Welcome to another week of TheJudge13 Bar Exam. As mentioned in the news, we will be keeping a Bar Exam Leaderboard for 2014 with a prize being awarded at the end of the season. Good luck!
Last week’s question(s): Who is the driver in the photo, which race was it taken in and where did he start? What significance does the car behind him have to his race?
The answer(s) I was looking for were: The driver in the photo is Taki Inoue in his Footwork FA16 followed closely by Jean Ragnotti in a Renault Clio.
Due to the “help” received from Ragnotti during the Saturday practice in the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix, Inoue did not qualify for the event.
Inoue had spun and stalled his Footwork. As the practice session completed his car was being towed back to the pit lane by a recovery vehicle when it was struck from behind by the Renault Clio safety car in the middle of the Piscine complex. The car was driven by Jean Ragnotti who was doing demonstration laps of the circuit with the FIA’s press delegate as passenger.
The impact was sufficient to overturn the Footwork and render it a write-off: the FA16 sustained severe rear-end damage to the engine and gearbox, whilst the tow rope, attached to the car’s crash structure behind the driver’s head, pulled the roll hoop from the chassis. Inoue, who still sitting in the cockpit with his helmet on but his seat belts unfastened, sustained two impacts to the head, the severity of which was shown by the fact that a chunk had been taken out of his helmet.
He was taken to The Princess Grace Hospital Centre for a brain scan and, although he was found to have sustained only a slight concussion, was not permitted to take part in the afternoon qualifying session as a precaution.
Inoue was allowed to race though as the stewards/FIA sort of admitted it was their fault so without taking part in the qualifying he started last in 25th.
I was sent a short summary of Safety Cars in Formula 1 by Taflach and decided to include it, very interesting!
History of safety cars:
The first use of the safety car in F1 was at the 1973 Canadian GP. It was driven by Eppie Wietes who drove a yellow Porsche 914 and was bought out after the accident between Jody Scheckter and Francois Cervert who collided on lap 33. There had been several crashes that season and the safety car had had been introduced in Austria and given a few practice laps.
Those were the days when lap charts were done by hand and Jackie Stewart pitted just as the safety car started its lap. Howden Ganley came out of the pits just ahead of Jackie Stewart. Ganley was actually a lap down from Stewart going into the pits.
The race officials decreed that Howden Ganley in an Iso Malbor was the leader but no-one else agreed with this including Ganley himself. The end result of this was the cars ahead of him were able to make up a lap. Emerson Fittipaldi who had come up to lap Jackie Stewart was stuck behind him.
It took several hours after the race to declare the official winner. Emmerson Fittipaldi was sure he had won but eventually Peter Revson in the McLaren was declared the winner. “I was ahead of Revson from the start,” said a bemused Fittipaldi. “I don’t see how I didn’t win.”
It was 20 years before the safety car was used again – at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix. During a rainstorm Katayama and Suzuki crashed on lap 27 – the Footwork of Suzuki partially blocked the circuit and the safety car was bought out – the first time since 1973. A few moments later Christian Fittipaldi spun his car and was hit by race leader Alain Prost. Because of this Damon Hill lost his big lead and was passed by Ayrton Senna shortly after the restart. The race still saw Damon’s first points and podium.
Well done to RogerD, Alistair, Tony, Stephen, Jim, Tim, Johnny, Karbry, Sid, Cassius, Mike, AJ, Taflach, Philip, The13thDuke and Scott.
This week’s question(s): Can you name the driver, team and car in the photo below? Can you also name the year and circuit at which the race was held?
Please provide your answers in the field below
