Why I stopped caring about modern motorsport
Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 7:59PM 
Ok, so that headline is a slight exaggeration. I do still care about the outcome of some motorsports events, but as someone who is too young to remember a time when "sex was safe and racing was dangerous" to paraphrase Hans Stuck Jr., I have to say that today's cars, drivers, and circuits simply don't have the allure, the romance, and the personality that their forebears did. This point of view is already well trodden territory of course, but when I came across this photo over at Motoring Con Brio a few weeks back, it really touched a nerve. I feel like this photo really encapsulates the visceral excitement of racing that is missing today. Cars are just too sophisticated, tire technology is just too good, car setup is too computational, and drivers too polished. I think racing has utterly lost the wonderful rough and hairy edges it used to have (admittedly before I was born). What we're left with is like watching shiny plastic slot cars go 'round. Lost is the feeling that the racing car is a living, breathing beast being tamed by a supremely brave and skilled individual. It makes me wonder what things will be like in the next 10, 20 years, and whether we'll just watch robotically controlled electric vehicles chase each other silently around Mickey Mouse circuits in the Middle and Far East while the tracks like Monza, Silverstone, Zandvoort and the rest fall into decay. Perhaps I am silly to be nostalgic for a past I never lived, but I often wonder if today's racing will leave anything to be nostalgic about when I am old and gray...
Historic Racing, Nostaglia in Musings
Reader Comments (15)
I couldn't agree more. I was born in 1978, so missed the memory of most of what was great and good about motorsport except perhaps my memories of the turbo-decade of Formula One. I just finished Vic Elford's "Reflections on a Golden Era of Motorsport" which left me feeling utterly flat about what we now regard as "racing". Formula One has neither the charismatic drivers of the 60's and 70's nor the circuits, the imagery has diminished to a point where to many, any random image would be nearly impossible to identify for its location. One thing perhaps summed it up the most in Elford's book. He discusses his fondness and/or disdain for certain cars that he drove throughout his career for their character, their qualities and the men who were responsible for them and I, at 32 can happily say I know almost all of them. But you think people will remember the cars that are now current? Their identity extends solely to the livery emblazoned upon them. Goodbye Lotus 49, Porsche 917, Ferrari 312T. You were all representative of your era...
Well said, Ben. Totally agree.
A further thought. To me, the Schumacher era was really the end of F1 as I knew and loved it. Really when Senna died, I feel like we lost the last grand champion who was a real person with charisma, character, and flaws that surrounded an utterly prodigious driving skill set. 1994 was the year F1 changed forever in so many ways large and small.
I agree that there's quite a bit wrong with the state of motorsports today, however the visceral excitement still exists. You're just not looking in the right place. Watch the replay of the Malaysian MotoGP race this week on Speed.
I'm going to both agree and disagree. I saw a row of 917's(mostly the k's) at the 2010 Amelia Island Concours this year - they were incredible, I can't think of a better race car before or after the 917 with the sort of looks and reputation. Ironically, I met Derek Bell while looking at them and afterwards realized the same as you - motorsports personalities lack all of the charisma and charm of those same figures up through the early 90's. No more Mansell's, Hunt's, Lauda's, Rindt's, Prost's or Senna's. Just Derek Zoolander types with nothing to say.
However, I just got back from Petit Le Mans and the action for the final race for GT2 in ALMS was incredible. I'm only 27 so my motorsports experience is limited but seeing an entire championship come down to the last lap of the last race with the likes of BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, Chevy and Jaguar fight for it was unrivaled in recent years. On top of that, Audi and Peugeot wheeled out the big boy diesels for one last epic fight. Point being, as others have said, modern motorsport does lack the flair of the golden era, but if you look for it, you can find a lot of incredible racing through a variety of smaller series. Count F1 out for being a technical marvel or home of unrelenting race for a few years.
