119 replies to this topic

[Dan333SP]

I was looking through my old photos of races I've attended, and I got to wondering... what's the single most significant event you've witnessed in front of you live on a racetrack? I'm thinking things like dramatic overtakes, crashes, first wins, ect.

For me, it would probably be seeing Robert Kubica's accident at Montreal in 2007. Obviously he survived and only missed a single race, but it's quite a shock to see something that violent unfold as you watch and then notice that the grandstands around you are totally silent while everyone waits for him to move to make sure he's alive. There was quite a cheer when they extracted him from the car and carried him off on a stretcher with his arm waving.

It was also pretty special to see Lewis get his first pole and win in 2007, and Robert his first and only win the next year.

In sportscars, I think the most significant thing I've seen in person was the debut of the Audi R8 at Sebring in 2000. It won its first race, and that was the start of an era of absolute domination by Audi that hasn't really ever stopped with the exception of some bumps in the road by other works teams. I remember standing trackside at T1 when the race started and watching the R8s just gliding through that bumpy corner as the BMWs and the rest of the prototypes skittered all over the track. It was clearly a huge step above anything that had been developed to that point for that ruleset, and the team had this aura about them all weekend.

https://lh3.googleus...TF=w739-h653-no

That's my view of the aftermath of Robert's wreck.

Edited by Dan333SP, 24 November 2015 - 18:32.

[Marklar]

[Rob]

Seeing Kimi Raikkonen running right near the front of an experienced pack at the Formula Ford Festival in one of his first car races. It was one of the most impressive performances I've seen from someone inexperienced. I knew he'd be a driver to keep an eye on and so it turned out to be.

 

Incidentally, the other racers weren't slouches. Marcos Ambrose probably should have won the thing, but if I remember rightly he had some sort of technical issue.

[maverick69]

[Frank Tuesday]

Jean Alessi's only Grand Prix victory.

Jordan's first Grand Prix victory.

[427MkIV]

1987 Indy 500. Mario dominated, Big Al won his fourth in a year-old March.

[JHSingo]

I was there for what most people will know as the 'not bad for a number two driver' race, Silverstone 2010. Happened over a couple of days obviously, with the whole wing scenario on Saturday, and then in the actual race Vettel getting a puncture right at the start, Webber controlling things at the front, and then that radio comment at the end which summed up his feelings perfectly.

 

(On a slightly off-topic note, that weekend was memorable because I'd pulled a sicky off school to attend Friday practice. Then the weekend was glorious sunshine for pretty much the entire three days, so it was a bit tricky to explain how I'd got slightly sunburnt when I returned to school the next Monday )

 

Also, the year before that was my first at the British Grand Prix. While it was more an off track thing, it was quite a memorable one because that's when the FOTA group had announced they were going to form a breakaway series. Plus, there was all the uncertainty about the future of the BGP as well, as it supposed to have been the last one at Silverstone. It just combined to produce quite a weird atmosphere. There were 'wanted' style posters of Max and Bernie stuck up, and whenever those two appeared on the big screens, they were booed loudly. Wasn't the most exciting race, unfortunately (2010 was far more entertaining) but it was certainly an interesting weekend for those reasons.

[Dan333SP]

 

You were there for both of those? Man, if you were once a Ferrari fan I'd imagine you aren't any more!

[Mark8539]

Senna overtaking into the Old Hairpin on the first lap of the Donington Grand Prix in 1993.

 

Mark Blundell winning the Portland 1997 CART race - his first in the series.

 

Mansell's helmet bobbing above the crowd when he stopped on track after winning the British Grand Prix in 1992.

Edited by Mark8539, 24 November 2015 - 17:35.

[thegforcemaybewithyou]

Hakkinnen crashing coming into the Motodrom right in front of me in 99. This race also saw a Ferrari team order, if i remember correctly, Salo (Schumacher replacement) letting Irvine through.

 

[DS27]

Jody Sheckters huge accident at the begining of the 1976 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch is my first and probably most vivid memory of going to a race.

