|
|
Post by chrisb on Dec 10, 2017 9:18:19 GMT
prompted by an insane comment by the current editor of Motor Sport I was wondering what my fellow scribes feel was the 'best or their favourite motor racing era was'
for me its a conundrum, my favourite driver was pure 1960's some of my favourite races were 1960's especially 1965, but then the 1970's were great, 1973 and 1978 in particular and there again, I really liked part of the 1950's, but there again again, the 1980's especially 1985 and those awesome cars - the grunt, and so many categories were brilliant, Indycar, Group c, Rallying, the screaming two-strokes,
conclusion?
|
|
|
|
Post by Jamie on Dec 10, 2017 9:37:56 GMT
Good thread Chris......hmmmm it’s a tough one.
My own favourite era would straddle two decades, starting in 84 and lasting until the late 90’s and the absolute peak of that being from 87-91 when group C was at its height.
|
|
|
|
Post by robmarsh on Dec 10, 2017 10:08:11 GMT
My favourite era would be 1965 to May 1994 for Formula 1. Thereafter Formula 1 seemed to favour one car/driver combination for three to four years at a time. I have still not missed a Grand Prix though from the Spanish GP in 1994 until about 2002 I dozed off in every GP.
My favourite era in sports Cars was 1966 to 1974.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jamie on Dec 10, 2017 10:40:04 GMT
prompted by an insane comment by the current editor of Motor Sport I was wondering what my fellow scribes feel was the 'best or their favourite motor racing era was' for me its a conundrum, my favourite driver was pure 1960's some of my favourite races were 1960's especially 1965, but then the 1970's were great, 1973 and 1978 in particular and there again, I really liked part of the 1950's, but there again again, the 1980's especially 1985 and those awesome cars - the grunt, and so many categories were brilliant, Indycar, Group c, Rallying, the screaming two-strokes, conclusion? Just read Nick's opening in the mag. Describing now as 'the greatest era for our sport' is artistic license run wild  Its an interesting era right now, feels like we're on the precipice of a big change, perhaps that's what he was getting at...? |
|
|
|
Post by charleselan on Dec 10, 2017 11:05:20 GMT
Great Post Chris and a fantastic idea. I was not aware of the MS editors comment in the latest magazine; to be honest I have little interest in it now anyway both in print or online. Pretty obvious to me what mast they are nailing their sail to these days.
It is just too difficult for me to say which is my favourite era as I loved all of the decades up to early/mid 90's .
|
|
|
|
Post by René on Dec 10, 2017 12:15:29 GMT
I am sure we all have one thing in common; the era when you discovered the sport will always be one of your favourites. For me that's the 70's when everything was magic and exotic to me. From around '76/77 I started to absorb everything I could find about F1. Haven't missed a race since 1979 and visited at least one Grand Prix meeting a year since. I can still enjoy it, despite all the issues with modern F1. The visits to Spa are always enjoyable and in 2016 I had a fantastic race weekend at Silverstone. I am not ready to give up on it yet, even with toilet seats!  |
|
|
|
Post by charleselan on Dec 10, 2017 16:29:54 GMT
How any knowledgeable motor sporting writer can say that this current era is the greatest is totally beyond me, unless of course there is an agenda behind said statement.
The last great decade was the 1980's not only for F1, but also Group C; Group B rallying; Group A Touring Cars just naming the categories at the very summit. There is nothing to compare with that today. The F1 cars do not come close; just read Jenson Button's words in the latest MS kindly uploaded by Valentin, where he describes driving 1980's turbo F1 car. The highly sophisticated WEC wasn't on the same page as Group C in its pomp, so good was this category that Ecclestone & Moseley brought about its demise as it was too much of a threat to their own golden egg!
Group B rallying has gone down in folklore; it was hedonistic yes but boy was I privileged to have seen those beasts and the gods driving them in all its finery. The European Touring Car series was also outstanding with some amazing vehicles and drivers, also featuring large factory support.
I haven't even brought in the 1970's/60's & 50's which were all truly outstanding in their own right.
I cannot choose between any of them, but I can say that this current era is not in any way up to the levels of those decades.
|
|
|
|
Post by robmarsh on Dec 11, 2017 9:50:11 GMT
Going through my stores of things motor racing I discovered that I have the highlights of the World Endurance Championships , or their equivalent, in DVD form, from Duke Marketing, still sealed, from 1983 to 1989. I shall enjoy watching them and may find that Group C was far better than I thought at the time, mainly because we didn't get very much coverage here.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2017 19:08:40 GMT
My favourite era was 1974-1979.
It was when the factors that influenced the cars' design became slowly being understood, with a wide variety of designs.
It was right after the cigar-shaped era and just before ground effect made them almost all looking the same.
The time when new technical developments were being developed - turbos, aero, radial tires - just before the quantum leap which would change the sport for ever.
The '80s were very competitive, of course, with great drivers, but personally didn't like the cars - too big and with disproportionate shapes with those powerful turbo engines that required heavy cooling and big tanks - and "my" driver wasn't in it, so I didn't really enjoyed. The '90s, I fell out of love with the sport.
|
|
