44 replies to this topic

[Dipster]

I recently started wondering why the overture to Bizet's Carmen is played during the high jinks on F1 podiums. I turned to Google but did not find an answer. There are several suggestions but no real facts. And when was any music, other than a national anthem, played?

 

Does any TNFer know please? 

[Victor_RO]

Trying to recall from watching old race recordings, but the first race I can explicitly remember having this on the podium for the champagne moment was Australia '99. There was different music before, in the mid '90s they had The Final Countdown at some races I believe.

[chunder27]

Oh dear Lord, can you imagine that still!

 

It kind of works, but perhaps what doesn't is the guy every meeting doing a long drowning out "Champagnnnnnneeeeeeeee" every single time.  Surely we all know by now!

[Vitesse2]

I've never been able to take that piece of music seriously since - at quite a young age - hearing my father and an old friend recreating some of the songs they used to sing in the mess at RAF Ismailia in the early 1950s. Among the less scurrilous ones was this version:

 

Toreador! Don't spit on the floor!

Use the cuspidor! That's what it's for! ...

 

(And, yes, I do know that turned up in both Frasier and the Simpsons!)

[Risil]

Trying to recall from watching old race recordings, but the first race I can explicitly remember having this on the podium for the champagne moment was Australia '99. There was different music before, in the mid '90s they had The Final Countdown at some races I believe.

 

1994 I believe. There's some footage of Beethoven's Ode to Joy being used in 1993.

[Risil]

On a similar topic, when did they start playing Richard Strauss's Thus Spoke Zarathustra just before the rolling start at Le Mans?

[RA Historian]

Am I the only one who is tired of the spraying of champagne? It is such an overdone cliche. Just drink the stuff! Somehow I cannot picture Graham Hill spraying the bubbly.

 

Tom

[f1steveuk]

It was chosen by Mr Ecclestone. I know he chose it before I started working for FOM, but it was common knowledge.

 

Graham Hill prefered to pour the "champers" into the trophy to drink it, but quite often used to force it out through the gap in his teeth, getting quite a good range!!

Edited by f1steveuk, 26 October 2017 - 14:26.

[Allan Lupton]

Graham Hill prefered to pour the "champers" into the trophy to drink it

as did most in his day and earlier. They would also pass it round - including of course whoever had just been beaten and any of the team's mechanics that were within reach.

 

Mind you, we older types who remember "cooking sherry" as a particularly dire and undrinkable example of its kind are inclined to the view that "spraying champagne" may well be similarly unpalatable

[chunder27]

I actually quite like the idea of pouring the champers into a trophy.

 

Sadly the term trophy now is utterly meaningless meaning it would not be possible with a lot of modern "trophies" I use the term loosely.

 

Some of the trophies I see on a lot of racing podiums are little more than a company logo. That aspect of the sport has been completely removed in most cases.

 

While some thers are truly epic, as you would expect AMerican ones are the height of bad taste at times, but even small regional series can often manage a decent size pot to display to give the winner.

[Collombin]

Somehow I cannot picture Graham Hill spraying the bubbly.

There's a picture on here somewhere of him doing just that. Pre Gurney at Le Mans.

[Tim Murray]

Indeed:
 

Here's a new twist to this story... shoot the whole thing down in flames:



From Racing Car News April 1966, page 19. Race date was February 20, 1966.


.

[2F-001]

Some of the trophies I see on a lot of racing podiums are little more than a company logo. That aspect of the sport has been completely removed in most cases.

The most intriguing 'non-conventional' trophies I can remember are those by artist Alberto Collie for the early Can Ams. I think there were two, and named the Johnson Wax Trophies(?), but nicknamed 'floatiles'; they had a metal shell-like component levitated by magnets above the base portion. I think it may have been possible to drink out of the 'loose' part...

[AJCee]

In the realms of competitive gaudy-ness I would nominate The Schneider Trophy, which is almost unparalleled in its 'how the hell do we get that on the shelf?'-ness.

(it's racing, if not on land)

[Vitesse2]

In the realms of competitive gaudy-ness I would nominate The Schneider Trophy, which is almost unparalleled in its 'how the hell do we get that on the shelf?'-ness.

(it's racing, if not on land)

The Borg-Warner isn't exactly small. Unless Dario is a midget!

 

[Tim Murray]

You would need quite a sizeable shelf for this one:



I saw it in the Alfa Romeo museum many moons ago - it says 'Mille Miglia 1930' on the base.

[Porsche718]

You would need quite a sizeable shelf for this one:



I saw it in the Alfa Romeo museum many moons ago - it says 'Mille Miglia 1930' on the base.

 

Now that's a strange trophy, Would certainly scare little children.

[AJCee]

A Roman trophy in Milan.

[Porsche718]

I know why it ended up in the museum. 

 

The wife said "you're bringing that in here!"

[opplock]

Now that's a strange trophy, Would certainly scare little children.

 

Not if their name was Bira!

 

If anyone doesn't recognise the symbolism the statue is the Capitoline wolf. One of the founding myths of Rome. 

[BRG]

One of the more unfortunate aspects of the commercialisation of the sport is the change in trophies, from a nice silver cup, probably named in memory of someone that nobody had ever heard of, to some piece of corporate garbage that nobody actually wants.

 

Back in the 1980s, Kleber Tyres celebrated their success in getting their tyres used on the Concorde supersonic airliner by donating a whole load of really tacky 'Kleber Concorde Trophies' to motor clubs - it was a nasty, cheap plastic model of the aircraft coated in that silver plastic stuff, & mounted on a lump of wood.  It was laughable - people hated them and their expressions of disdain and disappointment  wnen presented with one for winning their class on a rally or something were often hilarious.  I suppose there are some lurking in cupboards even now.  Maybe they would have retro appeal these days!

