The Driver Files - General discussion.

I thought that I would open up a thread for comments/suggestions and enquiries for this new Sub-forum. Please feel free to contribute.

I thought that I would open up a thread for comments/suggestions and enquiries for this new Sub-forum. Please feel free to contribute.

I have suggested to anyone who will listen that the likes of AtlasF1 and Ten/Tenths needs to get their collective act together and establish a joint Motor racing research resource that is easily searchable...that is...catalogued!!!

Drivers, Marques, Classifications, Eras etc....it aint hard.

Not hard technically maybe, but a big undertaking to the person or persons doing the graft, and very time consuming! Who is going to do it? Everyone on our site, and it's probably the same on most of the others, are effectively unpaid volunteers who do this between their jobs and other parts of their life. I don't think it is a case of not listening but more a matter of who/how/when and where do you start. It would mean a great deal of organisation, coordination and input from a lot people. Do you have the commitment to do this because I don't think I would have? It's a good idea though, and I think that what we are doing here is heading towards that ultimate goal, particularly if we can use the combined knowledge of those postings on all our forums to develop our Wiki, but it isn't going to happen overnight!

I'm not sure that you would get the degree of cooperation between the websites who are in (friendly?) rivalry. Then there are sites like Oldracingcars.com that are already providing big chunks of info!

My question was really more about this subforum in particular, although any input is welcome, thank you! :cool:

I have suggested to anyone who will listen that the likes of AtlasF1 and Ten/Tenths needs to get their collective act together and establish a joint Motor racing research resource that is easily searchable...that is...catalogued!!!

Drivers, Marques, Classifications, Eras etc....it aint hard.This is our long term intention with the "Wiki", however every forum or website seems to think that theirs should be the definitive refence site and thus each will end up doing their own thing.

Not hard technically maybe, but a big undertaking to the person or persons doing the graft, and very time consuming! Who is going to do it? Everyone on our site, and it's probably the same on most of the others, are effectively unpaid volunteers who do this between their jobs and other parts of their life. I don't think it is a case of not listening but more a matter of who/how/when and where do you start. It would mean a great deal of organisation, coordination and input from a lot people. Do you have the commitment to do this because I don't think I would have? It's a good idea though, and I think that what we are doing here is heading towards that ultimate goal, particularly if we can use the combined knowledge of those postings on all our forums to develop our Wiki, but it isn't going to happen overnight!

I'm not sure that you would get the degree of cooperation between the websites who are in (friendly?) rivalry. Then there are sites like Oldracingcars.com that are already providing big chunks of info!

My question was really more about this subforum in particular, although any input is welcome, thank you! :cool:

Hear Hear!!...nothing worthwhile is handed to you on a plate John :p This is a good initiative!! ...me happy:cool:

Ummm...I belatedly tried to add country of origin....should be MANDATORY :)

1) Why mandatory in the title? I think that the Nationality should not be added (at this stage) to the thread title - keep it simple! I agree that in any discussion/info etc on the thread that nationality, where known, should be included, and certainly when the driver profile gets into the Wiki, it should be included.
2) Have you read the few rules? We can't just have a list of drivers without info; it would be endless! Please don't start driver threads in here without putting some real info. in! If you (or anyone else) hasn't put some proper info. on Foley and Geoghan within the next 24 hours, I'll move it out to the main forum until there are some solid contributions that warrant their return! :D

PS, I now see 4 threads started here and whilst I'm delighted at your enthusiasm, guys, please read the rules. Unless you are going to put some hard facts or anecdotes about a driver on your own first post, the place to start the discusson is in the Main History forum!

Well, I've actually left it 48 hours and since those 4 threads have had no info. added to them, I have put them into the main forum where they may get a wider audience. I will also look for any posts about these drivers whilst I'm trawling the thread archive for suitable candidates for this sub forum.

Once I have trawled through the History forum (3 sweeps should be sufficient; halfway through the second at the moment), I'll start looking in the Tributes forum and take copies of selected threads or posts to help build this sub forum. 275GTB-4 has already found an excellent example of the former for Ian (Pete) Geoghan, but pure tributes will not be included. It has to be fact or anecdotal.

Now that we are in the quieter part iof the racing season, anyone feel like adding details of some of their favourite drivers? I've added Gerry Marshall and Dave Preece today, so let's try to build on this forum. It should, in theory, be as successful as the Chassis Archive. There are thousands of drivers out there meriting inclusion, here.