Most races on one weekend?
#1
Posted 01 April 2012 - 13:14
in former days, driver often races in more than just one series. But ist Sirotkins weekend a record?
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#2
Posted 01 April 2012 - 13:21
In the '50s many people raced in that many in one day, and perhaps another three the next
#3
Posted 01 April 2012 - 13:34
And in club racing a lot do/did that well after the '50sFar from it
In the '50s many people raced in that many in one day, and perhaps another three the next
#4
Posted 01 April 2012 - 13:54
#5
Posted 01 April 2012 - 14:42
On a couple of occasions (including hiis famous 1961 win) Stirling Moss did the German GP on the Sunday then popped back to do several races at the Bank Holiday Brands Hatch meeting the following day.
I seem to remember Jochen Rindt racing in the Oulton Park Gold Cup and then flying to Austria to take part in an F2 race.
#6
Posted 01 April 2012 - 16:28
I had a quick look at Stirling Moss's biography and found:
May 21st 1956 at Crystal Palace - Formule Libre (Maserati 250F) 1st Heat 1, 1st Heat 2, Anerley trophy (Cooper Bobtail) 2nd, Norbury Trophy (Cooper Bobtail) 1st. 5 races in one day
August 16th 1958 Roskilde Ring - Hheat 1 retired (Maserati, Heats 2 &3 1st (JBW-Maserati), August 17th Heat 1 2nd , Heats 2 & 3 1st (Maserati). 6 races in a weekend.
Roy Salvadori often ran in several races at British national meetings. I don't have a copy of his biography/ autobiography - does it include a race list?
Didn't Colin Chapman do a Nurburgring race on the Sunday and Brands hatch and Crystal Palace races on the [Bank holiday] Monday?
And the motorcyclists used to have the Transatlantic Trophy over Easter weekends in the 70's with races at different tracks on each of the 4 days - Brands Hatch, Snetterton and, I think, Mallory Park and Silverstone.
Edited by D-Type, 01 April 2012 - 16:33.
#7
Posted 01 April 2012 - 16:46
May 21st 1956 at Crystal Palace - Formule Libre (Maserati 250F) 1st Heat 1, 1st Heat 2, Anerley trophy (Cooper Bobtail) 2nd, Norbury Trophy (Cooper Bobtail) 1st. 5 races in one day
That's just 4 races, isn't it?
Moss certainly did manage 5 races a day on a few occasions though eg. at Castle Combe in October 1950 and Goodwood in September 1951.
His recent book "All My Races" is a rather handy resource on this particular topic!
#8
Posted 01 April 2012 - 17:01
Whoops! so it is. I counted "First on aggregate" as a race then realised it wasn't and deleted it but didn't change the number, if you see what i mean..That's just 4 races, isn't it?
Moss certainly did manage 5 races a day on a few occasions though eg. at Castle Combe in October 1950 and Goodwood in September 1951.
His recent book "All My Races" is a rather handy resource on this particular topic!
#9
Posted 01 April 2012 - 18:38
#10
Posted 01 April 2012 - 19:04
Not quite GP racing, but I think you will find that TNFer Roger Wills took part in something liike 9 races over a Donington(?) weekend a year or two back.
He also seemed to be in just about every race at the Spa 6 Hours a couple of years ago. A quick driver and a real enthusiast, in both historic and modern racing.
#11
Posted 01 April 2012 - 19:09
Not quite GP racing, but I think you will find that TNFer Roger Wills took part in something liike 9 races over a Donington(?) weekend a year or two back.
I think it was Brands Hatch at an HSCC meeting. He even did a Formula Ford race.
#12
Posted 01 April 2012 - 19:39
PAR
#13
Posted 01 April 2012 - 19:45
Just another week of racing for most of these gents, they are used to this sort of activity. It would probably be interesting to find out how many starts Steve Kinser had over the last 35 years. Some will know that the man won over 500 World of Outlaws main events (I think the current count is at 570), but that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. At the peak time of his career, he had an average of better than one win in three main events in WoO alone, so we're looking at something like 2000 main events. Each of these mains was proceded by at least one heat race and a qualifying time trial, and quite often a trophy dash or B-main to boot. Then, there are the preliminary features at multi-day shows, involving the same number of starts again. Also, whenever there was an opening on the WoO schedule, Kinser would be running an All-Star race, or USAC, CRA you name it. Sometimes just a weekly show at a track in the area he was just passing through. At a rough guess, that's another 1000 main events, each including time trials, heats, the whole shebang. And we'll forget the IROC, NASCAR or other races he did during the eighties and nineties, that's just a two- or three-digit number, negligible. Works out to an average of better than one start in two days, on average over an uninterrupted period of 35 years. Beat that.