[Allan Lupton]

In the realms of competitive gaudy-ness I would nominate The Schneider Trophy, which is almost unparalleled in its 'how the hell do we get that on the shelf?'-ness.

(it's racing, if not on land)

 

Yes it's a bit ornate but I bid you the Gordon Bennett:

[Porsche718]

Maybe some of these are designed to keep the door from slamming shut on a windy day?

[Dipster]

It was chosen by Mr Ecclestone. I know he chose it before I started working for FOM, but it was common knowledge.

 

Graham Hill prefered to pour the "champers" into the trophy to drink it, but quite often used to force it out through the gap in his teeth, getting quite a good range!!

If it was Bernie's choice who would like to guess how long it will be before it is binned and replaced with something more American pehaps?

 

What music do they play to open the American boxing that that barker bloke they used in Austin introduces? 

[john aston]

Maybe an Abba song - Money Money Money ? Or The Winner Takes It All ? Or , if monosyllabic doomster Raikkonen ever gets on the top step again some Smiths perhaps - 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now ' or a more upbeat ditty from Hot Chocolate- 'I Believe In Miracles' ?    

[2F-001]

Or, in an attempt to introduce an air of humility into the post-race proceedings, there is a Paul Heaton song (of The Beautiful South) with a line : "there's always someone with a faster car".

Edited by 2F-001, 27 October 2017 - 07:02.

[f1steveuk]

That version of the Schneider Trophy, is a small presentation version, the actual trophy is HUGE, and Boothman, as the (last) winner, was the only man allowed to hang his cap on it.

Edited by f1steveuk, 27 October 2017 - 10:03.

[2F-001]

Here is the Johnson Wax 'floatile';
https://www.google.c...=iPpjGpkqNytE4M:
That has to be the coolest trophy ever…

(Schneider Trophy is in the Science Museum in London; and as Steve implies, it is not exactly 'bookshelf friendly'.)

[cpbell]

The Borg-Warner isn't exactly small. Unless Dario is a midget!

 

It is, however, for all it's historical significance, ugly (IMO)

[RA Historian]

There's a picture on here somewhere of him doing just that. Pre Gurney at Le Mans

 

Well so much for what I was thinking!

Edited by RA Historian, 27 October 2017 - 13:56.

[KWSN - DSM]

Here is a new one to use...

 

 

[doc knutsen]

Here is a new one to use...

 

 

Oh, wonderfull!  Copenhagen in summer...Tivoli jazz clubs...midnight fireworks. Been too long!

[RemcoB]

Found some footage of Sir Stirling with the Johnson Wax Trophy (after 1:22):

 

[Bloggsworth]

I would have thought that the why was obvious - It was written to stir the blood, and does it pretty effectively.

[PCC]

I've never been able to take that piece of music seriously since - at quite a young age - hearing my father and an old friend recreating some of the songs they used to sing in the mess at RAF Ismailia in the early 1950s. Among the less scurrilous ones was this version:

 

Toreador! Don't spit on the floor!

Use the cuspidor! That's what it's for! ...

 

(And, yes, I do know that turned up in both Frasier and the Simpsons!)

Perhaps more relevant is the legendary STP commercial:

 

STP, you need some STP

One little can

Can Keep you running free

Smoother, quieter, longer faster too

The racer's edge was made for you

When engines need a friend, you must agree

That friend is STP

 

I have no idea why I remember that so well. It's nothing to be proud of.

[AJCee]

When was the last time the winner of an F1 Grand Prix received a garland? Mid 80s?

[Tim Murray]

Here's an earlier thread which asked the same question:

Last time a wreath was put on winner in F1?

The latest race suggested was the 1986 Italian GP, so if anyone now knows different, please chip in.

[AJCee]

Ahhhh, many thanks Tim.

(mildly pleased that my memory was about the right time!)

[Pat Clarke]

As the new owners try to broaden the appeal and attract younger viewers, this is the type of music you can look forward to... (I am not joking!)

 

Pat

 

[Dipster]

As the new owners try to broaden the appeal and attract younger viewers, this is the type of music you can look forward to... (I am not joking!)

 

Pat

 

Who can take but a few seconds of this?! 

[Paul Parker]

As the new owners try to broaden the appeal and attract younger viewers, this is the type of music you can look forward to... (I am not joking!)

 

Pat

 

 

Moron culture.

[LittleChris]

Someone on a wind up I think....

 

(But if not, at least it's not  f@@king Jamiroquai again  .  )

[arttidesco]

NASCAR has some of the best trophies including the Martinsville grand father clock, pair of pistols Texas, Custom Gibson Guitar Nashville - smashed up a la Hendrix, Townsend, Blackmore et al one year and a live 22lb lobster at New Hampshire which Kyle Busch's wife thoughtfully insisted be returned to the sea when her husband won it. 

[D-Type]

On the question of trophies, I'm reminded of a story I was told by a friend who did some rifle shooting.  The first prize in a competition was a particularly ugly trophy while second prize was half a dozen bottles of bubbly.  Two top shots tied the score so there was a 5-shot shoot-off at maximum range.  Afterwards the conversation went like this:
Shooter A:   "Sorry, old chap - I put my shots into the bank"   
Shooter B:   "That's OK - I put my shots into your target"  

[Victor_RO]

On a similar topic, when did they start playing Richard Strauss's Thus Spoke Zarathustra just before the rolling start at Le Mans?

 

Rather recent too, think it was 2010.