20 replies to this topic

[Mohican]

What makes racing exciting ? Truly interesting ?

Drivers ? Cars ? Diversity ? Competition ? Spectacle ? Speed ?

Personally think all of the above, which leads me to the question: what was the best Grand Prix season ever, in terms of spectacle ?

Most people may say 1976 or 1982 - for good and bad reasons. Personally think 1973 was pretty special.

Whaddya say ?

[Tim Murray]

We had a go at this a week or so back - look at:

http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=52669

[quintin cloud]

What makes racing exciting ? Truly interesting ?

Drivers ? Cars ? Diversity ? Competition ? Spectacle ? Speed ?

Personally think all of the above, which leads me to the question: what was the best Grand Prix season ever, in terms of spectacle ?

Most people may say 1976 or 1982 - for good and bad reasons. Personally think 1973 was pretty special.

In my view for drivers, Senna and Prost in 1990, Schumacher and Hakkinen in 2000,Mansell and Senna 1991
Cars = Mercedesbens and Auto unions of the 1937 - 39, Maserati 250F, Lotus 49, Tyrrel p34, Mclaren 1988, Ferrari F1-2002
Diversity = N/C
Competition = N/C
Spectacle = Lemans , Indy 500, Italian GP at Monza
Speed = Lemans, Indy 500
best GP Season = 1988 season with Senna and prost, and my best season 2002 f1 season to see if Shuamacher could bet every record in the book.

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Mohican
What makes racing exciting ? Truly interesting ?

Drivers ? Cars ? Diversity ? Competition ? Spectacle ? Speed ?

Personally think all of the above, which leads me to the question: what was the best Grand Prix season ever, in terms of spectacle ?

Most people may say 1976 or 1982 - for good and bad reasons. Personally think 1973 was pretty special.

Whaddya say ?

For me it was always the cars when I was a kid - the technology, the look of the things, the sound, the smell. Then I started getting interested in the guys behind the scenes, the geniuses like Bennett, Chapman, Broadley, Murray etc. The drivers have always been third as far as I'm concerned - after all they just drive the damn things for a few hours, they don't sweat blood for months during the gestation of the cars!

However jaded I feel about certain aspects of the sport, the sight and sound of any racing car is almost enough to cheer me up. (except if it's a monstrosity like a Daytona Prototype).

[Mohican]

Had not seen the earlier thread, Tim.

Anyway, i always thought that 1973 was special as it constituted the end of one era (Stewart, Hulme, Amon, Ickx, Beltoise and others all effectively ended their careers that year (to say nothing of poor Cevert, and Revson nearly immediately afterwards)) - and it was also saw new frontliners (Scheckter, Lauda, Hunt) emerging.

And, best of all, it was really Ronnie's year - on pure speed, most certainly.

[Haddock]

You know what ?

I really don't know. Its totally out of character really.

I mean, sport bores me senseless usually. I can cope with a bit of tennis maybe, and I might watch the world cup final every four years, but usually the sports section of the paper is second in the bin after the business section for me.

Road cars don't interest me much either. If the green movement gets them banned in the end, I would care little. Might stop us having murderous conflicts in the Middle East.

But I was taken to the European Grand Prix as a kid in 1985 and I've just been totally transfixed by the sport ever since. Well, for the most part, anyway.

Partly its the battles between the drivers - the Senna/Prost years in particular felt as much like an epic film as a mere sporting contest. And it used to be about the cars, but I can't think of a category of racing where *they* really interest me any more. Certainly none of the spec-formulae, nor F1 any more. Le Mans has variety little in the way of quality. GT racing has a nice spread of machinery, but its dull as ditchwater to watch.

Which leave the sight of a modern, aerospace-tech F1 car in full flight through somewhere like Becketts. with a Schumacher, a Montoya or a Fisichella at the wheel. And when I see that, I still think that fundamentally, there's not that much wrong with the sport.

[Doug Nye]

Ever changing, ever unfolding, continuous soap opera - you nevre quite know what's going to come up next, or a least you did not before the age of industrial motor-sport-on-draught gained pre-eminence, with the same stereotyped annual programme being re-run year, after year, after year, after year...after year .... after..... you get the drift...................................

DCN

[dolomite]

Originally posted by petefenelon



For me it was always the cars when I was a kid - the technology, the look of the things, the sound, the smell. Then I started getting interested in the guys behind the scenes, the geniuses like Bennett, Chapman, Broadley, Murray etc. The drivers have always been third as far as I'm concerned - after all they just drive the damn things for a few hours, they don't sweat blood for months during the gestation of the cars!

What he said.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
Ever changing, ever unfolding, continuous soap opera - you nevre quite know what's going to come up next, or a least you did not before the age of industrial motor-sport-on-draught gained pre-eminence, with the same stereotyped annual programme being re-run year, after year, after year, after year...after year .... after..... you get the drift...................................

DCN

But shouldn't that be motor-sport-on-keg? Bland, full of gas and lacking taste and character ....

