Suzuka 1991/1992 in 1080i HD

[andyvvc]

An interesting one this.  It's footage recorded back in 1991 and 1992 from the Japanese Grand Prix.  However, the footage was captured in 1080i HD and found it's way onto an official 'Muse' HD Laserdisc release in Japan in (circa) 1993/4.

I own a Panasonic laserdisc player from 1999:  but it's not Muse capable, so can only play 480i-levels of quality.  The 'Muse' laserdisc players were (and still are) prohibitively expensive!

There is no commentary.  And the camera positions are at times a little odd (a result of the lack of 1080i cameras at the time i assume, thus infrequent placement around the circuit).  The 1992 footage is the best.  However, both have some great behind-the-scenes footage pre-race.

The results are wonderful though. Especially Mansell in the wet qualifying in 1992 (half way through the video).  I don't think I've seen this level of detail from an early 90s F1 race before (typically at best a 525 scanlines PAL recording from a live BBC Broadcast)

Make sure you set the Youtube settings to 1080p/60 to see it at it's best (and click to watch in Youtube itself so it can run fullscreen)

Enjoy!

[mikael]

Amazing, Andy - thank you for sharing this :-)

It even captures the "pang" exhaust sounds by gear shifts (which impressed me so greatly a few years later, in 1996 - just unforgettable!)

And as to the evolution from then to now: simple is better - F1 was way better, way more spectacular, back then! Real racing!

[René]

Yeah thanks for sharing. Very cool!

[chrisb]

Andy, that's cool, love the sound of gear changes - takes me back to Brands and that wonderful ear shattering noise