117 replies to this topic

[Milan Fistonic]

Ron Flockhart's obituary in Road & Track states he was one of the few first-line drivers to hold a Bachelor's degree in engineering.

[LittleChris]

Well spotted Vitesse, to my shame I realised what I'd done immediately after I'd hit the send button !!

[alain]

What about Senna and Clark

[birdie]

Senna moved to England when he was 18 I think, so no higher education. Interestingly enough, they had one of his school reports in F1 Racing mag once (when I still liked F1 enough to spend money on it) and he was average at everything but bad at english I think. Which is interesting considering his english was eventually good enough for him to be able to think in it when testing. Must have been like a lot of us, only able to learn something when we can see the point ;)

[alain]

Thanks

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by alain
What about Senna and Clark

Clark attended a private preparatory school, followed by Loretto, one of Scotland's best-known public schools. However, he probably didn't excel academically since he left school at sixteen and went to work on the family farm. Jimmy said of his father:

'He bought me a dog and gave me a stick and told me to get on with it'.

So well did he get on with it, that Clark was running the whole farm within two years.

The family intellectual seems to have been Jimmy's sister Susan, who became a veterinary surgeon.

[arttidesco]

'Rocket Man' Ryan Newman driver of the #39 US Army Chevrolet, graduated from Purdue University with a degree in 'vehicle structure engineering' around the time of the last post on this thread and the following year he was Raybestos Rookie of the Year in the Winston Cup series. Still the only college educated driver in Sprint Cup I believe.

ps know one was harmed in the making of this post.

[Bloggsworth]

Political Science/Law

I think Vaccarella was just a teacher (sorry, Barry!)

"Just a teacher" - Can you find any more ways to insult a noble profession, and being a teacher does not exclude having a degree. We may not value them in Britain, but they do elsewhere.

Milka Duno has 3 Masters Degrees in Naval Achitecture amongst other things, doesn't make her quick....

Edited by Bloggsworth, 29 June 2010 - 11:13.

[verde]

Ayrton Senna attended a private university here in Brazil for some months, in order to study Administration.

Marc Gene and Tony Brise graduated in Eeconomics (the spaniard speaks four languages: english, french, catalan and spanish), as well as former GP2 driver Ferdinando Monfardini, Alain Prost's son Nicolas and Apomatox owner Dominique Delestre. Lucas di Grassi started this course but stopped to go to Europe. I'm interested on this as I'm graduating in Economics as well.

Both frenchmen Nicolas Lapierre and Sebastien Bourdais have a degree in both Mathmatics and Computing Science. Maybe it's common to graduate in both in France.

Nelson Piquet -> attended a public university in Brasilia for some time to study mechanical engineering. He actually wanted to study Philosophy, as I read in a interview some time ago.

Gil de Ferran -> mechanical engineer.

Romain Grosjean, Didier Pironi -> engineers (I don't know what kind of engineering, but...).

And that's also Nico Rosberg, who refused to attend Imperial College in Longon and graduate in Aerodynamics in order to race in GP2 in 2005.

[arttidesco]

Bruce McLaren attended engineering school according to his website but no indication of where or of what studies he completed.

[Gabrci]

Marc Gene speaks four languages: english, french, catalan and spanish

I seem to remember hearing him give an interview in German for RTL too.

[Eric Dunsdon]

How about Piero Taruffi?..One of the few men that D.S.J envied.

[man]

I've always been impressed with Damon Hill although I don't believe he has any further education to his name. What about Niki Lauda and James Hunt?

[kayemod]

I've always been impressed with Damon Hill although I don't believe he has any further education to his name. What about Niki Lauda and James Hunt?

James Hunt was expensively educated at Wellington public school, where despite being very bright, he achieved little academically. He excelled in most sports though, especially running, cricket, tennis and squash, to name but a few.

[Tim Murray]

I've always been impressed with Damon Hill although I don't believe he has any further education to his name.

There's a thread about this:

Damon Hill’s higher education

although most of the discussion in it is on other matters. This is probably the most useful post:

IIRC Damon studied Business Studies at the old South Bank Polytechnic in the early 1980s. He met his wife Georgie there too I believe, she was studying Fashion Design or something like that.

According to the Donaldson biography, James Hunt left Wellington before taking his A levels, and his only further education seems to have been a salesmanship course he was sent on by one of his early employers.

[David M. Kane]

Jim Hall also has a undergraduate degree from Cornell.

