Bizarre DNSs

Jacques Laffite, DNS 1975 US GP

On race morning, he wanted to put eye-drops in his eyes. Instead, he mistakenly put visor cleaner in them.

He nearly lost his sight.

Incidentally Laffite's teammate, Lella Lombardi didn't start either - her Williams suffered some, apparently terminal, electric failure. She would've taken over Laffite's car after his visor cleaner experience made him a DNS, but she couldn't fit its cockpit...

Not so much a DNS more of a DNA

Back in the day, when Alain Menu was competing in the British F3 Championship - He missed a whole race meeting!

His RALT - Toyota, being prepared at Anglia Cars in Griston, Norfolk was all loaded up on its truck to go to a meeting at Silverstone. The mechanics had gone for something to eat, when, from the nearby Watton Prison some escaping prisoners made off with the Truck, Race Car etc.

Menu turned up at Silverstone the next day to find no team. The escapees, not being racing enthusiasts had taken the truck elsewhere.

It took the whole weekend to find the truck - which had been carefully parked on an industrial estate in Norwich, the Truck was undamaged and nothing was found missing.

I suppose there is a moral somewhere, maybe more than one!



Charlie

Ah yes - I'd forgotten that one. The event at Silverstone was actually the FOTA test day in preparation for the Grand Prix, but the stolen truck was not recovered in time for Menu to take part in that weekend's race at Donington.

One from the bike world - at the round of the British Superbike Championship last weekend at Assen in Holland (I know - bit like having British F3s at Spa) current champion Tommy Hill was riding up to his starting position at the end of the assembly lap when, passing through the grid, another team's mechanic took a step back into his path and hit the brake lever - Tommy went over the handlebars and bruised himself, and one footrest was snapped off when the bike fell over. Repairs couldn't be made in the pits in time.

Paul M

She would've taken over Laffite's car after his visor cleaner experience made him a DNS, but she couldn't fit its cockpit...

I remember the Motoring News report. Paddock wags claimed that Jacques Henri's crutch straps were too tight.

I guess Otto Stuppacher's story also deserves a mention here. His private ÖASC Tyrrell did not even get close to qualifying at Monza in 1976, as was to be expected. But then Messrs Hunt, Mass and Watson saw their practice times disallowed by officialdom due to their use of illegal fuel - that was one for the Italians in 1976's Ferrari-McLaren protesting match. For Stuppacher it meant that he moved up the order and onto the grid! Sadly, poor Otto had already got onto the Saturday evening flight to Vienna and thus missed his big chance to start a Grand Prix...

... and wasn't Merzario persuaded to forfeit the same race by a little money from Penske?

IIRC with Otto gone Hunt as the fastest of the three who had times disallowed was straight back on the back of the grid. It was then the withdrawal of both Edwards and Mezario that allowed Mass and Watson to start behind Hunt. If Arturo was persuaded by Roger Penske to withdraw by a financial incentive what persuaded Guy to withdraw ?

I find it very difficult to believe that Otto would have been allowed to start even had he not returned home. There was a 110% rule in place in 1983 at least, it may have been in place earlier, and I doubt the other entrants would have been best chuffed to have someone who made Volonterio look like Fangio tootling around stochastically. Besides which, surely the Italians wanted Hunt to start - had he been barred well and truly a protest against the race being in the championship might have followed.

So I can see a scenario whereby Hunt would have nudged Otto off the grid regardless...

I find it very difficult to believe that Otto would have been allowed to start even had he not returned home. There was a 110% rule in place in 1983 at least, it may have been in place earlier, and I doubt the other entrants would have been best chuffed to have someone who made Volonterio look like Fangio tootling around stochastically. Besides which, surely the Italians wanted Hunt to start - had he been barred well and truly a protest against the race being in the championship might have followed.

So I can see a scenario whereby Hunt would have nudged Otto off the grid regardless...

Putting the reason for Edwards withdrawal aside for a moment, it does seem incredible to think that Otto might have started the race at Monza and even more incredible that he then went to Canada and the USA to fly the 'Austria is Beautiful' flag for a few laps of practice. That's a lot of traveling in the light of his poor performance in Italy, and refused entry on his home track. Can't fault him for trying in the face of adversity

I'd love to know though whether there was a reason why he was so excruciatingly slow. Pesenti-Rossi pulled up no trees in the lower formulae but he did an adequate job in an identical car. And Stuppacher was good enough to team with Lauda in sportscars a few years before.

Maybe he had a very tired engine and was only allowed to use 6000 rpm, does seem odd that a former Austrian Hillclimb Champion looked so out of his depth.

According to Pete Lyons in his Autosport report, Frank Williams had become so fed up with Merzario's constant complaining about the tyres that he had officially withdrawn the car after practice. This let Mass into the race. Then Hunt got in because Stuppacher had gone home. Finally, Guy Edwards was suffering with a wrist damaged at the Nürburgring, which had caused him to miss Austria and Holland. He didn't think it would last the race distance, so was happy to come to an agreement with Roger Penske whereby he withdrew from the race and Penske paid his travel expenses to the North American races. If Stuppacher had stayed, he had been given a concession which would have allowed him to race although outside the 110% limit.

Edited by Tim Murray, 29 September 2012 - 11:12.

Truth emerges after 11 years ! Only on TNF, thanks Tim

Robbie Francevic did not start the Castrol 500 round of the 1986 Australian Touring Car Endurance Championship at Sandown on Sunday the 14th of September, as he had been sacked from the Volvo Dealer Team the previous night for criticising the way that the team was being run.

