Richard "Dick" Seaman was welcomed to the bosom of racing when Mercedes brought him into the fold and he made a real splash, changing the face of racing when he burst onto the scene proving to be the cream of the crop.
Ol' Dick Seaman exploded onto the racing scene with a shot in the eye to his competitors chagrin. Disappointingly he retired early just as fast as he had come, before anyone knew what hit 'em.
Thanks for introducing vintage simulation to a wider audience including myself. Dick Seaman was a hard driver, especially when he came on the inside and made it stick.
Richard Seaman did win the 1936 Donington GP, but not in the Delage. He raced an Alfa Romeo 8C-35 owned by Italo-Swiss racer Hans Ruesch, who co-drove with him. He did win the Coppa Acerbo Junior, Prix de Berne, and the JCC 200 Mile race at Donington in this car, all that within 15 days... It is said that Ramponi never had to lift the bonnet off all that time, it ran that well. Ramponi also tweaked with the engine's valve timing, that and the geared-up supercharger increased power output, form around 170 BHP up to around 180-190 BHP. He also replaced the preselector gearbox Earl Howe fitted and put in its place a 5-speed gearbox from an earlier Delage 2LCV. After Seaman, the next owner was actually, Prince Chula of Siam, who ran the White Mouse Stable with his cousin, Prince Bira, as the racing driver. They felt that they wanted an even more up-to-date version of the car, so they got in touch with Delage, and commissioned two more cars with independent front suspension. Sadly, that didn't work... So, yeah, today there were 6 Delage 15 S-8 cars existing. I found some pictures on the internet a few years back that reveals that someone was resurrecting the car Earl Howe wrapped around a tree at Monza in 1932. He even got some original, ruined panels some even had bits of the tree bark still embedded in it!
Dick Seaman, only beaten to the best name by Dick Trickle.... But yeah Seaman was a hell of a driver! I did a video like this on Tazio, I adore the pre - war era as it is just so pure and raw! and scary.... And sadly so forgotten by new generations, as there is not much in video content...
The greatest name in motorsport. We wouldn't see that good again until Will Power. Absolutely love to see more interwar years content. It's real scarce but so fascinating to see.
There have been some excellent names in racing over the years, from Dick Seaman, Trickle and Johnson to Will Power, Scott Speed and even Chris van der Drift.
Only just watching this after downloading yesterday. I expected to just give the Delage a whirl but ended up spending all my sim time in this on Bremgarten. SUPER fun car. Way better than most of my other sim experiences in early cars. Thanks for the video. I think it represents the experience very well.
amazing, that a car like this ever existed. One casual observer could have been forgiven that this car would have looked very odd judging by the look of the front wheels, that's toe-in in extremis. Really good to see inter-war Donington again. Imagine 20+ such cars blasting through the forests and having to thread through the narrow passages of the bridge after the Old Hairpin and sliding towards the Coppice farmhouse. Thanks for blasting these machines on what looked like a 1930's version of a Time Attack event.
Man, I love watching these videos you put out on these old cars. Even just watching the laps on my widescreen is scary, I can't imagine driving the thing in sim, let ALONE in real life. These things were terrifyingly beautiful.
When I saw that the Dick Seaman Special was dropped at Race Department, I already hoped to get a video of it here at your channel. And of course - you never fail to deliver. Another blueprint of how sim racing videos have to look AND sound like.
Oh, man! That has got to be one of the most perfect historical tracks I've ever seen. Fantastic scenery, sweeping bends, technical challenge and an endless straight.
GPLaps - You bring a very skilled, educational and refined aesthetic to what you do. Don’t let the fact that not everyone who enjoys your content shares your maturity level dampen your enthusiasm. Boys will be boys and I guess many of us still have our 12 year old selves (on a sugar high) still inside us to varying degrees.