[Vitesse2]

Damon left school at sixteen, having been at Haberdashers' Aske's. According to Wikpedia he did complete some sort of further education, but his Who's Who entry says nothing about his education at all!

James Hunt attended Wellington College in Berkshire, not Wellington School, which is in Somerset.

[Lotus23]

istr Roger Penske had a degree from Lehigh (PA) in Industrial Engineering.

[PeterElleray]

Bruce McLaren attended engineering school according to his website but no indication of where or of what studies he completed.

i am sure that i have read in one of the bio's that the choice was between staying in europe for 1959 or returning to n.z to begin his degree.

[verde]

istr Roger Penske had a degree from Lehigh (PA) in Industrial Engineering.

Oh, yes, and in Economics too.

Another economist is the brazilian owner of Forti-Corse, Carlo Gancia.

[john aston]

Damon Hill would have done very well academically I suspect but seems to be in a minority, if the public utterances of most drivers are any measure. Brundle too- very bright and extremely articulate. But most drivers are far more adept at hitting an apex than speaking in anything other than cliches.But I would rather watch an incoherent mouthbreather who is quick than a Phd who isn't- the only loss is the fact that so few drivers seem able to describe their experiences without a ghost writer. 'Then I went to Monza where I was fortunate enough to win' . Spare me...

[arttidesco]

Damon Hill would have done very well academically I suspect but seems to be in a minority, if the public utterances of most drivers are any measure. Brundle too- very bright and extremely articulate. But most drivers are far more adept at hitting an apex than speaking in anything other than cliches.But I would rather watch an incoherent mouthbreather who is quick than a Phd who isn't- the only loss is the fact that so few drivers seem able to describe their experiences without a ghost writer. 'Then I went to Monza where I was fortunate enough to win' . Spare me...

The last ghost written tomb by a world champion I read took me three months to read, I think I was getting too easily distracted by the drying paint on the other side of the bathroom :-)

[wenoopy]

Bruce McLaren attended engineering school according to his website but no indication of where or of what studies he completed.

Bruce McLaren would have started, but not completed, an Engineering degree, at Auckland University, New Zealand. In his early autobiography "From The Cockpit" he refers to being at University as early as 1955. From my unsuccessful engineering studies at that university a few years later, I recall that the course was a 4-year one, with the first year at the main university in the city, followed by three years of engineering studies at the "School of Engineering" at Ardmore, beside the airfield track used for the New Zealand Grand Prix from 1954 to 1962.

The book refers to Bruce completing some engineering examinations at the end of 1957, when he would have required at least one more year to complete the degree. Completion was never a serious option once had a Formula One seat with Cooper.

By comparison, Denny Hulme drove trucks for his father's trucking company, illegally under-age for a time, and with bare feet so he could feel the controls better.

[Lifew12]

The last ghost written tomb .....

One of the best spelling mistakes I;ve seen in a long time (I'm assuming it is such!) I know I don't count here - I'm no racing driver - but reading this coincides with me clearing out some old documents, among which were some of my old school reports. For PE, in form 4B, it reads:

'Steve has worked well throughout the year without displaying any particular talents.'

I'm having it framed.

[Mansell Madgwick]

"Just a teacher" - Can you find any more ways to insult a noble profession, and being a teacher does not exclude having a degree. We may not value them in Britain, but they do elsewhere.

Milka Duno has 3 Masters Degrees in Naval Achitecture amongst other things, doesn't make her quick....

I'm with you Bloggsworth. 'Just a teacher'??

[arttidesco]

One of the best spelling mistakes I;ve seen in a long time (I'm assuming it is such!) I know I don't count here - I'm no racing driver - but reading this coincides with me clearing out some old documents, among which were some of my old school reports. For PE, in form 4B, it reads:

'Steve has worked well throughout the year without displaying any particular talents.'

I'm having it framed.

When one is being distracted by drying paint from reading a book, I believe referring to said book as a 'ghost written tomb' is perfectly accurate but I'll stand to be corrected

[kayemod]

By comparison, Denny Hulme drove trucks for his father's trucking company, illegally under-age for a time, and with bare feet so he could feel the controls better.

I don't think that Denny had much formal education in the usually accepted sense, but I met him a few times years ago, and he certainly never came across as in any way 'uneducated'. Some other drivers, especially in recent times, who've gone all the way through various country's education systems on the other hand...

