23 replies to this topic

[Dolph]

Have you heared of any good April Fools jokes made by people related to F1? And how many people actually believed them?

[Haddock]

Autosport sometimes run April Fools stories.

There was one that Holyrood Park, in Edinburgh was to be widened and turned into an F1 track.

Thing is, looking at the place, it would make a great F1 track if it were widened !

[AdrianM]

It once ran a story saying Ferrari was going to build a two or three seater F1 car to compete with the McLaren and Arrows cars.

[LittleChris]

Also one where the driver would lie flat facing forwards in order to reduce drag

[fines]

Originally posted by AdrianM
It once ran a story saying Ferrari was going to build a two or three seater F1 car to compete with the McLaren and Arrows cars.

IIRC, it was to be a two-seater, in order to have Schumacher teach Irvine how to drive...

AUTOSPORT does these stories every time April 1 falls on a Thursday.

[Richard Jenkins]

Originally posted by Flexy
Have you heard of any good April Fools jokes made by people related to F1? And how many people actually believed them?

Shinji Nakano (check his birthdate...)


I don't think anyone believed in him!
(which is a little bit of a shame, actually)

[Bumblyari]

I would like to nominate Mr. B. Ecclestone for creating the biggest April Fool's joke. Not sure whether anyone believed it though.

[Mark Ballard]

The BBC did one on Grandstand a few years back (when they covered the Grand Prix) with Damon Hill, when he explained how his new helmet with built in "windscreen wipers" would help him drive quicker in the wet!

[aportinga]

Ivan Cappelli (when he was a test driver for Ferrari) once showed up with a hard cast on his arm and claimed to have broken it much to managements (Ferrari) shock! Turned out he was pulling their leg on April Fools Day!

[ensign14]

Am I dreaming, or did Motor Sport have a report on the Hungarian GP 1984 in the April edition? I think Alboreto won

And in an Autosport from 1971, they have a report from a Formule Libre race in Bermuda, featuring a car built from flotsam (driven by one Harrington McCake), a Harley Davidson entered by accident (it had to race with stabilizers to count as a car), and several drivers crashing off a bridge...the race was won by Peter Revson in an M8f, followed by Ronnie Peterson (March-Offy 711!), Steve McQueen (Chaparral) etc - but this was in the Christmas edition. I cannot believe that this was a genuine race - am I missing some random 70s joke?

[Barry Boor]

Not in the same league as some of those above but I'll share it with you anyway. I live on the north Wales island of Anglesey. It is about 20 miles long by 12 wide and a few years back, one of the local papers published a map of a race circuit that had many of the features of the one on the Isle of Man. They said that a plan was afoot (another one was nearly 3 feet 6!) to hold a T.T- type motor cycle event on the island. It caused a degree of excitement rarely witnessed on the island!

Needless to say, this issue of the paper was dated April 1st.

[Viktor]

The local news station (ABC) once run a story that Stockholm woth try to get a streat F1 race, a "Monaco of the North" sort of thing. The mayer talked about it on TV and everything, to bad it was only a joke

/Viktor

[Peterson]

That street race in Stockholm thing was on national TV in Sweden too (maybe same year?).

It featured an interview with someone named Bernhard something in front of the royal castle and later in the story Stefan Johansson explained that "Bernie" liked the idea and so on....

It was very well done and if you didnt know that the "Bernie" in the story actually wasnt the real thing you probably would have bought it.

[kober]

I don't know the name of the magazine, but they had an article about McLaren turning that old example into reality - F1 car running on the ceiling upside down thanks to downforce (lift;)). The article was great, it even wrote about things like oil circulation and so on...

It's a shame that one Czech magazine reprinted it (probably without permission) in August

[Garagiste]

I seem to recall Monk D'Wally D'Honk's testing times (in a Vanwall with Englebert tyres) being posted on Autosport.com last year - There was a thread about it...


Here you go: http://www.atlasf1.c...ight=wally honk

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Garagiste
I seem to recall Monk D'Wally D'Honk's testing times (in a Vanwall with Englebert tyres) being posted on Autosport.com last year - There was a thread about it...


Here you go: http://www.atlasf1.c...ight=wally honk

He turned up again in the Spa 24 Hours this year. Not bad for someone who was a running gag on The Young Ones

[dolomite]

Originally posted by Mark Ballard
The BBC did one on Grandstand a few years back (when they covered the Grand Prix) with Damon Hill, when he explained how his new helmet with built in "windscreen wipers" would help him drive quicker in the wet!

[Mark Beckman]

Not F1 but this is an Austrlain classic.

TV Channel 7 in the late 60's created a stir with a story that Australia's spaggetti industry was in great tormoil because of a rabid spaggetti worm that was attacking spaggetti growers and destroying crops.

The TV crew cooked a pile of spaggetti and hung it over grape vines and the TV Reporter grabbed a strand of spaggetti and broke open a strand to show the "worm" which was black cotton that had been threaded up the middle

Very clever and very effective.

[David Beard]

You could perhaps try www.dabgp.com

Go to the motor racing history page...then "DABgp on April 1st".

Some of the photography links are awaiting repair though, sorry.

[Henri Greuter]

last year, 2001, Brazil.

Jos Verstappen mentioning on Dutch TV something about negotiating with a top team after his impressive race in Malasia. The TV crew was also in the plot.
Before the race itself the TV crtew then suggested that the most likely team was Ferrari!!!

Not one hour later Jos blew his chances by running into the back of Montoya.......


Henri Greuter

[ensign14]

Originally posted by Henri Greuter
last year, 2001, Brazil.

Jos Verstappen mentioning on Dutch TV something about negotiating with a top team after his impressive race in Malasia. The TV crew was also in the plot.
Before the race itself the TV crtew then suggested that the most likely team was Ferrari!!!

Not one hour later Jos blew his chances by running into the back of Montoya.......


Henri Greuter

That would INCREASE his chances with Ferrari...

[Evo One]

Originally posted by Mark Beckman
Not F1 but this is an Austrlain classic.

TV Channel 7 in the late 60's created a stir with a story that Australia's spaggetti industry was in great tormoil because of a rabid spaggetti worm that was attacking spaggetti growers and destroying crops.

The TV crew cooked a pile of spaggetti and hung it over grape vines and the TV Reporter grabbed a strand of spaggetti and broke open a strand to show the "worm" which was black cotton that had been threaded up the middle

Very clever and very effective.

This wheeze was used on the Tonight program on BBC in the early 60s

[Henri Greuter]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Henri Greuter
last year, 2001, Brazil.

Jos Verstappen mentioning on Dutch TV something about negotiating with a top team after his impressive race in Malasia. The TV crew was also in the plot.
Before the race itself the TV crtew then suggested that the most likely team was Ferrari!!!

Not one hour later Jos blew his chances by running into the back of Montoya.......


Henri Greuter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ensign14 wrote:

That would INCREASE his chances with Ferrari...



Don't you think that with Michael in his current form and the Ferrari of this moment what Ferrari needs some people that can assure Rubens that he will get away from the grid for sure.
One of the remarkable features of the F2002 is that, till this moment that is, as long as it starts the race, it will see the finishflag, no matter who drives it.

And leave Montoya to himself and Raikkonen to eliminate himself for a good result or from the entire race.....
(and eliminate others in the process by the way....)


Henri Greuter

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Evo One


This wheeze was used on the Tonight program on BBC in the early 60s

Panorama, actually. And fronted by the normally very serious Richard Dimbleby, which explained why so many people were taken in.