Template talk:Racing car

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[edit] Usage

All racing car articles should have this infobox at the top:

{{Racing car |
  Car_name         = Tyrrell 006 |
  Logo             = [[Image:Tyrrell.gif]] |
  Category         = [[Formula One]] |
  Constructor      = [[Tyrrell Racing|Tyrrell Racing Organisation]] |
  Designer         = [[Derek Gardner]] |
  Team             = [[Tyrrell Racing|Elf Team Tyrrell]] |
  Drivers          = [[François Cevert]],<br>[[Jackie Stewart]],<br>[[Patrick Depailler]],<br>[[Jody Scheckter]] |
  Chassis          = [[Aluminium]] [[monocoque]] |
  Front suspension = [[Double wishbone suspension|Double wishbone]], outboard [[Spring (device)|spring]]/[[shock absorber|damper]]. |
  Rear suspension  = Single top-link, parallel lower-links, twin [[Radius rod|radius arms]], outboard [[Spring (device)|spring]]/[[shock absorber|damper]]. |
  Engine name      = [[Ford]]-[[Cosworth DFV]] |
  Capacity         = 2993[[cubic centimetre|cc]] |
  Configuration    = [[V8]] |
  Turbo/NA         = [[naturally aspirated]] |
  Engine position  = [[Mid-engine]]d, [[longitudinal engine| longitudinally mounted]] |
  Gearbox name     = [[Hewland]] FG400 |
  Gears            = 5-speed |
  Type             = [[Manual transmission|manual]] |
  Differential     = [[ZF Friedrichshafen|ZF]] [[Differential (mechanics)|differential]] |
  Fuel             = [[Elf Aquitaine|Elf]] |
  Tyres            = [[Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company|Goodyear]] |
  Debut            = [[1972 Canadian Grand Prix]],<br>[[Mosport Park]]. |
  Races            = 18 |
  Wins             = 5 |
  Cons_champ       = 0 |
  Drivers_champ    = '''1''' ({{F1|1973}}) |
  Poles            = 3 |
  Fastest_laps     = 2 |
}}

With cleared fields:

{{Racing car |
  Car_name         = |
  Logo             = |
  Category         = |
  Constructor      = |
  Designer         = |
  Team             = |
  Drivers          = |
  Chassis          = |
  Front suspension = |
  Rear suspension  = |
  Engine name      = |
  Capacity         = |
  Configuration    = |
  Turbo/NA         = |
  Engine position  = |
  Gearbox name     = |
  Gears            = |
  Type             = |
  Differential     = |
  Fuel             = |
  Tyres            = |
  Debut            = |
  Races            = |
  Wins             = |
  Cons_champ       = |
  Drivers_champ    = |
  Poles            = |
  Fastest_laps     = |
}}

I have deliberately left the pro-forma above unformatted for ease of copy-pasting. For Formula One articles, most details should be available. For other series simply leave blank any unknown fields and enter n/a for irrelevant or highly variable fields. Many customer cars will have had highly variable set up, I would suggest using either the most common configuration (if such a thing exists) or simply stating a brief range of options in leiu of precise specifications. Pyrope 09:58, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Comment

Does this work for a variety of racing cars? Views? Feel free to amend to improve. Thanks. 4u1e 15:47, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah i think its good. It would definitely work for a variety of racing cars and it would be a great addition to the pages if all the information could be found. Well done! Thunderous503 10:10, 22 August 2006

Some items are OK for F1 don't work for single-brand competitions or customer cars. For example, "Drivers" would be impossible to use in cars from F3000, F3, F. Renault, A1GP or Champ Car, since the same car is used by dozens of drivers in one year alone. It doesn't work for touring cars and GTs as well, for example, the BMW 318/320i E36 Supertouring, the Porsche 993/996/997 Supercup/GT2/GT3 versions. Even prototypes such as the Porsche 956/962 had hundreds of drivers. Likewise, it would be nearly impossible to collect data such as poles and fastest laps, especially if these cars continue to be used in club events, hillclimbing or historic racing. For rally cars it would be a nightmare, how many victories do the Lancia Delta Integrale, Ford Escort RS Mk I or Mitsubishi Lancer Evo have? I think championship/class titles can be kept, but races competed, race wins, pole-positions and fastest laps can go. Tyres doesn't work either, after all touring cars and GT cars have different tyres even in the same championship. --Pc13 19:05, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Good points, Pc13 - sorry I hadn't commented before, it was such a long time since I spread the word about it.

