182 replies to this topic

[Dennis David]

You can tell a lot about someone by just a few choice quotes. Here's a few on "Chunky"

"He used to build cars so they needed a complete rebuild after every race, but that was precisely the idea. He'd say they only need to do 250 miles so if they break down after 260 then we're doing it about right. Of course what happened was they very often broke at about 240..."

Peter Warr former Lotus team manager


"If Colin had a failing it was that he always looked for the next thing no-one had rather than develop what he had."

Peter Warr former Lotus team manager


"... he would guide a junior through the needs and constraints of the current problem until his pupil reached the key to it." Then he'd say "you see, it designs itself!" and walk away.

Hugh Haskell, former Lotus engineer


"Formula 1 should be the pinnacle of motor racing. It should have the minimum of parameters controlling performance. There are only four parameters which control a racing car; one is the power from the engine; the second is the aerodynamical download it can produce; the third is the amount of grip which can be obtained by the tyres and the fourth is the weight."

Colin Chapman

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Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Xaxor]

"There are only thirty men in the woold qualified to drive fommula one. At this moment, I'm inclined to think you are NOT one of them..."

Adolfo Celli to James Garner in "Grand Prix"

[Tarnik]

Dennis, do you have the book "Lotus 49" by Michael Oliver? Great book, nice pictures. Got it for Christmas. Most of those quotes are in the book.

[Dennis David]

I have the book and it is very good though the quotes are from other sources. There is also a very good book on Cooper Cars.


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Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Ray Bell]

One from Frank Gardner:

(explaining why he won't drive Historic cars)

"They've been sitting around crystalising, the chassis has spent years expanding and contracting with the change in temperature, fatiguing it . . . "

Looking on the gloomy side, I guess..

[Dennis David]

Here are two of my all-time favorites. Guess who he is talking about. It's easy.

"Whenever I think of him today, I feel myself smiling. He was so full of life, almost bursting. We were astounded by him as a driver and loved him as a man."
René Dreyfus

"He talked to his cars, and they answered! It was incredible. He would jump from side to side, put his whole body into the effort. It seemed to me sometimes that he was himself physically lifting the car - over a curb, for example, to take a corner faster. We'd ask ourselves often, how he can drive that way? That's not right. But then he'd win ..."
René Dreyfus



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Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Statesidefan]

Bill France and Junior Johnson on the topic of Johnson running a full slate of NASCAR races:

France: So your committed to our series next year?

Johnson: No, I'm involved.

France: I need you to commit to the series.

Johnson: I'll be involved. You see Bill, when you sit down to a breakfast of bacon and eggs the chicken is involved. The pig is committed. I'll be involved next year.


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"The strategy of a Formula One race is very simple. It's flat out from the minute the flag drops." Mario Andretti 1976

[FlagMan]

Another favourite Frank Gardener quote - from a testing session at Oulton Park.

Bruce Mclaren was present, testing one of his early sports cars and asked Frank to try it for a few laps.

The following conversation took place after Frank returned the car to the pits.

Bruce - "Well Frank, how do you reckon she handles?"

Frank - "Like a f***ing Australian **** house"

[Marcel Schot]

Dennis : I would guess he's speaking of Tazio there.

[Dennis David]

Who else! ;-)

------------------
Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Marcel Schot]

"Life is racing"...is that for the famous team of the same name? The guys with the W12 engine and the uncontrolable urge to be 20 seconds behind the field in qualifying?

[Dennis David]

No that's from MY favorite driver Rudolf Caracciola and later "stolen" by Steve McQueen"

He prefered to start a little more to the front. 6 time winner of the German GP and the original Regenmeister.

------------------
Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[luisfelipetrigo]

The film "A man and a woman" had this one (or something along the lines)

"You have to take the turn at exactly 240km per hour. At 239 you loose the race. At 241 you loose the car."

Another one from the movie "Grand Prix" I like is:

"Whenever I see something horrible I put my foot down, hard . . . because I know everyone is lifting his"



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Saludos
Luis Felipe

[Dennis David]

"When Jimmy won in 1965, it was $150 for each lap you led on. He led for 190 of 200 laps. Jimmy never talked about money but he was so enchanted by this idea. He said, "It was so funny, I was like a cash register. I kept going
around thinking, click, click, $150, $150"

Walter Hayes, former head of public affairs at Ford of Britain, discussing Clark's win at Indianapolis


"Clark came through at the end of the first lap of the race so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."
Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jimmy Clark in the Lotus 49 at Spa-Francorchamps - 1967.



