Clarkson got a point ??

[richkaz]

Agree with every word Jeremy !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdalHDSQRDk

[Ashley James]

I stopped watching F1 donkey’s years ago. In those days I think all but one car failed to finish the Monaco GP. Later on when I tried, I fell asleep, but the TV people must have realised because now the commentators shriek and scream their way through a race that is about as interesting as sitting on a bridge over the M25.

I agree with Clarkson but really I think motor racing for spectators hasn’t been up to much since the fifties, when the terrible risks were completely unacceptable by today’s standards, but okay after WW2 when human life wasn’t much valued. I think 82 were killed at Lê Mans in 1955 and the race continued never mind racing. Probably as many died at Farnborough when a De Havilland aircraft disintegrated and bits of it scythed through the crowd around the same time.

I missed the fifties but was a regular in the sixties, not F1, more sports, saloon and single seaters at Castle Combe and Thruxton mostly, but into the seventies for motorcycling at Oulton Park, Snetterton and Cadwell.

The reason I stopped going to the races was that the spectators were moved back so far from the track and behind mounds of earth and fences and it lost all the excitement. Silencers too, ruined everything.

Unsilenced Bugattis and ERAs sound incredible at Prescott, but that was stopped as well.

Probably my age, but modern engines revs to high and produce a nasty high pitched noise that for me doesn’t match a load of Austin Healey’s, racing Jaguars, Aston’s, Ferrari’s and Maseratis of the old days.

I agree with Clarkson although what he’s suggesting is impossible now.

British Superbikes are still fun, though endless ads and awful presenters do what they can to ruin it.

[911hillclimber]

I caught the Fffin and BBlinding commentary, outside a pub and looking all his age, I think he lacked credibility no matter what he was choosing to dismiss.

However, I stopped watching F1 ages ago, and have never been to one anywhere, but my wife loves it, and she is a good petrol headed girl.

The public do like the danger and love to see the crash band and crunch hence Touring Cars/banger derby is so popular so is rallying mishaps, the bigger the smash the better says the oaf in the pub or sitting on his settee.

As a competitor for 28 years how has had a few 'trying too hard' adventures I really understand why the safety boundaries are there and ever tightening. Lots of drivers with leg bits missing on TV to remind us Motor Racing is Dangerous.
To F1 though, the stewards are silly in their decisions and will only be happy when F1 cars are guided by Play Station consoles.
Safety will never go away, the raging about halo protection soon disappeared in months, and now never spoken about. Carbon tubs are fabulous, and when did a crashed F1 or Le Mans car burst into flames when crashing was over?

Making F1 popular is not about drivers crashing and loosing body parts or life, it is about close competitive driving where the drivers choose what is right and 'propper', what is dangerous or simply racing, so the grey areas are huge, thus that will never happen now.

I think F1 will eventually die on the vine, the environment attitude will kill it, from pollution to the pollution all those travelling fans produce!

[coomo]

When I was 10/11 I used to get taken with the rest of the family to watch Speedway at Romford.The atmosphere was electric.Used to hang over the wall, then duck as the bikes passed to avoid the debris fired over our heads,from the back wheels.That plus the intoxicating Castrol R? made a heady experience.
Few times this year, Ive visited a few Speedway meets.Apart from a steel fence, the spectator area is so far back from the track you can barely make out the colour of the riders helmets to identify them.Having to rely on an over excitable commentator, screaming into a Tannoy between blasts of "dance music" soon became tiresome.
Health & safety has ruined the experience.No wonder the sport struggles, when you can watch on TV and actually see the heats.

[MikeB]

Yes, he is right and those making a living out of the current corporate Merry go round have no particular interest in changing the lucrative status quo.

The best single seater racing I have seen is the stuff with little of no aero, eg FF1600, cars overtake and the driver has no computers assisting him.

However F1 will never return to that sort of racing as it wants to be the most technologically advanced and possibly more importantly, there would be less advertising space on the cars, so we are stuck with the high downforce sleds that corner on rails.

What they need to do is make the tracks like real roads, the occasional pothole, bumps and dips, corners that are no a constant radius, etc. And yes stop having them in huge car parks with a track painted in the middle of it, there has to be some sort of penalty for straying over the edges.

It will only change when the sponsors realise the viewing nrs are dropping in their target markets, which I suspect are no longer based in Western Europe nor North America and not the age profile of the DDK forum

[gridgway]

Here's my thoughts - Clarkson, a complete joke, what a twat. Not even worth listening to those 'opinions'

So the thing is that a lot of car racing is quite boring. It is actually rare to get head to head lead changing every lap action racing. Caterhams is a bit like that as the lead car is at a disadvantage. But it's incredibly rare. How do they get FE to be 'fun'? By making the track so narrow that there will be a load of crashes, incredibly contrived. Is an endurance race actually interesting head to head racing? No, hardly ever.

Great racing is rare. It's not free, it's hard to find. You need to persevere and watch a lot of it to find the gems.

