Unpopular Motorsport Opinions

[ro_har_]

New Hockenheim is one of the best racing circuits around and is undoubtedly the most underrated track in the world

Yeah when Tilke is redesigning circuits (Fuji for example) he can make them better for racing because he is working with, usually, the main straight and other sections of the circuit and cannot go mad making a whole new circuit, for example look at every original Tilke circuit (other than Motorland Aragón which is good(as previously stated by me)) which are usually the same and boring

 

[die996]

Long schedules make racing series less special. This is true for pretty much all including F1, MotoGp, WTCC, WRC and so on. The over-abundance of high-class 24h races have made me stop caring about quite a few of them.

 

[Peter.]

The halo uproar is a lot like whenever Facebook or Twitter would change its theme. Lot of uproar initially and backlash, then once you get used to it you probably dont bother caring an

Seeing as it'll be relevant this weekend again.

New Hockenheim is one of the best racing circuits around and is undoubtedly the most underrated track in the world. It is vastly superior to the Old layout through the trees with the chicanes. Low Downforce configuration circuits suck, especially in F1 because nobody can follow each other. I have watched F1 solidly since 2006 and there has been 1 good (dry) Monza race during that time and 5 good ones at Hockenheim. Monza is relevant because it's basically what Hockenheim was but in Italy.

Nostalgia and Rose-tinted glasses are ruining the track, It is up there with Austin as the best circuit on the F1 calendar for overtaking and racing. Just watch literally any DTM race or lower-formula races around the full Hockenheim layout to see why it is so good for racing.

Agreed. I would even go as far as to say that the new Silverstone is also better than the old one for racing.

 

[Liquid]

The halo uproar is a lot like whenever Facebook or Twitter would change its theme. Lot of uproar initially and backlash, then once you get used to it you probably dont bother caring an

Disagree totally. Absolutely hate it and still will.

 

[die996]

The FIM Endurance World Championship is vastly superior to any car racing endurance series.

With almost no safety car periods overall, here are the winning margins of the 2018/19 season that just finished:
· Bol d'Or (Paul Ricard 24h) = 54 seconds
· Le Mans 24h = 60 seconds
· Slovakiaring 8h = 1 lap and 30 seconds (2'30")
· Oschersleben 8h = 1 lap and 1 minute (2'35")
· Suzuka 8h = 18 seconds

The lead changed hands during the final hour of 3 of the races. Championship lead changed hands with 5 minutes left in the final race.

 

[Tornado]

Disagree totally. Absolutely hate it and still will.

No he's right. Once it was clear that it was here to stay I stopped bothering to care about F1.

 

[die996]

I hate teams and riders (and even athletes in traditional sports) changing countries for whatever reason EXCEPT for political persecution.

No, Gabriel Rodrigo, you are NOT from Argentina, you are only the umpteenth rider from the Barcelona area and you are nowhere near being one of the better ones. Nobody in Argentina gives a damn about you, even your team director said on TV that the Argentinian GP means NOTHING to them or you.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I hate teams and riders (and even athletes in traditional sports) changing countries for whatever reason EXCEPT for political persecution.

No, Gabriel Rodrigo, you are NOT from Argentina, you are only the umpteenth rider from the Barcelona area and you are nowhere near being one of the better ones. Nobody in Argentina gives a damn about you, even your team director said on TV that the Argentinian GP means NOTHING to them or you.

But he's half Argentinian, isn't he? Surely it's the same as Grosjean racing as a French F1 driver, Rosberg racing as German or Verstappen racing as Dutch? Or is the standard that one has to be born in the actual country to be approved for your nationality permit?

 

[Carbonox]

I have no problem with the aforementioned examples (didn't even know that Verstappen isn't 100% Dutch until now), but Kobayashi racing as a "Monegasque" or Alex Palou as a "Japanese" driver are where the nationality switcharoos start getting out of hand.

 

[die996]

I have no problem with the aforementioned examples (didn't even know that Verstappen isn't 100% Dutch until now), but Kobayashi racing as a "Monegasque" or Alex Palou as a "Japanese" driver are where the nationality switcharoos start getting out of hand.

Don't forget about Oliver Solberg racing as a Latvian because over there you can race with an underage license somehow...

PS: Gabriel Rodrigo was born in the Barcelona area and never visited Argentina until several years later and only as a visit. He went to school and raced in Spain from beginning to until he became a pro rider.

 

[Liquid]

Mario "Born in what was then Italy but is now Croatia then moved to the USA aged 16" Andretti might like a word about mixed driving nationalities.

As would Bertrand "Born in Luxemburg to a German father and a French mother, raced with a Belgian licence under a French paasport but used an EU flag as often as he was permitted" Gachot.

