Best/Worst racing memories

[00steven]

Didn't really know where to put this topic so just decided to put it here in the chit chat forum.

My question is, what are your best and worst racing memories?

For me I don't really have a clear cut fav but a great one would be when Bobby Labonte won his cup championship. Or when David Reutimann won his two races. And as for worst, I'd say any time there has been a fatility in racing. We've had some great people lose their lives.

So how about you? Look forward to seeing all your different answers.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

A few moments stand out for me.

Best:
Hill winning his WDC in 1996
Mansell racing at Donington in BTCC 1998
Hamilton winning on the last corner of 2008
Button winning the first race for Brawn in 2009

Wost:
Apart from the fatalities I would go for the US GP of 2005 with the Michelin farce.

[Rani]

Worst: Having a stomach ache after seeing Greg Moore's crash and just knowing he won't make it.

Best: Seeing Rossi and Sete's dogfights a few seasons ago.

[Jag_Warrior]

The best: when Senna won his second WDC at Suzuka by showing Jean-Marie Balestre and the world that he didn't take no... stuff!!!

The worst: that dark day at Imola in May of 1994. It was a long, long time before I could watch a race again and not think of that horrible day. But Ayrton died while leading. And that's how I remember that day now. As far as I'm concerned, he won that race. He was born a winner and he died a winner.

Good thread topic, BTW.

[Easy Drifter]

Best: qualifying on front row at Mosport beside 2 McLarens and having other McLarens and Lolas plus a bunch of full 2 litre cars behind me with an 1100 cc Elva. It was raining. Organizers threw out qualifying times and set grid by displacement as it was dry for the race. Darn it, although I would have been happy to be in front of the 2 litre cars but not the big boys.
Worst Gilles' death, although I actually knew far too many who died and raced against several.

[BDunnell]

Best: The 1985 RAC Rally (I know the thread says 'racing', but never mind) was sensationally good.

Worst: Difficult. The whole of the Imola weekend in 1994 and the events in rallying of 1986 are hard to separate in terms of the dreadful nature of a series of appallingly coincidental happenings.

[Captain VXR]

Best: Seeing Giovanardi take the BTCC championship live at Thruxton

Worst: Dunno really

[MrJan]

I've gone for ones that I've seen live, rather than on the telly, simply because they stick in my mind more. I also seem to have picked a top 3 for each, although they aren't really in any specific order.

Best:
1)Seeing Colin McRae for the first time, completely flat chat and sideways.
2)Marshalling at the Rally Stage on the FoS and getting to see Seb Loeb drive the stage 5 times (without having seen it before or with notes), each time going quicker than before.
3)Sat at Tetre Rouge at about 3am with my brother (no one else in sight) and a few beers, watching GT40s and some lairy Morgans in the 2006 Le Mans Classic.

Worst:
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I'm the bloke rolling around on the floor in the blue coat, at around 10 seconds.
2)Also seeing Lyndon Barton have a huge accident up on Epynt, the sort of crash that you aren't sure if the person will make it. Made worse by the fact that I was stood near David Kynaston who had broken his neck on Epynt the previous year.
3)Finally, spinning backwards through the timing gear on a sprint earlier this season. It's strangely terrifying when you come to a stop and just see the equipment lying on the floor. Thankfully that was all sorted with no problems, but I was s**tting myself for a bit.

[Mark]

Best: The 1985 RAC Rally (I know the thread says 'racing', but never mind) was sensationally good.

I would say the 1995 RAC Rally. McRae and Sainz level on points and then McRae gets a puncture and falls way back but fights back to win the rally and the World Championship. I had just started watching motorsport back then and it was amazing! Back when the 'RAC' was a proper rally, was 4 days long and you got nightly updates on BBC as well as live coverage on the Sunday afternoon. It was bascailly the final RAC rally too, it was never the same again.

Other ones are of course Damon Hill winning in 1996. I'd just started university and we went around to a friends student flat in the middle of the night, when the cameras cut to Villeneuve in the wall, which meant that Hill had won, the place just erupted!

Then Hamilton's win in 2008. Sitting with my Mum (who never normally watches the races) screaming at the TV in the final few seconds as first Massa crossed the line to become WDC for a few seconds and then Hamilton completed his pass of Glock, never seen anything like it before or since!

[markabilly]

best was Riverside in 1967, walking through the pits and garage for the two days before the race and the second was 1967 watkins glen, where we did not go walking around in the pits before the race, but got in afterwards....and then there were some races I won

but riverside was the magic moment for me as it was the hook that i shall never forget (and turning down Paul Newman's offer to sign my racing program because he was not a racing driver, but just some actor)


worst: Jim Clark's death in 1968. It meant to me there was no one who was immortal in F1, no hero who you knew could take on the world and live happily ever after. And all those many deaths of Mclaren and the rest afterwards, just pounded that fact into my brain.