57 replies to this topic

[Supersox]

It was definitely Tony Fall in a Lancia Fulvia HF, in the 1968 TAP Rally in Portugal.
Fall dominated the event with Henry Liddon as co-driver, until he arrived at the final control a few minutes early and stopped just short of the control area being immediately mobbed by spectators. Fall's wife was in the crowd, and he allowed her to get in the car. She was still in there when they clocked in, Fall driving with her in his arms the last 50 meters of the stage. But the stewards invoked the "unauthorised passenger rule", Tony Fall-Henry Liddon were disqualified and Francisco Ramaozinho-"Jocames" in a Citroën DS23 Proto were declared the winners.

What about a driver (or, was he a motorcycle rider, don't remember) who was disqualified for having took a national flag by a spectator during the "slow-down" lap?

I asked Tony Fall about this one day because it made no sense . It turned out that what had actually happened was that Liddon and Fall had discovered a short cut on the route during practice and on the day of the event used this short cut to get a very good stage time which meant that they won the rally-or would have won the rally -because overnight the organisers had also discovered the shortcut and had moved the time control back 500 or so meters to before the point where the shortcut joined the stage.Net result Fall /Liddon pop out of the turning and then have to go back up the stage to get to the time control. Wrong way up a stage -disqualification.They know this was coming but did not want to be seen to be disqualified for cheating so picked up the passenger to provide a more respectable reason to be disqualified

[Graham Clayton]

Derek Bell was disqualified from Round 9 of the 1977 Shellsport International Series at Mallory Park because the front fins on his Penske-Cosworth PC3 were too high. Bell had no other problems in the other races, so was the DSQ the result of an incorrect setting of the fins by a mechanic?

[Tim Murray]

During the warm-up lap for the race Alo Lawler had run over Bell's nose cone, bending it slightly. At post-race scrutineering the nose was found to be slightly too high on one side. Although this would not have improved the performance of the car in any way, not only was Bell disqualified, he was also 'fined' a ridiculous amount of championship points (48), which completely put him out of the running for the championship.

[alansart]

During the warm-up lap for the race Alo Lawler had run over Bell's nose cone, bending it slightly. At post-race scrutineering the nose was found to be slightly too high on one side. Although this would not have improved the performance of the car in any way, not only was Bell disqualified, he was also 'fined' a ridiculous amount of championship points (48), which completely put him out of the running for the championship.

 

It does seem a bit harsh.

 

Totally off topic but in the early 70's Alo Lawler ran over my foot when we pushing his Formula Ford after a spin. I ended up with a broken toe!

[Bloggsworth]

Mini and Ford being disqualified from the Monte Carlo Rally in 1966 for not being French.

 

 
 

[Bloggsworth]

What a bloody stupid decision. You'd think that someone would apply some common sense.

 

If you ever see the words Common sense on a clip-board, please let us know...

[Bloggsworth]

It was a specific rule in the 1961-65 Formula 1 regulations that topping up oil (and possibly other fluids) was prohibited.

Presumably this was on safety grounds to discourage cars that leaked oil all over the track

 

Does that rule still apply? If so, air being fluid, should not be added to cars in order to open and close the valves, as has been seen at least once this year, and many times before...

[Graham Clayton]

Tora Takagi was disqualified from the 1999 French Grand Prix because he used tyres belonging to his Arrows teammate Pedro De La Rosa.