like following a block of flats"

Dick Johnson on trying to pass the Franicivec Volvo

[ElCoyote]

[QUOTE=zombie289;22495]Dick Johnson driving around Winton in his Sierra: "Its like trying to run a marathon around the bloddy clothes line!"

Not trying to be picky but the quote was "Its like Robert De Costella trying to run a marathon around the bloody clothes line" RDC was a long distance runner since knighted which quaintly makes Deek's point. Not that there is very much that is quaint about Deek.

Somebody might wish to re-tell the joke Deek made live during Bathurst about the Green Grocer and his assistant from Eketahuna.

[Greg Mackie]

The Mustang was up on ramps, in the pits at Warwick Farm, and we were looking at the under-side of the engine. There was no sump, no crank, etc......just some broken studs, and a few drops of oil dripping from a very sad-looking block. Pete Geogehgan and Mick Lambert were sitting on chairs, next to the car.

A young fellow walked up, had a look, and said "s#%t, what happened?"

Pete replied "F-f-f-fan belt b-b-broke, mate".

[ElCoyote]

I can't remember the exact quote from DJ at Bathhurst when there were different makes and capacities but to the effect of complaining about the slower, smaller cars getting in his way, referred to as overtaking "a load of wombats in billy carts".

Hadn't JB just punted a Toyota into the boonies which caused that tirade. Possibly John Smith/Drew price?

[Art Markus]

I have looked in vain to confirm this story and cannot for the life of me verify the source, so this is coming from memory. In 1966 Jackie Stewart crashed in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps and found himself trapped in the car, with petrol leaking from a ruptured fuel tank. From then on he became a vocal advocate for greater safety in motor racing, attracting for himself a good deal of criticism and opprobrium. Among many other safety innovations that resulted from this campaign during the late '60s and early 70's was detachable steering wheels to ease access to the cockpit, especially egress of course. Later in his career, when driving for the taciturn Ken Tyrrell, Stewart had an incident that caused him to abandon his car out on the circuit somewhere. He removed the steering wheel to prevent someone pilfering it (probably Monza...) and trudged disconsolately back to the pits clutching the steering wheel. When Tyrrell spied him he allegedly shouted to the hapless driver: "Is that what broke, or is that all that's left?"

[Ost]

"Mate this thing couldnt pull a sick baby off the family po'. " - Dick Johnson on his underperforming Sierra.

"For fxxx's sake, don't light a cigarette." - John French, upside down

[hilstwist]

I remember Dick Johnson commenting during a Bathurst on the in car camera prob late 70s " Oh mate i'm busier than a one arm paper hanger in Beirut"

[Lindsay G]

Murray Walker

"Unless I am very much mistaken.... I AM very much mistaken!"

"Mansell is slowing down, taking it easy. Oh no he isn't IT'S A LAP RECORD."

"This is an interesting circuit, because it has inclines. And not just up, but down as well."

"The lead car is absolutely unique, except for the one behind it which is identical."

"Tambay's hopes, which were nil before, are absolutely zero now."

"And there's no damage to the car. Except to the car itself."

"That's the first time he had started from the front row in a Grand Prix, having done so in Canada earlier this year."

"How you can crash into a wall without it being there in the first place is beyond me!"

"Excuse me while I interrupt myself"

"And the first five places are filled by five different cars."

"It's lap 26 of 58, which unless I'm very much mistaken is half way."

"Only a few more laps to go and then the action will begin. Unless this is the action, which it is!"

"I can't imagine what kind of problem Senna has. I imagine it must be some sort of grip problem."

"He's obviously gone in for a pit stop. I say obviously, because I cannot see anything."

"And the first three cars are all Escorts, which isn't surprising as this is an all Escort race."

"He is exactly 10 seconds ahead, or more approximately, 9.86 seconds."

"Look up there! That's the sky!"

"There's nothing wrong with his car except that it's on fire."

"As you look at the first four, the significant thing is that Alboreto is fifth."

"He's the only man on the track, except for his car."

"That's history. I say history because it happened in the past."

I don't make mistakes. I make prophecies which immediately turn out to be wrong.

I should imagine that the conditions in the cockpit are totally unimaginable.


Even in five years time, he will still be four years younger than Damon Hill.

He can't decide whether to leave his visor half open or half closed.

I've no idea what Eddie Irvine's orders are, but he's following them superlatively well.