Back in the late 70's the huge semi-trailer race car transporters were just being introduced in Australia. One of the first to use one was sports car driver Rusty French who used one to transport his DeTomaso Panterra Prod Sports car around the country. At one of the Aust Sports Car Championship rounds at Adelaide Intl Raceway Rusty was seen stomping around the pits as the rest of the cars went out for their practice sessions. No Pants-tearer ! On the overnight trip from Melbourne to Adelaide the huge truck got stuck on a bridge crossing the Murray River at Murray Bridge. They had almost completed their crossing but the last 30m had a low steel structure over the top of the bridge and the semi couldn't get under it. They had to reverse the truck for almost a kilometre to get it off . All the cars and truckies banked up behind them on the bridge were not impressed, moreso when the police arrived to sort out the mess and started having a good look at some of the trucks stuck behind the big black pantech. The truck had to detour hundreds of kilometres in order to find a bridge they could use to get across the river.They made it for the race next day.
There is a lot to be said for an EH ute and tandem trailer for race car transport.

Edited by W154, 20 January 2013 - 12:13.

George Barringer had a DNS in the 1941 Indy 500 after his car was destroyed in a fire in the garage area on the morning of the race.

Gaston Ducreux was a DNS in the cyclecar race held at the Miramas Autodrome on the 13th of July 1924, due to not being informed of the change to the starting time of the race.

Originally posted by Graham Clayton
Robbie Francevic did not start the Castrol 500 round of the 1986 Australian Touring Car Endurance Championship at Sandown on Sunday the 14th of September, as he had been sacked from the Volvo Dealer Team the previous night for criticising the way that the team was being run.

I think that was coming for a long time...

He was very vocal about all sorts of things, Bob Atkin wouldn't have stood for it at all.

Edited by Ray Bell, 15 March 2013 - 13:09.

Twelve cars did not start the inaugral Targa Florio in 1906, after being stranded in Genoa due to a strike by dock workers.

Twelve cars did not start the inaugral Targa Florio in 1906, after being stranded in Genoa due to a strike by dock workers.

Almost all the cars entered for the season-opening F1 race of 1947, in Sweden, were trapped on a ship in Gothenberg harbor due to ice. This left just three British-entered ERAs and an old Bugatti entered by a local to start the race.

In 1964 Jim Clark participated in a Cortina promotion at the Winter Olympics resort Cortina D'Ampezzo. He took part in a snowball fight with journalists [/] and injured his back. Consequently he was unable to take part in that year's Rand Grand Prix .

There's an interesting aside to this. For the one race Team Lotus engaged a young Scot named Jackie Stewart which is how it comes about that he made his Formula 1 debut in a Lotus and started from pole, the only occasion that he drove one.

Stewart tested a Lotus 33 during practice at the British GP at Brands in 64. He won the 2nd heat in the 64 Rand GP in the Lotus.

Stewart tested a Lotus 33 during practice at the British GP at Brands in 64. He won the 2nd heat in the 64 Rand GP in the Lotus.

Sorry, 2 years ago when I wrote 'drove one' I meant either 'drove one in anger' or 'raced one'. I don't consider an informal test counts (in the context of this thread).

Edited by D-Type, 29 May 2013 - 10:30.

Gino Rovere was a DNS in the 1936 Grand Prix de Picardie, after his car was crashed by one of his mechanics in practice.

In 1964 Egon Evertz and Bernd Degner entered a Iso Rivolta 300 GT in the Grosser Preis der Tourenwagen at the Nurburgring, but they were a DNS because the Iso was not homologated as a Group 2 improved production car.

During practice for the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix, the ATS D7 of Manfred Winkelhock broke down when entering the pit lane. The mechanics went out to the car to push it back to the pit bay, which was against regulations. As a result, Winkelhock's best lap time was disallowed by the marshals. This did not go down too well with ATS team owner Gustav Schmidt, who proceeded to tell the marshals what he thought of their decision, which lead to Winkelhock being excluded from the field.

 

http://www.grandprix.../gpe/rr389.html

Incidentally Laffite's teammate, Lella Lombardi didn't start either - her Williams suffered some, apparently terminal, electric failure. She would've taken over Laffite's car after his visor cleaner experience made him a DNS, but she couldn't fit its cockpit...

Just seen this one. This infers, to me, that LL was physically larger than JL. Really?  If, as I would have thought, she was of a slighter build, I would have thought they could have rigged something up.  Or have I got it all wrong?

Just seen this one. This infers, to me, that LL was physically larger than JL. Really?  If, as I would have thought, she was of a slighter build, I would have thought they could have rigged something up.  Or have I got it all wrong?

 

The question about the seatbelts contains the answer. Women have more... sorry, fat around the backside, their hips are wider, and generally their belly is rounder as well. Even a very slender woman has a much bigger 'bum to weight-ratio' than a slender man, even if they have the same BMI.

Edited by Nemo1965, 11 November 2014 - 11:17.

There are conflicting accounts here. DCN in Racers agrees with the version that Lella didn't start because she didn't fit the cockpit. However, Alan Henry in MN said that she did try to take the start in Laffite's car, but they couldn't get the engine to fire up in time.

Consalvo Sanesi was unable to start the 1951 Swiss Grand Prix in his Tipo 159 Alfa-Romeo after being burned in a pre-race practice pit stop.

This incident happened at Monza during practice for the 1951 Italian GP. In the Swiss GP Sanesi achieved his best-ever result in a World Championship F1 race, finishing fourth.