------------------
Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Eric McLoughlin]

Stirling Moss to Peter Berthon, co-designer of the horrendous BRM V16, when he was given the opportunity to test drive the car at Monza.
Moss - "Peter, the front wheels are flapping about".
Berthon - "Which way do they flap, up or down or side to side?"
The car had already been racing for nearly two years at this stage.

Another qoute attributed to Colin Chapman relates to when the Lotus Seven sports car was in its early stages of production. On a stroll around the workshop he saw a Seven chassis being worked on -
Chapman - "I want pounds off that car".
Worker - "Is that pounds weight or pounds sterling?"
Chapman - "Both".


[This message has been edited by Eric McLoughlin (edited 01-05-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Eric McLoughlin (edited 01-05-2000).]

[Ray Bell]

Some real class people here - even ones who've watched Anouk Amie and Jean-Louis Trintignant. I waited 25 years to get it on video - and they'd dubbed it! It still rents regularly from the one store in Brisbane that has the tape. A classic movie.

[Eric McLoughlin]

"There is no such thing as a good way or a bad way to win - there is only winning"
- Mario Andretti.

"Christ - I use to complain that this thing was underpowered, I must have been mad" - Chris Amon after taking the 1972 Matra F1 up the hill at Goodwood a couple of years ago.

In similar vein, Jody Scheckter was asked by an interviewer how he felt after taking the Ferrari 312T4 up the same hill. His reply was also "I must have been mad". Funny what age does.

I can vouch for the two Goodwood qoutes because "I was there".

[Bernd]

I just came across a book in a Public Library no less! with nothing in it whatsoever but famous/notable quotes from the Grand Prix arena. I thought I'd share some of the ones that caught my eye.

"Drivers are just interchangeable light bulbs - you plug them in and they do the job" - Teddy Meyer

"He's just a total bloody idiot. Always was, always will be" - Derek Warwick on Rene Arnoux

"He was the fastest driver I ever saw - faster even than Fangio" - Mike Hawthorn on Alberto Ascari

"My game is going wrong - the star is setting" - Ascari to Fangio 4 days before his death

"His attitude to other drivers during a race leaves a certain amount to be desired. Pointless balking can only merit censure. He should remember that this sport can be lethal. Those who play with fire are sometimes themselves burnt" - A scarily prophectic Louis Stanley on Lorenzo Bandini

"I was Boutsend" - Johnny Herbert after being taken out of the 92 Belgian GP by Thierry Boutsen

"He seemed to have forgotten that he was no longer on a dirt track in Australia and insisted on coming round the corners sideways in a power slide" - Stirling Moss on newboy Brabham

"The greatest 'unknown' driver there's ever been" - Moss on Tony Brooks

"Fast on his day. Otherwise he connects with the scenery" - Unknown driver on Andrea de Cesaris

"If you want to see Jim explode, just listen to a so called professional journalist asking him a completely asinine and irrelevant question and wait for the reaction. It can be quite impressive!" - Colin Chapman on Jim Clark

"Jimmy ranked with, perhaps even out-ranked, Nuvolari, Fangio and Moss and I think we all thought that he was in a way invincible. To be killed in an accident with a Formula 2 car is almost unacceptable" - Bruce McLaren

"His ability was so much greater than he ever revealed. He hardly ever drove to the limits of his capacity. He only used nine-tenths of his talent, which makes the gulf between him and other drivers even bigger" - Colin Chapman on of course Jim Clark

"What he did was build up an enormous lead and simply try and sap your will to win by making it look impossible" Graham Hill on Clark

"He could jump in darn near anything and drive the wheels of it" - Dan Gurney on Clark

"For me Jimmy always will be the the best driver the world has ever known" - Colin Chapman in 1980

"I am satisfied to run second. Fangio is the master" - Froilan Gonzales

"He was the one who could always go that little bit quicker for a little bit longer" - Moss on Fangio

"The great thing about him was that he won five world titles in four different cars and he never had a row with anyone" John Cooper on Fangio

"Fangio the man, is even greater than the myth" - Stirling Moss

"All the drivers said that only the Holy Virgin was capable of keeping him on the track, because of the crazy way he used to drive and that one day the Virgin would get tired of going along behind him" - Fangio on Giuseppe Farina

FOR JOE FAN!

