148 replies to this topic

[jonpollak]

Think back.... what did it for you?

 

Jp

[Radion]

DC overtaking Mika at Suzuka in 2001. I didn't know what was going on but it got me hooked.

The rest is history.

[Grippy]

Pre 5 years old I've got a single mental image of cars whizzing by on a B&W tv over a small bump like this

 

but travelling from right to left and me sat on the floor in front of it.

My first few years were in RAF married quarters so I hadn't even seen a real car at that point, only Dinky toys and TV, The first vehicle I saw up close was a tractor!

It must have made an impression on me as I've always watched it since and rode push-bikes down steep hills and then motorbikes on twisty roads as the nearest I'll ever be to an F1 driver. Good times.

[arrysen]

Growing up we had pretty strong restrictions on television use at home (only allowed to watch the news each night during school term time). Used to watch Bathurst each year though - it was a BIG part of the October Labour Day weekend. Probably started doing that from the age of 10 or so, hard to be sure. Touring Cars (& Bathurst in particular) are a BIG deal in Australia so there'd be Bathurst barbecues on at friends places and all the rest of it.

 

Think that the first Grand Prix I saw on TV was Fuji in 1976 - was pretty wild seeing it all unfold as it did. As has been covered elsewhere, it took a while on the day to confirm that James Hunt was World Champion, but that's the way that timing and scoring was back then.

 

Not TV but I want to see Le Mans at the cinema when I was 12 or 13 (can't recall exactly) and it cemented a deep vein of the petrolhead that was probably already in me - still love that film to this day.

[Sash1]

Reverse racing with DAF cvt cars around 1980, and for F1 the Monaco GP 1981 or 1982.
https://youtu.be/S7i...erGrgRSGLLnVlbW

[MaxCrazyEddieCayer]

Grand prix du Canada 1985 for me. I grew up less than 2 km from the circuit, so you could hear the cars really well outside. That was the first time I put both together and realized a race was happening not far from my house and I had to watch and had my mum put the tv on so I could see those “real life hot wheels”. Alboreto won, thus cementing him as one of my favourite drivers over the years along with Senna, Mansell, Berger ect.

[teejay]

 

Was 12 at the time. 

 

I "remember" Senna passing but I honestly think thats a learnt memory. But I remember being at home watching Adelaide on the Sunday. 

Edited by teejay, 02 October 2024 - 05:36.

[se7en_24]

I don't remember my exact race, but remember the 1986 season as being the one I first watched a lot. My next door neighbour was also a BBC producer (Bob Abrahams) and he was the actually one who chose 'The Chain' as the BBC F1 theme tune, I was (and still am) friends with his son. 

Edited by se7en_24, 02 October 2024 - 07:19.

[messy]

It was the BTCC on Grandstand on a Sunday afternoon, maybe 1996/7 ish. I remember a Renault Laguna, vividly. I remember my Gran was sitting on the sofa and we watched it together. I was very interested in different makes/models of road car at thar age but had never been into racing cars - I could tell you all about the Austin Maestro 1.3 Clubman but nothing about Ayrton Senna. If I bought a model car with racing stickers on, I removed the stickers. That afternoon changed it all.

First time F1 came into my world was watching news reports of Coulthard moving over for Hakkinen in Melbourne in 1998, first live F1 weekend was Argentina '98. Video games - TOCA, F1'97 and Colin McRae Rally especially, were also really significant.

Edited by messy, 02 October 2024 - 07:46.

[Timorous]

May not be the 1st time I saw racing but I remember Mansell vs Senna in 1992 at Monaco. I would often watch some of the races back then and then go up and play Geoff Crammonds Grand Prix on the Amiga.

[PayasYouRace]

As my dad watched, and continues to watch, F1 regularly, I can’t specifically remember the first race I saw on television because it would most certainly have been before I could properly form long term memories.

The first recognisable memory for me was watching the cars at Monaco one year, and getting excited because there was a tunnel. Most likely 1989/90.