Amazing video as usual from you. Even though I'm a sim and car enthusiast, you're one of the few channels for sim racing that I watch the video all the way to the end. Tbh I think pre-war racing is something barely talked about for various reasons (mostly because nobody who lived back then is still around). It's nice to see that the legacy is still being honored.
truly excellent, and such a different time, I cannot imagine go that fast through what even today would be considered scary parts of a rally stage let alone road racing!
really appreciate your videos man......I find your voice soothing and when I'm having a rough day and don't feel like racing I like to get a history lesson and learn about mods that are good.
It's always so funny to see these old cars doing 4 wheel slides with positive camber on. Race drivers in those years were a different breed. The die young and leave a nice body type of people.
I want to build a recumbant cycle that looks just like this. Just smaller and made of foam, fiberglass, and bike parts. And a couple electric motors. The positive camber front always looked so cool.
I wasn't able to tell for sure but it seemed like the engine could rev up to the high 7,000 RPM range. That is really impressive for a racing machine built in 1927.
Genuinely one of the best sim content creators. I love the focus on historical stuff when everyone else seems to focus on the terrible modern era of F1 or LMPs which I have very little interest in
As you noted a bit farther in, the 15 S8 actually came out in 1926. The cars seemingly were withdrawn from the Final of the 1927 Milan GP in order to avoid a defeat by the Fiat 806. As someone else picked up on, Seaman was driving an Alfa Romeo 8C-35 in the 1936 event. In addition, that race was held on a shorter version of the Donington circuit, using the Starkey's Loop instead of the Melbourne Loop. A few of the cars were apparently raced by Prince Bira. This video points to something that I'd already noticed a while back, that British Timing & Scoring in particular from this era seemed to be especially suspect. For reference, the supposed fastest lap of the 1937 event was a 2:10.8, while for 1938, it was a 2:11.0. Obviously, that doesn't jive with this car getting down into the 2:06s. It would make more sense to me if you knocked, say, 20 seconds off those 1937-38 times.
I never noticed that little detail, but yeah, it seems like it. Benoist and the Delage were in trouble at that race, as Bordino proved to be quick in the Fiat. Bordino's fastest lap in his heat was a 3:55. Benoist, 3:57. And on the final, Bordino went down to 3:51. So, if any, the Fiat had plenty of potential. From what I knew so far, Prince Chula bought Seaman's Delage in 1937, and also commissioned Albert Lory to make 2 new cars with independent front suspension. And the race reports of the few races where Bira raced the Delage describes the car having independent front suspension and painted light blue. But Bira was pretty unsuccessful with the car. Worse still, the project obviously cost Chula money, and that affected the preparation of the team's other cars. For example, R5B "Remus" spent most of 1937 as a parts donor for R2B "Romulus". At Douglas, Isle of Man, he tested both the Delage and his old ERA R2B, and decided to race the ERA instead as it felt better. Its next appearance is at Peronne, as the ERAs weren't ready. He led his heat until the clutch broke. And at Phoenix Park, Dublin, Bira retired with a broken rear left leaf spring... Before the war, all the Delages were bought by Reg Parnell. He subsequently sold them after the war, though apparently the parts of the cars got mixed up. My theory for this is all the cars were disassembled before being hidden. and when he decided to sell it after the war, he realized that the components had undergone varying degrees of deterioration, so he just cobbled up together whichever parts were the easiest to restore and built it back to a complete car for whoever was the first customer, and did the same with the rest of the cars. Both independent front suspension cars that was commisioned by Prince Chula survived to this day. One is currently owned by a French owner who still races it around. The second IFS car, had a pretty interesting postwar history. It ended up in the hands of Rob Walker, who entered it in races for Tony Rolt to drive. Notably, Walker entered it at the 1950 British GP, but the organizers declined his entry, claiming that the car is "too old", probably not knowing that that particular car is actually a 1937 car! Shortly afterwards, Walker apparently ran out of spares to keep the engine of this car running, so he removed the straight-8 engine, and replaced it with, wait for it... an ERA engine. The car,a s far as I know, still had the ERA engine to this day... Another interesting bit... Rob Walker not long after, also bought another Delage 15 S-8, this time, this car is purported to be the Seaman car, as it also used the chassis modified by Ramponi. This car was damaged in a fire that destroyed Walker's garage, so he had it restored. Subsequent owners then also did their own restoration of the car, eventually returning it to the specifications it had when Seaman raced it in 1936...