 

Seeing Craig Jones tragic accident (RIP) at Brands in 2008 still haunts me as well.

Edited by DS27, 24 November 2015 - 17:53.

[midgrid]

Juan Pablo Montoya's first win for McLaren, Nigel Mansell's final race competition, Sakon Yamamoto and Fabio Leimer hitting the barriers... 

[Henri Greuter]

For me the most impressive moment ever from a personal point of view is seeing Arie win the 1990 Indy 500. (I am Dutchman so....)

 

The most historic thing I ever saw is most likely Al Jr.s victory in 1994 with that Penske-Ilmor Pushrod, the car that created to use the rules that should have given Penske more opposition but instead he was the only one ver to benefit from these rules. And after that race the engine was handicapped to that extend that it was rendered uncompetitive. Never before or ever since have we seen anything like that regarding an engine.....

 

 

Henri

[chunder27]

Great idea for a thread.

 

Seeing Senna at Donington in 93 though not on race day was significant I suppose.

 

Watching Colin win the WRC in 95 was a standout.

 

Simon Crafar beating the seemingly unbeatable Doohan at Donington in 1998 was fairly significant.  But perhaps more significant was sharing a brief moment with Valentino Rossi in 1997 at teh Race of Champions, watching a stunt rider do his thing on the pitwall and chatting about it. Something I will always treasure.

 

As was being present at the finest race I have ever seen (though I missed most of it) Hopkins and Tommy Hill at Brands BSB in 2011.

 

But I do not tend to grace, expensive, big events really so most of what I have seen is largely insignificant to most.

[Victor_RO]

Porsche's 17th Le Mans win. If I were to stretch it a bit and include what I saw on the screens that show what's happening around the track while trackside, sadly I would also have to include Allan Simonsen's fatal accident.

[whitewaterMkII]

Significant covers a lot of ground, been to many deciding races I suppose, in many series. The following were significant to me.

The 'pass' at Laguna Seca I'd say was one, there was probably only about 300-400 people at the top of the corkscrew that actually saw it. One of my most memorable things though that was probably mundane as far as significance, but totally cool, was being in Lotus' pit when Mario Andretti won at Long Beach in 1977, I was next to the car when he climbed out and one of the first to shake his hand, this was long before any sort of 'winner's circle' type events. Sad moments would be being there at the corkscrew when Gonzalo Rodriguez died and at the track when Greg Moore died, and a horrible day when our driver Tim Capaldi in drag boats was killed.  

Been to lots and lots of races, in all sorts of series and crewed on dragsters, boats, MX and off road cars here in the Western US, so those times we won were pretty neat,too.

Edited by whitewaterMkII, 24 November 2015 - 18:39.

[Ickx]

Me too. Kimi blew his engine in front our seats

[Ben1445]

I was at Le Mans when Alan Simonsen had his accident, stood at the Esses when the announcement came through - not something I would like to repeat.

Only other than that the only 'significant' thing that springs to mind is being at the Formula E finale when Piquet Jr became champion. 

 

Significant perhaps to me was Silverstone 6 Hour in 2011 when Pagenaud stood in for Davidson having never driven there before but put it on pole... and then took the win with Bourdais. Then he moved to IndyCar which is when and I why I started watching it.  

Edited by Ben1445, 24 November 2015 - 19:09.

[Dick Dastardly]

1976....British GP @ Brands, Hunt winning  only to be disqualified months later

1985...European GP, same venue, Mansell's 1st win...and again 10 months later, winning the 86 British GP 

1973 British GP @ Silverstone....major touring car "incident" to be followed a few hours later by the Scheckter triggered 1st lap carnage....   

[Lipp]

For me it seeing Jan Lammers with Dumfries and Wallace win at Le Mans for Jaguar. It was my first time there and I have been back many times since.

 

Edited by Lipp, 24 November 2015 - 19:49.

[Nonesuch]

Michael Schumacher winning the World Championship - his seventh - at Spa-Francorchamps.

 

It was the 14th race of the season, and the first one where he finished but failed to win. It was quickly forgotten in the celebrations.
 

