Best defunct racing series'

[Doc Austin]

I really miss the Group C and GTP days.

[inimitablestoo]

I might have thought of Group C more readily if the current WEC wasn't so strong. I had several Group C cars as toys when I was younger and I don't recall ever seeing a race on the TV (to be fair, I wasn't really interested in motorsport until Group C had begun its irretrievable 3.5-litre decline) but I always loved those cars. In fact, the two in the picture are the two I've got in my Scalextric set that I won at Autosport International some 20 years ago now.

[zako85]

Even though I never witnessed it, the videos of the original DTM look incredible. It was fun to see real stock based cars from Alfa, Audi, BMW, Ford, and Mercedes racing each other. However, for some reason, all touring car championships eventually are reduced to racing tube frame chassis or prototype wannabes that don't bother to use even the body kit of a real production car (NASCAR, DTM, etc).

[Starter]

After reading all the responses here, why do I have the impression that most of today's racing series pale in comparison to many of the defunct series?

[D-Type]

I think there's several factors:
(1) Simple rose-tinted nostalgia
(2) Greater variety both of cars and of circuits so at different circuts a different car had the edge
(3) Less high technology meant that the small man had a chance of proving competitive if he got the mixture of partly-understood factors more-or-less right.
(4) Smaller budgets. With less money around teams simply could not afford to explore every technical avenue. Consequently it appears that the larger budget teams didn't enjoy as much of an advantage compared to now. This is a strange one as you'd expect it to work the other way.
(5) Over regulation. The increased amount of regulation and tighter specifications reduce the scope for innovation
(6) Enthusiasm. Drivers appear to be more professional and focussed with hardly anyone claiming to race simply for the fun of it.
(7) Bernie. he has improved the 'show' of F1 and the money the top teams can make. But, to an extent this has been achieved at the expense of the lesser formulas. How many people go to a club event, national event or even the feeder formulae

[BDunnell]

Even though I never witnessed it, the videos of the original DTM look incredible. It was fun to see real stock based cars from Alfa, Audi, BMW, Ford, and Mercedes racing each other. However, for some reason, all touring car championships eventually are reduced to racing tube frame chassis or prototype wannabes that don't bother to use even the body kit of a real production car (NASCAR, DTM, etc).

The original DTM's worst problem: driving standards that make even the BTCC of recent years look like a paragon of gentlemanly excellence. And by the time it became the ITC in the mid-'90s the racing was deathly dull.

[BDunnell]

I think there's several factors:
(1) Simple rose-tinted nostalgia
(2) Greater variety both of cars and of circuits so at different circuts a different car had the edge
(3) Less high technology meant that the small man had a chance of proving competitive if he got the mixture of partly-understood factors more-or-less right.
(4) Smaller budgets. With less money around teams simply could not afford to explore every technical avenue. Consequently it appears that the larger budget teams didn't enjoy as much of an advantage compared to now. This is a strange one as you'd expect it to work the other way.
(5) Over regulation. The increased amount of regulation and tighter specifications reduce the scope for innovation
(6) Enthusiasm. Drivers appear to be more professional and focussed with hardly anyone claiming to race simply for the fun of it.
(7) Bernie. he has improved the 'show' of F1 and the money the top teams can make. But, to an extent this has been achieved at the expense of the lesser formulas. How many people go to a club event, national event or even the feeder formulae

In motorsport, I look for close competition — nothing more — so long as it comes about via proper means, not gimmicks like DRS. I'm not the least bit interested in technology (unless I happen to find it specifically interesting, which happens seldom), and even less in outright speed. I am left utterly cold by cars that look like they're running on rails, and the marketing hype that surrounds so much international motorsport activity is offputting, to say nothing of overblown 'feuds' between drivers and the like. The present-day WRC and F1 do little or nothing for me. Motorsport today too often lacks a sense of true challenge or adventure.

[AAReagles]

TASMAN... Can-Am... Formula Atlantic... all gone.

Makes a fan wonder "How did this happen?"


Never ever thought I'd see the day SMASHCAR would be the most popular racing series here in the states.

[zako85]

The original DTM's worst problem: driving standards that make even the BTCC of recent years look like a paragon of gentlemanly excellence. And by the time it became the ITC in the mid-'90s the racing was deathly dull.

Which is usually fun to watch. Touring cars driving should not be held to the same standards as open wheels or prototype racing IMO.

[BDunnell]

Which is usually fun to watch. Touring cars driving should not be held to the same standards as open wheels or prototype racing IMO.

To some extent, but there are limits. Too often DTM races used to degenerate into demolition derbies.