[Lindsay G]

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna's Lotus sounding rough ?"


"So Bernie [Ecclestone], in the seventeen years since you bought McLaren, which of your many achievements do you think was the most memorable ?" Bernie Answers, "Well I don't remember buying McLaren." [Bernie Ecclestone used to own the Brabham team].


Murray: "What's that? There's a BODY on the track!!!"
James: "Um, I think that that is a piece of BODY-WORK, from someone's car."






Murray: And look at the flames coming from the back of Berger's McLaren
James: Actually, Murray, they're not flames, it's the safety light.



"As you can see, visually, with your eyes..."

"Andrea de Cesaris...the man who has won more Grands Prix than anyone else without actually winning one of them."

"



"And Edson Arantes di Nascimento, commonly known to us as Pele, hands the award to Damon Hill, commonly known to us as Damon Hill."




"Are they on a one-stopper? Are they on a two? And when I say they, who do I mean? Well, I don't know. It could be anybody."


"Fantastic! There are four different cars filling the first four places."






"If the gloves weren't off before, and they were, they sure are now!"



"Now he must not go the wrong way round the circuit, and unless he can spin himself stationary through 360 degrees I fail to see how he can avoid doing so."

"Prost can see Mansell in his earphones."



"There are seven winners of the Monaco Grand Prix on the starting line today, and four of them are Michael Schumacher."


"This will be Williams' first win since the last time a Williams won."

"Well, now we have exactly the same situation as at the beginning of the race, only exactly opposite."

[Kevin Hirst]

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna's Lotus sounding rough ?"


"So Bernie [Ecclestone], in the seventeen years since you bought McLaren, which of your many achievements do you think was the most memorable ?" Bernie Answers, "Well I don't remember buying McLaren." [Bernie Ecclestone used to own the Brabham team].


Murray: "What's that? There's a BODY on the track!!!"
James: "Um, I think that that is a piece of BODY-WORK, from someone's car."

Mike the bike, when asked by man with microphone, what tyres are you using? [ quote] ROUND BLACK ONES.

James hunt when asked by official how are you going to run your race today? [Hunt] JUST JUMP IN & GIVE IT AR#%#HOLES.


Murray: And look at the flames coming from the back of Berger's McLaren
James: Actually, Murray, they're not flames, it's the safety light.



"As you can see, visually, with your eyes..."

"Andrea de Cesaris...the man who has won more Grands Prix than anyone else without actually winning one of them."

"



"And Edson Arantes di Nascimento, commonly known to us as Pele, hands the award to Damon Hill, commonly known to us as Damon Hill."




"Are they on a one-stopper? Are they on a two? And when I say they, who do I mean? Well, I don't know. It could be anybody."


"Fantastic! There are four different cars filling the first four places."






"If the gloves weren't off before, and they were, they sure are now!"



"Now he must not go the wrong way round the circuit, and unless he can spin himself stationary through 360 degrees I fail to see how he can avoid doing so."

"Prost can see Mansell in his earphones."



"There are seven winners of the Monaco Grand Prix on the starting line today, and four of them are Michael Schumacher."


"This will be Williams' first win since the last time a Williams won."

"Well, now we have exactly the same situation as at the beginning of the race, only exactly opposite."

Mike the bike, when asked by man with microphone "What tyres are you using?" (Quote) ROUND BLACK ONES

James Hunt when asked by official "How are you going to run your race today?
(Hunt) JUST JUMP IN AND GIVE IT AR#@#*HOLES

[Kwaussie]

I remember Dick Johnson commenting during a Bathurst on the in car camera prob late 70s " Oh mate i'm busier than a one arm paper hanger in Beirut"

My take that day was " Mate I am busier than a bricklayer in Beirut" or in a later cross "glazier" was inserted.

The classic was after passing someone " when I look in the mirror all I can see is their teeth which look like the keys on an old pub piano - some black, some white and some missing"

[Grant Sprague]

"Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built."
- Henry Ford

"Aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines."
- Enzo Ferrari

"If you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough."
- Parnelli Jones

We know these people are veeeeery clever BUT as time went on Enzo would have found out why he had wind tunnels.... As for Parnelli..... Hey Ive witnessed a few people completely out of control ??......most of us have had turns at that lol ... great quotes all the same

[fullnoise68]

What about `I`ve only got 560 horsepower' : Dale Mathers, Ferrari Festival 2014. That`s a bit like `I was born at night, but it wasn`t last night!!!'

