The BIG Difference

[Nordic]

There are at least four threads on the 10/10 sports car pages about next years series and what cars will be in them.

So far there is very lttle comment in all of these about who will be driving the cars.

It strikes me that sportscar fans value the teams and cars above the drivers (clearly we still value them greatly), on the opposite side of the divide the F1 fourum talks about the drivers far more than the teams.

[jhansen]

That's actually quite true. Sportscar racing is definitely about the cars. There's such a wonderful variety with different makes, different sizes, engines, etc. And with the drivers moving around from team to team and even series to series, it's rather pointless to try and predict it all.

Formula 1 is probably drivers first, teams second, and the cars third. But I'd say the F1 forum pays a lot of attention to the teams. Although it probably revolves around which driver is where and who their team mate will be. But several of the F1 teams do have a lot of tradition. Much more so than many sportscar teams. So to say the teams are not important in F1 is not correct I'd say.

I'll still take sportscar racing first though.

[JAG]

It always been true that the cars are the stars in sportscar racing, and sportscar fans tend to be car enthusiatist in general, rather than 'racing' fans.

Just look at the premium commanded by Le Mans/sportscars at auctions etc. compared to F1/touring cars and the like.

[Rich R]

plus sportscars have generally been a shared effort between the drivers in the same car, with a few notable exceptions(p rodriguez, brands hatch, 1970 being one).
also sportscars usually look so damn sexy, especially compared to modern single seaters.

[kdr]

f1 tends to be mtv motorsport...its all very personality and politics driven. a cynic would say thats to replace the dearth of anything actually happening on track. i think thats why the posts there lean towards drivers.

another main difference as well is that if you painted every f1 car black, only the keenest of fans and adrian newey would be able to tell them apart. as rich r says sportscars are so damn sexy. i know we're biased but i believe if you placed say a williams f1 car and the new maserati mc12 in leicester square, the largest crowd would develop around the gt.

as ayse and i have agreed in a post a long time ago - in sportscars the cars the star...not the latest 19 year spotty oik from finland or hungary!

[Fab]

Agree with you Nordic ; I came to this sport by the cars... and my interrested was extended after to the pilots... and how great they are ! I mean : they always give a decent show, including the gentlemen drivers.

as ayse and i have agreed in a post a long time ago - in sportscars the cars the star...not the latest 19 year spotty oik from finland or hungary!

Hungary ? I missed F1 for such a long time ?

[mikmx]

The cars are the stars for me too, drivers are important and its good to have "stars". Would be nice to have the F1 drivers doing some sportscar racing. But endurance racing is a different ball game. Wasn't Anthony davidson driving the maranello and telling Radio Le Mans that it was a truck compared to his F1 car? And then he crashed it?

[Gilles]

Why we shouldn't appreciate both F1 and Sportscars ?

I probably read too much Motorsport and Classic & Sports Cars to stay accurate about modern sport logics.

Back in the 50's and 60's we come to Le Mans to see factories fights first of all and drivers were "only" "soldiers" of these factories.

[Karl Kling]

I'm here mainly for the cars too. In fact, it was the Porsche GT3 RS and its drivers that really made me interrested in sportscars. I liked the way you could get great results in a relatively slow and simple car (6th overall at Le Mans 2001 for example) and how, of course, the drivers seemed to be complete maniacs (Maassen winning the GT-class at PLM without a door, if i remember correctly).

Another thing i like about sportscar racing is that it's not a very nationalistic sport. Of course i like it when a Swedish driver get good results but he couldn't have gotten them without a team with drivers, and mechanics, from a variety of countries. It's a true Team Sport.

And then it's the sound of the cars...

[Fab]

Good to see you back, Karl ! I was thinking of you lately, and thought that we didn't see you for quite a time...

[Karl Kling]

Originally posted by Fab
Good to see you back, Karl ! I was thinking of you lately, and thought that we didn't see you for quite a time...

It's good to be back! I've been working to much and my modem blew up in a thunderstorm a few months ago (luckily the computer survived) but now things are back to normal again...

/Johan

[Fab]

Originally posted by Karl Kling
/Johan

I'm a twit ! Johan, of course !

[simon c]

With respect to F1, the entrants are extremely static compared to sportscars, where there is much more fluidity with teams and cars.

If, for example, FIA GT had the same cars and teams since, say, 2000 then the big discussion point would be driver changes / moves as that would be the key variance season over season.