"I expect Masten Gregory to get killed any day now. I tell him this to his face. I've said to him, 'Masten you're going to kill yourself' He acts like he doesn't even hear me." - Stirling Moss 1960

"He has survived more crashes in the past six years than any living driver of race cars. To brake down in a Grand Prix is, for Gregory, a most prosaic ending to a race" - Author Robery Daley

Perhaps more later

[2F-001]

''... No, it will never have enough power until I can spin the wheels at the end of the straightaway in high gear.''
Mark Donohue on the 917 Can-Am car in 'The Unfair Advantage'.

[2F-001]

And still with Can-Am...

''I'm tired of trying out a new aerodynamic device only to be told by Jim (Hall) that he tried it six months earlier and it won't work.''
attributed to Bruce McLaren, '68.

[Chico Landi]

"Are you here to race or to crash?"

Chico Landi, middle of the 80's, replying to some drivers who complained at the lack of safety in Interlagos, administrated by him at that time.

[mikedeering]

Bernie "I don't remember buying McLaren."

In response to Murray Walker's "Bernie, it's been some 17 years since you bought McLaren. You've had some good times, you've had some bad times - what do you remember the most?"

Adelaide, Australia, 1987.

[Redliner]

The utterly heroic David Purley's immortal dead pan come back to Niki Lauda

"If you wag that finger once more at me I'm going to have to break it off and shove it up your arse."

Not a man I would have argued with.

[Redliner]

Niki Lauda's reply to a group of tourists who were suprised to see him wandering around Bergwerk at the Nurburgring and questioned him as to his motives.

"Oh, I'm just looking for my ear."

[2F-001]

<< ...utterly heroic David Purley... >>

Ah yes... bravery on a different scale to those we normally discuss here...

[josh.lintz]

Great ones, so far!

"It's not kissing the wall I'm afraid of, it's making love to it that worries me."
-- Michele Alboreto at the 1988 Detroit GP (I know, quoted that the day I read of Alboreto's death on this forum. But upon playing GT2 while skimming the walls a few times, the thought popped into my head recently...)

[rdrcr]

This is a great read... Some of the quotes are priceless.

Let me add these pearls to the list,

" Money makes the world go around and in Formula One it greases the wheels too."
-Roger Horton

"I never think I can hurt myself-not seriously. If you believe it can happen to you, how can you do this job? If you're never over eight-tenths, or whatever, because you're thinking about a shunt, you are not going as quick as you can. And if you re not doing that you 're not a racing driver. Some guys, in formula1... well to me, they're not racing drivers. They drive racing cars, thats all. They're doing half a job. And in that case, I wonder why they do it at all..."
-Gilles Villeneuve

" Sometimes Grand Prix drivers look absolutely awesome, on other days they look like they couldn't drive sheep, and it's a sheep day today !"
-Martin Brundle

"Aerodynamics is for those who cannot manufacture good engines."
-Enzo Ferrari

... in '59 I ran out of brakes four times -- and I don't mean they didn't work very well, I mean I had none. Like the main oil line had sheared. You know, so that oil, you know, when you put your foot on the floor, the oil just went squirting out into the atmosphere. I'd always believed that Colin was close to genius in his design ability and everything, if he could just get over this failing of his of making things too bloody light. I mean, Colin's idea of a Grand Prix car was it should win the race and, as it crossed the finishing line, it should collapse in a heap of bits. If it didn't do that, it was built too strongly.
-Innes Ireland

"Spa is a good race I would have enjoyed to be in myself. Pure skill. I would like to be racing now. It is the safest and best paid time to be racing. If I lived in America I could sue my mother for having me too early- for the loss of income!"
-Nikki Lauda at the end of '97 season

"He (Aryton Senna) would be driving a car which on paper, was a second a lap slower than the opposition. And you knew at that moment, that you could not beat the opposition. Ninety nine percent of the drivers would accept this and say: 'well next week we will have a new engine and we will be there.' "For Aryton of course , it wasn't like that at all. He would think I have to be quickest, and he would do it. He wasn't dreaming. He just did it."
-Gerhard Berger on Aryton Senna

