Most disciplines of motorsport require drivers, engineers and teams to not only be good but amongst the best of the best not just to win but to even field a competitive car.
Every aspect, from the motorsport gears to the engine map needs to be carefully made, maintained, installed and adjusted, and preparation can be the difference between winning and coming in dead last if you finish at all.
Because of this, there are many teams that field an unfortunate entry that struggles to be competitive. However, there are some cars and drivers that are far worse than others in this regard.
Al Pease
During the early years of Formula One, it was possible if you had the money to buy a car from another team and enter a race or two near where you lived, particularly if you had a little experience in other categories.
Enter Al Pease, a pioneering and rather skilled sports car driver who entered three Formula One Grands Prix as a privateer entry driving an Eagle Mk1 that was somewhat out of date and particularly slow, finishing 43 laps down after a battery failure in 1967 and not starting at all in 1968.
In 1969, however, he became infamous for being the only driver disqualified for driving too slowly in Formula One history.
Nissan GT-R LM Nismo
One of the most ambitious and unorthodox Le Mans cars ever made, Nissan’s 2015 endurance racer was intended to be an unconventional challenger that was designed back to front, with an engine and drivetrain at the wide front end of the car alongside a hybrid flywheel system.
This hybrid car was in theory supremely powerful with over 1000bhp of total power between a twin-turbo V6 and the hybrid energy recovery system, but when the latter failed to work, it was left with a slow, unbalanced front-wheel drive car.
It was 20 seconds off the pace in qualifying and ended the race 153 laps behind the race-winning car, a more conventional Porsche 919 Hybrid.
Whilst the engineering team were bullish about competing again at Le Mans, the car never raced again.