Edited by Nonesuch, 24 November 2015 - 19:55.

[Juan Kerr]

Brands Hatch '86 and Silverstone '87 were pretty epic. Sadly none since.

[Victor_RO]

I was at Le Mans when Alan Simonsen had his accident, stood at the Esses when the announcement came through - not something I would like to repeat.

 

I was a few dozen meters up in the Tertre Rouge campsite. Felt like I had been punched in the stomach really hard, sat up and walked around for about 2 hours without the radio and sort of in a daze.

[Afterburner]

I saw Sebastian Vettel's first F1 race, Justin Wilson score his only points in F1, the final ALMS race in 2013, and the first 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans under IMSA's new sportscar series.

[Turboflame]

Montreal 1995. I had tears in my eyes.

[BlinkyMcSquinty]

This guy making the crowd insane, well before Formula One

 

 

I was sitting directly across the track when this went down, James Hunt sucker-punching a marshall.

 

[63Corvette]

I was sitting at the turn 1 wall (front row) of the 1973 Indy 500 when Salt Walther was launched into the spectator row fencing and the fuel went through the fence and ignited in the spectators faces. His car was torn in two with the engine half about halfway to turn 1 and Salt Walther still conscious, but trapped in the front half of his burning car with his feet sticking out stopped right in front of us,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but the track fire marshals were back up the track attending his burning engine and no one noticed nor could hear us scream) about Salt trapped in his burning car. The race was red flagged, the injured spectators were removed by ambulance, and the race never restarted due to rain. I had to return to St Louis for work, but I believe it rained on Monday, so the race (finally) ran to an almost empty house on Tuesday. Several spectators had corneal burns and it was and is the worst raceing experience in my lifetime which has included several fatalities.

https://youtu.be/X-IsOuo5be8

 

Second most memorable and probably my most significant racing high was starting on pole (next to Bob Bondurant in a Lola T70 coupe) for the 1984 Historic support race for the USGP F1 race at Dallas Fair Park. Bob won the race and I finished 3rd behind a Ford GT40MkII.

Edited by 63Corvette, 25 November 2015 - 15:39.

[Jerem]

Magny-Cours 2002.

 

Kimi's almost first win.

 

Schumacher's Fangio-equalling title win. In one of the most dominant F1 cars ever, the F2002. The title was won in July.

Edited by Jerem, 24 November 2015 - 20:53.

[karl100589]

Jarno Trulli's crash at Silverstone in 2004:

 

Although for significance I would say the Qualifying session from that race where everyone ran slowly in Qualy 1 to start earlier in Q2 to avoid the rain, as it was the race that pretty much ended the two-part format

[Bloggsworth]

My friend Paul and I were spectating on the outside of Paddok Bend at Brands Hatch during a Formula Ford race and saw a car coming through visibly faster than anyone else, we turned to each other and said "World Champion," we looked up his number in the programme and read the name Emerson Fittipaldi...

Edited by Bloggsworth, 24 November 2015 - 21:02.

[PayasYouRace]

I was at Jerez in 1997. Sadly not at the right corner to see the coming together itself, but that battle between Schumacher and Villeneuve was incredible to follow live.

[DerFlugplatz]

I saw Mark Webbers first win at the Nurburgring in 2009 and Hamiltons first win for Mercedes in Hungary 2013, and my uncle saw Vettels first win at Monza 2008.

Edited by DerFlugplatz, 24 November 2015 - 22:00.

[Murraytastic]

Not nearly as epic as most here, but a moment I definitely won't forget: Alonso going round the outside of Vettel at Copse at 180mph in 2014.

[V8 Fireworks]

Marcos Ambrose win in the Pirtek Stone Brothers car at the Adelaide 500 circa 2003.   Dominance of Mark Skaife/Holden Racing Team firmly broken after a long period.

 

The debut of an era of aerodynamic parity (finally) for Falcon teams.  The start of an exciting era with a road-going DOHC V8 falcon and turbo inline six Falcon performance models released.