"It is head and not the foot that is instrumental in any one driver's achievement. Few consider that"
-Peter Sauber

" The first time I came here, there was a crack in the tarmac, and there was a little plant growing out of it, and I said to myself, 'Tazio Nuvelari could well have driven over the great-grandfather of this plant', and I pulled it out, and I've got it pressed in a Monza yearbook at home!"
-Murray Walker

" I'm er I'm lost for words on that particular anecdote there Murray!"
-Martin Brundle

"Nürburgring was my favourite track. I fell totally in love with it and I believe that on that day in 1957 I finally managed to master it. It was as if I had screwed all the secrets out of it and got to know it once and for all. . . For two days I couldn't sleep, still making those leaps in the dark on those curves where I had never before had the courage to push things so far."
-Juan Manuel Fangio

"I'd rather be lucky than fast"
Richard Petty

"If you're in control, your not driving fast enough"
- Parnelli Jones

[Ross Stonefeld]

I dont know if this would count but...



British Formula Ford finale. Robert Dahlgren(swe) leaders Patrick Long(usa) by like 3 points. Dahlgren is running in the top 3 and has a coming together and has damaged suspension and as he's limping down the field takes out long and seals the title.

Flash foward to the eve of the Festival at Brands and the announcer asks Patrick what he's going to do about Robert. Long jokingly says "im taking the bastard off!" In the semi-final Long does just that, wins the race, and is DQ'd

[stevew]

If you had followed the "foreign" invasion at Indy in the '60s, you can appreciate these quotes...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Graham Hill's book "Life at the Limit", (Coward-McCann, Inc.).

About Graham's first start at the Indianapolis 500 in 1966. Back then, the race starter was Pat Vidan, who had developed a particular "flourish" when waving any flag. Long-time observers were used to this, but apparently newcomers were not...

Graham's quote:

"...the pace car pulled off into the pits, the starter waved the flag like it was alive and he was trying to shake it off, and the race was on."

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From Jack Brabham's book "When the Flag Drops" (with Elizabeth Hayward). Coward-McCann, Inc.

This was when Brabham first went to Indy in late 1960. At Indy, new "rookie" drivers are supposed to take a driver's test which involves lapping consistently at certain given speeds for a given number of laps. The flamboyant Chief Starter Harlan Fengler was presiding at this test. Brabham got it wrong...

Jack's quote: (he was supposed to lap at 125mph to start his test).

"I had no way of judging what 125mph was, and I went out just stroking it around and virtually warming it up. And my first lap was 135mph. They went berserk. Harlan Fengler rushed out into the middle of the track and practically lay down in front of me. They all acted as if the world had come to an end, and they called me in and gave me a hell of a rocket."

[Bernd]

Some more.

"Drivers such as Fangio, Moss, Clark & Stewart were natural drivers. I've never been described as this. I had to work at it" - Graham Hill

"I could never concentrate totally. I would find myself in the middle of a race thinking about the party we would have that night" - Innes Ireland

"He is hardly like to go down in history as a great champion" - Jenks on Niki Lauda 1975

"He'll never win a Grand Prix as long as I have a hole in my arse" - Lotus Manager Peter Warr on Nigel Mansell

"When the lights go green, he goes red!" - Frank Williams on Mansell

"Given the opportunity, the motivation, the encouragement, I can win another World Title without batting an eye. I can beat Schumacher, I can beat anyone" - Nigel Mansell 1994

"If Stirling Moss had put reason before passion, he would have been world champion. He was more than deserving of it" - Enzo Ferrari

"He's had 14 accidents with us this year and frankly we can't afford him. I only hope Chapman has plenty of cars for him to use up" - Peter Warr on Ronnie Peterson

"I thought I was the fastest driver in the world until I went to McLaren with Alain Prost" - Keke Rosberg

"He is the most complete driver there is. You could say that Senna is the fastest, but that is only one aspect of driving in F1. Alain's knowledge is phenomenal, in terms of setting up a car, motivating the pits, race tactics and pscyhology. Senna is the racer, but Prost is the Racing Driver" - Stirling Moss 1990

"What am I going to do with this bloke? He has lightning reflexes is bloody quick, but keeps telling me how to design my cars" - Colin Chapman on Jochen Rindt

"In common with most drivers from tropical countries, Pedro did not understand that wet roads were slippery & dangerous and that he should slow down" - Tony Rudd on Rodriguez

"He was a fantastic driver, but he had an immense number of collisions. They could not all have been everybody else's fault" - JYS on Senna 1998

[oldtimer]

From the Mansell/Williams days.

