F1 in 1985

[Dan Friel]

Have been watching the 1985 season review video..

Makes present F1 look a joke!! Cars sliding around, turbos blowing, Prost judging wins to perfection, too much horsepower, Keke Rosberg!!(on the grass mostly),Lotuses and even, yes even overtaking!!!

Just a thought....

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally posted by Dan Friel
even, yes even overtaking!!!

Overtaking??? What is this strange thing of which you speak???

[SL]

Those were the days.................

Prost judging wins to perfection

Lucky to make the finish now days........or the grid even

Simon

[garyegrant]

And even that pales in comparison to footage of peterson, Stewart, Cevert et al from the early 70s which I was watching yesterday. There's onboard footage of a Jackie Stewart lap of Paul Ricard at the f1 files (sorry don't have the url) where the car is sliding all over the place. Far cry from the 'cars on rails' we have nowadays...

[Marshal]

Ah, '85. The last European GP at Brands. Senna leaving black lines on the track all the way through Clearways. You're right Dan, the current go-karts don't come close...

[Speed Demon]

Mmmm, and wonderful, glorious Kyalami!

[Jay]

Things always look better when you look back at them, especially when they are in a highlight video format.

[Speed Demon]

Oh I don't know. The 1994 Monaco GP was still incredibly dull when I last watched on the official season tape.

[neutral]

Things always look better when you look back at them, especially when they are in a highlight video format.

Nice to hear some common sense once in a while.

[garyegrant]

True, there are such things as nostalgia-tinted glasses, but it WOULD be nice to see some overtaking in modern F1. Then maybe we wouldn't have to dig out those old videos at all...

[TimD]

Originally posted by neutral

Nice to hear some common sense once in a while.

Dear Jay, Dear Neutral,

I was at the 1985 Brands Hatch race that has been mentioned. I remember Senna and Alboreto pouring down Paddock Hill Bend with opposite lock on, and then using the bottoming-out of the skidplate to flick their cars straight again. This when the bottoming happened in a shower of sparks and an audible "clack" over the sound of the engines.

I remember the whole weekend, and I still remember the four-day "high" I got from that race. The video is but a pale reminder of the glory of the turbo era.

Okay, I'll concede that as I haven't been to a GP in a few years, I can't easily compare and contrast - but by the F1 testing I have attended, the modern beasties simply aren't as spectacular.

[Airhead]

Arh TimD,

This is true, Mansell, Piquet, Senna and Prost. In cars that moved around and passed one another. Sorry neutral, it was better then.

[neutral]

Sorry neutral, it was better then.

I don't believe it. Prove it to me and I still won't believe it.
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Life, the Universe and Everything, 1982

[WackyRacer]

Ah, 1985, a memorable year. The last race at Zandvoort, last season of Lauda and Renault-worksteam, first wins for Magic Senna and Lion Nige , last win of the last-gentlemandriver Elio de Angelis, the postponed Spa-race due to hot weather ironicly only to see it washed-away later on, DeCrasharis rolling a dozen times at the old and much betterlooking Ostreichring, but also the deaths of M.Winkelhock and S.Bellof, to name but a few memories of 1985.

[SL]

Yes I'm with the oldies.

Although my fav's were the 1960 cigar shapes with 3 ltr's and bike tyres, no aero's just skill keeping them on track.

The big slick's turbo power were also great. I was also at the '85 Brands meet. My last full GP, I went to '86 practice only at the 'stone. I then looked to sports cars and historics as the politics and ticket prices were getting far to much in F1.

Bring back power and big tyres and remove aero's and electronics !!!!!

Simon

[EERO]

I'm with you SL, though I really loved the High Wings.

I do love Formula 1 still, but having seen races throughout the Seventies and returning last year to Montreal for my first GP in twenty years, I can honestly say that though I enjoyed it, it was far more packaged, more antiseptic and more distant than the visceral events I attended in the seventies.

There are some people who would rather see a band of great musicians from the front of a small hot and sweaty club than a lip-synching spectacle with lasers and fog machines in an arena.

F1's historical transformation is analagous to this concept: give me the hot smell of rubber, passing, fragile cars and spirited driving.

[Airhead]

EERO,

I agree with your sentiments and analogy. But then I love the blues, a genre of music not know for it's laser lights, stadium crowds or antiseptic crowd.