My first positively identified memory is of the 1994 Australian Grand Prix. I remember Mansell, who I recognised - must have been the moustache - on the top step of the podium, and my confusion that the world champion wasn’t him but the smug looking git in green overalls standing by the catch fence out of the race: Michael Schumacher.

The first season I properly followed was 1996. I began keeping records of the car numbers and race results. It was during that year that became aware of other series. First Indycar race I watched was Cleveland that year, on the back of a demo of Indycar Racing II from the magazine CD-ROM Today. I still have that disk. Though my mum did buy me the full game shortly after. I also had Grand Prix 2 which probably boosted my interest in watching F1 further, as I was able to relate better to the events on screen.

As an aside, I can’t fathom being a racing fan who doesn’t play racing games and sims. But then again I can tell exactly who doesn’t play them every time there’s a racing incident in F1, because it’s obvious who has no appreciation for what drivers are actually paying attention to or what they can see, whether a move looked on, etc.

1997 was my first live attendance of a motor race, the European Grand Prix. But by then that was a treat for me who was already hooked.

[Frood]

I had watched both CART and F1 prior to 1998, according to my parents, but my first concrete memory of being aware of racing is the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix. I know I'd played Gran Turismo and F1 '97 on my dad's PlayStation before this as we got that in 1997; I'd definitely been in a kart by the time I was 5 in 1997 as well.

My grandad had definitely taken me to hillclimbs when I was younger than that, but I don't think I can remember them.

Edited by Frood, 02 October 2024 - 08:31.

[DW46]

94 for me watching Schumacher v Hill and trying to turn my Lego into a Ferrari.

Thread makes a man feel old.

[markeimas27]

My first memory of F1 was being at my Mum's auntie's house. Her uncle had F1 on in the background and I remember pausing to watch it a few times. I am pretty certain it was 92. It was dark outside, which means it was either Spring or Autumn. I feel like it was South Africa on tv, which would make it the spring. 

 

I vividly remember the Williams and blue, white and yellow livery. 

 

My next memory of F1 was my friend showing me his Scalextric F1 ferrari which I thought was a Fiat because they still had the branding on the F1 cars at that point. I was then hooked shortly after in late 93.

[Jackmancer]

Must have been 1994 or 1995. I remember my dad really liking Schumacher, in a light blue car. How to know it's his car? His had a red dash across the front, the other light blue car didn't. (Which is true if I look at photos now.)

[NCB619]

This one for me:

 

Locally, the two big crashes at Calder Park in 1999 are the other memories

Edited by NCB619, 02 October 2024 - 08:40.

[PayasYouRace]

Must have been 1994 or 1995. I remember my dad really liking Schumacher, in a light blue car. How to know it's his car? His had a red dash across the front, the other light blue car didn't. (Which is true if I look at photos now.)

You’ve reminded me of the quick shorthand I had to develop in 1996 to tell the Benetton and Tyrrell apart, as both were predominantly white with Mild Seven blue. I remember a blue nose was a Benetton, and a blue cockpit was a Tyrrell.

[macjim]

Early seventies for me, it was the BBC showing the cars going round Monaco. Really got into it with the Hunt/Lauda battle of 76.

[JHSingo]

Similar to PayasYouRace, I grew up with it courtesy of my dad, and was watching it from a very young age - so, it's always difficult to pinpoint exactly when questions about first memories for this sort of thing come up. I have vague memories of seeing BTCC on BBC Grandstand and WRC on...whatever channel it would have been on at that time in the late 90s. Ah, the days when there was a variety of motorsport widely and freely accessible on TV...

My first clear memory though, is of getting up at what felt like the dead of night to watch Suzuka 2000. My dad was (and remains to this day) a huge Ferrari fan, so I still have vivid memories of sitting with him on the sofa and him cheering loudly when Schumacher came out of the pits ahead of Mika for the final time. His cheering startled me, so after he'd finished cheering he started laughing at my reaction. 

