70's F1 was more exciting because.....

[Marshal]

There was no "best driver" in the category at that time. I was thinking about this the other day and if you ask people to name the best of post war era's, most will agree that it goes a bit like Fangio, Moss, Clark, Stewart, erm..., Prost, Senna and Schumacher.

Now its this erm period I'm talking about. I'll take on board comments about Lauda, Fittipaldi, Schekter, Pace, Peterson, Brise, Reggazoni, Andretti, Pryce, Hunt(?), Reuterman and my hero Gilles (and probably a whole load of others I've left out), but that's my point. From '74 to '84, you can't really pick an agreed best driver. Now I don't know if this was because there were 7 or 8 around at the same time, the right guy didn't get the right breaks or that there was no one who was truely in the top class. But it did lead to some of the most competetive and exciting racing F1 has seen.

Any thoughts?

[Speed Demon]

Apply your theory to the 1960s. Although Jim Clark was indeed a true great he was not always dominant. Plenty of interest was created by the likes of Hill, Stewart, Rindt, Brabham, Surtees, Hulme etc. That said, it is reputed the only rival Clark feared was Dan Gurney, who sadly had little sustained impact in terms of F1 results.

I actually think the '70s had pretty distinct periods of dominance - at least until '77. The early stages were largely Stewart or Fittipaldi, before Lauda emerged as the dominant personality.

Having said all that, I regard the 1980s as the golden era of F1. Give me fat, slick qually tyres, turbos with 1000bhp+ and the Osterreichring any day!

[Murph]

A very interesting topic. The period mentioned (1974-84) was one of the most competitive era’s…. it was not uncommon to have 6-8 potential race winners on the grid for any race weekend. Most of those fellows have been mentioned…. Hunt the Shunt, Emmo, Niki, Gilles, the Baby Bear, Lole, Mario, Ronnie, and Clay…… add to the list… Alan Jones, Keke, Jacques Laffite, Rene, John Watson, Alain Prost, and Nelson Piquet. Throw in race winners Patrick Depailler, Gunnar Nillson, Carlos Pace, J-P Jabouille, Didier Pironi, Riccardo Patrese, Patrick Tambay, and the legendary “Monza Gorilla” and one can see just how competitive this 11-year period was.

This era was influenced by the genius of Colin Chapman (Lotus 77 & 78), Frank Gardner (Project 34), Patrick Head (FW 07..), Gordon Murray (various Brabhams….including the BT 46 “Fan Car”), and the good folks of Renault who changed F1 with the introduction of the RS01.

In 1974, the major teams were Tyrrell, Team Lotus, Ferrari, and Brabham.…… because this was the “Kit Car Era”.. new teams emerged…..some for a short time… others though would make a major impact…. Williams Engineering is still one of the “big 3” today…..Williams, Renault, Ligier, Wolf, Penske, and Shadow all earned at least a race victory as did the already established March team. Speaking of Penske…. along with Parnelli Jones Racing and the early years of the UOP Shadow team…us “Yanks” had our “own teams” to root for…. (as Walter Wolf Racing was Canada’s “team”) Now those 3 teams might have been based over seas but they were American owned… and not particularly successful!

I agree with Speed Demon on this…… I believe that Niki was one of the 2 dominant drivers of this period. From ‘74-77 “Super Rat” was the man to beat…. Even in a Brabham hamstrung with Alfa-Romeo engines he was still competitive. The later half of this period though…. It was Niki’s teammate who became the benchmark… Nelson Piquet won 2 WDC and with a little reliability should have picked up a third while Brabham and BMW were working on their “turbo” package.

I must plead guilty that the 1972-1984 period is my favorite F1 “era”. Yes, the “Turbo Era” was technically awesome…. But the combination of “fuel economy” runs and the dominance of one engine manufacturer would have a negative effect on the competitiveness of the F1 grid…… and though the rules have been changed….and changed again…and again…. to raise the level of competitiveness all along the grid, those “good old days” will never be replicated in the near future.

Take care, all

Murph