The Year in Racing: 2012

[Carbonox]

The Good:
- Kimi R's strong return year at F1.
- Brad Keselowski being a likeable champion in NASCAR Sprint Cup.
- Related to that, the huge disappointment of Cryle Busch just brings a smile to my face.
- No drivers or riders died as a result of on-track wrecks, at least in those big series.
- F1 had a surprisingly close season. Plenty of drivers capable of racing for podiums, unlike last season.
- The new Moto3 class provided high quality racing.
- Hunter-Reay winning his first IndyCar championship although...

The Bad:
- ...I'm also gutted about Power's third straight loss at the season finale.
- Vettel winning the F1 title, OK, I'd take him over Alonso anyday, but jeez, I still hate him too.
- The existence of Sebastien Loeb at WRC. There's a good reason why I don't watch that stuff.
- Likewise the existence of Go Daddyca Patrick at Sprint Cup. No qualification to race up there.
- Aforementioned deaths of important motorsport people. Especially Sid Watkins.
- NASCAR having a boring season overall, the amount of competitive cars just seems to have gone down.
- Me, I'm tired of watching Lorenzo and Marquez at MotoGP.

 

[Furinkazen]

Also good, the return of Petter Solberg to the WRC in a full time ride. I hope he gets a VW seat next season.

 

[Emptyone]

The Good
- Toyota in the WEC during the latter part of the season were brilliant for a one car team, looking forward to next season
- The finish of the 'Ring 24. Intense battle for third (Maybe second, it was a while ago) after the whole of the 24 hours, even if the resulting incident wasn't quite so good.
- F1 season in total. Despite only being able to see the half season due to the BBC, still was an exciting season and thrilling right to the end
- Interlagos GP ... Was mesmerising

The Bad
- Deltawing being knocked out by Nakajima at Le Mans, such a shame
- I'll echo again Sid Watkins passing away for F1, very sad
- Ferrari's in the GT class in the WEC not being able to see behind

I don't really watch enough racing to add more to my list sadly, but did enjoy this year 👍

 

[Shoe67]

Going beyond Sid Walkins...

Mr Shelby passing was really rough for a lot of people. I've been a huge cobra fan forever.

 

[Ganon83]

On the NASCAR side of things, I don't understand two things being thrown around here-
1. The Daytona 500 wasn't a "good" race, it was "everybody follow the Roush cars the entire race". The only difference between it and the other 'plate races were it being ran on a Monday night and the insane red flag in the middle of it (Jet dryer, Brad texting, Dave Blaney leading for an hour......)

2. The Busch Brothers in general comments. While Kurt has lived up to his reputation throughout the year, Kyle has been pretty decent. He isn't perfect, and he has sucked on the track, but off it he seems to have learned from the Hornaday incident (Unless I'm forgetting something )

 

[JohnBM01]

Maybe one of the more memorable moments of 2012 was in Rally France (or was it Rally France?) when that one car veered off into this field and eventually hit a telephone pole. Sticking to rally, it was great seeing that wicked Monster Sport E Runner driven by Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima. I'm telling you... if he isn't in any sort of Hall of Fame, he should be. "Monster" is beast around Pikes Peak. Always has been. I first heard of him back in 1999 or 2000 when he was taking that wild Escudo Pikes Peak up Pikes Peak- which had much less paved roads back then.

Before it will see two manufacturers contest for the 2013 championship, there was the final Holden vs. Ford Australia battle in the Australian V8 Supercar Series. The two will be joined up with having to battle Nissan and Mercedes-Benz next season. The series has really changed since I first heard of the V8 Supercars back in 2001.


I'm just trying to keep this thread moving with here-and-there memories of 2012.

 

[Furinkazen]

Maybe one of the more memorable moments of 2012 was in Rally France (or was it Rally France?) when that one car veered off into this field and eventually hit a telephone pole.

Petter Solberg in germany, he has announced today he will not return to the WRC in 2013.

 

[Shoe67]

I really like the idea of this thread. I am surprised this didn't have more discussion on it, so here is a bump

 

[Müle]

-montoya getting falsely blamed again in the grand am race at indianopolis.

ftfy

 

[Antmeg26]

Good:

-Whincup V8 Champion (4th title and only 29)
-Bathurst 1000, great race
-F1 2012 season
-F1 Brazil Finale, reminiscent of 2008
-DTM as a whole (my first time following this series)
-Moto GP Australia, Casey Stoners final win
-Ricciardos first full F1 season
-No more Hamilton V8 street race/back to Pukekohe

Bad:

-Stoner retiring
-Hamilton off to Mercedes
-Van Gisbergen leaving V8s
-Hamiltons multiple retirements from good positions

Indifferent:

-V8 Supercar season. Only two teams have won every single race this year but we have had some great close ones.

"You took the words right out of my mouth..."

F1 Brazil:tup: more of this:👍
MotoGP won't be the same for me

 

[karl53]

Mmm, it appears as though most of what I'd say has been said a million times already (Kimi in F1, Toyota in WEC, Sid Watkins etc.)
So I'd like to focus my comments on Uk short oval racing, mostly BriSCA Stock cars.

Good: F1 stock cars World Final race being won from last place on the grid , and 2nd place came from 2nd to last place.
World final race in general, more interesting than the whole F1 grand prix season....
6 drivers in with a chance of the points title going in to the last meeting of the season.
My dad getting a go in the 1600cc banger racing formula.
Mick Sworder #150 having epic battles with most other drivers.

Bad: Winner of the points championship getting into a fight at the end-of-season gala thingy and being banned for 6 months next year.
A friend of mine and my dad's having his V8 Hotstox world final chances ruined by a backmarker for the 2nd time in 3 years .


Anything else was either too insignificant or I wasn't really too fussed about.