Overheard conversation between an onlooker and a member of the Williams team:

Onlooker: "Nigel's awfully fast. Pity he doesn't use his head more."

Reply: "Maybe that's why he's so fast."

In the same vein, from a post-season Jenks visit to the Williams headquarters. Jenks asks Frank Williams about Mansell's strongest asset. Frank Williams: " A little patch on the ball of his right foot."

And Mike Hawthorn's reply to a query about his moving over for Fangio during the Great Drive: "If I hadn't moved over, the old bugger would have driven right over me.

[Gra]

Greg Moore had just spun while going about 240mph at the Michigan 500. He managed to take the car down onto the infield and straighten out and rejoin the race.

His crew radio'ed him from the pits "Are you OK Greg?"

Greg replied "I'm fine, but I'm going to need to change my shorts when this race is over."

[buzard]

"Clark came through at the end of the first lap of the race so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."
Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jimmy Clark in the Lotus 49 at Spa-Francorchamps - 1967


Not correct! This was Clark at the Nurburgring 1000K sports car race. It was the debut of the
Lotus 23. Clark came by with a lead of about 15-30 seconds. He was past the pits and
throught the next turn before any of the other cars showed up.

There was a sports car race at SPA where Ickx came by to complete his second lap
before the last place car finished his first lap. He had about a 21 second lead at
the end of the first lap.

buzard

[cjpani]

Después de una carrera, no advierte su sistema nervioso algo desequilibrado?

Correr es un hábito...

Which translates to:

After a race, don´t you feel your nervous system somewhat unbalanced?

Racing is a habit

Pedro Rodríguez, at an interview to the "automundo" magazine in June, 1971

Instant classic

cj

[Dennis David]

"That would be a bloody fantastic spectacle, I can tell you. We would take corners one gear lower than we do now, and get the cars sideways. You know, people still rave about Ronnie Peterson in a Lotus 72, and I understand that. I agree with them. That's the kind of entertainment I want to give the crowds. Smoke the tyres ! Yeah ! "

Gilles Villeneuve discussing his ideal car and driver.

[Dennis David]

"Flat-out, I yust love to drive flat-out"

Ronnie Peterson discussing his race "strategy"

[Dennis David]

.... Team draughtsman Martin Oglivie recalls Peterson going round lap after lap, proving the Lotus-Getrag gearbox, then suddenly going faster...'And when he came in we said, "Ah you've sorted out the selection problem", and he just smiled that slow smile and said, "No. I yust stopped you-sing the clutch." '

[Dennis David]

"Monte Carlo, ’88, the last qualifying session. I was already on pole and I was going faster and faster. One lap after the other, quicker, and quicker, and quicker. I was at one stage just on pole, then by half a second, and then one second…and I kept going. Suddenly, I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my teammate with the same car. And I suddenly realized that I was no longer driving the car consciously."

"I was kind of driving it by instinct, only I was in a different dimension. It was like I was in a tunnel, not only the tunnel under the hotel, but the whole circuit for me was a tunnel. I was just going, going – more, and more, and more, and more. I was way over the limit, but still able to find even more. Then, suddenly, something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and I realized that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. Immediately my reaction was to back off, slow down. I drove slowly to the pits and I didn’t want to go out any more that day."

"It frightened me because I realized I was well beyond my conscious understanding. It happens rarely, but I keep these experiences very much alive in me because it is something that is important for self-preservation."

Ayrton Senna

[Dennis David]

"I think I've proved that, in equal cars, if I want someone to stay behind me... well, I think he stays behind..."

