What happens to debris?

Minor debris they'll keep...neigh on impossible to get that back since it's easy to hide, and it's not as critical to the teams compare to lets say the whole front wing.

Front wings almost always get returned these days...

 

Maybe F1flagger will chime in with the current "rules", but back in my day the corner workers returned any broken bits to us in the pits - Dunno if they had to or they just did it out of "honesty".

I was at Monza with De Cesaris at the F3 race supporting the GP - Affectionately known as "The Lotteria" for the # of crashes and unpredictable results. He (naturally) bundled it up and destroyed a nosecone (among other bits) - It got returned and we threw it in a dumpster - Bad idea! - About 4 guys started fighting over it - Literally pulling it apart! - Some security dude grabbed it and gave it back to us with stern instructions to hide it out of sight......

Cheers,
Ian

 

if i were i marshal, it'll be in my souvenir cabinet

 

I went to Monza a few times. I remember one year (possibly 2000) when a car had stopped due to some mechanical failure at the first chicane which is where I was sat. It was parked away from the racing line and the race continued. As soon as the race was over a mob of fans jumped onto the track and started pulling bits off the car! The car was undamaged when it stopped, but by the time the marshalls and police managed to get it onto a flat-bed it looked like it had been in a major crash!
I have a small piece of Schumacher's car from the 1999 British Grand Prix. It was given to me by one of the guys who had helped to clear the mess from the crash that broke Schumacher's leg. He'd filled his pockets with bits of carbon fibre and let me have a piece.

 

Remember Monaco? Someone has a jewel of a souvenir from that crash.

 

Friends of mine used to walk the track after a race and ceremoniously down a palm-ful of "track bits", as they called it. Mix of gravel and debris, mostly klag. These guys are a bit bent, to say the least.

 

Bits the teams want back are usually big enough to contain proprietary information. The rest is trash, though we’re told the concern is that the “public” will injure themselves on a shard of CF so for legal reasons all should be turned in.

But…

I heard one year Mika Hakkinen hit the kerbing so hard he hurt the chassis but continued, and commentators thought he was spewing coolant. As he came thru a turn a loud bang was heard, loud enough to be heard over the car’s engine, and a piece of metal about 1x1x4, seemed to be lead shot in resin, bounced off of someone’s boot. The communicator reported it; Control said it’d be collected at the end of the session. Those on the scene saw it evaporate before their eyes, a piece 1x1x1/2 was turned in.

I was across track from Michael Andretti’s 1998 Mid-Ohio crash, and understand a photographer made it up the hill and thru the crowd with his front wing. A track official appeared demanding all bits be thrown into the back of her truck; I stood on a pile of “trash” until she left. Friends had bailed off the station to avoid the car, they earned a bit of stuff.

My favorite souvenir isn’t crash debris: one evening in 1995, in the Montreal pitlane, Ferrari mechanics were removing decals from a set of bodywork. One of them handed me a Marlboro bordered “Alesi” decal. I didn't yet know how special that weekend would be!

And that’s why you don’t see the bits for sale!

 

i have a wheel bearing race from nick heidfeld's prost. he hit the armco right in front of me at la rasscasse in monaco. it rolled under the fence and hit me on the foot. my buddy has a small piece of the body work.

 

Yeah I never quite bought the "it went into the sea" bit. If those streets could talk...

 

When I worked on a Ferrari Challenge team, one of our cars got smashed up pretty good on the long downhill at Road Atlanta. All the pieces-parts made it back to the paddock with the car - except for the Prancing Horse grill badge. Go figure.

gp

 

This is what he was referring to with the "gem" statement.

http://articles.cnn.com/2004-05-24/world/monaco.diamonds_1_diamond-race-car?_s=PM:WORLD

 

I know one track marshal who is the proud owner of a piece of Jean Alesi's Ferrari F1 nose cone complete with the slightly bent enamel nose badge.

He found it whilst cleaning up after Alesi had hit the barriers during one of the practice sessions.

I cheekily asked him how much he wanted for it and was told: "I don't think you earn enough money!". Rather than be offended I was happy to hear that he didn't want to part with it.

 

Remember the Steinmetz diamond on the nose of Christian Klein's car that was lost after he crashed in Monaco? It was worth $200k. I think I'll go polish my Stradale with my gold Rolex on my wrist ....

 

Thank you that's what I was referring too as well. I read somewhere (can not remember now) that the diamond went into the sea.

 

Can't see that being right as Loews hairpin is a fair distance away from the sea!.

I seem to recall though that there were some suggestions that the diamond was not real and that it was all a publicity stunt! (you've gotta love F1! )

 

During the days of the Camel GT series I was course marshal at Heartland Park-Topeka. Raul Boesel was driving for Jaguar and spun coming out onto the main straight during the rain while qualifying. He stopped against the outside wall and left one of the Jag's rear wheel shrouds against the wall. I retrieved it and took it to their pit. Tony Dow looked at it and said, "It's f****d. It's yours."

Before the race the next day I had Raul sign it and it has been on my garage wall ever since.

We would always try to return large pieces to the teams to see if they wanted them, including the sections of the rollcages we cut out to extracate the drivers.

 

Im relatively new to F1...only the last few years. And have a good bit of autographs, but would like to add some tire klag in each of the signed picture frames. does anyone have any to sell? This would make my collection stand out. Might sound stupid, but i like the wow factor.

 

No klag or marbles- just a diamond I found in Monaco about 10 years ago.

 

Some years ago there was an infamous crash in Istanbul between two team mates. Some FChatter who took some pictures of this incident also now has some bits and pieces of said cars. Or so the story goes...

 

We used to go to the LA Times Grand Prix during the 60's and early 70's. We would always run to the pits as soon as the race ended to see what we could scrounge. In 1968 I got pieces of Denny Hulme's McLaren M8A and Lothar Motschenbacher's M6B bodywork and both gentlemen were kind enough to sign them for me...what a memory for an 11-year old racing fanatic!! They are still some of my favorite possessions.

Back in those days, many of the racers would go to the same restaurant in Riverside for dinner after the race (there weren't many choices back in those days) and they would often spend plenty of time chatting with us fans while eating dinner...imagine that happening these days!


Jim

 

Those pix would be nice to see.

 

I believe they were on FChat.

What's really funny were the pics in the newspapers the next day: they show some debris flying off which later ended up on somebody's mantle

 

I worked for an Porsche ALMS team years and years ago, and was a big fan for the Prodrive team with their 550's. After the Laguna Seca race, some of the Prodrive crew that I new came rolling up to our transporter in a golf cart......in the back was the front carbon bumper from the class winning car, they just asked that I buy them some beers. It got damaged during the race, just bad enough that they didn't want it on the car.

I still have it in my garage with a carbon/kevlar fender off one of my teams GT3RS's.

I thought that was pretty cool of them.

Scott

 

Or a Cubic Zirconia as F1 aficionado's know it!




Eddie Jordan has mentioned many a time on the BBC that back in his days of running an F1 team, he used to demand that any recognisable parts or pieces of Jordan bodywork that had come away in an accident (and often, also unrecognisable parts that might not be from a Jordan!), had to be returned to the team.

He'd then sell these parts/fragments as souvenirs to fans, to try and generate a bit of money for the team!