[Jac Mac]

What about `I`ve only got 560 horsepower' : Dale Mathers, Ferrari Festival 2014. That`s a bit like `I was born at night, but it wasn`t last night!!!'
Probably about right:) might even be a few less, but the real question is how many HP have some of the other fellas not got:confused:

[Jac Mac]

oops, double post....too much mouse power!

[Kiwiboss]

Offcourse Jacmac you’re rite it’s probably less, made 567HP on Marsh’s dyno a year ago when I refresh it at 51 hours of racing(took 4 years), previous rebuilds have been around the 558HP to 561HP so guess it depends on the day, air temp and a whole bunch of other variables(it’s always made 500 foot lb torque) But what these guys don’t understand is I’ve been racing this same car for 10 years straight, very rarely spin out or throw it of the track because I know my wheels(or im not trying) it’s called “seat time” and sure chuck a kid in it and he’ll probably knock a sec or too of that but he ain’t paying the bills!!

I’ve told Steve and others it works like this, there’s about 3.5 seconds a lap between us two around Hampton but Steve is getting quicker, Hampton has 6 corners so times that by two(entry in and exit out) equals 12 so divide the 12 into 3.5 seconds and you have your answer, if I get into the corner about .3 of a sec quicker and off the corner .3 of a sec quicker there my friends is the time defence rite there and the answer, one always need to work on car set up, braking, seat time, etc before they need more HP!!

As far as quotes go a saying Parnelli Jones used on a DVD I watch some years back, he was involved in the Indy car league at the time and it went like this, “If someone invents a washer that makes your car go quicker, and that washer cost a hundred thousand dollars, all you’ve done is make everyone spend a hundred thousand dollars” im sure most on this forum will get it.

Dale M

[John McKechnie]

Race 40 -26 Jan 2014.
Fastest laps-
Dale Mathers-1:13.964,
Steve Elliot- 1:19.426
Doesnt look like 3.5 seconds here, whats the HP again?

[ERC]

H'mmm. Six seconds difference. My car puts out just 95bhp at the wheels and I am six seconds slower again... Been running the identical unmodified car for 23 years.

[John McKechnie]

Ray- so what were your lap times 23 years ago, that way we can see your improvement?

[Kiwiboss]

Race 40 -26 Jan 2014.
Fastest laps-
Dale Mathers-1:13.964,
Steve Elliot- 1:19.426
Doesnt look like 3.5 seconds here, whats the HP again?

Thats my fast ever lap John which was done on one cool morning first up race and not what i do all the time, mostly in the mid 1:14's, and i was sure Steve had gone faster but didn't look it up? im trying to explain is that knowing your car and having it set up correctly should come before you bolt in more HP, even so just divide the 12 into 5.462(not 6 sec's) sec's and you can still get a possible scenario of 0.455 so come on!! and my HP is easy to check John, we have the same engine builder!!

Ray, the HP don't matter, its all about power to weight ratio(the Boss is 1520KG without driver, im a 100KG)!! anyone else want any lessons? because wait until i start on HP per litre and other mathematical calculations!! LOL(my engine is 94HP per litre, in today's world not very efficient) :) :) :) but all this is nothing new.

Dale M

[fullnoise68]

I did a 1:18.350 on the first Saturday of the Festival John. It was said in jest and Dale is right in what he is saying....... but I should be getting quicker with PS and not BS!!

[beowulf]

Some great motorsports quotes in the last half dozen posts. I can't wait to see them published. Sounds more like a great gonads post.

[Grant Sprague]

As I was told some time ago ....this class seems to be about the cars & not the drivers....... the last class I drove in were about 6 good strong v8,s only 289.... one was 302 ... 327,s etc ... any way we were always within about 1 second... If we could find 1 10th of a second it was a god send [ Steve mentioned a while ago "your car was so much quicker" at Ruapuna ... well was only >4 tens of a second but retaining quick times in 6 laps is 3 seconds at flag fall = the distance looks like a big margine..... ..made very close racing ..parity was the name ..we were about 410 some had marsh engines 500plus but couldn't set their cars up........some were good steerers some were not this is what makes it all so interesting , & yes Dale has had some good seat time & steers the car perhaps the others need to lift the game ... & Dale yr car is heavy in my calcs not sure if you allow light doors bonnets & boots & plastic windows there wud be an other second easliy

[Jac Mac]