Edit: thinking further back - I had a collection of Jeremy Clarkson VHS tapes that I used to watch over and over again, including this:

Edited by JHSingo, 02 October 2024 - 09:11.

[B Squared]

Not television, but radio for me. The 1963 Indianapolis 500. Dad was there, my brother and I wanted to be, we sat out back and listened to it on the radio and were determined that racing would be part of our future

[Myrvold]

On the forum "Homepage" it said "your first experience of se..." I thought I had gone in to an alternative version of askreddit...

 

I don't actually quite know. I would either be European Rallycross from Norway in 1995, or Imola 1994. I seem to remember seeing a Williams and Benetton, but it might've been from a news broadcast.

The first that I properly remember was European Rallycross in Norway in 1996.

 

EDIT: I also distincly remember that from 1998, I would be 7 years old in between Australia and Brazil, however, my parents decided I was "old enough" to be woken up in the middle of the night, to watch F1. So Australia GP 1998 was the beginning of a new era in my life!  

Edited by Myrvold, 02 October 2024 - 11:32.

[Anderis]

My first experience of seeing racing on TV must have been in 2006. I 100% watched the Hungarian GP (Kubica's debut) but I think I may have watched 1 or 2 F1 GPs before, at least fragments of them. I have a super vague recollection of Webber retiring in Monaco 2006 and throwing his steering wheel angrily but this is so vague I'm not sure anymore if this was something I really watched live or something that my brain tricks me into thinking that I watched live in retrospect. But that would be my first memory of watching racing on TV if true.

This would be kinda ironic because I 100% had never heard of Webber or Williams at that time but later Williams become my favourite team so it would be a nice story if my first racing memory was about them.

Edited by Anderis, 02 October 2024 - 10:08.

[chdphd]

I don't remember exactly when, probably 74/75. I remember thinking Emerson Fittipaldi was a funny name and I liked his giant sideburns.

[Sterzo]

My first race on TV was in black and white, an edited programme about Le Mans - can't remember which race, but might even have been 1955. Can clearly remember seeing Fangio's Lancia-Ferrari negotiating the Silverstone wastelands in the 1956 British Grand Prix. Won't have been the whole race, just a few minutes at a time through the afternoon, in amongst hockey and horse racing.

 

Is Raymond Baxter still commentating?

[absinthedude]

I believe it was the 1978 Argentinian Grand Prix as broadcast by the BBC. My dad sat me on his knee to watch. Motor racing might have been on the screen beforehand but I hadn't taken any notice. Mario's black and gold Lotus just captured my imagination as did all the exotic sounding names....Reutemann, Lauda, Depallier. I was hooked, aged five. 

[absinthedude]

My first race on TV was in black and white, an edited programme about Le Mans - can't remember which race, but might even have been 1955. Can clearly remember seeing Fangio's Lancia-Ferrari negotiating the Silverstone wastelands in the 1956 British Grand Prix. Won't have been the whole race, just a few minutes at a time through the afternoon, in amongst hockey and horse racing.

 

Is Raymond Baxter still commentating?

 

Dear old Raymond Baxter died nearly 20 years ago, but was probably in his 80s by then. I am sure he was still occasionally commentating in the 90s on things like F3 when the regular team weren't available. He certainly covered some F3 in the late 80s when Murray wasn't able to. 

[absinthedude]

As my dad watched, and continues to watch, F1 regularly, I can’t specifically remember the first race I saw on television because it would most certainly have been before I could properly form long term memories.
 

 

An aside that I hope does not side-track the thread too much. How and when we begin to develop long term memories is a fascinating topic. I can still spend a good half hour describing in detail my first Christmas when I was 10 months old. I started watching Doctor Who when I was 2 year and 9 months old and can tell you exactly which episode it was and how it gave me nightmares, but I had to come back the following week to find out what happened. I had the opportunity years later to tell Tom Baker this and he put a hand on mine and asked, "Are you alright now?". But most people don't form long term memories until  aged 3 or 4. 