EDIT
I had a quick look through my (incomplete records), and I have 79 main events for Steve Kinser in 1981 alone - that was the year he missed ten days of racing because of an injury in summer, and still found the time to try (unsuccessfully) to qualify at Indianapolis, by the way! I have heat results for only twenty of those mains, and he has more than thirty starts in those already, so we're looking at roughly 200 starts for the year even without any obscure races "on the side". My above estimate can't be far off.
Edited by Michael Ferner, 01 April 2012 - 20:18.
#14
Posted 01 April 2012 - 19:54
I stood watching my then hero Ronnie being "fitted" into the awkward March 721X for about half an hour (honestly!) before he set the quickest lap in the pouring rain in the final practice session. It dried in the race, but he collided with Reine Wisell's BRM at the start and retired immediately (as did Wisell with broken thumb or finger).
To this day, I have never seen any pictures of the start and very, very few of the race itself - something that has baffled me for forty years.
As a different postscript, Ronnie and Tim left very quickly after the Oulton F2 race later in the season (Tim led at one point, Ronnie won) as soon as they could to go and watch their mates in the World Speedway Championship at Wembley (Ivan Mauger, in particular).
#15
Posted 01 April 2012 - 21:45
Frank Matich at one Catalina Park meeting won five races and his class in two others. He drove an Elfin Clubman, Elfin Catalina, Elfin 1500 and the Lotus 19 at the time, whether or not he had all of those cars at that meeting I don't recall. It was actually prior to my first trip to that circuit.
If Speedway comes into it, the real marathons must have been for the midget blokes like Johnny Stewart who would race at Sydney Showground on Saturday night and then drive to Adelaide (950 miles or thereabouts) to race the next afternoon at Rowley Park. Or was it Adelaide to Sydney? I wasn't following Speedway at the time, but Johnny Stewart's Friday afternoon column was in the Daily Mirror on the same page as Mike Kable's column and I'd frequently read about his 13-hour trips between the cities to compete on the same weekend.
#16
Posted 01 April 2012 - 22:13
#17
Posted 01 April 2012 - 22:15
Modern Sprintcar competitors compete week in week out in season. The WoO compete several days a week at times with probably 5 starts a show.Working from memory...
Frank Matich at one Catalina Park meeting won five races and his class in two others. He drove an Elfin Clubman, Elfin Catalina, Elfin 1500 and the Lotus 19 at the time, whether or not he had all of those cars at that meeting I don't recall. It was actually prior to my first trip to that circuit.
If Speedway comes into it, the real marathons must have been for the midget blokes like Johnny Stewart who would race at Sydney Showground on Saturday night and then drive to Adelaide (950 miles or thereabouts) to race the next afternoon at Rowley Park. Or was it Adelaide to Sydney? I wasn't following Speedway at the time, but Johnny Stewart's Friday afternoon column was in the Daily Mirror on the same page as Mike Kable's column and I'd frequently read about his 13-hour trips between the cities to compete on the same weekend.
Xmas time and Easter the sprints will race 4 or 5 nights in a week.
In the past here in Oz several competitors raced in 2 and occasionally 3 classes. Tattnell raced midgets and sprinters [and won Titles in both] And sedans on occasion too. As did Rush to a lesser extent though he was playing road racing and trotters too!
Here in Adelaide Bill Wigzell drove both midgets and Super mods/sprinters, as did Phil Hereen and occasionally Zeke Agars. On some nights up too 8 starts in 1 night. Then travel interstate and race one or the other and occasionally both the following night. Week in week out.
In the early 70s the sedan I was involved with raced Fri night at Rowley, Sat night at Murray bridge and Sunday arvo at Renmark. Generally 4 starts a show. The Renmark shows sometimes were short of numbers as the cars were often too damaged to do all three shows!And then we would spend most weeknights rebuilding the car for Fri night at Rowley! In those days generally we ran 3 weeks in 4 plus country tracks too
The Speedway bike competitors race 5 and 6 nights in a week at the peak of their season. At venues hundreds of km apart on occasion. Both here and the UK and Europe
Even as a classic speedway competitor I have done 2 shows in 2 days at country tracks. And a 2 nighter at Warnambool, though it rained and was overprogrammed and we got one start [sort of] each night. It was supposed to be 3 each night
I have raced in 2 categorys in road racing at a local meeting on occasion too. 6 starts for the weekend. And these days I am buggered from 6 runs in 1 weekend at a hillclimb!!
