188 replies to this topic

[JHSingo]

As I'm sure some of you will be aware, today marks the four year anniversary that Dan Wheldon was killed. Rather than thinking about what happened at Las Vegas, I was remembering the 2011 Indianapolis 500, which, of course, was Wheldon's last victory.

 

It came in pretty remarkable circumstances. JR Hildebrand crashed on the last corner of the last lap, to hand victory of one of the biggest races in the world to Wheldon. It was at a time when Dan didn't even have a full time drive.

 

 

 

I still get chills watching that footage even now. And, because of what happened later that year, it has become one of the most poignant moments in motorsport for me as well.

 

I was wondering, what other moments in motorsport have had a lasting affect on you? Moments that, if they never happened, and were in a film, would be laughed off as unrealistic, or too far-fetched to believe. Whether it be through surprise results, crazy races or spooky coincidences that have happened, what are your 'couldn't script it' moments?

 

Here's a few for me:

 

1988 Italian Grand Prix

 

 

Pretty obvious one from F1. In a year that McLaren were utterly dominant, Ferrari take a 1-2 finish at Monza of all places, and not long after Enzo Ferrari had died. The only race that McLaren would not win that year, with both Prost and Senna DNFing.

 

1998 Rally of Great Britain

 

Tommi Makinen and Carlos Sainz headed into the final round of the 1998 WRC season battling for the championship. However, Makinen crashed on oil early in the event, seemingly handing the championship to Sainz. But, incredibly, only several hundred metres from the finish, Sainz suffered a car failure. It handed the championship to Makinen by two points.

 

 

2006 MotoGP championship decider - Valencia

 

I've mentioned this season of MotoGP in another of my opening posts, 'team mates taking each other out'. In the penultimate round of the championship, Dani Pedrosa took his championship leading team mate, Nicky Hayden, out of the race. This seemingly handed Valentino Rossi another title. Yet, at the final race, Rossi made an uncharacteristic mistake and fell early in the race, meaning Hayden won a championship many thought he couldn't.

 

 

2008 Brazilian Grand Prix

 

So many potential 'couldn't script it' moments from the 2008 F1 season. Be it first time winners, the crashgate scandal, or a very dramatic championship battle. But this one stood out, of course. You all know what happens, Vettel passes Hamilton for fifth with only a few laps to go - the place Hamilton needs to win the championship. But then, on the last corner of the last lap of the final race, Hamilton passes a struggling Timo Glock. Massa wins the race, Ferrari think they've won the championship, and we all couldn't believe what we'd just seen.

 

 

So, over to you. Have I overlooked something that is even better than all of these? Let me know.

Edited by JHSingo, 16 October 2015 - 18:31.

[akshay380]

Senna, Tamburello, 1994

[Pontlieue]

I'd suggest the finish of the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix.

 

Le Mans 2011 was epic as well.

[Atreiu]

All of Canada 2011.

 

China and Interlagos 2007, or did they?

Edited by Atreiu, 16 October 2015 - 18:32.

[Seanspeed]

I mean, this has gotta be hard to beat:



Isn't a top class series, so the drama isn't quite what it could be, but man, that is some amazing stuff.

[senna da silva]

Jerez 1997. Villeneuve, Schumacher and Frentzen qualify with the exact same time.

[Spillage]

 

Also, the 1967 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Clark led and on lap twelve lost a lap with a puncture. Incredibly, he regained the lap and the lead (this on old, slipstreaming, no-chicane Monza) with eight laps to go... only for the fuel pump to fail on the last lap, Surtees and Brabham crossing the line barely a car's width apart:

 

Edited by Spillage, 16 October 2015 - 18:44.

[DerFlugplatz]

The "spygate" saga

[Vitesse2]

Belgian GP 1964: http://en.espn.co.uk...tory/50308.html

[SenorSjon]

Nurburgring 1999. Looked like nobody wanted to win that one.

