Nerver Ending Racing Trivia

I was born the son of a south London motorcycle dealer owner. My first ride in racing was that of the monkey on my father's Vincent hacker and we won the race. Later, when my age was discovered we were disqualified. I made my first headlines as a racer when I gave Norton star Geoff Duke a strong challenge in an ACU race at the Thruxton Circuit. Norton race chief Joe Craig gave me my first factory sponsored ride aboard the Nortons. Later in my career I moved to cars and got a ride with the factory sponsored Lotus team. During my 12 year career with cars I raced for BMW, Cooper, Ferrari, Honda, Lola, Lotus and McLaren. On motorcycles I spent most of my career riding for MV Augusta.

Who am I and why am I special to racing?

I think this could be John Surtees and he was special to racing because he was world champion on both 2 and 4 wheels.

Do I win a T shirt :Ø)

Steve

steveindenmark said:

I think this could be John Surtees and he was special to racing because he was world champion on both 2 and 4 wheels.

Steve

Click to expand...

That's it, John Surtees was the first to be World Champion on a motorcycle as well as a World Champion F1 driver. He actually drove in the Rex Mays NASCAR 300 at Riverside California in 1967. In 1996, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. When it comes to racing the name Surtees goes from motorcycles to F1 to that of an owner/constructor who won the Formula 2 Championship in 1972. His son, Henry, currently competes in the Formula BMW UK series for Carlin Motorsport or he did as far as 2007.

John Surtees is the only person to have been World Champion on 2 and 4 wheels.

OneTrack said:

John Surtees is the only person to have been World Champion on 2 and 4 wheels.

Click to expand...

Correct but as is the case with most records they are simply on loan. I would have loved to see Michael Schumacher on a Ducati and while his times were very competitive during testing in 2007 he later stated it was simply for fun.

In 1977 on the Mojave Desert, I piloted a hydrogen peroxide powered rocket dragster built by Ky Michaelson to the quickest quarter mile elapsed time in automotive racing history. It was a timed run of 3.22 seconds at 412 mph. During the back up run I was timed at 3.23 with a top speed of 396 mph. I am a total speed freak as I have raced bikes, sports cars, dragsters, jet cars and dune buggies. I have been deaf from infancy but this never stopped me.

Who am I?

Kitty O'Neill
Kitty O'Neil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

These are all too easy because of the internet.

I knew John Surtees because Im a Brit.

Quizzes are not the same anymore.

Was she a blond? Sorry I couldn't resist...

The closest I came was J.D. Zink.

steveindenmark said:

These are all too easy because of the internet.

I knew John Surtees because Im a Brit.

Quizzes are not the same anymore.

Click to expand...

I have seen a movie about her before but I had to search to find her name.

I like the easy ones like in which country does the Paris-Dakar rally start in....when it runs.

Steve

Usually France but I heard next year it is supposed to be in South America.

Edit: like you said when it runs

HavBlue said:

Correct but as is the case with most records they are simply on loan. I would have loved to see Michael Schumacher on a Ducati and while his times were very competitive during testing in 2007 he later stated it was simply for fun.

Click to expand...

I sincerely doubt that Schumacher could even begin to compete with the big dogs in MotoGP. It's one thing to do a rehearsed spin around the track on your own with the resulting (I suspect fudged ) lap times...it's quite another to perform in a real race with riders who would make him look like a rank amateur.
John Surtees had the same extraordinary ability in F1 cars as Schumacher, but he could probably still show him the way around a track on a bike.
I doubt Surtees' feat will EVER be equaled.
And that's how I feel about that.

Hellgate said:

Was she a blond? Sorry I couldn't resist...

The closest I came was J.D. Zink.

Click to expand...

Sorry Pete, she was brunette, 5'3 and about 105 pounds wet.

OneTrack said:

John Surtees had the same extraordinary ability in F1 cars as Schumacher, but he could probably still show him the way around a track on a bike. I doubt Surtees' feat will EVER be equaled.

Click to expand...

I agree, there may never be someone to win on both endeavors. I disagree that Surtees had anywhere near the abilities of Schumacher in terms of F1 racing. In his entire career Surtees managed one F1 Championship in 1964 while Schumacher won 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. He would have won in 1997 too but got disqualified and lost to Villeneuve. Schumacher also holds the most back to back championships with 5 which may not be equaled for some time. Give Surtees his due as he was best on 2 wheels with 7 titles between 350 and 500cc class bikes.

Now, in terms of great bike Champions Scott Parker has won 9 AMA flat track championships and Chris Carr has won 7. Surtees won 4 Moto GP championships with MV Augusta but Agostini Giacomo won 8 with the same team and that included 7 straight. Mike Hailwood followed Surtees with MV Augusta and won 4 straight. Of these riders, Agostini is the only rider to win the Daytona 200 (1974).

We enjoy a wonderful sport with a huge history and some very colorful moments. Nice thing about it is there will be so much more to come...

Charlie

Doesn't chris carr also hold the land speed record on a motorcycle?

madmanmaigret said:

Doesn't chris carr also hold the land speed record on a motorcycle?

Click to expand...

Right you are as Chris Carr piloted the Bub 7 streamliner to a new LSR of 350.885mph during the 2007 Bonneville meet. I will however say this may not hold long as the Gillette 3 folks only limitation to beating the hell out of that 350mph record was drag chute issues. They pushed the record above 360mph but couldn't make the return run. 2008 will be very interesting at the salt flats.

Looking at the pics, its hard to comprehend that they classify that as a motorcycle! o.k., o.k. it has two wheels!

madmanmaigret said:

Looking at the pics, its hard to comprehend that they classify that as a motorcycle! o.k., o.k. it has two wheels!

Click to expand...

Yeah but to make it more interesting the Gillette 3 is powered by a rocket.....
Bet ya didn't know that..giggle, giggle

madmanmaigret said:

Usually France but I heard next year it is supposed to be in South America.

Edit: like you said when it runs

Click to expand...

You see I like these questions.

The Paris - Dakar rally actually starts in Lisbon, Portugal and finishes in Dakar, Senegal.

Its one to get your friends with.

South America, South Africa or Australia would all be good for the next one.

Steve