Edited by Lee Nicolle, 02 April 2012 - 11:11.
#18
Posted 02 April 2012 - 09:53
#19
Posted 02 April 2012 - 19:28
Not quite GP racing, but I think you will find that TNFer Roger Wills took part in something liike 9 races over a Donington(?) weekend a year or two back.
The plan was to do all 15 races. It was scuppered with mechanical issues but I think I did 11 races in total.
http://news.brandsha...-challenge.aspx
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#20
Posted 02 April 2012 - 19:51
Thanks for putting that straight, Roger. Apart from the location and number of races, I was pretty well correct, I think!The plan was to do all 15 races. It was scuppered with mechanical issues but I think I did 11 races in total.
#21
Posted 18 December 2013 - 23:43
On the weekend of August 21-22 1965, USAC ran back-to-back Champ Car races at Springfield, IL on the Saturday, and then at Milwaukee, WI on the Sunday. All of the competitors drove overnight from Springfield in order to take part in qualifying at Milwaukee.
#22
Posted 19 December 2013 - 19:03
That was standard procedure for many decades, actually. And by 1965, it was not so much of a problem anymore, since most teams ran seperate outfits for pavement and dirt track races by then.
One likes to think that fitting 50 state fairs into a 52-week year shouldn't be much of a problem, but, of course, nobody wants to have his fair in winter or even spring (except for a few southern states), and more often than not Illinois and Wisconsin wound up on the same week. Milwaukee switched to AAA in 1932, I think, with Springfield following suit a few years later, and before it was the same for the IMCA. For a couple of years or so, AAA even ran the New York and Michigan races on the same weekend and, at the risk of repeating myself, the World of Outlaws had some "crazy" schedules from time to time, West Coast, East Coast and West Coast again, and a few teams would still run local races during the transfer trips!!
#23
Posted 19 December 2013 - 23:14
A local driver competed at one track, running the prelim and winning the main event. He then heard that another nearby track's program had been delayed, so loaded up, arrived there just in time to start at the back of the "consi" or "B-main" which he won, that allowed him to start at the back of the main event, which he won. Maybe not a record, but he did win his qualifying race at the first track, so considering the qualifying race win, the consi win and two main event wins, that makes 4 wins in one night.
Edited by RStock, 19 December 2013 - 23:16.
#24
Posted 20 December 2013 - 20:11
Ahh, now there's a new challenge! Most wins in a single day...
#25
Posted 20 December 2013 - 21:28
Ahh, now there's a new challenge! Most wins in a single day...
Well, for a starter, on 26/5/1950 Stirling Moss won five F3 races at Brands Hatch. And on 26/8/1961 he won three F1 heats at the Roskilde Ring
I think Colin Chapman won races at Brands Hatch and Crystal Palace on the same day.
Edited by D-Type, 20 December 2013 - 21:29.
#26
Posted 28 December 2013 - 20:48
At the risk of lowering the tone of this discussion a bit, I remember reading a book in the mid 60's about Stirling Moss - it may have been "All but my life" and it may have been in conjunction with Ken Gregory. The memory plays tricks after nearly 50 years.
Anyway, as I remember Moss said that he would not have sex in the 5 days preceding a race. On one occasion he was with a pretty girl the night before a race and he abandoned his celibacy rule. The next day he had 7 races and won the lot! He later reduced his rule, wise man, though whether as a result of this nocturnal escapade I do not know. If I had savoury crumpet throwing themselves at me like he had, I certainly wouldn't have had a 5 day rule.
#27
Posted 29 December 2013 - 19:11
At the risk of lowering the tone of this discussion a bit, I remember reading a book in the mid 60's about Stirling Moss - it may have been "All but my life" and it may have been in conjunction with Ken Gregory. The memory plays tricks after nearly 50 years.
Anyway, as I remember Moss said that he would not have sex in the 5 days preceding a race. On one occasion he was with a pretty girl the night before a race and he abandoned his celibacy rule. The next day he had 7 races and won the lot! He later reduced his rule, wise man, though whether as a result of this nocturnal escapade I do not know. If I had savoury crumpet throwing themselves at me like he had, I certainly wouldn't have had a 5 day rule.