 

Which is why I am pretty sure I didn't watch any motor racing before 1978 (age 5 for me) because I'd have remembered it. British coverage of F1 was certainly very sporadic and spread across BBC and ITV before the 1978 season, often races weren't even shown until a week after they'd taken place as filmed highlights. And at that point I was very much relying on my parents to decide what was on the one TV we had. 

 

I also remember watching The Cedar Tree with my mum before they changed the opening titles so definitely 1976/77. I remember having watched Bruce Forsyth's Generation game for quite some time before Larry Grayson ("the new guy") took over in 1977. 

 

But F1? No memory before Mario and Ronnie in the Lotuses (Loti?). Mario was my early favourite though Ronnie had a sublime style. Then Lauda. 

 

Another strong memory is sitting on the bottom step of the stairs on the eve of my 3rd birthday with my head in my hands saying "I don't wanna be three"....because three meant starting school, the beginning of growing up, the inevitable loss of my hitherto totally carefree life. I was not your average child. I am not your average adult. 

Edited by absinthedude, 02 October 2024 - 11:20.

[Secretariat]

1983 Indy 500. Could not get the name Tom Sneva out of my head for weeks because I thought that was such a cool name.

[PayasYouRace]

But F1? No memory before Mario and Ronnie in the Lotuses (Loti?). Mario was my early favourite though Ronnie had a sublime style. Then Lauda.

As per Lotus Cars’ press releases, the plural of Lotus is Lotus.

[AlexPrime]

1992 German GP, Mansell won 

[PlatenGlass]

My first memories would be from 1982, also with my dad. I don't have that many strong specific memories but I remember a Renault winning a race, and I think it was probably the 1-2 in France with Arnoux winning. I have more specific memories from 1983. The earliest absolute definite would be Monaco 1983 which Rosberg won. I also went to the European GP at Brands Hatch that year, which was the penultimate round.

 

Speaking of going to races, we went to Donington in 1982 and I have a few memories from that. I seem to remember a race where a white Lotus won from a yellow Lotus. Also there was a BTCC race (or was it saloon car championship then?) I seem to remember it being won by a Rover, when apparently races were "normally" won by the Ford Capris. And I remember a battle further back between Metros. One of them was yellow, and maybe two red ones. I think I later found out that Steve Soper was driving the yellow metro that year. But this is moving away from television.

[maximilian]

I have vague memories as a pretty small kid of some F1 race that seemed to be utter chaos with multiple top-running cars retiring unexpectedly in dramatic fashion, with Jody Scheckter eventually winning it.

 

The REAL point where I started taking interest in watching racing was the 1982 British Grand Prix.  I was fascinated with total underdog Derek Warwick's charge through the field, and devastated when he DNF'd. But it made me a huge fan of Warwick and the Toleman team, and from then on I was an avid follower of F1.  Not to mention, totally over the moon when they finally scored their first points in 1983 with the most beautiful ugly car   

 

Edited by maximilian, 02 October 2024 - 12:18.

[MattK9]

I had a season review of the '92 F1 season on VHS, which I watched over and over and over again as a 6 year old.

[BRG]

IMy next door neighbour was also a BBC producer (Bob Abrahams) and he was the actually one who chose 'The Chain' as the BBC F1 theme tune

 

Top man!  He should have been knighted just for that.  No F1 theme music since then has sounded right.

 

I am going to expose my extreme age and say that I first saw motor racing on TV sometime in the 1960s .  It was sports car racing from Goodwood, probably on BBC's Grandstand show.  I can just remember what must have been Ferrari 250GTO and Aston Martins duking it out.  But don't ask me what colour they were because it was on B & W TV

Edited by BRG, 02 October 2024 - 12:23.