[Marklar]

Jenson Button beeing a free agent and one year later a world champion.

[steferrari]

Brazil 2007 is another good one.

 

[Risil]

2006 MotoGP championship decider - Valencia
 
I've mentioned this season of MotoGP in another of my opening posts, 'team mates taking each other out'. In the penultimate round of the championship, Dani Pedrosa took his championship leading team mate, Nicky Hayden, out of the race. This seemingly handed Valentino Rossi another title. Yet, at the final race, Rossi made an uncharacteristic mistake and fell early in the race, meaning Hayden won a championship many thought he couldn't.
 

 

Another remarkable thing about that race was how the 37-year-old, recently-crowned World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss -- who'd ridden for Ducati in MotoGP in 2003 and 2004 and hadn't come close to winning a race -- lined up on the grid as a stand-in for Sete Gibernau. As it was a one-off ride, he was allowed to bring his own crew from the Superbike team. They'd clearly nailed the setup, because he shot off the line into the lead and didn't look back till he'd won.

 

And then there was that incredible Portuguese round where Hayden was punted off by his teammate. Going into the final lap, Rossi was locked in a battle for the win with Kenny Roberts Jr -- on the family-designed KR-Honda -- and Fortuna Honda's Toni Elias, a former 250 hotshot whose best finish on a four-stroke had been fourth in that years season-opening Spanish Grand Prix. And even then he'd achieved that by punting off Valentino Rossi on the first lap of the race. But for some reason or other Michelin had a spare set of A-grade tyres that would usually be reserved for the factory entries, and because they bore no grudges they'd strapped them onto Elias's customer Honda.

 

Roberts actually headed towards the finish line to start the final lap in the lead, but he'd miscalculated the number of laps and after crossing the line he sat up a little, thinking he'd won the race. Being a cool-headed former world champion, he didn't pull a wheelie or bang the fuel tank in ecstasy, but he'd lost crucial momentum, and the chance to win the first race for an independent bike builder since... well, when? had gone. Elias, backing it in like a speedway rider on meth, chucked it down the inside of both Rossi and Roberts to take the lead into the first corner.

 

Elias then rode the lap of his life -- to this day, still the lap of his life -- but an apex-hopping Rossi nicked the lead back at the strange uphill chicane before the final parabola-shaped corner, where Jacques overtook Michael on the outside and we all swooned. Elias used all the throttle he dared on 28-lap-old tyres to stay close to Rossi through the long 180-degree righthander. He swung out of Rossi's slipstream as they approached the markings for the F1 grid, and took the chequered flag by the length of half a wheel. 10 years later, it's still the last win recorded by a customer bike.

 

Rossi saw the funny side. Only five points lost, right?

Edited by Risil, 16 October 2015 - 19:01.

[InSearchOfThe]

How about Danny Sullivan's spin and win at Indy '85?

[Marklar]

Brazil 2007 is another good one.

 

I think this couldnt have been scripted better....

 

[SophieB]

 

Fangio's pitstop goes terribly wrong and his resulting anger frustration propels him to victory in one of history's most extraordinary drives.

[Atreiu]

I've said it before, MotoGP 2006 was the single greatest racing season I have ever watched. The whole year couldn't be scripted.

[Dolph]

1982 Monaco GP last laps

 

https://youtu.be/ij437w4Zp28?t=1286

[Marklar]

Fuji 1976

[Sparky68]

Silverstone 2011 [ if i recall correctly] Vettel getting Webber's front wing and then Webber going on to win the race "not bad for a number 2"

[Marklar]

Silverstone 2011 [ if i recall correctly] Vettel getting Webber's front wing and then Webber going on to win the race "not bad for a number 2"

2010

https://www.youtube....h?v=anAFOXDdkZw

Edited by Marklar, 16 October 2015 - 19:23.

[Sparky68]

Cheers mate, couldn't remember if it was 2010 or 11

[Gyan]

Brazil 2007 is another good one.