Gilles

[Bex37]

"Irvine: Here!
Senna: What the **** do you think you were doing?
Irvine: I was racing!
Senna: You were racing? Do you know the rule that you're supposed to let the leaders come by when you're a back marker?
Irvine: If you were going fast enough, it was no problem.
Senna: I overtook you! And you went three times off the road in front of me, at the same place, like ****ing idiot, where there was oil. And you were throwing stones and all things in front of me for three laps. When I took you, you realised I was ahead of you. And when I came up behind Hill, because he was on slicks and in difficulties, you should have stayed behind me. You took a very big risk to put me out of the race.
Irvine: Where did I put you in any danger?
Senna: You didn't put me in any danger?
Irvine: Did I touch you? Did I touch you once?
Senna: No, but you were that much from touching me, and I happened to be the ****ing leader. I HAPPENED TO BE THE ****ING LEADER!
Irvine: A miss is as good as a mile.
Senna: I tell you something. If you don't behave properly in the next event, you can just rethink what you do. I can guarantee you that.
Irvine: The stewards said "No problem. Nothing was wrong."
Senna: Yeah? You wait till Australia. You wait till Australia, when the stewards will talk to you. Then you tell me if they tell you this.
Irvine: Hey, I'm out there to do the best for me.
Senna: This is not correct. You want to do well. I understand, because I've been there I understand. But it's very unprofessional. If you are a back marker, because you happen to be lapped ...
Irvine: But I would have followed you if you'd overtaken Hill!
Senna: You should let the leader go by ...
Irvine: I understand that fully!
Senna: ... and not come by and do the things you did. You nearly hit Hill in front of me three times, because I saw, and I could of collected you and him as a result, and that's not the way to do that.
Irvine: But I'm racing! I'm racing! You just happened to ...
Senna: You're not racing! You're driving like a ****ing idiot. You're not a racing driver, you're a ****ing idiot!
Irvine: You talk, you talk. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Senna: I was in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Irvine: Yes. I was battling with Hill.
Senna: Really? Really? Just tell me one thing. Who is supposed to have the call? You, or the leader of the race who comes through to lap you?
Irvine: The leader of the race.
Senna: So what have you done?
Irvine: You, you were too slow, and I had to overtake you to try to get at Hill.
Senna: Really? How did I lap you if I was too slow?
Irvine: Rain. Because on slicks you were quicker than me, on wets you weren't.
Senna: Really? Really? How did I come and overtake you on wets?
Irvine: Huh?
Senna: How come I overtook you on wets?
Irvine: I can't remember that. I don't actually remember the race.
Senna: Exactly. Because you are not competent enough to remember. That's how it goes you know.
Irvine: Fair enough. Fair enough. That's what you think.
Senna: You be careful guy.
Irvine: I will. I'll watch out for you.
Senna: You're gonna have problems not with me only, but with lots of other guys, also the FIA.
Irvine: Yeah?
Senna: You bet.
Irvine: Yeah? Good.
Senna: Yeah? It's good to know that.
Irvine: See you out there.
Senna: It's good to know that.
Irvine: See you out there ...
(Senna turns away, then turns back and smacks the right side of Irvine's head with his left hand. Irvine loses his balance from his perch on the edge of a table and falls to the ground. Senna is hustled away, still shouting).
Irvine: Insurance claim there!
Senna: You got to learn to respect where you're going wrong! "

-Eddie Irvine,Ayrton Senna - After the 1993 Japanese GP.

See http://members.atlas...n=searchrequest (Thanks, Williams)

[William Dale Jr]

Well, there's the one in my signature. As it says, Buddy Baker said it while he was commentating on the 1996 DieHard 500 at Talladega. He said it early in the race when the cars were all trying to run 3-wide.

Larry McReynolds said this one during commentary during last year's Daytona 500,
"...well Dale Earnhardt probably wouldn't know how a drive a car without the front end beat in on it..."

Another one from McReynolds, again said during the '96 DieHard 500, but he said this as crew chief over the radio to driver Ernie Irvan,
"Hey, someone here wanna get me a bottle of vodka?"

[BertlF]

My favourite quote - although I don't know who said it (was it old Jack or Colin)

"When the flag drops, the bullshit stops!"


Bert

[Gary Davies]

A couple of people have included Frank Gardner quotes. Of course, just about anything Frank says is worthy of inclusion in this thread but this is perhaps my favourite. It's taken from his gem of a book, "Racing Driver's Manual" and it concerns his experiences in the Ford GT MkIIs at Le Mans: "Unfortunately the hierarchy figured out that 4.7 litres wasn't enough to win Le Mans, and so they specified great seven litre engines which brought some of the animal back into these things. They had another problem because they specified that there had to be an American driving every car, and their team director had a thing about stock car drivers being the right sort of blokes to have at Le Mans.

