19 replies to this topic

[Lee Nicolle]

The thread 'Things people find in cars' was being a bit sidetracked so I thought I would start one dealing with foreign bodies in race cars.

Tin tops usually have far more room to be culprits, I know I have as have many others.

Personally I have had fire extinguishers come loose in the car, I have found the odd spanner or screwdriver emerge from under the seat too.. Or once I still had sundry parts and a drum of gear oil left in the boot!

 

Well known story from one of Stonies books about Team Brock running late for practice at Sandown in the L34 days. Phil Brock takes off and the car is less than satisfactory in the handling,, Phil comes in and Garnet Bateson opens the boot,, Around the back Phil, the boot had rims, toolboxes etc left in it. So not just us mere mortal amatuers!

 

The call over the pit PA at a speedway event 'will whoever lost a sledge hammer on the track' please report to the steward. Noone claimmed it!

 

F1 cars have it seems also found sundry tool rolling around the footwell too.

 

I am sure many others have similar stories.

[swintex]

I have a vague recollection of claims about an apple in the Hamilton/Rolt C-Type.

 

It's entirely possible I've imagined it, but it's a pretty bizarre thing to imagine.

 

Richard

[Catalina Park]

I had a spare seat belt eye bolt fall into a body box section. It would make an annoying clatter as it rolled side to side as I went around the track.

I once qualified at Amaroo with the wets in the boot.

[Lee Nicolle]

I had a spare seat belt eye bolt fall into a body box section. It would make an annoying clatter as it rolled side to side as I went around the track.

I once qualified at Amaroo with the wets in the boot.

Did it handle better?

I think the drum of oil did in my HQ!

[LotusElise]

I remember Oliver Gavin talking about the interior of his just-raced Le Mans Corvette at the FoS years ago. He'd had to clean it out with Dettol as there was a big puddle of wee in the footwell.

[2F-001]

I think was Oliver Gavin who - at the Formula Ford Festival - pulled in with a chunk of metal (I don't recall what exactly) rattling around among the pedals.

I went to the line for a sprint with an oil can rolling around in the car (it was removed before the start though).

Left a multi-meter sitting on the car in the paddock; it was returned by the marshals from some far-flung part of the track at the end of the day - and it still worked.

I know someone who found the 3/8” drive socket that he’d lost when the gearbox seized up… (honestly not me - I don’t do gearboxes).

I think this might be in one of Alan Staniforth’s books - a tale of someone having acquired a secondhand race car of which the handling seemed erratic and couldn’t be sorted; it was eventually discovered that two of the tyres where part-full of water.

But what about things left out of cars rather than left in…?
Aeroquip-style filler cap fell out as I left the pitlane at Oulton - because it wasn’t snapped shut (told off for that).

[Ray Bell]

After driving the Falcon GT from Jack Brabham Ford to the circuit at Amaroo, passing scrutineering and then lining up just in time for practice, Barry Sharp did a few laps...

He came in and quietly sat in the car, indicating to the crew that they should look in the boot. It was stuffed full, floor jacks, wheels, tool boxes, everything.

And the panels were beaten out from the inside.

[Robin Fairservice]

Many years ago when I regularly marshalled at Brands Hatch, the crews at Druids Hill bend use to amass quite a collection of tools that came off race cars as it was the first tight bend.

[Hamish Robson]

There was a "believe it or not" story at M-Sport from when they ran the Escort WRC cars. After a particularly crowded run through Sintra on Rally Portugal they found a finger wedged in the rear wing...

[Collombin]

There was a Minardi a few years back that had Alex Yoong in it.

[Lee Nicolle]

There was a Minardi a few years back that had Alex Yoong in it.

nasty!

[D-Type]

I have a vague recollection of claims about an apple in the Hamilton/Rolt C-Type.

 

It's entirely possible I've imagined it, but it's a pretty bizarre thing to imagine.

 

Richard

It was an orange.  I forget the story, I think it was found several years later.

[DogEarred]

Who was it that crashed at Enna many years ago & found himself in the company of a snake in the footwell?

[BRG]

Was it someone giving Bernie Ecclestone a lift?

[brucemoxon]

One Mazda competitor found a big screwdriver in their radiator hose at the Bathurst 1000, after three engine failures in the previous three days.

 

When I rolled my rally car many, many, many Minties turned up, I assume from under the seats. There was also a great deal more glass than one windscreen should contain. I also had my smokes get under the pedals in another rally. More annoying than anything - trying to decide whether to top and retrieve them (I was going to want one at the end of the stage). I didn't stop - and now I've been smoke-free for 13 years.

 

There was a spanner rattling around in a V8 Supercar at Bathurst a year or two back. Rather than dig for it at the pit stop, they just slapped a big magnet onto the floor.

 

 

Bruce Moxon

[swintex]

It was an orange.  I forget the story, I think it was found several years later.

Thanks Duncan, I shall archive this post for potential future use as evidence that I haven't gone completely ga-ga (yet!).

 

Richard

[Jimisgod]

Someone, I think John Bowe, had an extinguisher go off in the car and force him to retire at Oran Park one year.

[kento11]

With the way F-1 is going, it could soon be the driver

[Lee Nicolle]

One Mazda competitor found a big screwdriver in their radiator hose at the Bathurst 1000, after three engine failures in the previous three days.

 

When I rolled my rally car many, many, many Minties turned up, I assume from under the seats. There was also a great deal more glass than one windscreen should contain. I also had my smokes get under the pedals in another rally. More annoying than anything - trying to decide whether to top and retrieve them (I was going to want one at the end of the stage). I didn't stop - and now I've been smoke-free for 13 years.

 

There was a spanner rattling around in a V8 Supercar at Bathurst a year or two back. Rather than dig for it at the pit stop, they just slapped a big magnet onto the floor.

 

 

Bruce Moxon

Broken safety glass seems to go forever. Luckily I have never had broken glass in a racecar but have had in road cars and it gets everywhere.

A Rally competitor I know rolled his car into the scrub and broke a couple of  door windows. Repaired the roof, replaced the glass etc and gave the car a big clean up and out. After the first event he had about a pound of extra safety glass. He blew out under the dash, seats etc and vaccuumed out more and the next event he ended up with glass in his eye. When he was doing really well!  He thinks it came out of the face vents, there was still loose glass in the pipes when he removed them.

[427MkIV]

I had a friend who raced a late model sportsman who said the little canister attached to his rollcage had some ashes of an aunt who always wanted to ride in his race car.  So many people thought he used traction control, he attached a couple of wires to the canister to make them think that's what it was. What's the truth? I don't know, but it was a good story. lol