What Do You Like Most About Motorsports?

[JohnBM01]

GTPlanet, this question is simple. What necessarily excites you about racing? What keeps you in the mood to see great racing? Simple question, eh?

Allow me to begin, as this is the first (and hopefully not the last) post in this thread.

The thing that keeps me in tune with racing is just loving to see cars at speed, attacking each corner will skill and pinpoint precision. I've "grown up" as a race fan by watching NASCAR in 1999. I've had a love of road racing, ever since seen the Momo Ferrari 333SP (my favorite ever race car) win Petit Le Mans one year. What I've loved most about racing was especially watching road racing. You can talk about side-to-side racing on some oval, but when you go talking about watching a rainbow of cars glide through the Esses of Road America, watching open-top sportscars as you see drivers fight the steering wheel while going down the Laguna Seca Corkscrew, or even the sheer speed blasting down the Hunadieres at Le Mans. As you've read my 2005 Le Mans thread, I said this year's Le Mans endurance was the best race I had ever seen as the Pescarolos were threatening to upset the Audis, but they came up short with overheating problems. Then too, Tom Kristensen makes it seven for nine Le Mans starts. I got a lot more respect for Tom Kristensen. In fact, I almost wanted to cry when I saw my Le Mans video of him winning overall for the seventh time, surpassing the great Jacky Ickx.

I'm not about watching people crash each other out of the race, or getting into completely avoidable crashes and collisions, I like racing to see drivers and riders (and even drifters) do their job to the best of their ability.

Well, I'm done. How do you like your racing?

 

[amp88]

There are only really two forms of motorsport I go out of my way to watch: F1 and WRC.

The intrigue of F1 is, for me, a simple affair. Without doubt THE fastest cars round a track in the world, some of the best drivers in the world and more technology than you can shake a stick at. If the sight and sound of a grid of twenty 900bhp cars racing to the first corner, accelerating to 150mph in the blink of an eye doesn't grab your attention and shake you up then you're either not alive or you're female (J/K ). Pulling 4+ lateral G in the corners and stopping with just as much, if not more, vigour these cars are certainly the pinnacle of current racing technology.

The intrigue of WRC, on the other hand, is a lot different. The raw stats of a current WRC car aren't amazing (~350bhp, 1230kg, 0-60 < 4secs, ~120mph top speed), especially when compared to an F1 car, but the driving talent is just the same. If you've seen the video of the Rally of GB from a few years ago with the onboard camera in Colin McRae's car you'll know what I'm talking about. For those that haven't seen the clip it involves McRae cutting a huge chunk out of a corner in a wet, muddy field, a full 15 or 20 metres inside the apex. As McRae's passes at something close to 100mph, one of the marshals has to run to get out of the way. McRae barely misses him but carries on unflinching, as if nothing spectacular had happened at all. The appeal of WRC is that the cars are something close to what you can buy in a showroom (and, of course, they're road legal) and also that the cars are so close to the public. You can go out and stand on the stage just a few metres from the cars, you can go and talk to the drivers/mechanics in the pits, things you just couldn't do at a lot of other top-level motorsports.

I'll sit and watch other forms of motorsport on TV if I catch them, but nothing else is really in the same league, as far as I'm concerned. BTCC used to be great fun to watch, almost all of the track visits I've done were to BTCC races at Knockhill, but it seems to have become less interesting lately for whatever reason. I also quite enjoy bike racing, MotoGP and Superbikes, but not having grown up with bike racing I don't connect with it in the same way as car racing. I have great respect for the riders though

 

[MagpieRacer]

Like Amp88, i go out of my way to watch F1 and WRC mainly.

F1, the speed, the sound, new drivers winning, it was good even when schumie was winning but its better whn hes not, watching the cars glide across the kurbs and setting new lap times, watching the sometimes and now often close action, its fantastic.

WRC, Its unlike any motorsport on the planet, 16 countries, all with they're own characteristics, Swedens snow, Finlands speed, Wales weather, Frances twists etc. The skill of the drivers is far higher than in any other motorsport discipline, its easy to say they are not the most skilled, but how many other drivers outside rallying can say they can guide a 300bhp Turbocharged 1200kg car down narrow gravel lanes between trees through a never ending series of turns and flying high over jumps, crests, have to listen to the co-drivers every word otherwise that 500 foot cliff drop on the right will appear faster than you wanted it to. Watching them do this is fanastic and its always good to watch and an enthralling championship.

 

[Blake]

What do I love about motorsports?

First of all I love driving. To me there is nothing I enjoy more than driving, even just on the road, I just enjoy the feeling. That makes me love watching people drive machinery at high speeds, from karts to F1 and everything in between, I like to watch people drive (I'd love to actually get loose on a track myself but that won't happen for a while).

I also love the machinery, this is what has particularly attracted me to F1, they are the fastest machines in the world and they are great fun to watch.

Racing, I love to watch drivers race eachother, blocking and passing and putting the pressure on, it's great fun to watch drivers get in scraps with eachother.

The race tracks, I love learning the tracks for myself, knowing each track off by heart and being able to see what's happening where on the track. Knowing what corners are 5 corners ahead so you can tell when a driver is starting to prepare to make a move way before he makes it.

Yeah ....

Blake

 

[Roo]

The speed, the sound, the smell, the skill (alliteration-tastic!) and the atmosphere. Plus the buzz you get from overtaking and winning (or the driver you support doing the same). Although to be honest, the thing that got me into racing in the first place was the crashes. Tire degredation and lateral G aren't very interesting when you're 10, but if there was a chance to see wheels flying all over the place, I was right there.

I'll watch any motorsport, and can appreciate the skill involved - be it driving 3 wide at 180mph on an oval, or doing 2 miles a minute down a gravel track, or being able to put in supremely fast laps just when they're needed. Makes me wish I had some driving talent too.

 

[Joey D]

Well since I'm into drag racing mostly, I enjoy watching someone turn a slow everyday car into something fast. The sport compact drag racing has really peaked my intrest, I mean when you take your mom's Civic or Neon and turn it around to make it run sub 10's. I'm impressed.

 

[RACECAR]

The aspect of going fast, driving the coolest cars, and the joy of driving. I generally enjoy all motorsports(except motorcycles). so many styles and so many cars to drive its a never-ending adventure.