My absolute favorite 1920’s race car too! Thank you GPLaps, that was fantastic. One quibble, though, is the sound. IMHO the sound track is way too much “tractor” compared to the real thing. When I first fell in love with this car and it’s story I checked out some Ytube vids and was blown away by the incredible snarling sound! - ua-cam.com/video/Gw73S3AwFps/v-deo.html I’m wondering if the creator thought that if they made the sound TOO true to the actual car that buyers would think it didn’t sound “realistic” enough. Another fascinating story is the comparison of Robert Benoist to Dick Seaman. Benoist was a heroic figure who later lost his life in WWII fighting the Nazis as a member of the French resistance. Dick Seaman, a rich British playboy, lost his life racing for the Germans who were beginning their assault on Europe as WWII loomed. So there’s that….
@@GPLaps I’m with you. Boys just can’t resist! It reminds me of that old Monty Python skit where guys are hanging out joking like guys do when a game show host busts in and announces - “ Congratulations - you have just won a prize for being the ten billionth person to use the word “come” in a joke!”
@@Legend13CNS Absolutely - I’m glad you listened to it too. Isn’t that incredible? That must have been absolutely terrifying to the other competitors in 1927! So incongruous when paired with that tiny, lithe little body on motorcycle wheels.
I really wish some crazy eccentric billionaire would make a restomod version of this style of car, with modern racing slicks and brakes. Powered by a Merlin V12, of course.
I've never dove into it but I've always wondered why engineers decided to give these vehicles such a high amount of positive camber. These things would have looked wildly cool if they had these tires + the negative camber they deserved. Edit... I've done so digging Lol. One of the major factors was this was a method used to help drivers on roads that were heavily crowned. Think driving on top of a cylinder.. Said camber kept the cars in the middle of the crown. But also... A reason that sort of helped me was that engineers back then really had no access to fancy fuck off bearings nor cool metals like we've got. The axles carried most of the weight of these. Meaning you'd have a lot of issues snapping spindles and whatnot. The solution was that they'd give positive camber in order apply vertical weight directly to the base of the spindle instead of a prying force.
Apparently, he did that by sandwiching wood inside the channel section frames! And that's what probably cause the two new cars Prince Chula commissioned in 1937 to not work out as well as expected. The two new cars had independent front suspension, which probably was ruined by the "whippy" chassis, and hence, didn't work well...
Makes me think of a guy I knew named "Richard Woodcock"...so....Dick Woodcock. My mom made him show her his ID cause she didnt believe him. Strangely enough, we all called him, "Doofey", I think in reference to Scary Movie...
The Alfa Romeo 159 Alfetta revs up to 8,500 rpm, and that's the "normal limit" drivers use in 1951. It is noted that when they felt threatened, they would start revving the engine up to 9,000 rpm. On the test bench, the team managed to rev it up to 10,500 rpm in later tests, but the drivers weren't comfortable using such high revs, and just used the 9,000 rpm upper limit.
I love you The material The simsthe retro AND LETS NOT FORGET the knowledge, studying You sir, and I don't "sim" no more although I have the means too, but you..... YOU HOLD MY PAST & FUTURE Love this!!!!!
Question about these old Grand Prix cars that I always wondered. Why do you see these cars with front Positive Camber when every circuit race car today have Negative Camber?
The positive camber is there to make the contact patch of the narrow tires line up with the steering kingpin, which, as GPLaps said, made steering lighter. Also, these old cars were pretty oversteery, so the positive camber introduced some understeer that negated most of the oversteer.