 

Edited by V8 Fireworks, 24 November 2015 - 22:08.

[uffen]

On the negative side: Imola 1994. I was there but only directly witnessed Ruben's crash on Friday. The other two tragedies did not happen in my direct sight (thank goodness).

 

On the positive side: Alesi's win in Montreal 1995; Jordan's one-two at Spa 1998; Watson's first and Penske's only win at Osterreichring 1976; the last race at the real Nurburgring in 1976 (Lauda's crash was seen only as a plume of black smoke many miles away); seeing Gilles Villeneuve win Monaco in 1981; Ricciardo's first win in Montreal 2014.

[MortenF1]

I've been attending a handful of GP-weekends (and several rallycross events as a kid) but the most significant ones are definitely my first which was Spa 2005, and Silverstone 2008. Spa '05, last year with the V10's and all. I couldn't believe it when I got inside the gates and saw the cars flashing by. There they were, right before me! The Red Bulls, McLaren's and Ferrari's. Räikkönen, Schumacher and Coulthard! The roar and applause from the crowd when DC passed Fisichella in the rain on Sunday. It was all brilliant.

Silverstone '08. Silverstone is just an amazing venue! I so vividly remember how both McLarens, but Hamilton especially, power-slid onto the S/F-straight on every single practice-lap! Just great! And I was fascinated by the support he got. Seeing his driving that weekend, and how totally in a class of his own he was in the rainy race, started to slowly turn me into a supporter of his. (…but I've never been so cold, as I was that sunday. Low temperature, but still around 15´C I guess, but I was drenched, which was what did it! I've felt warmer in -25´C home in Norway!)

[Lotus53B]

 

I was about 10m right of the Ferrari and McLaren, getting showered with rain and carbon fiber - no-one was hurt so I don't mind posting a crash image.

 

There was, but sadly no more, an image online that my father took at the BRDC race at Silverstone in 71, which had Graham Hill on a low loader, doing a lap of honor celebrating his last F1 victory - if I find that, I'll edit this post

Edited by Lotus53B, 24 November 2015 - 22:48.

[tomspar]

6 car start at indy

[scheivlak]

I would have liked to say the 1971 Dutch GP. Fantastic race, though it was pretty cold and wet! A race remembered because of the great duel between Jacky Ickx and pedro Rodriguez - both clearly in top form and in a class of their own. The most significant thing about the race was perhaps the Grand Prix debut of a turbine engined car, the Lotus 56B! It did pretty well for a few laps until it buried itself in the sand or something like that.

It was a race that opened my eyes to the importance of tyres. Firestone tyred cars finished 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8, Goodyear shod cars 9-10-11-12.... In view of that, I was impressed by JP Beltoise, the only Goodyear driver who could make at least some impression on the Firestone opposition.

 

But I'm afraid I have to mention the 1973 Dutch GP as the most significant. I was disappointed right from the start because of the Ferrari no show, which made it a kind of F1 Formula Ford Plus race to me (and the 1970/1971 races had made a real Jacky Ickx/Ferrari fan). 

I was just 200 metres or so from the place where Roger Williamson crashed, burned and died. I didn't dare to look at what happened just at the other site of that dune to the left, but I even imagined noticing the smell of burning human flesh. The hauntingly clumsy performance by everybody in charge of the event made sick to my stomach as well. And meanwhile the race just got on and on with Ronnie Peterson in front driving like an madman where everybody else just seemed to lift the throttle a little coming near to that area.

Edited by scheivlak, 24 November 2015 - 23:10.

[PlatenGlass]

I was at Silverstone in 1994 to witness the beginning of Schumacher's lead in the championship being eaten away with the warm-up lap/black flag incident. I was also there the next year close to where Schumacher and Hill had their collision. I also saw Hamilton clinch the title in America this year.

[GBarclay]

Seeing the 10 minute barrier fall on Pikes Peak

 

Seeing Loeb demolish the record on Pikes Peak a few years later

[BlackCat]

Joey Dunlop's last race...

