Oneball
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It’s not, it’s Alex Guiness
Pic of the day
- Thread starter conaero
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It’s not, it’s Alex Guiness
lifes2short
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lifes2short
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dapper looking stan
philw696
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lifes2short
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A very interesting guy.
Amédée Gordini - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
for some odd reason i didn't realise he was Italian
Scaf
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A doppelgänger for sure
philw696
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And a mechanic for Maserati Racing too.
I only learnt this today as well makes my R16 a little bit more special
Oneball
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Didn’t know that either.
Ettore Bugatti is another; born in Italy, claimed by the French, factory was set up in Germany.
philw696
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Taken from one of my Rally pages.
The loneliness of the long distance Rally Crew Chris Stoddart and I leaving a time control on one of the Ypres Stages in the Flanders Region of Belgium. As you can see the crowds were out of control !!
This stage really shows many of the features that make these stages so treacherous. Narrow tarmac covered in a slick of wet mud, deep ditches on either side just waiting for the unwary. High corn in the adjacent fields, often on both sides at the same time obscuring the long view and no hills so very difficult to pick out features. Finally on most stages there were lines of concrete telegraph posts... if you went off, more often than not you stayed off.
Given that 90 plus percent of the cars on the event were left hand drive, the marshals rightly set up that way. But when it came to us I had to hand them the time cards etc via Stoddy. I have to say that some of the short conversations that I had with Flemish Marshals via a Geordie interpreter were interesting to say the least !
During the event we stayed in a small hotel in Langemark Polkappelle. Also staying there was the late Vince Wetton and his crew, a lovely guy but a bit of a lad, so we had a few interesting 'cultural evenings' in the bar.
The hotel was run by this very dour old dear, who spent almost the whole time sitting in a rocking chair knitting and barking orders at her staff ! The first thing we noticed about our rooms was that there was no toilet paper in any of the loos. We had a quick conflab between Team Stoddy and Team Wetton to see if any of us could speak French ( let alone Flemish ! ) ...the only one declaring this skill was Thommo from our team. I have to say this took us all by surprise as being a Geordie he actually had trouble with English !
Desperate we agreed he should approach 'Madam' on our behalf on this delicate matter. We all held our breath as Thommo marched up to the Old Lady, smiled and said " Bonjour Senora !" ...( not the best start we all thought ) ...
Undaunted Thommo then carried on in his best Inspector Clouseau voice..." Avez vous any papper for de **** !" and then proceeded to mime the process to which the 'papper' would be put !
Looking both outraged and totally bemused at the same time 'Madam' obviously got the message and shouted at one of her minnions to bring us some toilet paper. Suffice to say things could have got off to a better but less funny start !
To our delight we found that the hotel had a small bowling alley. We were challenged to a game that evening by the locals. So it was that 'Combined Rally Teams' took on the 'Langemark locals' in do or die match.
Things were going very well, though we were losing marginally, until Billy Big Knuckles from our team succumbed to the effects of far too much Strong Belgian White Beer and started bowling overarm ! Cue, 'Madam' and her henchwomen and we were barred from the bowling alley...match conceded, all honour lost!
By far the funniest thing was when Vince Wetton decided to go to bed early, having left his van completely blocking the entrance to and from the Hotel car park, much to the chagrin of guests and locals wishing to leave and new guest wanting to enter !
Those who knew Vince, knew that he was a really lovely friendly guy but a man that left you with an understanding that you wouldn't want to cross him ! We decided that being fast asleep in his room with the instructions not to disturb him, that he might not take too kindly to being awoken and asked to move his van !
One of our crew, Ian Rawson, worse for the demon drink, decided that he had a cunning plan. He would climb up the drainpipe on the outside of the hotel, shimmy along the ledge , tap on Vince's window and ask him to move his van. ( Quite why he just didn't go and tap on his door I shall never know !! ...the mysteries of good beer ! )
All was going so well as the combined teams and a few locals stood in the street to watch Ian ( James Bond) Rawson climb the drainpipe, shimmy the ledge ( amazingly) and tap on Vince's window before turning to give the watching throng a triumphant wave.
It was at that moment that Vince appeared at the window and opened it ...outwards ! ... knocking Rawson off the ledge and through the Stella Artois Awning, landing on his back on the pavement.... there was a short silence as we tried to ascertain whether he was dead or alive before the latter was confirmed as he shouted up to Vince .... " Can you move your feckin' van !"
