|
Calder Park Thunderdome
Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a dragstrip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either clockwise (for right-hand-drive cars) or anti-clockwise (for left-hand-drive cars such as NASCAR). History Calder Park Raceway was founded in the farming community of Diggers Rest and began as a dirt track carved into a paddock by a group of motoring enthusiasts who wanted somewhere to race their FJ Holdens. One of those men was Patrick Hawthorn, who at the time owned a petrol station in Clayton, when one of his clients suggested a place to race, on his property. The inaugural meeting on a bitumen track was run by the Australian Motor Sports Club and took place on 14 January 1962. The track design was very similar to the existing Club Circuit, which is still in use today. Competitors at this meeting included former Calder Park owner Bob Jan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropolitan area known as Greater Melbourne, comprising an urban agglomeration of 31 local municipalities, although the name is also used specifically for the local municipality of City of Melbourne based around its central business area. The metropolis occupies much of the northern and eastern coastlines of Port Phillip Bay and spreads into the Mornington Peninsula, part of West Gippsland, as well as the hinterlands towards the Yarra Valley, the Dandenong and Macedon Ranges. It has a population over 5 million (19% of the population of Australia, as per 2021 census), mostly residing to the east side of the city centre, and its inhabitants are commonly referred to as "Melburnians". The area of Melbourne has been home to Aboriginal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Miedecke
Miedecke Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team that is competing in Australian GT. It has previously competed in touring car racing between 1987 and 1989, and an earlier form of the team also competed in open wheel racing between 1981 and 1983. History Open Wheel Racing Prior to the formation of the Group A Touring car racing team in 1987, Andrew Miedecke had run his own team in open wheel racing. He finished fourth in the 1976 Australian Formula 2 Championship driving a Rennmax BN7 with sponsorship from Sydney based department store chain Grace Bros. He later campaigned a Ralt RT4-Ford in the 1982 and 1983 Australian Drivers' Championships with backing from the Port Macquarie Tourist Bureau. He placed 3rd in 1982, winning Round 2 of the series at the Adelaide International Raceway, and would finish 3rd again in 1983, again winning Round 2 of the series at Lakeside in Brisbane. Miedecke had not actually planned to race the Ralt during 1983 but changed his mind after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and his son, Jim France, has been the CEO since August 2018. The company is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Europe. History Early stock car racing In the 1920s and 1930s, Daytona Beach supplanted France and Belgium as the preferred location for world land speed records. After a historic race between Ransom Olds and Alexander Winton in 1903, 15 records were set on what became the Daytona Beach Road Course between 1905 and 1935. Daytona Beach had become synonymous with fast cars in 1936. Drivers raced on a course, consisting of a stretch of beach as one straightaway, and a narrow blacktop beachfront highway, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragstrip
A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile (1320 feet, 402 m) is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile (201 m) tracks, and the premiere classes will run 1,000 foot (304.8 m) races. The race is begun from a standing start which allows three factors to affect the outcome of the race: reaction time, power/weight ratio, and traction. Features A dragstrip is a straight, purpose-built racetrack, typically an eighth, ten feet longer than three-sixteenths, or a quarter of a mile long (660/1,000/1320 feet, 201/304.8/402 m), with an additional ''shutdown area'' to allow vehicles room to stop after crossing the finish line. Common features also include a 'water box' where vehicles and motorcycles start their burnouts for tire clean-up and also to heat up their tires to improve traction. There is a set of lights known as a 'Christma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, which became the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1981, has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950. The word ''formula'' in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants' cars must conform. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as ''Grands Prix'', which take place worldwide on both purpose-built circuits and closed public roads. A points system is used at Grands Prix to determine two annual World Championships: one for drivers, the other for constructors. Each driver must hold a valid Super Licence, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA. The races must run on tracks graded "1" (formerly "A"), the highest grade-rating issued ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1980 Australian Grand Prix
The 1980 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at Calder Park Raceway in Victoria, Australia on 16 November 1980. It was the forty fifth Australian Grand Prix and it was open to cars complying with Australian Formula 1 regulations, which permitted international Formula One, Formula 5000 and Formula Pacific cars. The race was also the final round of the 1980 Australian Drivers' Championship. The race was won by newly crowned World Drivers' Champion, Alan Jones, driving one of his championship winning Williams FW07 cars in front of an enthusiastic home crowd which came to see their new Australian hero. Italian driver Bruno Giacomelli finished second in the only other International Formula One car in the race, an Alfa Romeo 179. Third was French driver Didier Pironi driving an Australian built Elfin MR8 Formula 5000. By winning the Australian Grand Prix, Alan Jones joined his father Stan Jones to become the first ever father and son to win the race. Stan Jones had wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Williams FW07