Someone knows the title of the 1930ish music on the background? It sounds like the one in the avus video. Im desperately looking for those songs, pls help 😢🙏🏻
@@GPLaps so hard for a Sim racer to have the same transmission! Love your videos. How do you do your research? The great British journalist, Richard Williams, wrote a bio of Seeman recently. Haven’t read but his bio of Ferrari was superb.
I generally just search around for details depending on the subject. There is a wealth of info on the net. For some things like my 66 series I have the full run of motorsport magazines from the time
Richard "Dick" Seaman was welcomed to the bosom of racing when Mercedes brought him into the fold and he made a real splash, changing the face of racing when he burst onto the scene proving to be the cream of the crop.
and am still not sure if the pun is intended (am lying)
You had me at Dick Seaman
Ha! Gaaay!
Ol' Dick Seaman exploded onto the racing scene with a shot in the eye to his competitors chagrin. Disappointingly he retired early just as fast as he had come, before anyone knew what hit 'em.
ahhahahahah best youtube comment ever!!
With a name like Dick Seaman, how can anyone miss out this legend driver.
Nothing but skill and big balls. We need a pre-war racing game made in this age, pronto.
Haha big balls
Very big balls on dick seaman!
And Dick Seaman
Assetto
I agree. Perhaps one could remaster the cars from Spirit of Speed '37 into AC?
Keeping a straight face through this video is a performance worthy of the Dick Trickle Award
Stop laughing in the back!
Is chuckling ok?
yesterday it was Dick Jonson today Dick Seaman, this guy is trolling but had me chuckling all weekend.
Stop being so anal.
Dick Seaman, Dick Johnson, and Dick Trickle, the 3 great Dicks of racing with the funniest names.
The comment section is gold. You guys cured my depression.
must. not. make. obvious. dirty. joke.
historic racing cars have a 'particular' shape, if you ask me
@@0cs025 wee see what we want to see, eh?
@@bbb462cid 😹
Greatest name in motorsport next to Dick Trickle.
@@0cs025 a cigar you mean?
Thanks for introducing vintage simulation to a wider audience including myself. Dick Seaman was a hard driver, especially when he came on the inside and made it stick.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Richard Seaman did win the 1936 Donington GP, but not in the Delage. He raced an Alfa Romeo 8C-35 owned by Italo-Swiss racer Hans Ruesch, who co-drove with him.
He did win the Coppa Acerbo Junior, Prix de Berne, and the JCC 200 Mile race at Donington in this car, all that within 15 days...
It is said that Ramponi never had to lift the bonnet off all that time, it ran that well.
Ramponi also tweaked with the engine's valve timing, that and the geared-up supercharger increased power output, form around 170 BHP up to around 180-190 BHP. He also replaced the preselector gearbox Earl Howe fitted and put in its place a 5-speed gearbox from an earlier Delage 2LCV.
After Seaman, the next owner was actually, Prince Chula of Siam, who ran the White Mouse Stable with his cousin, Prince Bira, as the racing driver. They felt that they wanted an even more up-to-date version of the car, so they got in touch with Delage, and commissioned two more cars with independent front suspension. Sadly, that didn't work...
So, yeah, today there were 6 Delage 15 S-8 cars existing. I found some pictures on the internet a few years back that reveals that someone was resurrecting the car Earl Howe wrapped around a tree at Monza in 1932. He even got some original, ruined panels some even had bits of the tree bark still embedded in it!
Dick Seaman is always exceptional
huhuh
i was a bit nervous googling "Dick Seaman" but it worked out ok
Just hearing the engine sound is enough for some of the driver namesake to come out
Dick Seaman, only beaten to the best name by Dick Trickle....
But yeah Seaman was a hell of a driver! I did a video like this on Tazio, I adore the pre - war era as it is just so pure and raw! and scary.... And sadly so forgotten by new generations, as there is not much in video content...
Dick Johnson and Gordon Johncock are also in that discussion too
@@jeracerx Sting Ray Robb has an interesting name as well
What's long, black, and full of Seaman? Dick Seaman's coffin! (too soon?)
