The Intercooler Christmas Quiz 2025

1. About whom was the book Speed with Style written?

2. What was the nickname of the Sunbeam that was the first car to reach 200mph?

3. Which driver was known as ‘The Kansas Flash?’

4. Which car crashes through a window in the opening credits of The Professionals?

5. Under what name was the Volkswagen Golf originally sold in the US?

6. What was the name of Dunlop’s first run-flat tyre introduced in the 1970s?

7. In which hotel in which city did Charles Rolls first meet Henry Royce?

8. Which was the only Bentley of the 1920s to feature a red centre to its radiator badge?

9. What reason did the authorities give for not stopping the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours after the worst crash in racing history?

10. What was unusual about Saab’s manual ‘Sensonic’ transmission?

11. What colour felt-tip pen did Enzo Ferrari prefer to write with?

12. Which film car took its name (but added another word) from a number of cars created by Count Louis Zborowski?

13. Who was the first woman to take part in a Formula 1 race?

14. Who is the only woman to win a Formula 1 race?

15. Which F1 driver’s surname comes last in the alphabet?

16. Which company made the toolkit for the McLaren F1?

17. What was the name of the concept car that inspired the Lancia Stratos?

18. What was the name of the unsuccessful prototype racing car that formed the ‘missing link’ between the Jaguar D-Type and E-Type?

19. The grandson of which aperitif manufacturer designed the independent front suspension for the Alfa Romeo Tipo B, also known as the P3?

20. How many Rolls Royce Silver Ghosts were made?

21. What was Ken Tyrrell’s nickname?

22. What was the name of the designer of TVR’s own V8 and straight-six engines?

23. What do the initials JPE stand for when used to describe a Caterham?

24. Which car was the recipient of the first Car Of The Year award, and when?

25. Which company was first to offer a car with an electric starter motor?

26. Who was the only Chilean Formula 1 driver?

27. Who finished second in the 1920 Targa Florio?

28. Which one of these is not a current or former spark plug manufacturer: KLG, Autolite, Mantovani, E3?

29. Who crashed out of the 1955 Argentine Grand Prix but still managed to come sixth?

30. What is the rabbit, or Lapine word, for car? 

31. Which is the only Scandinavian country never to have had a World Rally Champion?

32. Who presented the first series of ‘new’ Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond?

33. What is the speed limit on a road with one lane in each direction but with a central reservation?

34. Which famous film director has a middle name chosen because it was the car company that sponsored his dad’s radio show?

35. Which British actress did Elon Musk marry, divorce, remarry and file for divorce again, all between 2010-2014?

36. In the TV series Knight Rider, what did K.I.T.T. stand for?

37. What kind of car was Greased Lightning?

38. Which country has produced the highest number of F1 World Champions per capita?

39. What was Goodwood called before becoming a race track?

40. What was the name of the Lotus dealer who bought the rights to the Seven in 1973 and founded Caterham Cars?

41. What was the name of Peter Wheeler’s dog?

42. Upon what car was the Lynx Eventer based?

43. In what year did Studebaker cease production?

44. Which car company produced the Eta, Theta and Zeta?

45. Which contemporary supercar used the same rear lights as the McLaren F1?

46. What was unusual and notable about Ralph Teetor, the inventor of cruise control?

47. Why do people in Churchill, Canada, often leave their cars unlocked?

48. What do the Smart Roadster and 997-generation of Porsche have in common, save the obvious like four wheels?

49. Which company designed the Flex7 seating arrangement used on the first generation Vauxhall Zafira?

50. From where did the Daimler Conquest reputedly get its name?

51. What car was in the hold of the Titanic on the day it sank?

52. What was the first car on sale in the UK with a documented top speed of over 100mph?

53. When was the first speeding ticket issued?

54. Who was the first person to drive a car on the Moon?

55. How many radiators does a Bugatti Veyron have?

56. Why did Johnny Herbert not appear on the podium after winning Le Mans in 1991?

57. What was the name of the four-door saloon project cancelled by Porsche in 1992?

58. What was the name of the mid-sized Bentley shown in concept form in 1994 but never put into full production?

59. What was the first four-door Ferrari?

60. Which company built a 1984 concept car called Quasar?

61. What was Motor Sport magazine known as when first published in 1924?

62. After who or what is Lagonda named?

63. In what make of car was Albert Camus killed?

64. Which British manufacturer built bicycles before cars?

65. Which was the first car to have front seatbelts as standard?

66. What was the first road car to offer ceramic brakes as standard?

67. What was unusual about the ‘turbo’ logo on the BMW 2002 Turbo?

68. What was the first mass-produced car with an engine boasting five valves per cylinder?

69. Who played Tim Randolph in the 1966 film Grand Prix?

70. What was the first international motor race in which a factory-entered Bentley competed?

71. What was the real name of Pierre Levegh, the man who drove the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR that was involved in the worst motor racing accident in history at Le Mans in 1955?