And throw in Hans "Born in what was then Russian Warsaw to Swiss German parents" Stuck because why not?

 

[R55NA]

I don't think F1 racing will ever have proper wheel to wheel racing, despite all the aero and engine changes forced upon teams.

 

[die996]

I don't think F1 racing will ever have proper wheel to wheel racing, despite all the aero and engine changes forced upon teams.

Changes in the rules regarding aero will help, then drivers will start to complain about overheating issues. They also need to solve that ASAP.

 

[MaxAttack]

I honestly believe Lewis Hamilton and James Vowles as a combo could win this year's F1 driver title...

...with Ferrari's car.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I don't think F1 racing will ever have proper wheel to wheel racing, despite all the aero and engine changes forced upon teams.

Many of the drivers are saying it's the tyres - we've seen that the current cars have little problem following within the magic 1-second when the tyres will let them. Perhaps it's a hangover from the kneejerk post-Canada (2011?) reaction but if the tyres could operate in a wider window for longer. Part of the magic of the recent races has been that more teams got the tyres working better for longer, maybe because we're into the period of tyre selections that haven't been made pre-season. We've seen plenty of proper wheel to wheel racing recently, I think this strengthens the GPDA's case and will lead to a better examination of the tyre compounds/structures. Maybe the move to 18" rims will allow more flexibility, at the moment Pirelli have to create a huge carcass which therefore has to handle an unprecedented load.

 

[die996]

Many of the drivers are saying it's the tyres - we've seen that the current cars have little problem following within the magic 1-second when the tyres will let them. Perhaps it's a hangover from the kneejerk post-Canada (2011?) reaction but if the tyres could operate in a wider window for longer. Part of the magic of the recent races has been that more teams got the tyres working better for longer, maybe because we're into the period of tyre selections that haven't been made pre-season. We've seen plenty of proper wheel to wheel racing recently, I think this strengthens the GPDA's case and will lead to a better examination of the tyre compounds/structures. Maybe the move to 18" rims will allow more flexibility, at the moment Pirelli have to create a huge carcass which therefore has to handle an unprecedented load.

The whole "tyres only work from like 100º to 105º" doesn't help, not one bit, that one is for sure. The obsession with soft tyres that require 3-stop races doesn't help either.

 

[Leadfoot530]

Sticking to the F1 subject, but a bit off topic:

-I prefer the look of the 2016 cars to the new regulations that started in 2017. They looked neat at first, but when I think of an F1 car, I honestly think of a narrower track width; just looks so much better imo.

As for 2016, was it just me or was the midfield really close that year? I found a few replays on youtube, and I don't think I've ever seen the 2017 and onwards cars racing that closely.

-Ferrari F1 liveries look the best with red, white accents, and bronze wheels.

 

[Liquid]

I feel sorry for Pirelli; first they were accused of making tyres out of cheese, then they were accused of making the tyres too hard, after that they were accused of offering too many choices and now they're back on tyres made out of toilet paper.

Pirelli is a professional, international tyre manufacturer with a presence in all major markets. They know how to make tyres, it's just that they're told what specifications to make by the governing bodies. Their hands are tied.

It makes me wonder how the racing would fare if Pirelli were given a white paper to make whatever tyre compounds it wanted, as the company involved in the industry's primary manufacturing and therefore has all the specialist and technical knowledge to make the highest quality tyres, and see which teams would then opt for softer or harder tyres.

I don't seem to recall Goodyear ever getting that much stick and back then you had special qualy tyres that wouldn't last 5 laps. It's only since the 2000s that the tyre manufacturers have really come under scrutiny as it happened to both Bridgestone and obviously Michelin in this pursuit for control tyres.

In fact, reintroducing a competing tyre manufacturer would eliminate this control tyre nonsense and bring back some lost element of competition.

 

[wowbaggerBR]

- Nurburgring 24H is boring as hell
- Diesels were a great era of endurance racing and race car engineering. And their onboard noises, albeit not like a huge V12 or V10, were cool in their own way
- The Mazda 787 is an overated car that should never won Le Mans

 

[Liquid]

- The Mazda 787 is an overated car that should never won Le Mans

How come?

 

[Roo]

- Nurburgring 24H is boring as hell

How so? For me it's the most bonkers international sports car race on the planet, even more insane than Super GT. Real watch-whilst-peaking-through-your-fingers stuff.

- Diesels were a great era of endurance racing and race car engineering. And their onboard noises, albeit not like a huge V12 or V10, were cool in their own way

I'm with you on this. I always really liked the diesels, especially hearing them trackside, although they were a bugger to photograph. As one eye was plastered to the viewfinder and the other couldn't see around the camera, for some shots I'd rely on hearing to know when a car was coming - the Corvettes always gave plenty of warning - but the Audis were so quiet and so fast that catching one side-on was nigh on impossible. There'd be a brief sound like someone exhaling through the gap in their front teeth, and it'd be gone. Wonderful machines, I miss them.

