Jump to content


Photo

Racing the clock


  • Please log in to reply
4 replies to this topic

#1 cheesy poofs

cheesy poofs
  • Member

  • 3,243 posts
  • Joined: July 01

Posted 26 June 2006 - 21:08

I once asked a fellow Atlas forumer if he knew what was the latest time of the day a GP was ever started or restared. He could not recall that the now-famous 1982 Canadian GP was restarted a little after 6:00 pm local time. The race finally ended just a little before 8:00 pm.

Which leads me to ask if a GP as ever been run so late in the day before this race or even after ?

Advertisement

#2 Twin Window

Twin Window
  • Nostalgia Host

  • 6,611 posts
  • Joined: May 04

Posted 26 June 2006 - 21:53

I didn't realise it was delayed by so much.

The 1976 Japanese GP started later than scheduled, and ended in twilight at best. Not sure of the local time though.

EDIT: I just did a llittle checking on a couple of races I remembered as being delayed, and it appears that the re-started 1978 Italian GP was eventually flagged-off at just before 6pm local time.

#3 ian senior

ian senior
  • Member

  • 2,165 posts
  • Joined: September 02

Posted 27 June 2006 - 08:13

Originally posted by Twin Window
I didn't realise it was delayed by so much.

The 1976 Japanese GP started later than scheduled, and ended in twilight at best. Not sure of the local time though.


Wasn't the twilight effect just because of the awful overcast weather conditions? I do recall it being late, though - presumably because of the torrential rain.

#4 ReWind

ReWind
  • Member

  • 3,394 posts
  • Joined: October 03

Posted 28 June 2006 - 17:54

According to Ulrich Schwab’s „Grand Prix“ the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix was started at 3:09 pm local time - a time which seems not too unusual in those years. The start had been scheduled for 1:30 pm so it was postponed by just over 90 minutes.

In vol. 3 of „Grand Prix!“ Mike Lang wrote the cars were signalled away on the pace lap for the re-started 1978 Italian Grand Prix „a few minutes past 6 pm“. This would mean that the race ended roughly at a quarter past 7 o’clock pm local time.

Also according to Ulrich Schwab the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix was re-started at 4:15 pm which means it should have lasted until around 6:02 pm. However in vol. 4 of „Grand Prix!“ Mike Lang wrote that the (original) race was not due to start until 4.15 pm, to tie in with TV schedules. According to Lang the re-start took place „almost exactly two hours after the first“ which indeed should mean after 6 o’clock pm. A race duration of 1:46 h would then indicate the chequered flag was shown at around 8 o’clock pm. This is confirmed by Yörn Pugmeister’s race report in „Motorsport aktuell“ (25/1982, p. 4: „Noch nie in der Geschichte der Formel 1 ging ein Rennen erst nach 20 Uhr abends zu Ende“) : "Never before in F1 history a race had ended after 8 o’clock pm."

#5 Chris Bloom

Chris Bloom
  • Member

  • 778 posts
  • Joined: April 01

Posted 28 June 2006 - 18:34

Which year was it (1994 perhaps?) where the Surfers Paradise CART event ended in near darkness? It was quite spectacular to watch as you could see the cars brakes glowing every time they used them. I don't know what time it was locally, I guess Surfers being where it is and the time of year it was probably between 6-7pm when the race finished?