Challenge/WI : Motor racing at the Olympics?

Al-Buraq

Banned
I remember hearing that. About a year or two later, he was killed in an accident while racing for Auto Union, (now Audi), and his body was returned to Italy.

Nuvolari died in his bed in in 1953 after a series of strokes.
He only joined the Auto Union team in 1938, three years after his win at Nurbergring.
 

Al-Buraq

Banned
The Modern Pentathlon was introduced into the Olympis in 1912 and featured
3 km run
Fencing
Show jumping (riding)
200M swimming
pistol shooting

This seems a pretty good slate of events for a 19th Century army officer, but it is hardly modern now.
Someone here mentioned a ban on mechanical contrivances, what pray are bicycles?

(In the London Olympics the shooting and the run will be combined as one event).
So what suggestions for a 21st Century equivalent?
 
Someone here mentioned a ban on mechanical contrivances, what pray are bicycles?
Not mechanical, just motorized. Sailing and shooting are also events using mechanical devices.

In motorsports far more depends on the machine than in small boat sailing or cycling. (Although bicycle companies claim otherwise, physics shows their claims are meaningless unless there is a massive aerodynamic advantage, such as in Greg LeMond's 1990 Tour De France win. And the technology that LeMond used was available to all.)

Further, I think if you look at the attitude, auto racers may not have been seen as athletes. While I think most contemporary fans of motor sports recognize that a racing driver needs to be in good shape and needs superb reflexes, this may be more of a modern attitude.
 
I agree that there is no prospect of it happening now. However, I think it is plausible to have happened before WWII.

While it does not require mechanical propulsion, bear in mind that gliding was a demonstration event in 1936, with the full intention of it being run in 1940, but that never happened and it didn't go on in '48.
 
I can go one better- powerboat racing was a full Olympic sport (not a demo event) at the 1908 London Games. It didn't go very well, due largely to a gale on the day of the competition. Only 2 boats appeared on the start line of each race, and for the first running of each race both were British. The first attempt at the Open class was abandoned due to severe weather, so it had to be run a second time- when it was won by the only non-British boat in the competition, the French Camille.
Only one boat finished each race- the other one failed to finish due to being swamped, running aground, or engine failure. If there had been better weather, more competitors, and the competition had been less of a general farce, it might have set a precedent for motorised sports in the Olympics.
 
That is another very good POD - it obviously wouldn't be the trigger (as I said, earlier, the trigger would probably be Berlin 1936 and Hitler's desire to find a bigger stage for his racing cars), but a precedent to make it easier.
 
That is another very good POD - it obviously wouldn't be the trigger (as I said, earlier, the trigger would probably be Berlin 1936 and Hitler's desire to find a bigger stage for his racing cars), but a precedent to make it easier.
Possibly have it work out as follows:
London 1908. With more entries and better weather, powerboat racing is enough of a success for it to be kept.
Stockholm 1912: The sheltered waters of the archipelago are ideal for powerboat racing- German, Russian and Swedish teams also take part in addition to the British and French. The finish, in front of the royal box at the finish line of the rowing course, is spectacular.
Berlin 1916: Cancelled due to WW1
Antwerp 1920: Notable for the first appearance of Gar Wood. He fails to finish, but dominates at the 1924 Paris games.
In 1928 (Amsterdam) the Unlimited-class final is a fierce battle between Gar Wood's Miss America II andHenry Segrave's Miss England, the eventual victor.
By 1932 (LA), Segrave has been killed in an accident- Miss England II is renamed Miss Ireland in order to be driven by Kaye Don as boats and drivers must come from the same country. Don loses to Wood in the final, a revenge for his victory in the 1931 Harmsworth Trophy. An Italian boat comes third.

In 1936, the popularity of the British-American rivalry in powerboat racing is such that automobile racing makes its first appearance.
 
TheMann said:
I can only see this if it was all identical cars. Perhaps the host city of the games lines up the vehicles?
You could treat it like IROC, Porsche Challenge, or Formula Vee/Formula Junior. If the entrants are all amateurs (no car companies or sponsorships allowed), this keeps cost down; if the formula is tight enough, it also helps control complexity, & so cost. (It also improves competitiveness.)

You could also make it kart racing, which was actually my first thought.