How come?

Not wishing to speak for wowbaggerBR, but my guess would be that the only reason they won was because they weren't held back by - as I understand it - a fuel limitation that affected the rest of the manufacturers. I expect we'd have seen a Jaguar 1-2-3 if the Mazdas were fuel restricted.

 

[Northstar]

I actually kind of agree with the Nurburgring part. I love multiclass racing, but the Nurburgring 24H easily exceeds the "too much of a good thing" line.

 

[wowbaggerBR]

How come?

Not wishing to speak for wowbaggerBR, but my guess would be that the only reason they won was because they weren't held back by - as I understand it - a fuel limitation that affected the rest of the manufacturers. I expect we'd have seen a Jaguar 1-2-3 if the Mazdas were fuel restricted.

They ran it pretty much outside the rules. Mazda argued that they weren't competitive (which was absolutely true: forget Le Mans, if you look at their results that season, the best place they got was a fifth place with the 91 spec car. Mercedes and Jaguar were light-years ahead) so they were allowed to ran without the mandatory 100kg ballast that Jaguar and Mercedes had to comply for dropping 91 cars in favor of old 90 spec (because of the whole 3.5L debacle, that would ended up killing Group C and the whole WSC), even with Jaguar complaining loudly about the whole thing.

But Mazda had a trump card: their advisor was Jacky Ickx, who is said to have smoothed things out with the ACO so Mazda could drop the ballast, race with a car that didn't follow the rules of its own class, and won a race that was plagued by nonsense even weeks before the start. The Mazda 787 was slow compared aginst its peers and got its only remarkable result in a shady deal.

The only feature that car has is its crazy engine and wonderful sound, but that's it.

How so? For me it's the most bonkers international sports car race on the planet, even more insane than Super GT. Real watch-whilst-peaking-through-your-fingers stuff.

It doesn't work, at least for me, it bores me to death. It's the only 24 hour race that makes me sleep and doesn't hook me. I think that it is just way too much cars on track, so is hard to follow things with each and every team and engage with the action.

I actually kind of agree with the Nurburgring part. I love multiclass racing, but the Nurburgring 24H easily exceeds the "too much of a good thing" line.

Pretty much.

I always really liked the diesels, especially hearing them trackside. Wonderful machines, I miss them.

Oh yes:

 

[MatskiMonk]

My preference would be Nürburgring 24 first, Daytona 24, Spa 24, then Le Mans 24 last.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Jimlaad43]

24 hour races are terrible to watch regardless. All you need to know is the result at the end and a 10 minute highlights reel. The rest of the race is basically irrelevant unless something goes wrong.

 

[MatskiMonk]

24 hour races are terrible to watch regardless. All you need to know is the result at the end and a 10 minute highlights reel. The rest of the race is basically irrelevant unless something goes wrong.

That's pretty much the average Joe's opinion on motorsport, isn't it?

 

[Jimlaad43]

That's pretty much the average Joe's opinion on motorsport, isn't it?

Anything over 2 hours becomes tough to watch the full thing because ain't nobody got time for that. You're not going to be able to watch a full 24 Hour Race, and it isn't until the last stops are over that anything starts to affect the result anyway, apart from a crash or two. In a Grand Prix, time lost at the beginning or during the only stop makes a lot of difference. In a 24 hour race it doesn't.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Anything over 2 hours becomes tough to watch the full thing because ain't nobody got time for that. You're not going to be able to watch a full 24 Hour Race, and it isn't until the last stops are over that anything starts to affect the result anyway, apart from a crash or two. In a Grand Prix, time lost at the beginning or during the only stop makes a lot of difference. In a 24 hour race it doesn't.

I think you're over simplifying that a bit, and when I say a bit, I mean a lot... but that wasn't my point... motorsport fans will obviously have their preferred disciplines, but to the average joe, the race duration doesn't really matter - if you don't enjoy watching the action unfold, then at best a highlights reel and the results are going to be all you watch.

 

[wowbaggerBR]

24 hour races are terrible to watch regardless. All you need to know is the result at the end and a 10 minute highlights reel. The rest of the race is basically irrelevant unless something goes wrong.

I follow endurance series and watch my favourites to the end, specially the 24H ones. F1, which lasts for 1h30min on average, makes me sleep every time, and this is not an exageration.

And saying that time lost on a 24H race doesn't make a lot of difference is... just... well...

 

[Jimlaad43]

And saying that time lost on a 24H race doesn't make a lot of difference is... just... well...

lose 30 seconds in a pitstop and just wait for the next safety car to bunch up the field...