@@RandomGuy37 How about Jack Wood from NASCAR😭
The greatest name in motorsport. We wouldn't see that good again until Will Power.
Absolutely love to see more interwar years content. It's real scarce but so fascinating to see.
Scout Speed are good one too
There have been some excellent names in racing over the years, from Dick Seaman, Trickle and Johnson to Will Power, Scott Speed and even Chris van der Drift.
I've always thought Valentino Rossi had a great one for a racer - Valentine Red
Only just watching this after downloading yesterday. I expected to just give the Delage a whirl but ended up spending all my sim time in this on Bremgarten. SUPER fun car. Way better than most of my other sim experiences in early cars. Thanks for the video. I think it represents the experience very well.
Me: meh I don't care about driving any vintage motorsports
GPLaps: *posts video*
Me: I SHOULD DOWNLOAD THIS CAR
Every. Time.
Great video, I love Dick Seaman.
amazing, that a car like this ever existed. One casual observer could have been forgiven that this car would have looked very odd judging by the look of the front wheels, that's toe-in in extremis.
Really good to see inter-war Donington again. Imagine 20+ such cars blasting through the forests and having to thread through the narrow passages of the bridge after the Old Hairpin and sliding towards the Coppice farmhouse.
Thanks for blasting these machines on what looked like a 1930's version of a Time Attack event.
He’s the reason they introduced the slippery surface flag.
Going at 130-140mph with these type of cars was just mad !
Man, I love watching these videos you put out on these old cars.
Even just watching the laps on my widescreen is scary, I can't imagine driving the thing in sim, let ALONE in real life.
These things were terrifyingly beautiful.
Always enjoy these GPLaps 'History lessons', let's us peak back in time a bit.
When I saw that the Dick Seaman Special was dropped at Race Department, I already hoped to get a video of it here at your channel. And of course - you never fail to deliver. Another blueprint of how sim racing videos have to look AND sound like.
2 uploads in 2 days? What a treat
That shot with classic Indianapolis makes me wish hard for a 1920s Champ Car game. I know they'll never make it though.
Love the historical dialogue, Thank you
Oh, man! That has got to be one of the most perfect historical tracks I've ever seen. Fantastic scenery, sweeping bends, technical challenge and an endless straight.
Beavis and Butthead's favorite GPLaps video so far huhuhuhuhuhhuhuhuhu 3:50 4:04 10:15 11:40 11:54 14:27 14:53 16:19 17:25 18:13 18:42 18:46 huhuhuuhuhuhuuuhuhuhuuhuu
Best-named racer in the best-named machine. Fittingly.
The Dick Seaman Special. Brought to you by Hot Dickens Cider.
Dick Seaman had big balls to _drive_ back then. Not bad in wet conditions either
GPLaps - You bring a very skilled, educational and refined aesthetic to what you do. Don’t let the fact that not everyone who enjoys your content shares your maturity level dampen your enthusiasm. Boys will be boys and I guess many of us still have our 12 year old selves (on a sugar high) still inside us to varying degrees.
Dick Seaman and his sister, Jenny Talia, were real legends. Of course, after they paired with Ben Dover and Jack Mehoff they were unstoppable.
I'm a big fan of Wayne Ker myself
Spectacular. I could feel the fear.
I love your histories... thank you so much.... this way is sooo impresive to drive this cars..
The Revs Institute in Naples, FL has one of these Delages. They are drop-dead gorgeous in person. Just perfect.
The one at the Revs Institute was the most original of the Delage 15 S-8s that survived...
Love the in-depth history. Production is excellent. Thanks.
Literally looks like a casket with wheels
Excellent stuff. The history here helps focus the present. What a time. I love the musical touches. Thanks for the content.
Dick Seaman.. what a name 🤣, Nice video!!
Amazing video as usual from you. Even though I'm a sim and car enthusiast, you're one of the few channels for sim racing that I watch the video all the way to the end.