I remember reading a similar story but don't recall that the period of celibacy was quite as long as 5 days. Is anyone able to confirm when (if) Stirling won 7 races in a day?
#28
Posted 29 December 2013 - 19:52
Here's the relevant passage:
‘I used to discipline myself so severely I would not have intercourse for five days before a race. Later, I began to think, that was going pretty far, who needs to live at all, allowing oneself sex two days out of seven? I believed that if I had made love the night before a race, I would be physically just that little bit weaker when I drove, and that belief was enough for me. Then one night before a race at Brands Hatch I was with a girl. We were fond of each other, and I abandoned my rule. Next day I had seven races, quite a few really, only short ones, but seven, and I won the lot! I was on great form.’
‘That day didn’t altogether change my mind, though. After all, they were short races, I had intervals of rest. The night before a really hard race, Le Mans, Sebring, the Mille Miglia, or a G.P. race – no.’
So it would appear that he relaxed the five-day rule later in his career. The most likely candidate for his 'seven wins at Brands' claim would appear to be the meeting mentioned by Duncan:
Well, for a starter, on 26/5/1950 Stirling Moss won five F3 races at Brands Hatch.
There's nothing in the race listing in the Robert Edwards biography showing him winning more races at any other Brands meeting.
Edited by Tim Murray, 29 December 2013 - 20:11.
#29
Posted 24 April 2014 - 16:26
On May 30, 1948, Ralph Pratt won midget features at Canfield, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; and Bedford, Ohio.
On May 29, 1956, Shorty Templeman won three midget features at 16th Street Speedway in Indianapolis.
On September 2, 1963, Mario Andretti won midget features at Flemington, New Jersey and twice at Hatfield, PA.
On May 30, 1977, Pancho Carter won 2 midget features and one sprint feature at Salem, IN.
On September 26, 1998, Jack Hewitt won 4 features, 1 midget; 1 sprint; 1 silver crown and 1 modified, at Eldora, Ohio.
On September 24, 2011, Kyle Larson won 3 features, 1 midget; 1 sprint; 1 silver crown, at Eldora, Ohio.
later,
Bob Mays
#30
Posted 24 April 2014 - 19:12
It is too late at night to research properly but for the curious they might want to look to see who were the ones to compete in an Indi 500 and back up the next day with a Nascar 500.
Also, my mind allows me to think I remember more than one doing the Indi 500 - Monaco F1 double in a weekend.
Both these don't have much chop on the question of number of races in a week end but does a bit for racing miles/laps in a week end and quality of races in the period.
Regards
#31
Posted 25 April 2014 - 21:04
Though there was a year or two in there when the races were close to each other.
#32
Posted 26 April 2014 - 12:06
In the 1953 Circuit de Cadours (for Formula 2 cars) in the deep south of France, the field of about 15 cars was split into 2 15-lap heats, with the first 4 in each heat qualifying for the 30-lap final. Then a 10-lap repechage race was run for the remaining non-qualifiers. Charles de Tornaco(Ferrari) who had retired in his heat, and John Heath(HWM) who had been fifth in his were 1st and 2nd in the repechage and thus ran in the final, so that each had 3 races on the day.
I think that F2 and maybe 1.5 litre F1 race meetings at Roskilde in Denmark around late 1950's and early '60's were run on a points aggregate of as many as 6 races over 2 days, similar to the midget car speedway format mentioned earlier.
With regard to Roy Salvadori, I have a 1954/55 "Motor Racing" Directory and Who's Who which lists 52 results for Roy in the 1954 season. This does not include retirements, only finishes, in 250F Maserati, 2-litre sports Maserati, Ecurie Ecosse C-Type Jaguar and a few Aston-Martin results, so inevitably he must have run several races in a day a few times.
Stu
#33
Posted 26 April 2014 - 12:19
It appears that Roy Salvadori seldom, if ever, raced Touring Cars or F3 cars so any of his multi-race days or weekends would have been made up of single seaters (F1, F2 & libre) and sports cars
#34
Posted 26 April 2014 - 14:12
It appears that Roy Salvadori seldom, if ever, raced Touring Cars...
He had plenty of Jaguar Mk2 outings, though I can't remember him racing anything else.
#35
Posted 26 April 2014 - 14:54
True - I was looking at the fifties rather than the sixties