[dretceterini]

I don't know why exactly, but I've always had a thing about silly little cars trying to beat bigger displacement cars..probibly the best result ever in this category was a 2nd overall in the 1948 Mille Miglia for a Fiat 1100 special..

[Barry Boor]

What got me interested in the first place? Colours.

What keeps me interested? Optimism & anticipation.

[scheivlak]

Originally posted by Mohican
Had not seen the earlier thread, Tim.

Anyway, i always thought that 1973 was special as it constituted the end of one era (Stewart, Hulme, Amon, Ickx, Beltoise and others all effectively ended their careers that year (to say nothing of poor Cevert, and Revson nearly immediately afterwards)) - and it was also saw new frontliners (Scheckter, Lauda, Hunt) emerging.

And, best of all, it was really Ronnie's year - on pure speed, most certainly.

To me, 1973 was a pretty horrible year - giving me an overall sense of loss: No Matra V12, Ferrari completely outpaced and not even arriving at the Dutch GP; only a few aging BRMs remaining in what seemed to become another Formula Ford.
Add to that the fact I witnessed the unforgivable Roger Williamson tragedy from quite nearby and that the season ended with Cevert's fatal crash in the weekend that should have crowned Tyrrell's and Jackie Stewart's effort - and you might understand that I lost almost any interest in F1 whatsoever for some years. And sports car racing wasn't what it used to be either.

But indeed, the likes of Stewart, Revson, Peterson et al drove for what they're worth...

[Lotus23]

Interesting question. Not sure I can formulate a fully rational answer. The longer I spend working in psychiatry, the less I seem to understand about how our minds work!

For myself, it's the combination of art and science. Right brain gets its kicks from smells, sounds, colors involved. Left brain synapses fire from stimulations of displacement, piston speed, slip angles, rpm.

Mix in an ever-changing cast of characters and the whole delightful gestalt is what floats my personal boat. And has for 57 years now.

[rdrcr]

Good answer Lotus....

Mine was going to be a lot simpler... Oil for blood, gears for brains.

My interest in motorsports of all types stems from appreciations found trying to actually do a bit of it.




If I may quote the late, great Ken Tyrrell...

"Formula One is a disease you cannot beat, the only way out is to die."

[Frank S]

Taste.

It seems to me there is some kind of joy in tuning and honing every aspect of existence. Nowhere does the tuning and honing taste as sweet as in the motorsports venue.

Your taste buds may differ. Don't worry. It's genetic.

Frank S

[Don Capps]

I have little real interest in the Clockwork Formula Series for much the same reasons as Doug -- one program does you for the whole season......

What keeps me interested in all this is how little I really seem to know. There is always new information or a new way of looking at information or events and even more fascinating is that one bit of information which pops up out of nowhere and suddenly.....

[Mohican]

Have read your answers with interest - very impressive they are, as well as deeply felt.

I first started following GP racing in 1969, when very young, but did not get to see a GP live until 1977 (grew up in a country not deemed worthy by Bernie & Co, even then) - and my overwhelming impression was always that this is something that I could not ever do myself. The speed, the noise, the danger...all made a huge impression on a young mind.

Today, at a somewhat more mature age, am still overwhelmed by the pure speed; if nowadays mostly sadly confined by the tight tracks - but the sheer spectacle is to a great extent gone. Having fallen victim to a) the real tracks being replaced by slow-speed tracks in order to keep the cars in TV focus, b) the cars all looking the same and of course c) there is simply no RACING anymore.

Well remember the Belgian GP at Spa in 1983 - the sight of Andrea de Cesaris going round Blanchimont in the Alfa Romeo turbo...these are memories to savour.

[FrankB]

Originally posted by Barry Boor

What keeps me interested? Optimism & anticipation.

A slight variation in my case... more a triumph of optimism over experience.

[Brun]

Originally posted by Mohican
Whaddya say ?

Hard to say.

(revelation on) In 2000, Racer.Demon took me to Goodwood. There I strolled through the paddock, to witness an old geezer. He was bending over a priceless, umpteen-year old racecar. The guy tweaked away at the carburettors, sniffing the exhaust gases to check the mixture. He didn't care for the ear-piercing racket of the muffler-less V8, coming out of the exhaust pipes only inches away from his unprotected ears. Perhaps he was already too deaf to hear it. Anyway, a few minutes later some behelmeted figure in a jumpsuit hops in, drives the thing to the starting line and roars up the hill. Full-throttle of course, regardless how expensive, classic or unique his car is. (revelation off)

It was just, well, cool. Got to me, somehow

[fines]

What keeps me interested?

In the history of the sport: there are still questions unanswered.

In the present? Nothing.

[holiday]

Dunno

But on thing kept me thinking. Another user on this BB said once that such irregular patterns as contemporary f1 shows in terms of attractiveness are far more addictive to the fan than one f1 with regular attractive races. I have detected this principle in various other things, too.