13 replies to this topic

[Prostfan]

Everybody is talking about Mickey-Mouse-tracks.

I wonder who invented this term, which circuit he was talking about and what it does refer to (cicuits so simple that even Mickey Mouse could drive on them or shaped like the ears of Mickey Mouse???)

Any ideas?

[Vitesse2]

Not sure who invented the term, but Graham Hill, writing in Life at the Limit (1970) calls Le Mans Bugatti a Mickey Mouse circuit, so it's at least late Sixties ....

[lustigson]

I believe the term Mickey Mouse refers to the short straights and many curves that make a Mickey Mouse Track fit on a tiny -- Mickey Mouse size -- piece of land... or something like that.

[Breadmaster]

Graham Hill did indeed coin this phrase, the description meaning crappy, not very good, mickey-mouse...common phraseology.

[BRG]

I think lustigson is right - we talk about Mickey Mouse stages in rallying, usually meaning short, tight and twisty. THe expression has been around for a long time in motorsport, and indeed more widely as well. I would be interested to know where it first originated though.

[holiday]

Some days ago, Juan Pablo Montoya in a Chat called Hungary a Micky Mouse Track because the track is so "tight and narrow."


holiday

[Rob29]

Could be cockney rhyming slang-mickey mousey-lousey. Graham Hill was a Londoner.

[marion5drsn]

The phrase, "Mickey Mouse" was probably from the old Mickey Mouse watches made in the 1930's or 1940's and refers to any mechanical devise that is not dependable. They had a reputation in the
easily and quickly high failure rate. Whether or not this was true is not really verifiable by me, nevertheless that was the general feeling about them.
One drag racer in Kansas City who had an Olds powered dragster even wore Mickey Mouse cap with the ears and all. Yours, M. L. Anderson

[Barry Boor]

I recall being very amused when Motoring News (I think) published a map of the projected Caesar's Palace Car Park Grand Prix circuit under the heading:

MICKEYIST MOUSE EVER?

Graham Hill was Londoner, but certainly not a Cockney. There is no way a Cockney will ever rhyme MOUSEY with LOUSY!

[Nustang70]

before i had heard of tracks being referred to "Mickey Mouse" tracks, I had heard the term "Mickey Moused" in reference to poorly built or pieced together items. so i always figured it was the same with the tracks.

[No27]

Mickey Mouse as in "Mickey Mouse track" means something like "small, not to be taken seriously"

"The Netherlands have a Mickey Mouse football competition"

I didn't know the meaning like in "Mickey Moused together" and I think it's not the sense in which ""Mickey Mouse track" should be explained.
Come to the orginal question at top of this thread: I don't know where it comes from.

[aportinga]

Good responses - first time I heard of the term it was watching my recording of the 2000 USGP. The announcers stated that the drivers refered to the tight s just before the straight as "Mickey and Mouse corner".

It is a terrible set of corners...well with no distinct elevation changes I guess it's a pretty poor configuration altogether. Great facility though!

[Kpy]

For what it's worth:

Mickey Mouse adj

amateurish, unworthy of consideration or respect. A contemptuous description beloved of the business world in the 1970s and 1980s, Mickey Mouse has in fact been used in this way since before World War II when the phrase was applied for instance to childish or simplistic music of the bands which played it. It subsequently denoted any institution or venture which did not deserve to be taken seriously.

Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang

[servellen]

Originally posted by No27

"The Netherlands have a Mickey Mouse football competition"

[/B]

Maar toch hebben wij talent volle spellers !

-svs