As the last of the leftovers are unceremeniously binned and the final round of Monopoly is brought to its long-awaited climax, it's time to dig out some traditional Christmas trivia to impress your friends and family.
You might know what the Porsche 909 Bergmeister's wiring loom was made from, but do you have any idea where the East London race track is (wrong), or just how many types of gearbox there are? Sit back, relax, and learn from the master of motoring minutiae, Andrew Frankel.
Random racing facts
1. The top six finishers of the 1973 Monaco Grand Prix finished in the same positions as they would at the end of the championship.
2. The 2020 British Grand Prix marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Formula One World Championship in 1950. It was also the British Grand Prix and also held at Silverstone.
3. Britain and Italy are the only countries to have held grands prix in every year since the start of the F1 World Championship
4. Where fathers and sons have raced in F1, fathers have been twice as likely to win a race.
5. The Indy 500 was part of the F1 World Championship for 11 seasons, from 1950-’60.
6. Claudio Langes tried to qualify for 14 grands prix, all in 1990, and never started a race.
7. The wiring loom of the Porsche 909 Bergspyder was made from silver thread.
8. The Lotus 76 of 1975 was fitted with a clutchless transmission and V-shaped brake pedal to allow its drivers the option of left-foot braking.
9. When Brands Hatch was first used, cars and bikes raced around the circuit anti-clockwise.
10. The Marathon De La Route was the world’s longest motor race and was held at the Nürburgring between 1965 and 1971. In 1967 it was won by a Porsche 911 driven by Vic Elford (among others), his winning margin over the second placed car being just short of 1000km.
11. Alan Stacey became a works Lotus F1 racing driver despite having an artificial lower right leg and having to use a twist grip motorcycle throttle. He was killed at the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix, some say after being hit in the face by a bird.
12. The knob on the gear lever of a Porsche 917 is made from balsa wood and its ignition key drilled, both to save weight.
13. Drivers who have won the Monaco Grand Prix and Le Mans 24 Hours? Tazio Nuvolari, Maurice Trintignant, Bruce McLaren and Fernando Alonso.
14. Drivers who have won the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix? Just one - Juan Pablo Montoya.
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