Some great motorsports quotes in the last half dozen posts. I can't wait to see them published. Sounds more like a great gonads post.
Are you suggesting that weight reduction could include a surgical procedure:)

[Grant Sprague]

HE HE HE Jac [RE WEIGHT] [ a good main lander] as you knew Ernie ... when I was a kid going GTX he though my weight was too heavy for the wee baby class I was like a robbers dog as it was , carting hay in weekends etc lol, very slim I thought, he was asking [making] me have hot baths with curry powder in so as to sweet off more weight BUT it worked ??... he was big on weight... I think him & Colin chapman came from the same mold

[Jac Mac]

Your right Grant, your Dad seldom if ever missed a trick, first time I raced the MKIV Cortina at Teretonga he was having a quick look under the hood, comment was--* does it really need that big heavy copper/brass radiator Jac, wouldn't it be better with an alloy one *-- he was right of course, but I was thinking heavy on the car maybe, but light on the pocket!

I remember Gary with the XD Falcon at Coronet Peak Hillclimb explaining to a spectator why they had gutted the interior of the car, his answer has stuck with me ever since, try running to the top of a hill with a sack of spuds over your shoulder, walk back down then run back up without the bag of spuds, even though your puffed from the first run your second will be faster. Sort of analogy I could imagine Ernie using.:) Like I was saying to someone recently, my brain is still doing 150 mph, but the body feels like its on a bungy cord that is always in stretched state.

[ERC]

Weight didn't seem to affect the late great Gerry Marshall too much!

Quote:

In my first ever season on track (1970 - sprints and hill-climbs only) with a very lightly modified 998cc Mini Cooper, I took a new lady friend with me to one of the then popular Silverstone Winter Sprints, held on the club circuit. As required by the regs, I taped the headlights.

Unfortunately, being in the first group out on track, entering the fast Woodcote Corner on lap one, I hit a small puddle and the car spun sharply into the wall on the inside, totalling the front left corner. Lady friend, an English Teacher with a wonderfully dry sense of humour, surveying the damage merely said "That sticky tape didn't do much good then..."

[Grant Sprague]

Ha ha Love it Eric & I love the English humour spent a few years there .. Re Gerry .... for sure he was quick but imagine if he had 100kg off him ...cheap horse power ?? cant escape physics .. not only that he might still be here to day.
I often went to Brands in the weekends & saw him race ...... first time there I & my friend could not believe they sold beer around the circuit ...... a far cry from NZ racing in those days it was like woooow often watched from Druids you cud c the men from the boys & cars that did not handle love those yrs ... Hey Jac yep Ernie use to us that anology but said to me try running up the hill with a car battery .... Great teacher miss him & Mum big time but
Feel them about

[928]

top quote
"who remembers who finished second"

[Racer Rog]

second, first of the loosers......unknown

Roger

[Grant Sprague]

Yep LOVE that one , I did not use it in race company as egos were flying & as time moves on who remembers the winners & champion ship winners mind you they are normally written in history.... lets face it u race to win :D I had better get back to fire wood & fert the trees talk later wwoooooooosshhhhhhhhhhhh

[Malcolm McLeod]

"Plucked it in first and gave it some jandal Fuck yeah!!!"
Modern day quote from a Volvo driver,
Who says all V8 Supercar drivers are bland and boring?

[Rod Grimwood]

"Plucked it in first and gave it some jandal Fuck yeah!!!"
Modern day quote from a Volvo driver,
Who says all V8 Supercar drivers are bland and boring?


Better than the soft cock quote from the so-called official after re-start balls up, 'you could see the speed difference between them and Wincup' "TUI"
TV sure looked different, what an easy set up, you just slow down and the front guy's get dicked. The whole restart system is a big balls up, and found it hard to keep a straight face when they announced the 'Driver standards' person.

Mate young cheese must have done something naughty to some official or his extended family

[Steve Holmes]

This isn't so much a quote, its actually a small section from the brilliant Smokey Yunick book Best Damn Garage In Town. If you've not read this book, I highly recommend it. Smokey was one of those right there at the beginning of Nascar, and he tells holds no punches. He talks about his childhood, his time in the war, and his time spent in Indycar racing and Nascar. Its over 600 pages long, with very small text. Its a bit like reading a large exercise book. But its very funny, and provides an excellent insight into what Nascar was really like in the early days, which many prefer to avoid now, given its clean-cut image. Here is a small segment:

"The early newspaper and magazine reports didn't know a damn thing about auto racing, and didn't want to know. I had an idea that being sent to a race track to report was then a form of punishment for a reporter who fucked up. I can remember George Moore was a reporter for an Atlanta paper. He interviewed me and printed that we, "removed and threw away shocks as part of preparation for racing". At the time George was totally ignorant technically (He eventually became very good at race reporting).