 

 

 

I think this couldnt have been scripted better....

 

 

I think the whole 2007 couldn't be scripted any better.

[Dalin80]

Would be nice if people could include a bit of detail into why a moment was special rather then just posting a track and year and thinking we all know what they are talking about.

[Marklar]

I think the whole 2007 couldn't be scripted any better.

Probably it was

[DampMongoose]

Revson and McQueen being pipped by Andretti at Sebring. Jacky walking at the start to Le Mans in 69 and winning. Plus Elfords epic run to victory from miles and miles being at the Targa Florio!

[byrkus]

Whole 1982 season was just surreal.

 

-drivers' strike on first race

-FISA-FOCA war

-Imola '82 boycott, with controversial Ferrari double win

-Piquet-Salazar fight at Hockenheim

-Ferrari's terrible (tragic) season, which they still finished as Constructors Champions - not that anyone cared for that, it seems...

-11 different winners from 7 different teams in 16 races; nobody managed more than two

-Keke Rosberg came from rags to riches, and after scoring NO points in 1981, became World Champion in 1982 - with a single win

 

I possibly left out many more situations, but even so... It was just surreal...

 

[DampMongoose]

Gilles and Didier.

[BlinkyMcSquinty]

The 2003 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola had a back story that was unbelievable.

 

Both Ralf and Michael Schumacher had been scheduled to race, but during that weekend their mother was on her death bed. They flew back to Germany to be at her side, and returned to the track before the race. But their mother had died, and there was every good reason to excuse these two brothers. But they raced, and Michael won. No celebration, no champagne, but one of the most heroic drives ever.

 

[balmybaldwin]

Brawn GP - A fairtale season... Owner backs out after years of non-competiveness amid financial melt down, and from the ashes rises this untested, unsponsored white and dayglo yellow car with an engine shoehorned in at the last moment and blows the field away winning WDC and WCC.

 

And to top it off "the last gentleman driver" as Lauda put it wins the WDC

 

I'll always remember the joy in Australia that year!

Edited by balmybaldwin, 16 October 2015 - 20:01.

[crooky369]

Can't find any videos on it but forgive me for a bit of copying (from the Le Mans 1980-1989 book) but this was the story of the last half of the 1983 Le Mans 24 Hours. It's a lesser known tale and I'd recommend downloading the video review for it off the Duke video website as it is a real epic...

 

 

 

Icxk/Bell, at this juncture, were still a lap behind their team mates, but closing steadily. It took them until 3am to arrive on the same lap, and they needed a puncture on the leading 956-83 to do it. All the Lancia's had now departed, and the privateer Porsches - the Andrettis' Kremer 956 3 laps down, pursued by both the Joest entries offered no threat to the factory cars. 

 

Bell finally took the lead at 6:35am. He held it for 10 minutes. His engine died and the car stopped at Mulsanne corner. Bell got out, lifted the engine cover and reattached a wire in the Motronic electrical circuit. The problem was rectified back in the pits at the cost of 12 minutes. It was 11am before Ickx/Bell regained second place. Aggresive driving by both men had reduced the deficit to the leaders to less than 3 laps but the chase seemed hopeless. Come 2pm (2 hours from the finish) and Schuppan was still leading Ickx by two laps.

 

Forty minutes later Schuppan was suddenly in deep trouble. The left side door flew away destroying the cooling airflow to that side of the engine. He pitted for a new door but Holbert took over a seriously overheating car and his pace dropped dramatically. Another lap had been shaved from the lead. Bell took up the chase with gusto despite team orders to drive cautiously his crew having noted cracks in both front brake discs. He unlapped himself at 3:40pm.

 

Eighteen minutes later having lost all it's remaining water , Holbert's engine seized as he embarked on his final lap. Miraculously it fired when he bump-started it, emitting a cloud of white smoke right in front of the Porsche's pits.  Miraculously again it got him round to the chequered flag. Bell arrived 64 seconds later. Both the Porsche's parked up just beyond the finish line, Bell's car virtually out of fuel. Had the race extended to one more lap the Andrettis and Alliot would have been delclared the winners even though they were six laps behind at the end.

