Chequered Past

The 17th of June has seen some of the most improbable results in the history of Le Mans. In 1933, Tazio Nuvolari and Raymond Sommer led the race in an Alfa Romeo — until the fuel tank started leaking. What followed...

16th June is a date that has delivered some of motorsport's most extraordinary stories. In 1984, Porsche made the remarkable decision to boycott their own sport's most prestigious race — and the privateers they left...

Five races. Ninety years. One date. The fifteenth of June has a habit of producing the unexpected at Le Mans. In 1929, Bentley arrived to collect what they’d already won twice before — and they did, but not without...

Four races. Four dates. All June the fourteenth. In 1924, a privately entered Bentley fought three works Lorraine-Dietrichs through brutal heat to give the British marque its first Le Mans victory. In 1952, a Frenchman...

Three races share the 13th of June. Three times, the result confounded expectations. In 1953, Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton spent the night in a French bar after being disqualified before the race had started. By Sunday...

On the twelfth of June, across seventy-three years of motorsport history, Le Mans produced four races that refused to deliver the winner anyone expected. In 1926, Bentley ended up in a sandbank in the final half-hour...

The eleventh of June appears more than once in the history of the twenty-four hours of Le Mans — and the first of those appearances casts a shadow over everything that follows. In 1955, a crash in the third hour of the...

Before the races, the circuit. Before the results, the race itself. This opening episode of Chequered Past’s Le Mans series sets the scene for everything that follows — examining what the twenty-four hours of Le Mans...

On 31st May 1959, Jo Bonnier won BRM's first Grand Prix at Zandvoort in a car the team had already started replacing. In 1981, Gilles Villeneuve won at Monaco in a turbo that everyone agreed couldn't win there. In 1987...

The thirtieth of May has appeared on the Formula One World Championship calendar more times than almost any other date — and it has never produced a quiet afternoon. In this episode of Chequered Past, we follow four...

On the twenty-ninth of May, Formula One has been decided in the pit lane more than once. In 1960, Stirling Moss brought a Rob Walker Lotus to the pits in Monaco running on three cylinders — and went on to win...

The 28th of May appears four times in Formula One's history as a date that produced not just results, but questions — the kind that follow drivers and teams for years without ever reaching a clean answer. In Mexico City...

There are dates in the Formula One calendar that give you one story. And then there are dates that seem to have been waiting — accumulating history across decades, storing it up, until you can’t look at them without...

Monaco doesn’t simply produce the fastest driver — it produces the one who belongs there. On the twenty-sixth of May, across 1963, 1968, 1974, 2002 and 2024, five races asked that question in five different ways. Graham...

On May the twenty-fifth, across four decades of Formula 1, the world championship changed hands. Four times. Four drivers. One date. In 1975, Niki Lauda drove a controlled, clinical race at Zolder and went to the top of...