Tbh I think pre-war racing is something barely talked about for various reasons (mostly because nobody who lived back then is still around). It's nice to see that the legacy is still being honored.
truly excellent, and such a different time, I cannot imagine go that fast through what even today would be considered scary parts of a rally stage let alone road racing!
really appreciate your videos man......I find your voice soothing and when I'm having a rough day and don't feel like racing I like to get a history lesson and learn about mods that are good.
What an amazing vid, loved learning about this car and hell, you're skilled at driving cars from all eras in the sims! Doing great
Fantastic video thank you
It's always so funny to see these old cars doing 4 wheel slides with positive camber on. Race drivers in those years were a different breed. The die young and leave a nice body type of people.
Love this track I race alll the Vintage stuff here thanks GP great video
Goodness, both look so fun to drive, especially the latter.
Twin supercharged making 170hp… i can only imagine the headaches spectators would leave with, breathing in the unburnt, leaded, 1920s era race fuel
from a 1.5L engine tho, so thats over 110hp per Liter. Pretty impressive i'd say, especially for 1920's tech.
Brilliant, thanks GP.
Uh, huh huh. Huh huh-huh. Hey Beavis. He said "special".
Ur special, butthead. Heh heh
I want to build a recumbant cycle that looks just like this. Just smaller and made of foam, fiberglass, and bike parts. And a couple electric motors. The positive camber front always looked so cool.
Nice idea!
I wasn't able to tell for sure but it seemed like the engine could rev up to the high 7,000 RPM range. That is really impressive for a racing machine built in 1927.
Brilliant stuff. And a great history lesson.
Amazing! A masterpiece of a video!!
“Nazi Grand Prix” is a good documentary on Dick Seaman and prewar racing as a whole.
Genuinely one of the best sim content creators. I love the focus on historical stuff when everyone else seems to focus on the terrible modern era of F1 or LMPs which I have very little interest in
The Maserati 250F at this circuit is one of my favourite things in AC. Will have to give this one a go too, looks a little less difficult to drive.
ngl I had to glance at my calendar just to verify it wasn't really april 1st.
The hotlap looks absolutly terrifying! And it's just a sim. Can't imagine how it feels in a real car like that... 😱
As you noted a bit farther in, the 15 S8 actually came out in 1926. The cars seemingly were withdrawn from the Final of the 1927 Milan GP in order to avoid a defeat by the Fiat 806.
As someone else picked up on, Seaman was driving an Alfa Romeo 8C-35 in the 1936 event. In addition, that race was held on a shorter version of the Donington circuit, using the Starkey's Loop instead of the Melbourne Loop.
A few of the cars were apparently raced by Prince Bira.
This video points to something that I'd already noticed a while back, that British Timing & Scoring in particular from this era seemed to be especially suspect. For reference, the supposed fastest lap of the 1937 event was a 2:10.8, while for 1938, it was a 2:11.0. Obviously, that doesn't jive with this car getting down into the 2:06s.
It would make more sense to me if you knocked, say, 20 seconds off those 1937-38 times.
I never noticed that little detail, but yeah, it seems like it. Benoist and the Delage were in trouble at that race, as Bordino proved to be quick in the Fiat. Bordino's fastest lap in his heat was a 3:55. Benoist, 3:57. And on the final, Bordino went down to 3:51. So, if any, the Fiat had plenty of potential.
From what I knew so far, Prince Chula bought Seaman's Delage in 1937, and also commissioned Albert Lory to make 2 new cars with independent front suspension. And the race reports of the few races where Bira raced the Delage describes the car having independent front suspension and painted light blue. But Bira was pretty unsuccessful with the car. Worse still, the project obviously cost Chula money, and that affected the preparation of the team's other cars. For example, R5B "Remus" spent most of 1937 as a parts donor for R2B "Romulus".
At Douglas, Isle of Man, he tested both the Delage and his old ERA R2B, and decided to race the ERA instead as it felt better. Its next appearance is at Peronne, as the ERAs weren't ready. He led his heat until the clutch broke. And at Phoenix Park, Dublin, Bira retired with a broken rear left leaf spring...
