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1984 Austrian Grand Prix: original number of race laps


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#1 dgs

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Posted 30 September 2019 - 07:07

Does anyone have a copy of the 1984 Austrian Grand Prix race programme? Which would have been 1984 Grosser Preis von Osterreich, that shows original no of laps/distance.

 

Race results show result 51 laps (302.042km/188.302ml)

 

To quote Autocourse Annual - "As Derek  Ongaro pressed the button to flick the starting lights from red to green, he saw both Elio de Angelis and Huub Rothergatter fling up their arms to indicate that they would not be moving. Ongaro hit the "abort" button which should switch on flashing orange lights, but an electrical malfunction in the control system meant that the green was displayed briefly before the flashing orange came up. In that split-second half the grid decided to go, seriously - and half realised that the start had been aborted"

"This "first race" was over as quickly as it started. The first lap was discounted, refuelling was permitted and everybody rejoined the grid for another attempt at the full 51-lap distance".

 

Autocourse Annual,, The International Motor Racing Guide, by Peter Higham, Grand Prix Guide (was Marlboro Guide) by Jacques Deschenaux, Grand Prix Data Book, by David Hayhoe all state as above.

 

But some confusion as 'A Record of Grand Prix and Voiturette Racing, Volume 11' has footnote - originally 52 laps, start aborted, race length shortened by one lap.

 

Finally I have race statistics (not unfortunately text) from Autocar magazine (which were very good then and I think written by Peter Windsor) which has in statistics: 53 laps of the 3.69 mile circuit . Race shortened by two laps after restart. 

 

 

  



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#2 Tim Murray

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Posted 30 September 2019 - 08:00

In their preview of the race in the previous week’s issue Motoring News listed the scheduled race distance as 52 laps. In his race report AH then contradicted this by saying that after the stoppage the race was ‘run over its originally scheduled 51-lap distance from the second start.’

#3 opplock

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Posted 30 September 2019 - 08:05

The Rundentabelle (lapchart) on page 51 of the Offizielles Rennprogramm states distance to be "Renndistanz: 52 Runden = 308,984 Kilometer"



#4 Tim Murray

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Posted 30 September 2019 - 08:11

The three subsequent Austrian GPs (1985-87) were also run over 52 laps.

#5 2F-001

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Posted 30 September 2019 - 08:33

The report in Autosport (Roebuck) doesn’t mention an adjustment to race length, just that, at the restart the cars set off on the first of 51 laps (which tallies with Alan Phillips’s data pages at the end.

The report does mention of the the red flag that “… the repercussions of this would be felt later in the day”. I cannot, for the moment see any subsequent mention of what they might have been - except that Patrese’s Alfa ran out fuel a couple of laps from the finish. That might perhaps suggest that they didn’t refuel (even if others did); however, Roebuck describes this late-race mishap as “ the Italian car’s usual party trick”.

The delay between red flag and re-start is said, therein, to be half an hour; is long enough to reassemble the grid, refuel and start the track?

The race distance of 51 laps makes 188.19 miles — which might suggest to me that the race could have been shortened by one lap (but not two).

#6 DDMARC

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Posted 02 October 2019 - 16:40

1984 Austrain Grand Prix race results show 51 laps (303,042 km) in Formula One 1984 championship information service (Longines official timing).



#7 ReWind

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Posted 03 October 2019 - 07:07

Issue # 34 of „Motorsport aktuell“ magazine from 14 August 1984 contains a preview of the race which gives the distance as 52 laps.

It confirms that the schedule was already one lap less than in the years 1981 to 1983 when the race was run over 53 laps.