The Year in Racing: 2008

[JohnBM01]

I usually wait until NASCAR's done, but not this time. This is a chance to look back on series that have raced their final races for this season. Not sure how many "Year in Racing" threads in my four years (about to be five next month) I've done on GTPlanet, but this is the thread to look back on 2008. Series that are still going on, save the looking back until that series is done. Series that haven't started yet aren't really part of this lookback. Or at least, talk about completed races. Stuff to discuss include:

* the 2008 American Le Mans Series
* the Isle of Man TT
* MotoGP and World Superbike (including the retirement of Troy Bayliss in WSBK)
* Yoshimura Suzuki's continued dominance in AMA Superbike
* the historic first night races at Losail (MotoGP) and Singapore (F1)
* racing personalities we've lost this year (Paul Newman, Phil Hill, etc.)
* Danica Patrick's historic first win
* the end of Champ Car and the first season of Champ Car and Indy Car together as one
* biggest winners and most bitter disappointments
* 24 Hours of Le Mans and other major endurances

...and much more. Let's look back on 2008 with this thread.

 

[JohnBM01]

Among the many races, a few unique ones stood out to me.

* MotoGP at Losail
That was a very cool race on TV to see MotoGP test the waters of night racing with lots of MUSCO light towers. It was a fun experience to see night racing with the world's premier motorcycle racing championship.

* Formula 1 at Singapore
The historic Singapore Grand Prix was a lovely experience as well. It was fantastic to see these cars under the lights on the streets of Singapore. Despite a threat of rain, this was a great weekend... unless you're one of the red guys. Alonso won the race, but the great quote was, (indirect quote) "if they (Ferrari) thinks this race was a circus, we have Ferrari to thank for bringing the clowns."

* NASCAR Nationwide Series at Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve
What was so special about this race apart from racing an F1 track? Rain! NASCAR had the rain tires and stuff going, but never utilizing them as well as the brake lights for road course cars. Trust me as a road racing fan. I had newfound respect for the racers that competed in Montreal for this lovely race. Road racing tests driving skill. No way you can TRULY test driving skill than to hand someone a car to race around on wet roads. This would make even NASCAR-hating, road racing fans happy. I even seen the windshield wipers being used as well as some drivers getting out their cars a bit (especially Carl Edwards) doing some windshield wiping. The cars got sideways quite a deal, but never any terrible driving moves. This was a great experience for me. Some dope wrote a column online saying that this was one of the biggest debacles in NASCAR history. Hell... would you rather NASCAR sit out the rain like a rain delay in a baseball game? This was a road course. You HAVE to learn discipline in road racing. That even includes racing in the rain. While these cars were not meant for this, the drivers still raced outside of their element, and it was a beautiful showing of driving acumen and boundless courage. This was a beautiful race to me.



Any other looking back on the year?

 

[EJRocky]

I indeed am looking back on 2008. I don't get much motorsport down here on TV, but I have been following closely the Formula One championship. Singapore was epic, as was Lewis' win, on the last corner, of the last lap, of the last race.

Amazing stuff, and congratulations to him. Our first champion since 1996 👍

 

[Mt. Lynx]

I follow F1, ALMS, LMS and FIA GT and GT3 for the most part, plus the occational WRC, WTCC and V8 Supercars race.

On the whole, FIA GT is closest to my heart, and it truly has had some spectacular racing this season, with Nogaro standing out the most, but also the introduction of a new track in San Luis, Argentina, wich is an amazing place, and had an amazing race as well.
The FIA GT3 European championship also has some great stuff, mostly because of the great variety of cars; 11 different cars from 10 manufacturers is truly amazing, and the racing is great too!

The ALMS season is so far the best I´ve seen, and seeing how the economic climate plays out, it may very well be the best season ever, even with future races counted. Alan McNish´s epic drive at Petit Le Mans is one of this years Greatest Moments!

In the LMS, the standout is definitly Silverstone, where Audi finally prevailed to conquer the crown, after a much troubled and very exciting race.

F1 has also been epic this year, congrats to Hamiltonand McLaren! Sadly, new rules and stupid sugestions from Mosley and Ecclestone, casts a shadow over the future of F1, and in doing so also over this season. The racing was fantastic, but still they´re not satisfied; Mosley wants one make engines, and Bernie wants a medalsystem instead of points. One make engines will see the departure of the big manufaturers, and a medal system will see the departure of the smaller teams, since they will be reduced to field fillers. If the medalsystem comes into play, I won´t watch F1 any more, since it´ll take away any form of fair play.
So this was maybe the last season of F1 I watched, wich is a sad thing. Luckily the season was great, so I´ll cherish that memory.

 

[kjb]

I enjoyed this season in F1 and ALMS. This was a good year for racing. Danica Patrick won her first race, IRL and Champ Car combined. I think to me the biggest disappointment was Peugeot losing 24 hours of LeMans. I really thought that they beat Audi. Big ups to Highcroft, Acura, Red Bull Racing , BMW and Toyota for the strides they made in their respective series. I was also disappointed in Andretti Green Racing for just falling apart this year. Hopefully they be able to get it together next year.

 

[JohnBM01]

In DTM, I was surprised, as well as rather awed that the newer Audi DTM cars used their handsome LED daytime running lights. Speaking of handsome, I like those newer Audi DTM race cars. I think I heard that Timo Scheider won the 2008 DTM championship, so my congratulations to him. Never realized there was a Canadian in the series with Bruno Spengler. It was even interesting to see Suzie Stoddard and Katherine Legge turn some laps in the DTM.

Staying on the topic of the fairer sex, not only do I salute Danica Patrick, I also salute Ashley Force for her well-done work in the NHRA.

 

[JohnBM01]

One thing I forgot about this lookback on 2008... congratulations to Tom Kristensen. If a statue of him isn't erected someplace, there should be. The man is amazing. He is to Le Mans like Peter Brock was to Bathurst. Great win.

 

[Mad94d]

The Singapore night race was a big event for the year that i'll remember.

But the thing i'll remember most about 2008, Oran Park Raceway holding it's last ever V8 Supercar championship round before being demolished for a housing estate. I can't believe they're allowed to demolish race tracks that are 40 years old and put in a housing estate!

 

[JohnBM01]

Really? No more Oran Park? That's a damned shame. Oran Park is one of the most unique tracks in Australia. Now it's suffered mostly the same fate as Riverside here in America.

 

[Mad94d]

Really? No more Oran Park? That's a damned shame. Oran Park is one of the most unique tracks in Australia. Now it's suffered mostly the same fate as Riverside here in America.

Oran Park will definetely be shut down in 2010 It's my favourite track. It's got a very interesting lay out and it's the best spectator track in Australia I think. No matter where you sit and watch you can see at least 90% of the track. Its been around since the 60's. But there have been other tracks that have been knocked down to make way for estates, Amaroo Park, Liverpool and Warwick Farm was shut down as well.