The Williams FW07 was a ground effect Formula One racing car designed by Patrick Head, Frank Dernie, and Neil Oatley for the 1979 F1 season. Design 1979 It was closely based on the Lotus 79, even being developed in the same wind tunnel at Imperial College London. Some observers, among them Lotus aerodynamicist Peter Wright felt the FW07 was little more than a re-engineered Lotus 79, just having a stiffer chassis. The car was small and simple and extremely light, powered by the ubiquitous Ford Cosworth DFV. It had very clean lines and seemed to be a strong challenger for the new season, but early reliability problems halted any serious threat for the title. While not the first to use ground effects in Formula One, an honour belonging to Colin Chapman and the Lotus 78 (the Lotus 79's predecessor), Head may have had a better grasp of the principles than even Chapman. While Head had been developing the Lotus 78's/79's basic principles in the FW07, Chapman’s design team was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Jones (racing Driver)
Alan Stanley Jones, (born 2 November 1946) is an Australian former Formula One driver. He was the first driver to win a Formula One World Championship with the Williams team, becoming the 1980 World Drivers' Champion and the second Australian to do so following triple World Champion Sir Jack Brabham. He competed in a total of 117 Grands Prix, winning 12 and achieving 24 podium finishes. In 1978 Jones won the Can-Am championship driving a Lola. Jones is also the last Australian driver to win the Australian Grand Prix, winning the 1980 event at Calder Park Raceway, having lapped the field consisting mostly of Formula 5000 cars while he was driving his Formula One Championship winning Williams FW07B. Early life and career Jones attended Xavier College and is the son of Stan Jones, an Australian racing driver and winner of the 1959 Australian Grand Prix, and wanted to follow in his footsteps. Jones initially worked in his father's Holden dealership while racing a Mini and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formula Mondial
Formula Mondial was an international motor racing category which was introduced to replace both Formula Atlantic and the similar Formula Pacific''The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring'', 1986, page 171 in 1983.''Australian Motor Racing Yearbook, 1982/83'', page 11 The regulations specified a single-seat, open-wheeled chassis with a flat bottom, thus excluding any ground effects designs. Engines had to be 1.6-litre four-cylinder units sourced from a production touring car although only the Ford Cosworth BDA engine was actually homologated for the category. The FIA World Cup Commission issued regulations for the staging of various zone competitions throughout the world with competitors intended to come together for a World Cup final. The Southern Pacific Zone series was staged in New Zealand and Australia in early 1983 and was won by Australian Charlie O’Brien''Australian Motor Racing Yearbook, 1983/84'', page 233 and the Formula Mondial North American Cup series was won by Amer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1984 Australian Grand Prix
The 1984 Australian Grand Prix was a race for Formula Mondial racing cars, held at Calder Park Raceway in Victoria, Australia on 18 November 1984. It was contested over a distance of 160.9 km (100 laps x 1.609 km) or an even 100 miles. The race was the forty ninth Australian Grand Prix, the fifth to be held at Calder and the fourth to be held specifically for Formula Pacific / Formula Mondial racing cars. It was the last Australian Grand Prix to be held prior to the race becoming a round of the Formula One World Championship the following year. Race The race was won by Brazilian driver Roberto Moreno, his third win during the four years in which the Grand Prix was held for the Formula Pacific / Formula Mondial category. While Formula Mondial would continue as the premier Australian open-wheel racing category for another two years, and would not be completely replaced until the creation of Formula Holden in 1989, this was the last year it would be associated with th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralt RT4
The Ralt RT4 is an open-wheel formula racing car, designed, developed and built by Ralt, for Formula Atlantic (and was also occasionally raced in Formula Two categories), in 1980. It was later converted into a closed-wheel prototype, and used in the revived Can-Am series, between 1982 and 1985, where it achieved only modest success. In Can-Am copetition the car achieved 1 podium finish, 1 class victory and a best result of a 2nd-place finish. Background The RT4 was the car of choice in Australian Formula 1 and Formula Mondial during the early to mid-1980s. Roberto Moreno drove an RT4 to win the Australian Grand Prix in 1981, 1983, and the final AGP in 1984 before it became a round of the Formula One World Championship in 1985, while Alain Prost also drove one to victory in the 1982 Australian Grand Prix. Other F1 drivers to drive a Ralt RT4 in Australia during this period included Jacques Laffite and Andrea de Cesaris, as well as World Champions Alan Jones, Nelson Piquet, Keke Ros ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niki Lauda
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in , and , and is the only driver in Formula One history to have been champion for both Ferrari and McLaren, two of the sport's most successful constructors. He was an aviation entrepreneur who founded and ran three airlines: Lauda Air, Niki and Lauda. He was also a consultant for Scuderia Ferrari and team manager of the Jaguar Formula One racing team for two years. Afterwards, he worked as a pundit for German TV during Grand Prix weekends and acted as non-executive chairman of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, of which Lauda owned 10%. Lauda emerged as Formula One's star driver amid a title win and leading the championship battle. Lauda was seriously injured in a crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix while racing at the Nürburgring; during the crash his Ferrari 312T2 burst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Williams FW07")