To digress a little on the subject of Denny, one of my all-time racing heroes, I remember reading an article about him in Road & Track, 1970ish probably, almost certainly written by Eoin Young, and his tales of truck driving with his dad were fascinating. They used to load and unload trucks with sand and gravel, and would race each other under a baking sun to finish first. Denny described how the two of them would fettle their shovels to improve performance, grinding and lightening them until they got the balance just right. Amazing, the things you can learn from car magazines.

Edited by kayemod, 16 July 2010 - 11:34.

[arttidesco]

They used to load and unload trucks with sand and gravel, and would race each other under a baking sun to finish first. Denny described how the two of them would fettle their shovels to improve performance, grinding and lightening them until they got the balance just right. Amazing, the things you can learn from car magazines.

Can you imagine such a thing happening with the Button's & Hamilton's of today, would they even know what a shovel was ?

[Jim Thurman]

Bill Sheffler, U.S. champ car driver of the 40's, had an Engineering degree from the University of Southern California - and reportedly another degree from USC as well. He was also a pole vaulter on the USC track team.

[Ross Stonefeld]

I still remain incredibly skeptical of Milka Duno's ridiculously impressive CV.

[AlMark]

Al Holbert followed Penske and Mark Donohue at Lehigh University. His degree was in mechanical engineering.

[La Sarthe]

I'll toss in Oliver Turvey, current GP2 driver and occasional McLaren tester. He has an engineering degree from Cambridge and was the first Cambridge Blue in motorsport.

[arttidesco]

I still remain incredibly skeptical of Milka Duno's ridiculously impressive CV.

According to her Official Website :-

In addition to being one of the most successful female sportscar racers in history, Milka is also a qualified Naval Engineer with four master's degrees - in Organizational Development, Naval Architecture, Fishing and Aquaculture and Maritime Business – earning the last three degrees simultaneously.

I struggled doing one B.A. degree simultaneously I can't imagine how you do all the course work for three degree's simultaneously never mind attend all the lecture's ?

I wonder if things are different in Venezuela ?

Maybe she took the easy route and studied for them all on line ?

Will the truth ever come out ?

She certainly seems to rock President Chavez boat :-)

[D-Type]

Possibly the master's degree is made up of several modules. by judicious selection of modules she may have been able to use some of the same modules for more than one degree.

[jockellis]

Peter Gregg went to Ha'vad, IIRC. Sam Posey went to some other Ivy League school.

[dinamoabc]

Austrian Jo Gartner was a engineer.

[Bloggsworth]

I'll toss in Oliver Turvey, current GP2 driver and occasional McLaren tester. He has an engineering degree from Cambridge and was the first Cambridge Blue in motorsport.

I doubt that.

[Bloggsworth]

According to her Official Website :-

In addition to being one of the most successful female sportscar racers in history, Milka is also a qualified Naval Engineer with four master's degrees - in Organizational Development, Naval Architecture, Fishing and Aquaculture and Maritime Business – earning the last three degrees simultaneously.

I struggled doing one B.A. degree simultaneously I can't imagine how you do all the course work for three degree's simultaneously never mind attend all the lecture's ?

I wonder if things are different in Venezuela ?

Maybe she took the easy route and studied for them all on line ?

Will the truth ever come out ?

She certainly seems to rock President Chavez boat :-)

At school I used to know a boy who could do a Scholarship Level Pure Maths paper in his head as we walked to assembly (He went on to get distinctions in S Level Pure Maths, Applied Maths and Physics; he only got an "A" grade in S Level Chemistry, so did that at Cambridge, as it was the only subject which presented a challenge) He couldn't drive very well either. I also know someone who while qualifying as a doctor did a PhD in medical research, and at the same time is doing a BA in English, I have no idea how he drives...

More than once I have known people with seemingly more than one brain, everything they do on the academic front seems as effortless as Jim Clark made driving look. Milka Duno's problem may well be that she thinks too much. Yes, it is possible that academic standards in Venezuela are a tad lower than that of the first world countries, but not that much lower. Also, it's not as if she took the easy route and did Media Studies or Gender Studies with Pot Plant Technology.

Edited by Bloggsworth, 16 September 2010 - 07:42.

[kayemod]

More than once I have known people with seemingly more than one brain, everything they do on the academic front seems as effortless as Jim Clark made driving look.

I have to agree pretty much with The Bloggsworth Theory, some people are academically brilliant in a way that passes the understanding of most of us, but I have to emphasise that word academically. My brother-in-law is a consultant pharmacologist. A few years after gaining all his medical qualifications at Cambridge, I think he came first in his year, he spent a year working in a hospital in Boston Mass, gaining a US medical degree at either Harvard or Yale, I forget which, but whichever is closest to Boston, studying in his spare time. He now heads some Government agency in his chosen field, appearing on TV from time to time to defend or explain policy on some medical matter or other. He travels the world to lecture and attend conferences etc, and is recognised as one of the leading experts in his field. But he struggles to put up a shelf, can't boil an egg, and is a terrible driver, clear evidence to the rest of us that no-one can be good at everything.