Edited by crooky369, 16 October 2015 - 20:02.

[saudoso]

[saudoso]

[JHSingo]

Remembered I'd missed off the 2007 European Grand Prix. A time when the European Grand Prix was actually held in Europe!

 

http://www.dailymoti...ce-part-1_sport

 

Surely one of the most chaotic starts to any Grand Prix ever. Chucks it down with rain shortly after lights out, turn one becomes a very expensive car park, and Marcus Winkelhock led in a Spyker in his first (and ultimately only) F1 race.

 

 

I guess this year's IndyCar finale at Sonoma qualifies too. Montoya goes into the race as favourite for the championship, only to tangle with his team mate and end up having to come back through the pack. Scott Dixon does his usual Dixon thing of saving fuel while being faster than anyone else, wins the race and wins the title.

Edited by JHSingo, 16 October 2015 - 20:35.

[Sparky68]

That was awesome to watch

[Marklar]

Abu Dhabi 2010. The worst strategy call ever. Vettel winning a championship he already had lost for good.

[Dan333SP]

Brazil '08 was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title.

 

As an MSC fan, Schumacher sticking it up the inside of his replacement Kimi and then setting the fastest lap of the race at Brazil '06 in his "final" appearance in an F1 car was the next best thing to him winning the title, which he would have but for his first engine failure in just about forever at Suzuka.

 

I have a feeling this year's MotoGP title is shaping up for one of these "couldn't script it" moments...

[Sparky68]

Abu Dhabi 2010. The worst strategy call ever. Vettel winning a championship he already had lost for good.

When Ferrari pulled Alonso in to cover Webber I was lost for words!

[LucaP]

 

I possibly left out many more situations, but even so... It was just surreal...

eh...Paletti

[Marklar]

Brazil '08 was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title.

As an MSC fan, Schumacher sticking it up the inside of his replacement Kimi and then setting the fastest lap of the race at Brazil '06 in his "final" appearance in an F1 car was the next best thing to him winning the title, which he would have but for his first engine failure in just about forever at Suzuka.

I have a feeling this year's MotoGP title is shaping up for one of these "couldn't script it" moments...

The whole 2006 season couldn't be scripted better: Alonso was leading halfway through by 25 points (which is the same gap Hamilton currently has for reference) and than Schumacher managed to catch up, in Suzuka he was about to take the sole championship lead and than for the first time in ages he suffered a failure, his engine blowed up, which gave Alonso the title.

Edited by Marklar, 16 October 2015 - 20:42.

[karl100589]

The 1992 Nascar season. A season defined by a number of pivotal stories for the sport which all culminated in the season finale.

 

-Richard Petty, the sports most successful driver to the extent that he was referred to as the King, competes in his final Nascar season.

-21 year old Jeff Gordon prepares to enter the Winston Cup season for the first time, on his way to becoming the face of the sport.

 

A title battle between three drivers, each with their own back-stories throughout the season.

-Davey Allison looking to follow in the footsteps of his famous father Bobby, in a season defined by either dominant wins or massive wrecks taking his toll on Davey's body, whilst also suffering from the passing of his brother Clifford in a Busch series race.

- Alan Kulwicki, racing for his own team with only 40 employees, turning down high profile drives from the likes of Junior Johnson to try an win the title on his own and serving a role as the perennial underdog of the season.
- Bill Elliott, Kulwicki's replacement at Junior Johnson and a huge fan favourite, looking to try and win the title infront of his home Georgia crowd.

All of these stories coming together at the last race of the year, where Kulwicki uses the clinical and outside the box approach that had defined his career to steal the title and crown off the perfect underdog story.