[Laster]

91 I was four and just remember the Mclarens and liking the look of their car. The next real big memory was 92 Monaco and watching those final laps and being glued to the screen with Mansell having no way to pass Senna.

Otherwise I remember things like Patrese going airbourne in Portugal, which as an adult would have me very worried for him but as a child who had a VHS tape of motor racing crashes it was just spectacular entertainment.

[noikeee]

I was just 3 but I swear I remember seeing the Prost-Senna crash at Suzuka 89 on telly.

 

I was already becoming a F1-obsessed child because I had a lot of toy F1 cars, my uncle had a lot of F1 magazines around my grandma's house, and had given me a mini map of Estoril on cardboard that he had drawn for me to play with my toy cars, so it already related to me.

 

At worst the Suzuka 89 might be a fake memory generated from reading the magazines afterwards and watching the footage sometimes afterwards (perhaps replayed on TV in the following years) but that's the memory I think I have.

[Ruusperi]

I was never interested in motorsport before 1999. My dad never followed F1, so F1 was never on in the background.

 

So, by pure accident, while visiting my grandpa at the retirement home - and there were no smart phones back then - I had nothing else to do than watch TV at the lobby, which was showing Canadian GP. The 1999 race happened to be very eventful and was won by Mika Häkkinen. I was hooked immediately.

 

Now, that's the story I thought was real, but lately I've been questioning it, because the race started at 8pm and ended 10pm, so it's unlikely our visit had taken place that late. So maybe I remember incorrectly, and in fact our visit to the retirement home coincided with Spanish GP 1999 (which started mid-afternoon), which was also won by Häkkinen. Whatever the case, lifelong addiction was born that day.

[LittleChris]

Aside from seeing the announcement of Jim Clarks death I think it was highlights of the 1968 British Grand Prix ( we listened to it live on the radio during a car journey ) though definitely remember watching the 1969 Italian GP.

 

Also remember seeing sports cars at Brands around that time so it may have been the same day as Jimmy died at Hockenheim which would therefore make it first on my list 

[1player]

My father was an F1 nerd and didn't even miss free practice. I have very vague memories of him watching the race on Sundays, but the oldest vivid memory of this sport I have is of that sad day at Imola 1994. I was 7 at the time.

 

Then it's a blur until later in the 90s when my younger brother decided to support Häkkinen, as a teenage form of rebellion since my father was a hardcore Ferrari/Schumacher fan

 

I didn't care for it until Netflix made it popular back again, and for the first time ever I decided to waste my weekends to watch sports on TV. The rest is history.

Edited by 1player, 02 October 2024 - 13:55.

[PlatenGlass]

I don't remember my exact race, but remember the 1986 season as being the one I first watched a lot. My next door neighbour was also a BBC producer (Bob Abrahams) and he was the actually one who chose 'The Chain' as the BBC F1 theme tune, I was (and still am) friends with his son.

If I listen to the whole song of The Chain I can't help but hear the F1 bit at the end as just the F1 tune tagged on to the end of an unconnected song. It's difficult to know if I'd see it as more cohesive if it wasn't the F1 tune.

[1player]

The first season I properly followed was 1996. I began keeping records of the car numbers and race results. It was during that year that became aware of other series. First Indycar race I watched was Cleveland that year, on the back of a demo of Indycar Racing II from the magazine CD-ROM Today. I still have that disk. Though I my mum did buy me the full game shortly after. I also had Grand Prix 2 which probably boosted my interest in watching F1 further, as I was able to relate better to the events on screen.
 

Dang I forgot about Grand Prix 2. I had an older F1 game on DOS by Accolade, forgot its name, but I did spend a lot of time playing Grand Prix 2.

 

EDIT: there it is https://en.wikipedia...it_(video_game)

Edited by 1player, 02 October 2024 - 13:59.

[MikeTekRacing]

my first recollection of race was the very early nineties seeing a GP at Hungaroring. I was drawn to it (i was about 10y.o.) and that was it.