[Bloggsworth]

Some people can do everything:- I give you Dr. Jonathan Miller...

Edited by Bloggsworth, 16 September 2010 - 09:29.

[kayemod]

Some people can do everything:- I give you Dr. Jonathan Miller...

Ah, but how straight and level are the good Doctor's shelves, and have you been in a car with him?

[LotusElise]

According to her Official Website :-

In addition to being one of the most successful female sportscar racers in history, Milka is also a qualified Naval Engineer with four master's degrees - in Organizational Development, Naval Architecture, Fishing and Aquaculture and Maritime Business – earning the last three degrees simultaneously.

I struggled doing one B.A. degree simultaneously I can't imagine how you do all the course work for three degree's simultaneously never mind attend all the lecture's ?

I wonder if things are different in Venezuela ?

Maybe she took the easy route and studied for them all on line ?

Will the truth ever come out ?

She certainly seems to rock President Chavez boat :-)

She is very coy about where she earned her qualifications. Most reputable universities, if not all, do not allow taking three masters degrees at the same time. Even stellarly clever folk are encouraged to do one at a time, and the structure of taught courses does not often allow for early completion. I doubt anyone could even assemble all the data for three research masters at the same time; that is nothing to do with intelligence and all to do with getting others to co-operate, and actually finding out where the data is.

I do wonder whether some of these qualifications are honorary. A lot of what is said about Milka Duno seems to be apocryphal. I've also heard someone claim she was in the US military in some capacity as well.

[kayemod]

I do wonder whether some of these qualifications are honorary. A lot of what is said about Milka Duno seems to be apocryphal. I've also heard someone claim she was in the US military in some capacity as well.

But more importantly, has anyone seen her shelves?

[Bloggsworth]

But more importantly, has anyone seen her shelves?

They look pretty impressive to me, even if not, as it were, home grown - I have a sneaking suspicion that her embonpoint is the reason for her lack of pace on road courses, it gets in the way of her arms when she turns the steering wheel...

Miller may well not be able to drive at all, he probably transmutes and just appears wherever he wishes....

I turned down the opportunity to do an MA on the grounds that I couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, and I could never figure out how to handle all the different shaped brackets when it came to citations. Apart from that, I'm pretty thick....

Edited by Bloggsworth, 16 September 2010 - 13:41.

[kayemod]

They look pretty impressive to me, even if not, as it were, home grown - I have a sneaking suspicion that her embonpoint is the reason for her lack of pace on road courses, it gets in the way of her arms when she turns the steering wheel...

I don't know what South American tribe Mika Duno originates from, but clearly it's not Amazon. They'd have solved that problem for her pretty quickly, and the remedy would have had the added benefit of reducing her unsprung weight.

[Flat Black 84]

Walt Faulkner graduated from Tell, Texas Junior High.

PS--I suspect Milka's academic credentials are socialist realism.

[Bloggsworth]

I don't know what South American tribe Mika Duno originates from, but clearly it's not Amazon. They'd have solved that problem for her pretty quickly, and the remedy would have had the added benefit of reducing her unsprung weight.

Apart from the fact that the Amazonians were Greek, assuming she is right handed, they would have left her with at least one of her mammary appendages (the non bow string side), so ovals would be no problem....

[kayemod]

Apart from the fact that the Amazonians were Greek...

Err yes, I wondered who'd be the first to spot that...



In my defence, since last Friday, I've been recovering from six broken toes, and am too racked with pain to even think about checking on Wikipedia for things I'm not too certain about.

If this was the BP thread, I'd have put "wracked with pain", just to irritate some of you a little.

[Tony Matthews]

since last Friday, I've been recovering from six broken toes,

Bloody hell! Hard luck - how did you come to miss the other four?

[Bloggsworth]

Err yes, I wondered who'd be the first to spot that...

I guess the producers of Xena - Warrior Princess couldn't find any mono-breasted women for the episodes involving the Amazons...

In my defence, since last Friday, I've been recovering from six broken toes, and am too racked with pain to even think about checking on Wikipedia for things I'm not too certain about.

I bet that made you hopping mad..... Er, maybe not..... 6 toes.