The loneliness of the long distance Rally Crew Chris Stoddart and I leaving a time control on one of the Ypres Stages in the Flanders Region of Belgium. As you can see the crowds were out of control !!
This stage really shows many of the features that make these stages so treacherous. Narrow tarmac covered in a slick of wet mud, deep ditches on either side just waiting for the unwary. High corn in the adjacent fields, often on both sides at the same time obscuring the long view and no hills so very difficult to pick out features. Finally on most stages there were lines of concrete telegraph posts... if you went off, more often than not you stayed off.
Given that 90 plus percent of the cars on the event were left hand drive, the marshals rightly set up that way. But when it came to us I had to hand them the time cards etc via Stoddy. I have to say that some of the short conversations that I had with Flemish Marshals via a Geordie interpreter were interesting to say the least !
During the event we stayed in a small hotel in Langemark Polkappelle. Also staying there was the late Vince Wetton and his crew, a lovely guy but a bit of a lad, so we had a few interesting 'cultural evenings' in the bar.
The hotel was run by this very dour old dear, who spent almost the whole time sitting in a rocking chair knitting and barking orders at her staff ! The first thing we noticed about our rooms was that there was no toilet paper in any of the loos. We had a quick conflab between Team Stoddy and Team Wetton to see if any of us could speak French ( let alone Flemish ! ) ...the only one declaring this skill was Thommo from our team. I have to say this took us all by surprise as being a Geordie he actually had trouble with English !
Desperate we agreed he should approach 'Madam' on our behalf on this delicate matter. We all held our breath as Thommo marched up to the Old Lady, smiled and said " Bonjour Senora !" ...( not the best start we all thought ) ...
Undaunted Thommo then carried on in his best Inspector Clouseau voice..." Avez vous any papper for de **** !" and then proceeded to mime the process to which the 'papper' would be put !
Looking both outraged and totally bemused at the same time 'Madam' obviously got the message and shouted at one of her minnions to bring us some toilet paper. Suffice to say things could have got off to a better but less funny start !
To our delight we found that the hotel had a small bowling alley. We were challenged to a game that evening by the locals. So it was that 'Combined Rally Teams' took on the 'Langemark locals' in do or die match.
Things were going very well, though we were losing marginally, until Billy Big Knuckles from our team succumbed to the effects of far too much Strong Belgian White Beer and started bowling overarm ! Cue, 'Madam' and her henchwomen and we were barred from the bowling alley...match conceded, all honour lost!
By far the funniest thing was when Vince Wetton decided to go to bed early, having left his van completely blocking the entrance to and from the Hotel car park, much to the chagrin of guests and locals wishing to leave and new guest wanting to enter !
Those who knew Vince, knew that he was a really lovely friendly guy but a man that left you with an understanding that you wouldn't want to cross him ! We decided that being fast asleep in his room with the instructions not to disturb him, that he might not take too kindly to being awoken and asked to move his van !
One of our crew, Ian Rawson, worse for the demon drink, decided that he had a cunning plan. He would climb up the drainpipe on the outside of the hotel, shimmy along the ledge , tap on Vince's window and ask him to move his van. ( Quite why he just didn't go and tap on his door I shall never know !! ...the mysteries of good beer ! )
All was going so well as the combined teams and a few locals stood in the street to watch Ian ( James Bond) Rawson climb the drainpipe, shimmy the ledge ( amazingly) and tap on Vince's window before turning to give the watching throng a triumphant wave.
It was at that moment that Vince appeared at the window and opened it ...outwards ! ... knocking Rawson off the ledge and through the Stella Artois Awning, landing on his back on the pavement.... there was a short silence as we tried to ascertain whether he was dead or alive before the latter was confirmed as he shouted up to Vince .... " Can you move your feckin' van !"
Swedish Paul
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Wrong thread Phil
rs48635
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if the engine is at the tuning stage it must be George Formby
rs48635
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I was similarly surprised (Carlo?) Abarth was not Italian. Maybe Karl Abarth might have betrayed the Austrian heritage.
edit: indeed name change + citizenship
BennyD
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And a mechanic for Maserati Racing too.
I only learnt this today as well makes my R16 a little bit more special
Air in the tyres makes it a bit more special.
lifes2short
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blimey, thought abarth was italian, seems his 3rd wife landed on her feet
"The same year, about six weeks before his death, Abarth married his third wife, Anneliese Abarth; she continues to head the Carlo Abarth Foundation[14] and wrote one of his biographies in 2010".
Swedish Paul
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It’s patina and gangster at the same time. Pansta.