What people mostly hark back to are the rare events. The odd occasion where some dicing happens. So what happened? Silverstone was one of those rare events. Lots of dicing. Looks to me like the new rules have made it a bit better. But you'll be hard pushed to get better racing than what happened there.

I reckon it's quite hard to have good racing on a regular basis, but surely if anyone had the formula for it they'd do well. So who's got it? The magic formula?

I quite like F1, often it's a bit boring, rarely do I get to the end and wish I'd not bothered. But then I think that of most of the motor racing I watch!

Graham

[911hillclimber]

You make a good point Graham.
Most racing IS boring to watch.
Le Mans is not a race in the normal sense, it is a challenge of pace and reliability to win in the end.
A 30 min race at Oulton Park or Silverstone can be very boring as a small grid on such a large track thins out so quickly.

Make the grid full of golden oldies?

Now, suddenly there is a willing audience, Silverstone this coming weekend will be crowded, SPA in Sept will be too, nostalgia rules!

Historic racing IS a winning formula for a race weekend, globally, and on TV, just look at Goodwood, a simple hill climb, but televised.

Hence I think you are right when spectators reflect on past races, and past rallies too.

Now, as a competitor, racing is anything but boring! Frustrating, difficult, exhilarating and a challenge, doing it is far better than watching it!

Clarkson is spent. Old hat and tired, time to play farmer and bounce around on tractors and irritating TV shows while he is still remembered.

F1 does not HAVE to survive except for those that are involved in it for reward; it is a bit like Clarkson perhaps, spent, old hat etc in it's current form.

I'm sure there are others looking for a new formula, and those electric city racers are a fad. not an answer.

F1 may be better if the tech is diluted, limited aero, metal brakes etc, but I doubt that will make it great to watch for the 'fans' unless it creates more crash footage?

[Sam]

To save me watching the video - is it just a 60 year old man saying things aren't as good as they were in the olden days? Only I think I've seen that a few times elsewhere already.

[alastairp]

Bike racing is the only motorsport I would watch nowadays.

Short circuit is OK, but road racing is the purest form of the sport.

Excellent coverage of the IoM and Irish road racing series on ITV4.

Man and machine on the limit and they know there will be consequences if they come off, but they still do it.

Racing against the clock (at IoM) or in a pack for the road races, on real roads in front of spectators who can own and ride bikes very similar to those being raced.

Anyone can drive a car, even quite quickly (to some extent), but there is so much more going on for these guys taking corners at unbelievable speeds and hitting up to 200mph.

Forget whether you are a biker or not, just admire the talent and courage of these guys doing it for sport rather than the mega-bucks namby-pamby F1 pilots.

If you have petrol in your veins and never been to the IoM, where spectating is effectively free, you should put it on your bucket list.

[Mick Cliff]

there has to be some sort of penalty for straying over the edges.

Decent kerbs that deter drivers from using more than the actual track?
Technology exists to record wheels that go beyond the track limits and penalise accordingly.
Remove run off areas, let the paying public see the drivers
Remove 2-way radio communications (car to pits and vice versa) completely and make the drivers determine when to change tyres (if, indeed, a change is necessary) and to stop monitoring and/or tweaking of any component on the hoof.
Make the driver responsible for on-track accuracy and engineering competancy.

[911hillclimber]

Wow! That will bring about some drama to proceedings!

The sight of a sudden pit lane entry for fresh tyres but it goes back to pit boards to advise 'box for tyres'. Best bit of this idea is the drive has to imagine where he is on track relative to others himself or the crew do but advise by pit board.
Will a driver spot such a board today at the speeds they have?
Run off areas are there for public safety as much as drivers, so not sure about that one Mick.

Tough rumble strips to encourage a driver to keep all 4 on the track would make some tracks a no-go track for motorcycle races?

[Winston Teague]

Interesting points made by many above, not including Clarkson.

Increasing saftey will always tend to make things less 'entertaining' to watch.
Curbs will add danger, so will not happen.
Technology based penalties fundamentally skew the race, if one was, say, racing for position, closely with two other cars, perhaps even for the win, yet one is carrying a 10 sec penalty, he is now officially in your way when he should be behind you, if he buggers up your line from behind or in front, he is artificially ruining your race......
CSCC who seem to have full exciting grids of historic and modern cars, impose a success penalty, to the winner of the last round, 20 secs from memory, applied to the next round qualifying time........on the face of it a likeable idea......
I'm a vintage racer with occasional outings in a MK1 Mini Cooper S App K, varied grids and circuits with good spectating are where and what to watch. Silverstone can be a bit 1 corner view......W

[gridgway]

I'm not a fan of adding danger with sausage kerbs or closer walls that seems a bit daft as a driver to me. I wrote off my radical where verstappen came a cropper at Silverstone which was a huge punishment for a simple driving mistake.

Graham

[911MRP]

Interesting points made by many above, not including Clarkson.

...Slverstone can be a bit 1 corner view......W

Used to enjoy the alternation with brands hatch although understand why one venue emerged