Club Arnage

First and foremost, I don't know the answer to this question - but I'd be interested to know why sportscar racing, in particular, has had so many incognito drivers in it's history.
It's not such a phenomenon these days, but historically, cryptic names and psudonyms adopted by some drivers was quite common - the likes of 'Beurlys', 'Gedehem', 'Anselme', 'Ted', 'Leveigh' and latterly, 'John Winter'.
What was the reason for this anonymity? Did they tell the missus they were just nipping out for a paper on Friday morning - and then not returning till Monday (or ever, in Leveigh's case)? Anyone know?

Also is Herr Jost and Herr Joest the same person?

Jost & Joest are indeed the same person, he sometimes even has 2 little dots that are not on my keyboard over some of the letters.

http://www.joest-racing.com/english/frames/frame_history.html

The great ones driving record is pretty good too.

Alot of drivers in the 20's & 30's used psudonyms as they used 'family money' to race and where not keen on a monied great aunt finding out where all her money was going.

BTW I had lunch with J Winter once when he drove in an an interserie race at thruxton. If you can take one 1hour meeting as a judge of charachter he was a nice chap. shame it all went tits up for him.

I have them ... ö and in capital Ö  ;D  If you don't have an ö then oe will do in German.

John Winter is actually called ... ca I trust you ? Alright then, his real name is Louis Krages, but please don't tell his parents.  ;D

On the subject of Herr Joest, whats probably the most famous racing car he ever drove? It was quite an ugly spud.
Fax

Not sure if you could ever call a 917 ugly, but he drove  the Porsche 917/20 (Pink Pig) at Le Mans in 71.

BTW, how did the car end up being painted as a pig when in fact it was a 'Martini' car?

The French company SERA did quite some aerodynamic development work on the chassis 917/20. The result was a widened but still short bodywork which made the car appear rather ugly. To top it, they painted it like a pig, an ugly pink pig.  ;D

Actually, if memory serves me correct, they didn't paint it in its pink color scheme with the pork cuts until the Friday before the race.  I think it practiced and qualified and Wed. & Thursday in plain white.
John

The urban myth as I heard it, says that Count Rossi, when he saw the car refused to allow it to be painted in the Martini colours as he felt it was too ugly!

The 'Pig' scheme was put on by the Porsche team mechanics, overnight by way of protest.

.......and with the aristocracy in mind, what was invariably painted on the outside of a car that Count von Bayern had bought a drive in?

http://rupert8766.fotopic.net/p2763799.html

Warsteiner, Ever tried it?

He got married recently, his wedding gift from BMW was the M1 art car he drove in 80 or 81 by all accounts.

Oh yes - very frequently. My favorite 'alt bier'. Commonly known as 'Warstarter' in these parts.

Warsteiner..... My favorite German Beer
Canada Phil

Warsteiner is not an Alt Bier, it's a Pils. It's my number two behind Bitburger.  :D

One of our regular lads (le Mans-wise I mean, not bowel-wise. I'm not too sure about his bowels) has the exhaust system from that car. It looks rather like an Alpine horn.
I also have in the bowels of my garage a set of brake pads from the number 2 Jag from 88. Who else has similar useless mementos?
And while we're on about beer, I found at the weekend, amongst some very questionable camping/sleeping bag gear, a bottle of Grimbergen! I have JPC to thank for that. I chilled it to within a polar bears tadger of freezing, and tackled it with some nuts last night. I wouldn't say it was a delicate taste. Maybe I should have tried it with a vindaloo.
H

Hmmph, I stand corrected - it was a frickin' kraut that told me it was alt, which I'd figured meant pale - thanks for steering me right, hgb.

H - I slept through a fairly major accident that befell the #8 (unless you prove me wrong, yet again!) Joest 956B in 1985. A significant chunk of the front l/h corner, including the splitter, part of the brake duct and the headlamp housing ended up a few feet from where I lay slumped in the proverbial crumpled heap.
I rescued it - nearly slicing-off several of my fingers in the process - the kevlar/carbon fibre edges were razor-sharp where it had shattered - and took it home.
It served as a plant-stand in my flat, until my missus philosophically suggested, "Can we please get rid of that ugly f**k*ng thing".
I reluctantly gave it to the binmen, who similarly gravely injured themselves carting it off.
I wish I still had it though - it was the sh*t - BBS and Dunlop stickers and the famous yellow/black/white livery - a real 'piece of the race'.

 

Hmm...I've got all sorts of odds & sods laying around here.  Various driver and team kit, crew shirts, hats, etc.  Boxes of programs, autographs, stickers...
Probably the oddest thing I have somewhere in a box is a big chunk of the skirt that came off of the Interscope Indy car that Danny Ongais smashed to pieces against the turn three wall during the 1981 Indy 500 (landing himself in Indy's Methodist Hospital for the rest of the summer).  The bugger came through the debris fencing like it was fired from a cannon!
John