• Re drivers - true, but I think Pyrope has solved that by putting 'notable drivers', to keep it to the important ones. Of course we can now spend weeks arguing about who is notable....
• Re wins, poles and fastest laps - solvable by noting in what championship? i.e. Porsche 956/962 47 wins (WSC) 15 (IMSA) (numbers made up, btw).
• Tyres - fair point, I would think. Even in some F1 seasons one car has used more than one. Fittipaldi Automotive used three in (I think) 1981! Isn't there a way of making some stuff disappear if not used? 4u1e 10:15, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not aware of any articles about racing cars from the United States. Some of the WP:NASCAR articles link to the street car article, and that works well. The infobox could be helpful in the 2 major Indy series, so I left a message on the WP:AOWR talk page. One thing that jumped out at me is the Euro-centric spelling "tyres", which is unheard of here in the U.S. Looks good otherwise. Royalbroil ^T : C 15:29, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Tyres is actually a modern English variant, and produced arguments when it first began to appear in print. Prior to that, we used to use tires. While I am obviously going to be in favour of British English spellings, I would prefer to see tires in a template with international applications. Anyone who sees it and thinks that it is mis-spelled is free to look it up! Adrian M. H. 18:44, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

One thing's sure - we're never going to make everyone happy! Bearing in mind Royalbroil's comment about the likely lack of US built chassis to use this table, I suppose UK spelling would be most applicable. Unless anyone knows a cunning trick to give us an either/or version? 4u1e 23:14, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

I've know all along that tyres is the correct spelling in England. I think that I am a fairly enlightened person, for know there are quite a few words and terms that are different or spelled different: "favor vs. favour", "recognize vs recognise", to point out a few. I was just pointing out that I would like to see a worldwide view if possible. I was mostly hoping that someone had a cunning magic trick, or that someone had a alternative word that would suit all applications! Could you create a "tire2" field that would use the spelling "tires" in the infobox instead of "tyres"? I would say go with the Euro-centric view if there is no other alternatives, because that is the main application of the infobox. Royalbroil ^T : C 04:47, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Well as I say, I would be happy to see tires with an i. Adrian M. H. 14:27, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not fussed either way. As far as the correct spelling goes, I reckon it is a case of live and let live. Unless we want every template duplicated because of one letter, it would probably be best if we accepted that different countries use different spellings. So far as I can judge, tyre is the accepted spelling in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya... oh you get the point. Wikipedia is an internationally cooperative project, so in some instances we will see British-derived spellings, and some US-derived. As a geologist it still makes my eyes water when I see my favourite minerals described as sulfides, but I accept that the person who wrote the article was probably American and so would use the non-ph spelling as common usage. You say tomato sauce, I say yum. Pyrope 15:05, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm sure all those New Zealanders, etc. won't mind seeing the older/US spelling. Adrian M. H. 15:42, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I didn't mean to start an "international incident", lol. I thought there might be an easy fix. I don't want to take up any more of anyone's time discussing little things like this. I'm sure that we all have better things to do. I wanted to point out that there may be some people in the U.S. that might be confused, but they should become more enlightened anyhow. It is fine as is, as far as I am concerned. Royalbroil ^T : C 16:28, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I think we leave it then, until such time as it becomes a problem. I feel uncomfortably like I'm pushing my own (current!) national variant, but as I say, since there is no correct answer and as things stand it will match the spelling in the text of the majority of the articles it appears in, we might as well leave it as it is. Review if it starts to cause problems (i.e. we start generating a lot of chassis articles in US English, which come to think of it would probably be appropriate for Lola/March/Penske/Reynard Indycars. All built in the UK, but used almost exclusively in North America). 4u1e 23:15, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

If we get real problems, we'll just have to change it to "black round things at each corner"! ;) Adrian M. H. 23:32, 14 January 2007 (UTC)