Here's why Formula 1 was so much better in the early 1990s.

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-Fred-

-Fred-

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V10s and V12s, obviously.

The RA121E

The RA100E

The RA122E

The E44-94/043

The 036

RS5


Oh, and the guys driving them, too... Senna, Mansell, Prost, Alesi, Berger, Patrese... the list goes on and on.
 
Fantastic videos!!!

my favourite is the top one!! that V12 is just... brilliant
 
Wow.

Totally true.

These days the cars max out what seems to be way before the end of the straight, so the racing is no where near as exciting as the old days, whch I think we should go back to, or at least devise a new racing league.

I like the two layered digital read out on the 036 thing (seen in the first of the two videos).
 
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Awesome vids, thanks for posting them 👍

Totally agree on the drivers too. The Senna vid (#2 in the V10) almost looks sped up. And Alesi at Suzuka too - Jean is probably one of the most distinctive drivers ever in terms of his style, hands gripping the wheel high up, head leaning forwards, big stabs at the throttle and steering. Probably one of my favourite ever drivers.

This Alesi one at Monaco in 1995 with another V12 Ferrari is perfect for showing off his style:

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As far as the looks of the cars, 1994 is a particularly special season - there were some absolutely stunning looking cars (before loads of wings started cropping up), fantastic colour schemes etc, and of course a mix of V8s, V10s and V12s.

Benetton B194
DSC07499.jpg


Ferrari 412 T1
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McLaren MP4/9
doss_pa_mrmp_002.jpg


Williams FW16
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In retrospect, though I wasn't exactly a Schumi/Benetton fan at the time, the B194 is probably one of my favourite F1 cars of all time.
 
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I still think the Honda V12 is the best of the bunch, perhaps the best sounding engine ever... It sounds so raw... so savage. It's a proper fine tuned racing machine sound that sadly, you just can't find anymore. I guess I'm fortunate to be old enough to have witnessed those cars in the flesh, back when I was still a young teenager.

The best engine in the world, driven by the best driver in the world, on the best track in the world.

Schumacher never sounded that good while racing... and he never will.
 
-Fred-
I still think the Honda V12 is the best of the bunch, perhaps the best sounding engine ever... It sounds so raw... so savage. It's a proper fine tuned racing machine sound that sadly, you just can't find anymore. I guess I'm fortunate to be old enough to have witnessed those cars in the flesh, back when I was still a young teenager.
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The V12s in general are just wonderful. I'd forgotten how spine-tingling a racing V12 can sound.

Schumacher never sounded that good while racing... and he never will.
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I agree. It's just a pity Schumi wasn't racing in F1 in the very early 90s before everyone adopted the paddle-shift boxes too.

It's one thing that stands out from those videos actually - the full manual gearboxes. It's amazing to think that despite those speeds, drivers were still taking their hands off the wheel to change gear, and heel/toeing, and everything else, whilst the car is sliding everywhere. Incredible.

Edit: And another thing that struck me - how bumpy the circuits were back then compared to now, and how much work the driver had to do on the throttle as the wheels skipped and spun over the bumps.
 
The sad thing is that F1 gave us those paddle'd boxes, and if they went back, it'd render F1 less relevant to road cars...
 
It doesn't matter that much. It's not like road cars will stop benefiting from F1 tech just because F1 becomes lower tech. There's still all sorts of materials research that'll come out of F1. Anyway, gearbox-wise we've already got the best technology that's come out in years which is dual-clutch transmissions. And that hasn't come from F1 anyway...
 
homeforsummer
It's one thing that stands out from those videos actually - the full manual gearboxes. It's amazing to think that despite those speeds, drivers were still taking their hands off the wheel to change gear, and heel/toeing, and everything else, whilst the car is sliding everywhere. Incredible.
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And I thought changing settings multiple times per lap was amazing.
 
That first video just makes me smile :D. That was a time when cars had to be driven. I get tired just watching that one lap...I can't imagine doing it 70+ times :p. Awesome thread 👍.
 
F1 was better in the mid 90's and rallying was better in the mid to late 80's, mainly due to group B. The sound of the V12's back then has yet to be replaced by anything in my book. I cant imagine what kind of power a modern F1 V12 would put out.
 

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