Before the war, all the Delages were bought by Reg Parnell. He subsequently sold them after the war, though apparently the parts of the cars got mixed up.
My theory for this is all the cars were disassembled before being hidden. and when he decided to sell it after the war, he realized that the components had undergone varying degrees of deterioration, so he just cobbled up together whichever parts were the easiest to restore and built it back to a complete car for whoever was the first customer, and did the same with the rest of the cars.
Both independent front suspension cars that was commisioned by Prince Chula survived to this day. One is currently owned by a French owner who still races it around.
The second IFS car, had a pretty interesting postwar history. It ended up in the hands of Rob Walker, who entered it in races for Tony Rolt to drive. Notably, Walker entered it at the 1950 British GP, but the organizers declined his entry, claiming that the car is "too old", probably not knowing that that particular car is actually a 1937 car!
Shortly afterwards, Walker apparently ran out of spares to keep the engine of this car running, so he removed the straight-8 engine, and replaced it with, wait for it... an ERA engine. The car,a s far as I know, still had the ERA engine to this day...
Another interesting bit...
Rob Walker not long after, also bought another Delage 15 S-8, this time, this car is purported to be the Seaman car, as it also used the chassis modified by Ramponi. This car was damaged in a fire that destroyed Walker's garage, so he had it restored. Subsequent owners then also did their own restoration of the car, eventually returning it to the specifications it had when Seaman raced it in 1936...
Loving the history lessons!
wow, a lot of trees back then, very nice! 140+ mph with nothing but a leather helm in that old car.
My absolute favorite 1920’s race car too! Thank you GPLaps, that was fantastic.
One quibble, though, is the sound. IMHO the sound track is way too much “tractor” compared to the real thing. When I first fell in love with this car and it’s story I checked out some Ytube vids and was blown away by the incredible snarling sound! -
ua-cam.com/video/Gw73S3AwFps/v-deo.html
I’m wondering if the creator thought that if they made the sound TOO true to the actual car that buyers would think it didn’t sound “realistic” enough.
Another fascinating story is the comparison of Robert Benoist to Dick Seaman. Benoist was a heroic figure who later lost his life in WWII fighting the Nazis as a member of the French resistance. Dick Seaman, a rich British playboy, lost his life racing for the Germans who were beginning their assault on Europe as WWII loomed. So there’s that….
Yes very ture. Needless to say I don't feel much remorse for people poking fun at the name!
@@GPLaps I’m with you. Boys just can’t resist! It reminds me of that old Monty Python skit where guys are hanging out joking like guys do when a game show host busts in and announces - “ Congratulations - you have just won a prize for being the ten billionth person to use the word “come” in a joke!”
That's wild. That channel has a fly-by sound of that car too. If you played me that with no video I would've guessed NASCAR Cup car or V8 Supercar.
@@Legend13CNS Absolutely - I’m glad you listened to it too. Isn’t that incredible? That must have been absolutely terrifying to the other competitors in 1927! So incongruous when paired with that tiny, lithe little body on motorcycle wheels.
Can’t believe Hitler’s favorite driver was called Dick Seaman.
Dick Seamans special is a beautiful beast!
I really wish some crazy eccentric billionaire would make a restomod version of this style of car, with modern racing slicks and brakes. Powered by a Merlin V12, of course.
Big aero engine are underused !
what was the motivation to add so much positive camber to the front tires?
It helps reduce the load on the front wheel bearings and makes the car easier to steer
@@GPLaps ah, thanks
Awesome stuff as usual.😀
I've never dove into it but I've always wondered why engineers decided to give these vehicles such a high amount of positive camber. These things would have looked wildly cool if they had these tires + the negative camber they deserved.
Edit... I've done so digging Lol. One of the major factors was this was a method used to help drivers on roads that were heavily crowned. Think driving on top of a cylinder.. Said camber kept the cars in the middle of the crown.
