M.Lawrenson

Yes, he was the 'car owner' of the car in which Williamson was killed (actually one of the co-owners of the company). Max was certainly there at Zandvoort in 1973. I've seen a photo of him talking to a distinctly unenthused Williamson in the Zandvoort paddock. When Williamson's accident happened, the team was watching the whole thing on a portable TV in the March transporter. Max saw the aftermath and said to his underlings "Well, right, it's all up to you now." and promptly disappeared from the track back to the March factory at Bicester. This resulted in Williamson's sponsor, Tom Wheatcroft, being arrested (after all, his name was plastered all over the car) in lieu of anyone else for the Dutch police to blame. Max never even went back afterwards to claim the burnt-out wreck, even though his company owned it.

I don't get the prurient outrage over Max Mosley's sex life. He's a 60-something ex-public schoolboy with a fascist father. Of course he's going to like S&M sessions with women speaking German. The FIA probably knew this all along. As I've said before, I'm less concerned about Max being whipped by hookers than virtually all of his other dealings in his motorsport career. eg. the shady dealings at March, his behaviour when Roger Williamson was killed, how he gained his position at the FIA etc.

Wasn't Daigh originally Lance Reventlow's mechanic at Scarab? I know he was usually quicker than Reventlow, but how good was he compared to the rest of his contemporaries (Hill, Gurney etc.)?

Quite a few racing drivers have died flying (or rather crashing) planes : Graham Hill, Tony Brise (on the same plane as Hill), Carlos Pace, David Purley, 3-time Le Mans winner Al Holbert to name but five...

I had no idea Max Mosely was even related to Oswald, let alone being his son! You learn something every day... Also, Max's mother was Diana Mitford, one of the famously fascist Mitford family.. Max Mosley, in my opinion, is a shady and disreputable figure who conceals this with a veneer of charm and urbanity. His conduct in numerous spheres of life has been questionable. This, I believe, stems from the fact he really wanted to be a politician. Sadly for Max, his surname was always against him.

Jean-Marie Balestre, former president of FISA (Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile) and the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) has died aged 86. He's mainly known for battling to control top motor-racing with Bernie Ecclestone in the 1970s-80s. And also for saying he was in the French Resistance, despite there being more evidence he was working for the 'other side'. As ever on this topic, OoO will have more details.

Norman 'Hurricane' Smith, the Beatles first recording engineer and Pink Floyd's first producer has died aged 85. He is also known for his hit 'song' "Oh Babe, What Would You Say".

Former F1 Driver Paul Frère has died aged 91. OoO will be able to fill in the details of this distinguished man's career - including road-testing cars until he was nearly 90.

John Stewart, singer-songwriter and the man who wrote 'Daydream Believer' dies from a stroke aged 68.

Racing driver and claimant to the throne of Georgia, Jorge de Bagration has died age 63. For English language info on Bagration, see here

Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria , younger brother of Deathlist "fave" Otto von Habsburg died on 11th December aged 89. Normally, I'd wonder about a 95 year old like Otto surviving the trauma for long, but he still has two brothers left, aged 91 and 88.

Even if only half the rumours about Ike Turner are true, I find it hard to be sorry about his death. Though I do find it funny with the news sources talking about his part in the famed mid-60s Ike & Tina hits produced by Phil Spector ('River Deep, Mountain High' etc.). Apparently, Phil made sure Ike was paid not to play on the records.

I reckon it's Julian Bailey, mate of Perry McCarthy (the ex-stig). I've not read of him doing an awful lot else lately, unlike Hill.

Belated Happy Birthday to Otto von Habsburg - 95 on Tuesday 20th November. Otto with his great-great uncle, Emperor Franz Joseph (1830-1916)

Lady Katherine Brandram, or Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark died on Tuesday aged 94. She was the last surviving great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria has one great-grandchild left, Carl Johan Bernadotte.

I deleted Wikipedia's death page list of McCrae. Best to wait for official confirmation before saying these things. [edit] I've deleted it 3 times now. Even after saying we should wait for official confimation, rather than German-language hearsay.

Grandprix.com still doesn't work for me. Firefox has been churning for over a minute now...

$100 million fine and loss of constructors points, but no penalty for Hamilton and Alonso, despite them gaining all their wins and points in an 'illegal' car. Realpolitik at its finest. Don't want to damage 'Lewis', F1's latest cash cow. Nothing like the horrible premonitions of doom and gloom the massively pro-McLaren F1 media were predicting, though. Grandprix.com has been unreachable since yesterday evening. Are you in contact with Joe Saward, OoO? Since he's one of Ron's biggest fans, has he shut down his website in disgust? Atlas F1 was down for a few hours yesterday - presumably to prevent their message boards from being overloaded.

Just got to say that these people are no know relation to me.

Aromatic hydrocarbons are carbon/hydrogen compounds that contain a benzene ring. When they tested the contents of the Tyrrells' water tanks, they found the water had a less than 1% content of the stuff. This fell foul of the rules about having 'auxilary fuel tanks', despite the fact that something that's over 99% water could not be used as fuel by a combustion engine. The reason why the hydrocarbons were there is because there were virtually no facilities at that particular GP, so Tyrrell got their water from the Detroit river...

This being the same body that had Tyrrell thrown out of the 1984 Championship for having lead shot ballast in their cars and a dubious 'level of aromatic hydrocarbons' test in their water tanks. They were certainly not removed because they were the only team holding out against a rule change (remind me OOO, something to do with fuel tanks running Cosworth DFVs while everyone had gone Turbo I think) that required a unanimous vote. Uncle Ken Tyrrell never forgave them, and neither did Martin Brundle, who was deprived of a best-ever 2nd place finish (see if he doesn't at least mention that at the next race). Anyway, McLaren may very well have done something shady, but there was insufficient proof that anyone but the engineer in question did anything wrong. So it was unlikely there would have been any other verdict.

Very peculiar how Small thinks Higgins got £20k because 'his face fits'. Higgins has had more run-ins with the snooker authorities than everyone else combined.

If by any chance anyone is wondering how Franz,Duke of Bavaria can be thought of as King of the United Kingdom by a few dozen people, I've spent 45 minutes creating this family tree to show his claim (although he himself makes no claim, and none of his immediate ancestors have either).

It certainly looked spectacular, but nothing 'vital' on the car was damaged - survival cell ended up completely intact. If Viso's head had hit the concrete wall while he was flipping, it would have been different. I think the marshals were far more at risk than the driver. Just what was the move Viso was pulling there, anyway? I can't see if anyone punted him from that angle. Probably got too close and his front wheel touched the car in front's back wheel. A hazard of open-wheel racing, I guess.

I await their attempts to repeal the 1701 Act of Settlement with hilarity. Franz is disqualified on both counts as he is [a] not a descendant of Sophia of Hanover and Roman Catholic. Franz himself has never made any claim to the British throne. And to think any of this really matters in the 21st century is, well, a bit silly.