"So Denny Hulme ended up with Lloyd Ruby and I was paired with Roger McCluskey. Both of these guys were pretty devoid of road racing knowledge, but they were speed-happy as hell and learned really quickly.

"In practice at Le Mans they started a competition to see who could go off the road the most times, and this kind of continued into the race. I think Lloyd was leading about six games to five when Roger came walking into our pit in the early hours of the morning and said. 'Frank, ah don' wanna upset ya, but I guess ah've had kind of a liddl ol' accident'. I asked him if he thought we could get the car going but he shook his head and said he reckoned it was out for good.

"I was kind of interested to see what had happened, and after dawn I walked out under the Dunlop Bridge to have a look-see, and the first thing I saw was a radiator lying on top of the bank! About 50 yards further on I came across a mangled heap of metal and some glass fibre, and then there was a wheel, and then some more metal and the cockpit section of the car was about 200 yards away down in the Esses! I told Roger that I wanted to be around when he had a big accident 'cos if a little one looked like that, a big 'un ought to be incredibly spectacular..."

Vanwall.

[josh.lintz]

"If Formula One was a business, based in America, the Federal Trade Commission would shut it down because of its vested interests."

- Jackie Stewart

[dmj]

I don't know the actual quote (I only ever seen it translated to Croatian) but after Ayrton won his first ever race, in rainy Estoril 1985, he discussed it over the phone with his mother, who watched the race on TV. She asked him why he didn't slow up after he built a minute lead. His famous answer was: "Mama, I couldn't. If I slowed up I would have an accident!"

[Wolf]

Quotes on Moss:
Watch. He will be one of the great ones. Nuvolari, after '49 Lake Guarda race
I would mind it, if he was human. Brabham, after '61 Int'l Tophy
He's not normal. Surtees, finishing 2nd after barely unlapping himself in '62 NZ GP
If you drive for me, I will have no team, just you and a reserve driver. Enzo Ferrari, offering Moss a drive for '62

Quotes by Moss:
I took a great deal out of motor-racing, but I put a lot back, too. I do feel I gave it all but my life.
If you habitually go through the corners one-fifth of a second slower than your maximum, you can make a reputation, you can earn a living, you can even win a race now and then- but you are no racing driver.
The straights don't count, the straights are just there to join the corners.
But if you asked me didn't I think it dangerous to the point where I might overdrive and get off the road, i'd be insulted.
We do not advocate taking out trees, for instance, eliminating things that make for interest. we don't want "spin-off" zones and that sort of thing... We accept hazards, as at Monaco, of hitting a building or going over a drop; after all, it's no fun gambling for match-sticks. the last one in the capacity of GPDA president

[ensign14]

'I ain't never won a race, but I ain't never lost a party.' - Delma Cowart

'There's always room at the top, and it's damned crowded down below. Why shouldn't one get there? It only needs a little more push and a little more attention to detail than the average fellow is prepared to give.' - Sir Henry Segrave

'They can, because they think they can.' - Vergil (on a boat race, the Aeneid's equivalent of F1).

Saddest quote: Mario, 'Unfortunately, racing is also this'.

'I just keep pluggin'. I haven't won yet, but I might next week.' - the late, great J D McDuffie. He did win one, a charity race, the day before he died.

[byrkus]

Which reminded me of another such sad example.

"This is the happiest day of my life!" Keith O'Dor after winning 1st heat at 1995 STW cup in Avus, few hours before his death...

[oldtimer]

You can also tell what one driver thinks about another.

This I overheard in the Silverstone paddock during practice for the British GP. It is 1965, and the newcomer to the BRM team, one J.Y.Stewart, has already started to push the pace of long-time leader, Graham Hill. Since it was practice, there was no obligation to wear the boring blue Dunlop sponsored driving suit, and JYS jauntily strode by Graham wearing a bright green driving, shot silk in appearance if not in reality.

Hill's eyes briefly followed Stewart, and then he turned to his conversation partner and remarked, "He's wearing his ballerina outfit today."

[Vitesse2]

oldtimer: