The BritishV8 Pub

Here are the ground rules:

1) The contest starts with one trivia question.

2) The first person to reply with a correct answer "gets the floor" to ask their own (new) trivia question.

3) It continues like that unless (a) the person who answered correctly doesn't ask a new question, or (b) no one gets the correct answer. In either case, the person with the floor asks a new question.

4) No more than one question is on the floor at a time, and discussion/clarification is welcome until the floor is taken over by a new question. (Discussion of "old" questions is discouraged.)

5) All the trivia questions should be related to British sports or racing cars.

Credit: I swiped this concept from "hotrodders.com" - but I think they got it from the Grassroots Motorsports board.

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First question: MG's "EX186" race car was built to win at LeMans. (Sadly, it didn't actually get to race there.) EX186 had a unique rear suspension. The question is: generally, what type of rear suspension did EX186 have? (I'll be extra impressed by anyone who can tell us succinctly what made EX186's rear suspension even more special than others of its type.)

Clue: this is what EX186 looks like...

MGA frame (modded) De Dion suspension.

Alan, that was too quick! You're right, of course. I thought the question would be difficult enough that we'd get some wrong guesses first.

Did you find that answer on Google or something?

All DeDion suspensions have the lefthand and righthand hubs held parallel to each other by a beam of some type... but the beam is generally behind and independent of the differential. The differential is solidly mounted to the frame/body. For the record, what's a bit unusual about EX186's specific DeDion type suspension is that the beam is connected to the frame by leaf springs. EX186 has knee-action (Armstrong) shock absorbers too. Most DeDion installations feature coil springs and telescoping shock absorbers. Also, I believe most DeDion installations have inboard-mounted disc brakes, whereas MG used outboard ("MGA TwinCam") calipers and rotors.

So, Alan, it's your turn to post a trivia question!

I saw it in passing when I was looking at the MG Le Mans cars a while back. There was a reference to it on that site, along with a couple of others. I remembered only because the only car I ever had with a DeDion suspension was a P6, and it rode pretty well - well enough that I want another one sometime.

Ok, here's mine.
What links the Professionals, the New Avengers and a Frederick Forsyth novel?
Extra credit for the novel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2009 08:28PM by alana.

Hmmm. One of my favorite movies of all time is based on a Frederick Forsyth novel, but I think all the cars in it are French. (In fact, it's a real hoot because you NEVER see those 1960's French cars in the U.S.)

If anyone is interested in reviewing the P6's suspension, I think we have some pretty remarkable photos of it in this article: [www.britishv8.org]

(sample)

Alan's trivia question is: "What links the Professionals, the New Avengers and a Frederick Forsyth novel?"

This one has me! I know of a remarkable car-related coincidence that links "The Professionals" and "The New Avengers". Actually there's one particular car (not car model) that appeared in both British TV shows. I can't figure out how that one specific car would have anything to do with Frederick Forsyth, so maybe I've made a wrong turn already. Come on, somebody! We can get to the bottom of this mystery.

Well perhaps I misspoke - I'm actually talking about the movie made from this particular novel.
Apologies if that led you wrong.

I'm still lost. The Forsyth connection is what befuddles me. I only really know one Forsyth-based movie: "The Day of the Jackel" is BRILLIANT and I saw it just a couple weeks ago... but I can't recall any cars in it besides French ones. LOTS of Citroens! It's set in the early 60's. (Forsyth also wrote "The Odessa File" - I should remember that film, but I don't.)

Linking The New Avengers and The Professionals is almost too easy. These shows were produced at about the same time and actually by the same production company... which is why both shows had their respective stars driving the exact same late seventies car!

Steed (in the Avengers) drove a yellow Rover 3500 SD1 with registration plate "MOC 229P":


Gordon (in The Professionals) drove a yellow Rover 3500 SD1 with registration plate "MOO 229R":


Did a Rover 3500 (SD1) appear in a Forsyth movie?

Not as far as I know.
You are on the wrong track - it's not a Rover that links these shows with a movie, although that's a great catch - I didn't know it was the ~same~ car.

As an aside we had one of those things in Brown once back in the 80's when I was back in the third world. I preferred (and still do) the P6 that preceeded it.

Wow, no-one cares enough to even guess?
Perhaps I should have asked how many MGs were in shot broke down in the movie "Bank Job"

:grin:

I'm so frustrated by this question... I decided to change my avatar until someone answers it!




Maybe you can give us a hint about which Forsyth movie...

battling canines

Alan, I'm starting to wonder whether (a) BritishV8 guys don't like trivia or (b) don't like movies?

I haven't seen the film... but a very little Googling reveals this:

Quote:

In 1974, he (Forsyth) wrote The Dogs of War, in which a British mining executive hires a group of mercenaries to overthrow the government of an African country so that he can install a puppet regime that will allow him cheap access to its substantial mineral wealth. This book was also adapted to film, in 1981, starring Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger.

Quote:

In 1981, United Artists made a superficial film version of The Dogs of War, directed by John Irvin, featuring American actors Christopher Walken as "Cat" Shannon, and Tom Berenger. It loosely follows the novel's plot; cast without movie stars, it has a similar, tradecraft approach like the novel, yet with less war business detail, much combat, and little politics. Walken's effective, realistic portrayal of Shannon, the enigmatic American mercenary, is repressed, almost flat, emphasizing the emotionally dead nature of the professional mercenary soldier. Novelist Frederick Forsyth appears in a cameo role as the unnamed freelance writer who recommends the mercenaries to Manson henchman Simon Endean.

Also, according to IMDB the African scenes were filmed in Belize... but London was a location for much of the film too.

I've been racking by brain for days trying to figure it out!!
I watched both The Professionals & The New Avengers in the 70's and many Forsyth films.

Still thinking..............

Pete

The film actually isn't that bad. But then I like stuff that requires no thought - my philosophy on movies is that they are passive entertainment, so I want to let my brain be passive also.

If you google you'll find the answer fairly quickly.

I've just discovered an amazing website!!!

It seems that you can find out what cars appeared in just about any movie here:
[www.imcdb.org]
(Who ARE these people! Someone is even more excessive compulsive than me.)

So let's see... a Land Rover 88" Series II appears in

The Professionals (episode 1:11)


The New Avengers (episode 10)


The Dogs of War (written by Frederik Forsyth)


Do I get a prize?

(It's funny... on that IMCDB website, people comment on all the cars their eagle eyes spot, and they particularly like to discover and point our cars that aren't what they appear to be, like when a number plate has been altered or when a newer car appears in an older movie.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2009 07:23PM by Moderator.

Curtis,

Fantastic site! Caused me to remember movies I had seen a B in and also to realize I missed a few too!

-- Scott

Well I wasn't thinking about the LR, but it qualifies, so you get the win.
Actually the vehicle i had in mind was a TR7, and sure enough it's in the site you named - in fact there are 2 in the Avengers, but I only remembered the yellow one.

You'd also have had extra credit with the Fourth Protocol, since there's one in there too it seems, and it too is a Forsyth book.

That site takes all the fun out of cars in movie questions.
Congrats.

Cool!

Okay, I'm gonna try to get some new people engaged in this game. My apologies if this question is too easy...

THIS IS A FAMOUS "BRITISH V6"


Or, at least it should have been famous. In its debut race it finished very impressively in 3rd place. There were a couple more races where the car DNF'd. Then, a fatal crash involving a famous driver basically scuttled the entire competition class this car was designed to compete in. Canceled. Game over. Sadly, like EX186 above, the world will never know just how good this car was.

So, here's the trivia question is two parts:

1) What is the make and model of the "BritishV6" car shown in the photo?

2) At least in its earliest version, this model car was built around a very familiar engine... except extensively modified. What engine was used?

I know - I used to have a plastic kit of it as a kid, and I learned to drive in what it was named from - but I'll let someone else have a go.