I guess i need to get more into ALMS!
totally agree brad...although i still avidly watch F1, it's just such a synthetic mess of a sport. Modern race series just don't seem to have the same sort of variables...i mean in BTCC races in the 70s...there were the mighty Mustangs fighting off the little Mini Coopers....like david and goliath....all of them going FULL ON. Motorsports in the US died in the death of the Trans-Am series....and Can-Am series.....which were full of sound, sights, and just spectacular racing. I've seen a couple 'vintage' Trans-Am race recreations using those cars, and they were simply spectacular to watch.
I think because teams have more and more money and smarter and smarter people, the rules are necessarily tighter and tighter, and therefore the cars come out almost exactly the same. I think ALMS is one of the only places where there is some variety still. I never liked NASCAR to begin with, but I find it appalling how they have mandated a single bodyshell for all makes!
here's a nice little primer on ALMS (or more specifically, the petit le mans race):
http://jalopnik.com/5649851/watch-petit-le-mans-this-weekend-or-watch-nothing-at-all
i don't have cable tv, but what little snippets of ALMS i've been able to catch online have been pretty compelling.
NIce to have discovered that there are some people about with bona-fide, opinions with a little grounding! I am not a sports fan, this is why I struggle with modern motor racing. I agree with what all of you have said, but because I love cars more than I love racing I am utterly bored with the prospect of sitting down to watch a modern grand-prix. Moreover, down here in Australia, our premier national formula is known as "V8 Supercars". A championship contested by multiple teams but based on two cars - The Holden Commodore & The Ford Falcon. The racing is always the same, my only accolade being that the cars are fun to watch because of the nature of the circuits and the closeness of it all. Back to my original issue though, and that it that the drivers are like a pack of puppets, the coverage and commentators are knowledge-less and soul-less and the whole thing feels like a ploy for the sponsors to get airtime for their products. Never mind, there's youtube and blogs like this, events and enough retrospective passion to keep the dream alive!
oz is also blessed with the targa tasmania :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targa_Tasmania
Ask Eric Bana what he thinks of Targa Tasmania! I would trade Australia the whole NASCAR franchise if they give us the V8 Supercar series - yeah, it's only two cars but my god it's like watching old school DTM on tighter tracks! Beats oval tracks with tube frame cars and technical regulations that peaked in 1979.
To the comment about puppets - not all drivers are so wooden like F1. The problem comes with major corporate sponsorships - nobody wants to be that guy quoted on TV or in the news as bashing the team or sponsors as you'll get cut from the team - quickly! As a result, you have very stoic, bland drivers.
I was embedded with BMW RLR for the Petit Le Mans and once you get a lot of these drivers away from cameras, they're all regular guys. Joey Hand and Bill Auberlen on BMW RLR are both pretty funny guys. However, with modern media these guys seem to switch that side off - unlike James Hunt taking swings at marshals and screaming at competitors who race by after he crashed out.
As for ALMS - you have to give them credit. At least as a series they're trying to push near road car homologations and technologies that can filter down to consumer vehicles. F1 left that behind decades ago.
I think Jacques Villeneuve was one of the last drivers in F1 who was a "real person" with his own mind, and a pair of brass balls.
Grand Prix racing has become utterly boring. And utterly forgettable.
If an inter-stellar alien was to see the closeness of the qualifying times, he/she would reasonably assume the race will be a scintillatingly close affair as well. The alien would after the GP, quite reasonably, ask why the hell would anyone bother to watch such a tedious time waster.
When the FIA severely reduces or abolishes altogether the aerodynamic side to Formula One cars, close racing will once again return.
I am thankful that MotoGP exists. This almost always produces close racing, sliding, passing - all things that have ceased to exist in Formula One for decades now.
Alas! Big alas!!
Couldn't agree with you more!
Money got into game and passion got lost. I mean, the spirit of racing, competing is still there but money got in its way. Those almost artificial happenings, full of rules and regulations are - to be honest - boring. There's no vibe when you walk through the pit lane. I mean, go to one of those major modern motorsport events and you'll find an orchestrated something, a show but not the passion from the past.
You know, I rather spend my time with enthusiasts who love what they do than with people who are just interested in the money and all.