[Chick0]

Monza 2006.  A weekend of mixed emotions for many Schumi and Ferrari fans. 

 

Alonso's engine going bang in front of the Tifosi.

 

Schumi going on and winning the race. 

 

 

Then announcing his retirement in the press conference.

Edited by Chick0, 25 November 2015 - 03:09.

[Rob G]

I saw Cristiano da Matta's final victory, for PKV Racing at the CART race Portland in 2005. After the race, a friend and I walked over to the hospitality area, saw the team's co-owner (and series co-owner) Kevin Kalkhoven at the entrance to the PKV unit. We congratulated him, and I told him that I flew from North Carolina just to be at that race. He was so pleasantly surprised that he invited us in to celebrate with the team. That champagne was awfully good.

 

I was at Road America the following year when Katherine Legge's car flew into the catch fence at the Kink. I was at the penultimate corner, so I didn't see the accident, but seeing one tow truck bringing one half of the car back to the pits, followed a few minutes later by another truck and the other half of the car, was chilling. I headed to the paddock after the race and bumped into Katherine as she walked towards me, and we chatted for a bit. She was very happy.

 

As for perhaps the least significant event, I saw Paul Newman take his first ride on a Segway.

[JacnGille]

Gilles Villeneuve's rain lap at Watkins Glen.

[EvilPhil II]

I think Montoya at this years Indy 500 was incredible to watch. I think near the end there is an in car shot of him actually drifting with opposite lock through turn 2. Amazing. 

 

Here you go watch from 7min mark: 

 

Edited by EvilPhil II, 25 November 2015 - 01:45.

[LB]

Keke's Silverstone 160MPH lap in 1985. Was insane at Woodcote!

 

On the downside I was present at a fatality in a midget race at Western Springs speedway in Auckland about 1999 and seeing the wheel enter the stands at the Nationwide race at Daytona the other year brought flashbacks of that but luckily everyone survived. 

[Peter0Scandlyn]

Nige, winning on his first start in the Indy car series.

[jonpollak]

Good Lord where do I begin?
How about at the beginning.
1967 Monaco and Lorenzo Bandini going up in flames. Other momentous occasions from 75+ races attended would be....

That Saturday at Watkins Glen where we lost Francoise.

1976 and that British Summer sitting outside Paddock Hill yelling for James to be reinstated.

Watching Gilles at Long Beach for all the years he raced there.

1989 at Suzuka watching at Casio.

1995 Indy 505.

1997 at Jerez, but unlike PAYR, I was standing at Dry Sack and saw the whole tawdry thing.

2005 Indy Grand Prix,

All but 1 of Greg Moore's 1999 races with Forsythe and then 2 of the 3 Dario victories the 500.

These are the ones that popped out when posting... Sure there are a lot more ....

Jp

Edited by jonpollak, 25 November 2015 - 04:22.

[Kristian]

For me, it would probably be seeing Robert Kubica's accident at Montreal in 2007. Obviously he survived and only missed a single race, but it's quite a shock to see something that violent unfold as you watch and then notice that the grandstands around you are totally silent while everyone waits for him to move to make sure he's alive. There was quite a cheer when they extracted him from the car and carried him off on a stretcher with his arm waving.

 

 

Weirdly, when I saw the thread title I thought exactly this - I really thought I'd seen the first F1 fatality for years at that race, and the shock in the grandstands at the accident was surreal. Luckily all turned out well. 

 

I was overjoyed also at seeing Hamilton's first win - I really loved the guy back then and knew we were probavbly seeing the start of a new 'driver era'. Its weird to think how much I can't stand him now since those days... 

 

Overall a great weekend. I've been quite lucky in that the first 4 races I visited were all significant in some way....

 

Europe 1999 - Stewart's only win. Herbert's last win. Ford's last win in F1 (I just thought of that - am I correct?) 

Canada 2007 - Hamilton's first win

Canada 2008 - Kubica's first and only win ( ) and BMW Sauber's only win

Italy 2009 - Barrichello's last win

Edited by Kristian, 25 November 2015 - 04:24.