Unfinished...

Present day racing has one odd factor to explain away

A car can today be placed in the results even after retiring. In older times, unless a car covered the full distance, or at least crossed the finishing line before the time-limit, it was flagged off. Not any more. Tenth place in the German GP went to Jacques Villeneuve although he had retired four laps from the end of the race. I have no wish to criticise this ‘finish’ by the BAR-Supertec, but if a car retires, how can it be classed as a finisher? It didn’t happen pre-war…

Example; running third in the 1932 Brooldands British Empire Trophy, Jack Dunfee’s Bentley burst a tyre on the last lap. Well ahead of Earl Howe’s Delage, it was crawling on to take that third place when an official signalled Dunfee to turn off into the finishing straight instead of continuing to the finish-line. Dunfee obeyed, but probably concluded that he, and Eyston (Panhard) and Cobb (Delage) ahead of him, must have done a lap too many and that he would get his placing. Not so. He had not crossed the line. Howe did, and was placed third. Although it was accepted that there was poor liaison between the finish-area marshalls and the parking area marshalls in the finishing straight, Dunfee was not allowed his place. All he got was a compensatory award. Why, and when, was the rule changed?