"jglaze" (jglaze)
10/29/2013 at 16:12 • Filed to: formula one, vintage, on board video, grand prix
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"jglaze" (jglaze)
10/29/2013 at 16:12 • Filed to: formula one, vintage, on board video, grand prix | 1
| 0 |
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Since the F1 circus is headed back to the states in a couple weeks for the USGP, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what F1 racing looked like back when...uh, crap, I don't know what people were doing in the late-70s, I wasn't born until the end of '79.
Regardless, the Long Beach GP circuit is completely different than it is today, in terms of both safety (driver and fan) and layout. The fact that as few people died during these years is still amazing to me. In an interview with F1 Racing magazine last month, Jenson Button commented on his experience driving a mid-80s McLaren saying that it was developed with little regard to driver comfort or safety (implied).
Watching this video you can see the immense skill and courage it took to drive these beasts. And though there is no less skill or courage in pushing today's vehicles to the ragged edge, there is a quiet understanding that even if you do get in a bad wreck, you're probably going to walk away from it.
Despite the opinion that today's F1 lacks excitement and that the on-track action is manufactured, modern F1 is a vast improvement over the days where the excitement was derived, in part, from wondering if everyone was going to survive the race.
Case in point: the driver in this video, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , was killed two years later driving an Alfa Romeo in preparation for the German Grand Prix.
Video originally found on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!