Talk:1977 British Grand Prix

Yes, a Saturday

I noted that the date of this race was listed as July 16, 1977. That date was a Saturday. Running an F1 race on a Saturday would have been extremely unusual, so I was suspicious.

In the listed references, I saw that the official F1 database gives the July 16 date:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080203060142/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1977/434/

as does this independent site:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070110100651/www.motorsport-stats.com/f1/history/1977/britain.html

But either or both of these references could have had a simple typo in the date, and such an error might have had a common source.

Looking around online, I found an ESPN broadcast on YouTube (made years later, but based on the contemporary broadcast) that says the race took place on 17 July:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j280mjINw_w

And looking around online, I found a bunch of sites that give the July 17 date:

http://racing-reference.info/race/1977_British_Grand_Prix/F
http://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/champcar-cart-montreal-notes-of-interest/

So if anything, the bulk of the evidence seemed to point to July 17 as the correct date.

But then I ran into what seems to be incontrovertible proof that the July 16 date is correct instead:

http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/35405529/

which is a newspaper dated July 17 that says unambiguously "Hunt Wins Formula 1 Prix / SILVERSTONE, England (UPI) -- Britain's James Hunt, driving a McLaren, Saturday won the British Formula 1 Grand Prix..."

For THAT reference to be wrong would require multiple serious failures.

So I've left the date alone in the article, and I'll just leave this here in case this issue comes up again. 71.197.166.72 (talk) 01:41, 24 October 2015 (UTC)