The interesting thing is that whilst the cars from this era are self evidently very different from today's machines, nevertheless they don't look obsolete and ancient per se.
If however you were to go back 25-30 years from 1988 say then the difference is far more marked and 1950s/early 60s cars really do appear antediluvian by comparison.
I also suspect that if you gave a 1980s 956/962, Jaguar or Sauber modern brakes and tyres with appropriate suspension mods they probably wouldn't be that much slower than their modern counterparts.
Thats a good point Paul and I have pondered this myself when looking back through photos from early GpC days - now thirty years old and as you say still looking
modern in most respects.
Racing cars in general have ceased looking
newer - it also applies in some cases to F1, F3 etc.
A Mid 90s F1 car with high nose, airbox, driver huddled down in high sided cocpit etc looks very like one from today!
Thats almost 20 years with no really noticable visual changes... how dull.
Work it back,
10 years before 1996 and we are at the peak of the Turbo era, rather bulky looking cars with no air boxes and drivers sitting up high
20 yearts before was Ferrari 312T2s McLaren M23s Tyrrell P34s etc. all looking striking individual
30 years and it's elegant little Lotus 33s and BRM P261s , small tyres, no wings,sponsors, side pods or airboxes
40 years and it's Vanwalls and Maserati 250Fs.....
If you look at F3 the Dallara of today looks roughly as it might have in about 1990.
No wonder modern racing makes so many of us old codgers switch off. We've seen most of it before...