Started following in 1993-1994 rather regularly and from 1996 VERY regularly.

Had a small drop in following absolutely all F1 races around 2010-2011 - when I missed a few races a year. Other than that I think I saw all F1 races from 1996 to now.

around the mid nineties I started following other racing too, PPG CART, Nascar, BTCC and so on...

First F1 game was Accolade GP, started playing very seriously GP2 By Geoff Crammond

Edited by MikeTekRacing, 02 October 2024 - 14:00.

[Grippy]

An aside that I hope does not side-track the thread too much. How and when we begin to develop long term memories is a fascinating topic. I can still spend a good half hour describing in detail my first Christmas when I was 10 months old. I started watching Doctor Who when I was 2 year and 9 months old and can tell you exactly which episode it was and how it gave me nightmares, but I had to come back the following week to find out what happened. I had the opportunity years later to tell Tom Baker this and he put a hand on mine and asked, "Are you alright now?". But most people don't form long term memories until  aged 3 or 4. 

 

<snip>

 

I reckon for a lot of us we need a memorable event to pin a date and therefore our age at the time to. So I remember my mum coming back from hospital having had my sister when I was 2 1/2, but otherwise my memories are a jumble of events that happened prior to my parents moving back to Devon before my fifth birthday. After that it's events during primary or secondary school.

We had a TV with slatted wooden doors that came out the side which were used if Dr Who got too scary (Patrick Troughton - Abominable Snowmen - my brother hsted them).

I find it interesting that we generally remember events more than feelings/emotions.

[DeKnyff]

My oldest memory: watching Le Mans 1967 (I was 6) on French TV and my late dad, a true petrolhead, saying 'the Chaparrals are easy to spot because of their wings". I don't remember anything else about the race.

[Grippy]

I was just 3 but I swear I remember seeing the Prost-Senna crash at Suzuka 89 on telly.

 

I was already becoming a F1-obsessed child because I had a lot of toy F1 cars, my uncle had a lot of F1 magazines around my grandma's house, and had given me a mini map of Estoril on cardboard that he had drawn for me to play with my toy cars, so it already related to me.

 

At worst the Suzuka 89 might be a fake memory generated from reading the magazines afterwards and watching the footage sometimes afterwards (perhaps replayed on TV in the following years) but that's the memory I think I have.

Yeah, replays and false memories don't help. I only know I was watching before 5 ys old because the TV was on little legs so we could sit on the floor and watch it with parents walking from door to door behind us, by 5 yr old we had moved and the TV was higher up in a room corner.

My first specific F1 event memory was as a 9yr old asking dad what "posthumous" meant when the announcer said that Jochen Rindt was posthumous world champion.

[DW46]

Yeah, replays and false memories don't help. I only know I was watching before 5 ys old because the TV was on little legs so we could sit on the floor and watch it with parents walking from door to door behind us, by 5 yr old we had moved and the TV was higher up in a room corner.
My first specific F1 event memory was as a 9yr old asking dad what "posthumous" meant when the announcer said that Jochen Rindt was posthumous world champion.

This is also how I learned what posthumous meant after reading a book on all the WDC’s from 50-00.

[F1Frog]

I have a fuzzy memory of my grandad showing me 'car number two just crashed into car number one even though they are in the same team! And now car number three has become car number one!'

[Alfisti]

Bathurst 1000, 1983. 

 

[DS27]

I couldn't accurately say, but would be either the Rallycross from Lydenn Hill or F1 highlights from the mid 70's, when I was a young lad.

[AustinF1]

I probably saw others before this, but it's the first one I can remember watching. And boy, did it make an impression. I was 10 years old, living in Tennessee at the time, and I idolized Richard Petty. That race was one of only two times I ever cried over the outcome of a sporting event. The other was when I was 40 years old, after watching my man Vince Young lead Texas to victory over USC in what many consider the greatest college football game ever played.

 

Edited by AustinF1, 03 October 2024 - 17:43.