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Traction control, ABS brakes, refuelling, grooved tyres, aerodynamic flick ups, skinny cars, no overtaking, oh and 1 driver domination
(Which yes, we've had since too but the racing behind the dominant drivers has always been amazing since 2010)

Nah, this was close to the nadir of F1 tbh, no wonder I defected and became a Champcar fanboy...imagine getting up to watch this then later on in the day a handford oval race, or road america 2001, Laguna Seca 2001 etc..
"Why, these cars look 100 times better and they can race 10000x better too....wat?"

Only time F1 was worth watching in this era was if there was a random safety car that threw everyones routine fuel strategy out the window, or rain.
Refuelling was supposed to spice up the sport but all it meant was all the teams followed the exact same strategy and had the exact same fuel load which caused the exact same tyre wear and none of that could compensate for the aerodynamic push effect through fast corners causing massive field spread after a lap or 2.

There might be a lot of bullshit problems off track in todays shitty F1 but at least when the cars are on track they pass and repass each other occasionally.
Heck, even most practice sessions these days are more exciting than races back then, with the on throttle oversteer and stuff.

Case in point: how much we used to dread races at the Hungaroring in the 90s/2000s and how for the last few seasons it has been one of the best races of the year.
That says it all really.

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

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I dunno, I enjoyed that season a lot. I loved seeing the rookie Montoya getting poles and winning. He was so good that year. The cars looked and sounded amazing too. As for passing, well today I'm desensitized to it. More passing doesn't equal better racing or more exciting racing. A pass really meant something back then.

I also miss Magny-Cours. I might be alone on that one though.

And of course Hockenheim.

F1 never had ABS in that era

Williams tested ABS in 1993 & ran them at a few race weekends but I seem to recall that neither Prost or Hill liked the feel of the ABS system so I don't believe they ever raced with it.



This may be old news but I don't recall seeing it mentioned here. It was mentioned on Sky during there Melbourne coverage & I saw it mentioned with a bit more detail by someone elsewhere a few days ago that Jules Bianchi had a deal with Sauber for this year that was been funded by Ferrari & the deal was signed the morning of the race at Suzuka.

Thats apparently why Sauber got into the mess they did with drivers Pre-season. They had planned to have Bianchi & Van Der Garde for this year & had the funding to run them, but when Jules had his accident whatever deal they would have had had with Ferrari was ended & they had to quickly find drivers with funding & obviously what Nasr & Ericsson brought was more than what VDG had.

Given how good this year's Sauber is its a shame we won't get to see Jules in it

Many-Bores did have a good run from the start/finish line to after the hairpin, but the rest of the track was pretty much rubbish.

Magny Cours had two amazing races, 1991 and 1998. The rest were utter shite. I miss that track like I do a hole in the head.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

I never liked Magny Cours.

1999 was pretty good in the rain I thought.

Yeah that's what I meant, 1999 not 1998.

_________________
BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

2002 wasn't too bad as well. Although it was helped in part by Schumacher getting a drive through for crossing the white line.

Man, I forgot the glorious noise those V10's made.

Quite the contrary here, F1 had such some beasts on track. And behind the wheel aswell. Cart already in straight downfall, got so shitty here with a really bad broadcast. For 98-01 only highlights 11pm sunday. Then another channel live but with the most annoying unexperienced commentator. After Gregs death, or around it, they put those air drag things and made the SS races, wich I enjoyed the most into another fake thing like todays Indy 500. Was cool for the first year. Still, I really loved Indycar, but F1 still felt like it was the most important event for me to watch.

I liked the way Magny-Cours looked and the corners were much more interesting than the current Tilkedromes, shame it was rubbish for racing F1 cars on.

Magny Cours would be pretty cool with today's racing tbh.
07 and 08 were pretty tast too, I think we had a mclaren falling out of position both times and having to charge back through the field

1 pass every 5 races does not equal racing

People moan about tyre strategy now, all you had back then was fuel strategy.
It was a race to the final pit stop then once the final undercut had succeeded or failed then the drivers would back off and conserve what they had to the finish.

The main difference between now and then is the drivers 10 years ago would race flat out until the first round of pitstops, invariably not being able to pass.
Now they conserve what they have for the part after the final pit stop until the end which is usually the most exciting part of the race.

races like Bahrain are the best example.
Great strategy from Kimi and a recovery drive from nico, both of which needed to overtake cars at certain points to make their strategy work.
And they were damn good passes too.

All the racing of the last decade has going for it is nostalgia and that part of your memory that's unable to remember the many many many turdigly dull races with zero passing.
aside from f1 digital there's hardly anything I miss from that era...can't understand the nostalgia for it at all.

_________________
RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

I agree with that. If you look at the actual wheel to wheel racing of the last 3-4 years the quality of racing has been absolutely fantastic. I don't know the statistics but I would almost 100% bet there has been more non DRS and non tyre assisted passing than there was in the 10 years leading up to this era.The only thing I would bring back from the past are the Earth shaking V10s, not the banshee screaming V8s.

+1

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"An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government"


3x TBKL rFactor Hillclimb champion

If you're so into engine sound and that's the reason you watched F1, there are better sounding racing categories out there.

why did they have to ruin the bus stop

Apparently it was necessary to get the race back in 2004. A stupid corner, only Montoya seemed to pass anyone there.

V10s of the 80s and 90s were amazing sounding. The V10s of the 2000s were crap by comparison.

_________________
BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

The only thing I miss about the early 2000 era are the race tracks.