Have you ever wondered what lurks within the 12-cylinder brain of Autocar alumnus Andrew Frankel? Well wonder no more. 'Tis the season, so we gave the veteran of many a road test free rein to spill his knowledge here.
The resulting facts, figures and trivia should impress even the most ardent autophile. Think you know better? There are a few tricky quiz questions to give your brain a workout, too.
Random racing facts
1 Pole position for the 1952 Indianapolis 500 was achieved by a car with a diesel engine.
2 Captain Woolf Barnato drove at Le Mans three times, and won all three, a feat unrivalled to this day.
3 In qualifying for the 1977 British Grand Prix, David Purley crashed his Lec, going from 108mph to rest in 66cm, surviving deceleration of 170g.
4 There were four drivers entered for the 1959 British Grand Prix called Taylor, and one called Naylor.
5 Enzo Ferrari came second in the 1920 Targa Florio.
6 Dan Gurney took maiden grand prix wins for Porsche, Brabham and Eagle.
7 Lewis Hamilton’s ‘44’ number is the UK’s phone dialling code.
8 1970 was the only year F1 had 13 races, and the only one to have a posthumous world champion.
9 ‘The Formula One racing driver Narain Karthikeyan’ is an anagram of ‘Hang on, Ferrari overtaken. I’m a rather lucky Indian.
10 The only F1 car to win on the the only lap of the only race it ever led? The Honda RA300, piloted by John Surtees at the 1967 Italian Grand Prix.
Match the material
The following materials were used in some way to build the nine cars listed beside them - but which goes with which? Answers at the bottom of the page.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Missed a manufacturer
What about Fairthorpe?
Anagram
No. 9: Anagrams can be arranged for almost any arrangement of words and sentences, given enough time of thinking. They are commonly used in many religions for greater impression and influence of the leaders on their believers.Take the challenge and try the same with "Kimmi Raikkonen, the Sauber Iceman" and within a few minutes or hours you'll get some good anagram.
44
Is Lewis’ number 44 because its the dial code of the UK?
Escape Transport
he said, in a Q&A, that 44 was on the number plate of the car that tugged his kart from the Stevenage slums to whatever kart circuit in paradise he was racing at.