72.  What was the code name of the French Resistance network for whom former Grand Prix winners William Grover-Williams and Robert Benoist both worked?

73. What make of car did the Thinwall Special start life as?

74. What models of Jaguar did John ‘Two Jags’ Prescott have the use of?

75. Which company was the supplier of the original alloy wheels for the Porsche 911?

76. What make of car did Ernest Shackleton take with him to Antarctica on his 1907-09 Nimrod expedition?

77. What components did the early Lotus Esprit and Morris Marina have in common?

78. Who was known as ‘the hyphen in Rolls-Royce’?

79. Which driver has started the most Grands Prix without ever having finished on the podium?

80. What was unusual about Jacky Ickx qualifying in third place for the 1967 German Grand Prix?

81. What is the Lotus 26 better known as?

82. Every petrol-powered Rolls-Royce model since 2003 has had a V12 engine. How many used them before then?

83. Approximately how many Minis were used in the making of the original version of The Italian Job?

84. Which McLaren F1 owner rescued the Monty Python film The Life of Brian when funding was lost late in the day?

85. What was the connection between ABBA and Formula 1?

86. What was the proper name of the Jaguar C-Type, and what did the C stand for?

87. What car raced at Le Mans in the 1960s with engines of four, six and eight cylinders, all with 2-litre capacities?

88. Who set the first officially certified Land Speed Record above 100mph?

89. Whom was Mike Hawthorn allegedly racing when he had his fatal road accident in January 1959?

90. Will Andrew Frankel be delegating the task of compiling the 2026 Christmas quiz?

Answers

1. Peter Revson

2. The Slug

3. Masten Gregory

4. Ford Consul

5. Rabbit

6. Denovo

7. The Midland Hotel, Manchester

8. Speed Model 3-litre

9. Crowds leaving the circuit would hamper the efforts of the emergency services

10. It had no clutch pedal

11. Purple

12. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

13. Maria Teresa de Filippis

14. Desire Wilson who won a round of the Aurora AFX Championship at Brands Hatch in 1980

15. Ricardo Zunino

16. Facom

17. Bertone Stratos Zero

18. E2A

19. Joseph Dubonnet

20. One

21. Chopper

22. Al Melling

23. Jonathan Palmer Evolution

24. Rover 2000, 1964

25. Cadillac

26. Eliseo Salazar

27. Enzo Ferrari

28. Mantovani

29. Jean Behra

30. Hrududu, according to Richard Adams in Watership Down

31. Denmark

32. Jason Dawe

33. 70mph unless signed otherwise

34. Francis Ford Coppola

35. Talulah Riley

36. Knight Industries Two Thousand

37. A 1948 Ford De Luxe Convertible

38. Finland (three from 5.5 million people)

39. RAF Westhampnett

40. Graham Nearn

41. Ned

42. Jaguar XJS

43. 1966

44. Lancia

45. Lamborghini Diablo

46. He was blind

47. To provide refuge from polar bears

48. They have the same wheelbase

49. Porsche

50. The price of an entry-level model at launch was £1066

51. A Renault CB Town Car

52. Vauxhall 30/98

53. 1896

54. David Scott, commander of Apollo 15

55. 10

56. He had collapsed due to exhaustion

57. 989

58. Java

59. Pinin concept from 1980

60. Peugeot

61. The Brooklands Gazette

62. Lagonda Creek in Springfield, Ohio

63. Facel Vega

64. Rover

65. Volvo PV544

66. Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG F1 Edition

67. It was in mirror script so it could be read in the mirrors of the car ahead

68. 1989 Mitsubishi Minica Dangan ZZ

69. Phil Hill

70. 1922 Indy 500. It came last

71. Pierre Bouillin

72.  Chestnut

73. Ferrari

74. An XJ8 for official use, and his own XJ6

75. Fuchs

76. Arrol-Johnston

77. Door handles

78. Claude Johnson

79. Adrian Sutil (128 starts)

80. He was in a Formula 2 car

81. The original Elan

82. Two, the Silver Seraph of 2001 and Phantom III of 1936

83. The number is debated, but around 16

84. George Harrison

85. Their regular session drummer and sometime F1 driver ‘Slim’ Borgudd

86. Jaguar XK120C, and ‘Competition’

87. Porsche 904

88. Paul Baras in a Darracq who hit 104.5mph in November 1904

89. Famed privateer team-owner Rob Walker

90. Yes