But also... A reason that sort of helped me was that engineers back then really had no access to fancy fuck off bearings nor cool metals like we've got. The axles carried most of the weight of these. Meaning you'd have a lot of issues snapping spindles and whatnot. The solution was that they'd give positive camber in order apply vertical weight directly to the base of the spindle instead of a prying force.
It makes the steering much lighter!
@@GPLaps I've made about fifteen edits the more I dug into this but absolutely it does!
IIRC, Ramponi also stiffened the notoriously flexible Delage chassis,
Apparently, he did that by sandwiching wood inside the channel section frames!
And that's what probably cause the two new cars Prince Chula commissioned in 1937 to not work out as well as expected. The two new cars had independent front suspension, which probably was ruined by the "whippy" chassis, and hence, didn't work well...
Makes me think of a guy I knew named "Richard Woodcock"...so....Dick Woodcock. My mom made him show her his ID cause she didnt believe him. Strangely enough, we all called him, "Doofey", I think in reference to Scary Movie...
We had a Woodcock family in our village. My brother called them "Timberdick"
That is a VERY pretty car, indeed.
Never clicked a video faster
You have to have some respect for a straight 8 that gets up to 8 grand
The Alfa Romeo 159 Alfetta revs up to 8,500 rpm, and that's the "normal limit" drivers use in 1951. It is noted that when they felt threatened, they would start revving the engine up to 9,000 rpm. On the test bench, the team managed to rev it up to 10,500 rpm in later tests, but the drivers weren't comfortable using such high revs, and just used the 9,000 rpm upper limit.
Ha! He said "semen" on the telly!
I have the mod but never gave this car a try. I think its time!
I thought this was a Captain Pugwash parody. 70's uk cartoon
Nah, that was seaman Staines and Roger the cabin boy (in Internet lore anyway, there were no such characters in the TV programme).
I love you
The material
The simsthe retro
AND LETS NOT FORGET
the knowledge, studying
You sir, and I don't "sim" no more although I have the means too, but you..... YOU
HOLD MY PAST & FUTURE
Love this!!!!!
Question about these old Grand Prix cars that I always wondered. Why do you see these cars with front Positive Camber when every circuit race car today have Negative Camber?
It makes the steering lighter. Same reason the steering wheels are colossal as well!
The positive camber is there to make the contact patch of the narrow tires line up with the steering kingpin, which, as GPLaps said, made steering lighter. Also, these old cars were pretty oversteery, so the positive camber introduced some understeer that negated most of the oversteer.
Arrrhh makes sense. Thanks guys!
What mod do you use for the lapboard?
I love Dick Seaman.
Was he related to Dick Trickle?
Wonderful Delage
MAFIA's Lost Heaven Track :D perfect for this car
lol "Dick Seamen". What a name.
Great story.
Does surprise me a bit that he's held at a high esteem even though he raced the Mercs for the ****s
which mod do you use for the hand written sign board?
What a good name
Jacob have gotten around the Nordschleiffe in the 49 this week yet in iRacing?
Someone knows the title of the 1930ish music on the background? It sounds like the one in the avus video. Im desperately looking for those songs, pls help 😢🙏🏻
It is called “Strenuous Life”. its a free song on the YT music library!
@@GPLaps thank you so much man, i really love your work and your kindness
What kind are of gearbox did it have?
It has a 5-speed non snychro. I believe custom built
No i wasn't double clutching :D
@@GPLaps so hard for a Sim racer to have the same transmission! Love your videos. How do you do your research? The great British journalist, Richard Williams, wrote a bio of Seeman recently. Haven’t read but his bio of Ferrari was superb.
I generally just search around for details depending on the subject. There is a wealth of info on the net.
For some things like my 66 series I have the full run of motorsport magazines from the time
@@GPLaps Nice to have MS mag (their whole archive is digitized btw).
it is! but nice to have some paper to read once in a while
HE SAYS IT AT 4:38
Chill out with the name guys
I don't care how many men he seas
the what now special??
GPlaps Rules \m/
I tried to make a seaman joke but couldn't come up with one.🤷♀️