"In 1964, he interviews me at Atlanta. I'm really way too busy, and he's too goddamned dumb to notice it. He asks about a car I built to run Indy, that originally was to have a turbine engine in it. He kept calling it a rocket engine. No matter how much I tried to get him to understand there was a huge difference, he would not listen. So he says, "Why did you change your mind and put a regular engine in instead of the rocket?" (The real reason was that I thought I was getting engine free to use, but they wanted $36,000 in advance for a rebuild cost when I finished and at the time I couldn't have handled $3,600, but I did have a good Offenhauser).

"Anyway, I'm really up to my eras with him by then, so I said, "You know how they make the rocket fuel here close by Atlanta?" (And they did, I don't remember the town) He said, "Yes, he knew." I said, "We found out all rocket fuel was made in square shapes and there were no small enough fuel lines manufactured in square shapes, so for lack of fuel lines, we switched to alcohol and an Otto cycle engine." He printed it".

[Rod Grimwood]

So true.

[Malcolm McLeod]

The book is still available on his website.....about $ US30 I think.
Even lists his favourite drivers, of which Denny is one.

This isn't so much a quote, its actually a small section from the brilliant Smokey Yunick book Best Damn Garage In Town. If you've not read this book, I highly recommend it. Smokey was one of those right there at the beginning of Nascar, and he tells holds no punches. He talks about his childhood, his time in the war, and his time spent in Indycar racing and Nascar. Its over 600 pages long, with very small text. Its a bit like reading a large exercise book. But its very funny, and provides an excellent insight into what Nascar was really like in the early days, which many prefer to avoid now, given its clean-cut image. Here is a small segment:

"The early newspaper and magazine reports didn't know a damn thing about auto racing, and didn't want to know. I had an idea that being sent to a race track to report was then a form of punishment for a reporter who fucked up. I can remember George Moore was a reporter for an Atlanta paper. He interviewed me and printed that we, "removed and threw away shocks as part of preparation for racing". At the time George was totally ignorant technically (He eventually became very good at race reporting).

"In 1964, he interviews me at Atlanta. I'm really way too busy, and he's too goddamned dumb to notice it. He asks about a car I built to run Indy, that originally was to have a turbine engine in it. He kept calling it a rocket engine. No matter how much I tried to get him to understand there was a huge difference, he would not listen. So he says, "Why did you change your mind and put a regular engine in instead of the rocket?" (The real reason was that I thought I was getting engine free to use, but they wanted $36,000 in advance for a rebuild cost when I finished and at the time I couldn't have handled $3,600, but I did have a good Offenhauser).

"Anyway, I'm really up to my eras with him by then, so I said, "You know how they make the rocket fuel here close by Atlanta?" (And they did, I don't remember the town) He said, "Yes, he knew." I said, "We found out all rocket fuel was made in square shapes and there were no small enough fuel lines manufactured in square shapes, so for lack of fuel lines, we switched to alcohol and an Otto cycle engine." He printed it".

[paul lancaster]

"Plucked it in first and gave it some jandal Fuck yeah!!!"
Modern day quote from a Volvo driver,
Who says all V8 Supercar drivers are bland and boring?

I once came across a certain pre 65 car that had a sticker by the rev counter that said" treat me like a woman, warm me up before you screw me"

[Grant Sprague]

I once came across a certain pre 65 car that had a sticker by the rev counter that said" treat me like a woman, warm me up before you screw me"Ha ha Paul love it BUT dont forget to warm the tyres & brakes as well to many guys GO OFF on the first corner getting OVER EXCITED

[928]

one I remember from a speedway track in Canada
"he must be cheating, hell I am and I can't get near him"

[Grant Sprague]

[QUOTE=928;40503]one I remember from a speedway track in Canada
Yea mate have many times have we heard that . one ?.................................

[Carlo]

From one of NZ's former champion motorcycle riders, "The only thing worse than getting caught cheating is to get behind in the cheating"

[bry3500]

“I Saw Elvis at 1000 Feet” - John Force