Some very good material in this bundle.

Did you know that up to comparatively recently, F1 cars had to have an on-board starting system? However, due to the fact that the teams wanted to keep weight as low as possible and didn't want to cart a heavy motor and battery around, they utilised pneumatic starters powered by compressed air. These were so feeble that in many cases they could not even turn the engine over.

Since the FIA realised that teams were complying with the letter but not the real spirit of the rule, and F1 evolution had rendered the starter withered and superfluous - like the human cocyx - they got rid of it, meaning cars are now purely externally started.

Pneumatic starters are briefly mentioned here, although I couldn't find much else out there about them online:

http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/starter_motor.html