I don't see why there's a supposition this has to be F1-level. If the idea is to use amateur drivers, why wouldn't it more closely resemble midget or sprint? Or NASCAR?

You do have to decide if you want road racing (circuit or oval) or rallying. You also have to decide if you want to include motorcycles & trucks.
TheMann said:
Berlin (1936) would host the events at the Nurburgring, in all likelihood.
Amateurs on the Green Hell?:eek::eek: That's more like "Death Race". And that's a looong lap. Limit them to the Südschleife? Or use AVUS. For Munich, agreed, it's almost mandatory.
TheMann said:
Perhaps for this one they build the new Nurburgring a decade earlier than OTL in order to not get criticisms about the track's safety.
Very possible. Which would be great for both F1 drivers & fans, since it could stay on the calendar. (You'd probably have to pass a special law to allow cutting the trees, tho.)
TheMann said:
London (1948) games would probably have the events at the Crystal Palace circuit in London
Not Brands or Silverstone? (It does depend on the type of cars, I suppose.)
TheMann said:
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal or Circuit Mont-Tremblant north of the city.
I'm wondering of CGV was even open yet.
TheMann said:
2004 (Athens): Circuit needed here, too. But again, lots of places where a big-time circuit would look really good.
There was a prewar Greek GP circuit, name of which escapes me. Maybe it was an F2/non-championship venue. Depending on the cars, it could be upgraded or restored.
TheMann said:
I can see these being the medal winners......

1936: Tazio Nuvolari (Italy), Bernd Rosemeyer (Germany), Hans Stuck (Germany)
1948: Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentina), Stirling Moss (UK), Alberto Ascari (Italy)
1952: Stirling Moss (UK), Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentina), Alberto Ascari (Italy)
1956: Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentina), Mike Hawthorn (UK), Jean Behra (France)
1960: Bruce McLaren (New Zealand), Jack Brabham (Australia), Phill Hill (USA)
1964: Jim Clark (UK), Jack Brabham (Australia), Graham Hill (UK)
1968: Jackie Stewart (UK), Denny Hulme (New Zealand), Jacky Ickx (Belgium)
1972: Jackie Stewart (UK), Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil), Francois Cevert (France)
1976: Mario Andretti (USA), Niki Lauda (Austria), Clay Regazzoni (Switzerland)
1980: Gilles Villeneuve (Canada), Nelson Piquet (Brazil), Alan Jones (Australia)
1984: Alain Prost (France), Niki Lauda (Austria), Stefan Bellof (Germany)
1988: Ayrton Senna (Brazil), Alain Prost (France), Michele Alboreto (Italy)
1992: Ayrton Senna (Brazil), Michael Schumacher (Germany), Nigel Mansell (UK)
1996: Michael Schumacher (Germany), Jacques Villeneuve (Canada), Mika Hakkinen (Finland)
2000: Mika Hakkinen (Finland), Michael Schumacher (Germany), Jacques Villeneuve (Canada)
2004: Michael Schumacher (Germany), Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia), Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2008: Lewis Hamilton (UK), Kimi Raikkonen (Finland), Mark Webber (Australia)
Of those, I'd only disagree with Moss 195 ; Fangio would have to crash to lose, pretty much. Which presumes pro drivers are even allowed...

I'd look hard at Hans Herrmann, Karl Kling, or Hans Klenk in '52 & '56, Surtees, Jim Hall, & Gendebien in '60 & '64, Donohue in '68 & '72 (maybe '76 too), Stuck & Redman in '72 & '76, Paul Newman if he gets the bug a bit sooner, Steve McQueen if he isn't busy trying to surpass Newman as a film star (maybe Garner, too), & A.J. just about til he drops dead behind the wheel.:p
PhilKearny said:
there far fewer of them and they tried to make a business out of it, if for no other reason than taxes. Cunningham built and sold cars, for example.
Of the GP privateers, Cunningham was a rarity. Most of the "gentleman racers" were just that: rich kids with a need for speed.
PhilKearny said:
the cost of motor sports is literally several orders of magnitudes greater than most Olympic sports
I refuse to believe a Formula Vee racer, never mind a kart, costs more to buy & operate for one race than an Olympic yacht... And the cost for DTC or the equivalent is for an entire season... Lots of hobby racers campaign very competitive drag cars without sponsorship; ISTM that's nearer the model.
 
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