F1 Review Videos - which was the best review?

[Bruce D]

The 09 mod was better than I thought it would be to be honest. I've always thought the 89 and 90 reviews were great, pity about the sound quality on the 90 one. 83 was let down by that stupid woman chipping in all the time. 85 was a great season but the "commentry by drivers" thing just didn't work. Should have left Simon Taylor to do the whole thing. And, yes, Clive James was indeed a legend. Ben Edwards does a good job now (but he is brilliant in live commentary) and at least they seem to have dropped this whole "tecno-style" that they had in 05 & 06 now. Only got my 03 and 04 copies last week so I've still got to watch those.

I'm just missing 01 & 02 now to have my collection at all 40 years as well. Together with my BTCC collection (99 to 2009 so far), the shelf is starting to look quite impressive.

[V12]

Probably between 82, 84 and 86 for me, can't beat Clive James when it comes to F1 reviews. 92 was the first one I owned, and 89 and 91 were pretty good but that was probably more about my enjoying the seasons themselves rather than how well they were reviewed.

The worst is quite easy: 1983. Anyone who has watched, or rather listened to it will understand why.

EDIT: I should qualify all this by stating that I only own reviews from 1981-1998.

EDIT EDIT: "Licencing issues" stopping DVDs of 1981-2002 being released? The cynic in me thinks Bernie doesn't want the uneducated younger fan without a VHS lump to see how much better it was compared to 2003 onwards (the year when all the silly rules began to be introduced)?

[philipbain]

"Licencing issues" stopping DVDs of 1981-2002 being released? The cynic in me thinks Bernie doesn't want the uneducated younger fan without a VHS lump to see how much better it was compared to 2003 onwards (the year when all the silly rules began to be introduced)?

Nice conspiracy therory. It does seem odd, I even have all the Le Mans races of the 80's on DVD, and those were just the contemporary reviews transferred to DVD from master tapes.

[Bruce D]

Ditto the WRC videos, well some of them anyway.

[Shifter]

EDIT EDIT: "Licencing issues" stopping DVDs of 1981-2002 being released? The cynic in me thinks Bernie doesn't want the uneducated younger fan without a VHS lump to see how much better it was compared to 2003 onwards (the year when all the silly rules began to be introduced)?

Oops...I'm 27 and never threw away my VHS players. I actually take pride in learning as much as possible about all the great racing I wasn't around for, aided by this information age. Helps to put modern racing into historical perspective.

[K-Pu]

Oops...I'm 27 and never threw away my VHS players. I actually take pride in learning as much as possible about all the great racing I wasn't around for, aided by this information age. Helps to put modern racing into historical perspective.

Do you know what F1 driver is proud of his F1 historical knowledge, and indeed seems to know more about F1´s history than some top drivers (including champions) out there?

Karun Chandhok.

IMO that´s quite good. I know modern F1 has not much to do with the old days (like 10 years ago...), and not knowing a thing about it won´t affect your driving, but knowledge ha never hurt anyone.

Well, it has, but it´s still good to know :P

[V12]

Oops...I'm 27 and never threw away my VHS players. I actually take pride in learning as much as possible about all the great racing I wasn't around for, aided by this information age. Helps to put modern racing into historical perspective.

Likewise I'm 26 and have kept hold of my ageing VHS player for this very reason! If I had the time and know-how I'd probably look into transferring some of them to digital format "unofficially".

Do you know what F1 driver is proud of his F1 historical knowledge, and indeed seems to know more about F1´s history than some top drivers (including champions) out there?

Karun Chandhok.

IMO that´s quite good. I know modern F1 has not much to do with the old days (like 10 years ago...), and not knowing a thing about it won´t affect your driving, but knowledge ha never hurt anyone.

Well, it has, but it´s still good to know :P

Good for him, I wish more drivers were like that. I still cringe at Schuey's comment, I think it was the '98 French GP, where he led Irvine home and said afterwards something along the lines of "This is a great result, I don't know if Ferrari have ever had a 1-2 before" (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[Old Eyes]

Wouldn't surprise me if that conspiracy theory, however outlandish, is actually true.

I wrote to Duke asking if they would bring out DVD versions and got the same response. It's almost like the VHS era is lost to a black hole!

My favourite review(s) was 86 and 87. It's actually amazing how much overtaking took place. Clive James was quality.

Also teams like Coloni and AGS were no worse than HRT and Virgin.

[Shifter]

BTW someone recently posted 1984 on the net...the first place you'd think to look is where you'll find it.

[philipbain]

My favourite review(s) was 86 and 87. It's actually amazing how much overtaking took place. Clive James was quality.

I love Clive James' commentary on the '86 review, with him going on about Lotus existing only to serve Senna (which at the time was pretty true) and the amount of women crowding around Christian Danner!