The US Grand Prix

Excellent visually and a good read too. Lots of memories there although I watched the races on TV, probably in black and white :oops: :$. I've followed F1 since 1975, the James Hunt era, that's when my interest got tweaked.

It's come a long way since that but I think the racing was better back in the day as it was more pure. I enjoyed the normally aspirated era but when the hybrid turbos came in, I lost some interest, although I do still watch the races. Part of he experience for me was the sound and the modern cars have taken that away. Hearing a normally aspirated Ferrari V12 really did cause the hairs on your neck and arms to stick up and even down to the V8s, they sounded incredible, it was a sound you felt as well as heard. Why did they ever take that away? :thinking:

That Long Beach image, wow, that was proper street racing. The Hunt v Lauda era was gripping (I would've been about 8) and that was the start of my F1 'career'.

Many happy memories, TFS.
 
The 'nicest' sound I heard was the Mercedes V10. I was fortunate to be in the pit lane for a test session and that sound was glorious!
 
Dale. said:
Can you imagine 11 seconds now? That's light years in F1 terms.
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I find it funny as they'll say a driver made a massive mistake on a corner in qualifying that's lost them a number of places....however it will be a slight twitch in the steering wheel to correct some oversteer which loses them a couple of tenths but it's all so close that it genuinely does lose them some places. It also reminds me of an interview with Button a few years ago I think with Coulthard who comments about how slow the Mclaren Honda F1 car was and Button laughs then replies pointing out it's one of the very fastest cars in the world but unfortunately it's racing against cars which are slightly faster.

I visited COTA earlier this year for the MotoGP as I think it's a great circuit and one I was keen to see. Thankfully by chance beforehand when trying to work out parking I discovered they have a bike night during the week when you can take a pedal bike and go round the circuit which was fantastic, it's a great way to properly see the track and appreciated some of the gradient.
 
JohnMcL7 said:
I find it funny as they'll say a driver made a massive mistake on a corner in qualifying that's lost them a number of places....however it will be a slight twitch in the steering wheel to correct some oversteer which loses them a couple of tenths but it's all so close that it genuinely does lose them some places. It also reminds me of an interview with Button a few years ago I think with Coulthard who comments about how slow the Mclaren Honda F1 car was and Button laughs then replies pointing out it's one of the very fastest cars in the world but unfortunately it's racing against cars which are slightly faster.

I visited COTA earlier this year for the MotoGP as I think it's a great circuit and one I was keen to see. Thankfully by chance beforehand when trying to work out parking I discovered they have a bike night during the week when you can take a pedal bike and go round the circuit which was fantastic, it's a great way to properly see the track and appreciated some of the gradient.
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Years ago I did some work for some F1 teams, and one team said that the top 5 drivers could drive a race distance and put their car within 5cm of where they put it on the previous lap.

I have driven most of the UK circuits on trackdays in not slow road cars (TVRs inc a hillclimb/sprint prepared one, Prodrive Impreza Turbo, etc), my lap times were often twice what a formula one car would take!! ie Pembury, my time 1m20s, lap record Aryton Senna-McLaren Honda-42s!!!! :eek: how????? me Brans Hatch Indy Circuit 64s, lap record Johnny Herbert 1992 Lotus - 32 seconds :eek::eek::eek:
 
JohnMcL7 said:
I find it funny as they'll say a driver made a massive mistake on a corner in qualifying that's lost them a number of places....however it will be a slight twitch in the steering wheel to correct some oversteer which loses them a couple of tenths but it's all so close that it genuinely does lose them some places. It also reminds me of an interview with Button a few years ago I think with Coulthard who comments about how slow the Mclaren Honda F1 car was and Button laughs then replies pointing out it's one of the very fastest cars in the world but unfortunately it's racing against cars which are slightly faster.

I visited COTA earlier this year for the MotoGP as I think it's a great circuit and one I was keen to see. Thankfully by chance beforehand when trying to work out parking I discovered they have a bike night during the week when you can take a pedal bike and go round the circuit which was fantastic, it's a great way to properly see the track and appreciated some of the gradient.
Click to expand...

I was at Silverstone, 94, Hill had just taken pole by 3/1000ths of a second from Schumacher. Murray Walker asked Hill afterwards about it being so close and Hill replied " yeah, I didn't have lunch". Murray thought Hill was kidding on but he was deadly serious about the weight of the meal making the difference and told Murray so.
 
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