[WilliamsF1Fan]

It started with this

 

 

Had a bit of this

 

 

And somehow the day ended up like this

 

 

 

Williams had gotten a win very early on after getting back together with Renault and it felt like things were going to turn around for us and maybe, just maybe, we'd have a strong season and score some more excellent results.  Seeing Pastor get the win made it feel even more like that would happen.  Then there was the fire and it seemed to sum up the rest of the season.  It literally went up in smoke.  

[Dan333SP]

2015 Spanish Grand Prix.

 

Mercedes qualify 1-2 on the front of the grid with a good gap to 3rd place Vettel. You'd think it can't get any more enthralling, but it does.

 

Race day dawns.

Green light!

 

Rosberg gets away well, but Lewis gets held up a little behind Vettel for a few laps.

 

He later passes him in the pits after working a different strategy, and the top 3 finish in the same order with sizeable gaps between the cars.

 

The top 6 are rounded out by the 2 Williams cars and the other Ferrari, with good gaps between all of them at the finish after relatively incident-free mileage runs.

 

You just can't make this sort of drama up. I've watched replays of this masterpiece at least 10 times.

[warp]

Pretty obvious maybe but...  Niki Lauda's accident and comeback... 

[garoidb]

Remembered I'd missed off the 2007 European Grand Prix. A time when the European Grand Prix was actually held in Europe!

 

http://www.dailymoti...ce-part-1_sport

 

Surely one of the most chaotic starts to any Grand Prix ever. Chucks it down with rain shortly after lights out, turn one becomes a very expensive car park, and Marcus Winkelhock led in a Spyker in his first (and ultimately only) F1 race.

 

 

 

A rookie without backing, whose father was killed racing, gets a one off drive in his home GP. He qualifies last but is leading by 40 seconds (IIRC) within a couple of laps. Pretty amazing. Definitely couldn't be scripted.

Edited by garoidb, 16 October 2015 - 21:21.

[superden]

1992 BTCC finale.

That race was the crown on the best motorsport season I've ever seen. You can keep F1, I'd take that any day of the week, bloody marvellous.

The man was, as it goes, an animal.

As a worthy second, I'd like to nominate Bathurst 1980. Dick Johnson, that rock and the tv fundraiser that followed.

Edited by superden, 16 October 2015 - 22:24.

[garoidb]

Whole 1982 season was just surreal.

 

-drivers' strike on first race

-FISA-FOCA war

-Imola '82 boycott, with controversial Ferrari double win

-Piquet-Salazar fight at Hockenheim

-Ferrari's terrible (tragic) season, which they still finished as Constructors Champions - not that anyone cared for that, it seems...

-11 different winners from 7 different teams in 16 races; nobody managed more than two

-Keke Rosberg came from rags to riches, and after scoring NO points in 1981, became World Champion in 1982 - with a single win

 

I possibly left out many more situations, but even so... It was just surreal...

 

Elio's side by side win in Austria, the last for Colin Chapman who died that year.  

[MikeV1987]

You cannot beat the story of Brawn GP imo. I still remember the first race weekend of that season vividly. 

Edited by MikeV1987, 16 October 2015 - 21:38.

[KavB]

2007 as a story was perfect I thought. The only champion on the grid moves to a new team and gets matched by a rookie, Alonso and McLaren have a fall out and the team are excluded because of the Spy saga.

 

Ultimately they finish the season equal on points and lose the title to the guy who was behind for most of the year and drives for the team that McLaren got caught copying.

[Retrofly]

2011 British Superbike championship.

 

The whole season came down to the last lap between 2 riders. Its amazing just watch it.

https://youtu.be/J94PF43oEps?t=2m55s

 

If you dont get goosebumps you don't like motor racing. Ive seen it several times and watching it back thens till brought a tear to my eyes.

 

However not all championships are won in the way they should be. Poor Chris Walker. Despite continuing to race for about 15 years he's never won a championship still

https://youtu.be/FhzULIH8r-E?t=8m30s

Edited by Retrofly, 16 October 2015 - 22:45.