NationStates Jolt Archive

Firstly, this is not about horse racing, or bike racing, or truck racing (mmmhhh...truck racing (http://www.truckracing.de/index2.php?action=photos&action2=detail&veranstaltung=6&klasse=srt&rennen=2&ende=36&datei2=5&zusatz=saison2005/6/photos/srt/2/b&name=3&ref=photos)), or lawn mower racing.

This is about car racing. To qualify, the series must include a number of cars driving around a lap (so rallying is not included either).

The candidates:

Formula 1 (http://www.formula1.com/) (everyone knows that)
NASCAR (http://www.nascar.com/) (round and round and round...:p)
DTM Championship (http://www.dtm.de/index.en.php) (German Touring Cars - Audi, Mercedes and Opel currently competing)
BTCC (http://www.btcc.net/) (British Touring Cars - Vauxhall, Seat, Alfa, MG, Lexus and Honda competing)
V8 Supercars (http://www.v8supercar.com.au/) (Big Aussie V8s, Ford vs Holden)
Porsche Supercup (http://content3.eu.porsche.com/prod/motorsport/Teams.nsf/gbrenglish/pmsc) (name says it all)
GT Racing (http://www.fiagt.com/) (this includes Le Mans and LM-Style events - certainly nice cars)
And as a joke option...
Aussie Racing Cars (http://www.aussieracingcars.com.au/) (oooh, I love the little things)

Choose your favourite ones and tell us why.

I don't like NASCAR by the way...sure the racing is close - but it would be if you simply attached two dragstrips to each other.

My choices are the Formula One of course...nothing is as fast, and although little technical things can go wrong and cause the racing to not be close sometimes, you got to admire the proficiency of both drivers and engineers.

The the V8s. At first I thought they were pretty unsophisticated (and maybe they are) but watching them a few times, they make for excellent close races, some of their tracks are really good (hmmm...Bathhurst) and they're expanding overseas.

Porsche Cups mainly because I love Porsches so much. They don't show the Supercup here, but they have the Australian Carrera Cup which I follow all the time.

The Aussie Racing Cars of course, and "Other", namely the Australian Production Car Championships, that pits big, strong V8 cars against little Mitsubishi Evos, BMW M3s and so on. Very interesting indeed.

I don't like NASCAR by the way...sure the racing is close - but it would be if you simply attached two dragstrips to each other.
Dude. Seriously, don't make me go through this again.

My favs include-ALMS, touring cars (the series isn't as important, as long as it's close racing) and while redundant endurance sports cars.

As a test of machine I like Rally, but as a spectator sport you don't get much sense of the 'sport' part. Looking at a result sheet just doesn't have that zing. Good specticle and certainly demanding of machine and driver, just not much of a spectator sport save the "Look at him jump/slide/avoid that zebra...

I like a good Sprint Car (http://www.chucko.com/tear-off-heaven/bkpylant-030798.jpg) race-800hp open wheeled beasts crowding a half-mile track steering with thier throttles sideways through the turns, the only things that accelerate faster are dragsters and these things do it next to each other on dirt. It's a brawl and there's something to it. I do documentaries on these guys and it's pretty fun.

I think I've seen everything on that list, remarkably, but nothing will keep my attention like 10 hours of a Le Mans race. I stay up to watch Formula One, the technical innovation is great, the drivers are arguably the best in the world, yeah yeah. But when it comes down to it, There's nothing like Le Mans.

Porsche Supercup, however, is just about the most useless thing I have ever seen. There is nothing interesting about a Porsche Supercup race.

Ooh. Fully agree on sprints. I was skeptical, then I saw. Those things are absolute beasts.

Dude. Seriously, don't make me go through this again.
Sorry. ;)

Ovals:
Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, California Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Dover Int'l Speedway, Gateway Int'l Raceway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe's Motor Speedway, Mansfield Motorsports Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Memphis Motorsports Park, Michigan Int'l Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile, Nashville Superspeedway, Nazareth Speedway, New Hampshire Int'l Speedway, Phoenix Int'l Raceway, Pocono Raceway (a triangle???), Richmond Int'l Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, Texas Motor Speedway

Not Ovals:
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Indianapolis Raceway Park, Infineon Raceway, Daytona Int'l Speedway (An Oval, but it does have a little loop inside...do they drive that?), Pikes Peak Int'l Raceway (same here),
Watkins Glen International

What is so interesting about an Oval Raceway? Sure, it allows for greater speed...but it is so boooring.
What I'm saying is that of course the racing will be close - but that is simply because no one can really get away from anyone else. The cars all have pretty much the same horsepower, and how difficult can it be to set up a car to keep doing right corners well?

I'm not trying to bring down the series (I've never been able to watch a race), I just want to know how such a concept can be so popular - surely corners are the thing that makes racing interesting.

Or as Colin Chapman (I think) put it: "Straights are just the boring bits in between corners".

Porsche Supercup, however, is just about the most useless thing I have ever seen. There is nothing interesting about a Porsche Supercup race.
How come?

The racing is pretty close (the cars are pretty much all the same) and the tracks are great.
Is it just that you don't like the cars or what?

I voted NASCAR. Although Sprint Cars are my favorite. Especially, when you get to the A Main and B Main races. 30/25 cars (respectively, IIRC) on a half mile of dirt for 30 laps. It's very exciting.

I just don't like the Porsche Supercup because there's not a variety in car choice like there is in Le Mans racing.

Sprint Cars count as "Other". I didn't put them in because I didn't think people like them so much.

It's kinda popular in Oz too, but I always found it a little boring. Maybe it's the whole oval track thing again.

Sorry. ;)

-snip, because I don't know why you're making an incomplete list of tracks-
What is so interesting about an Oval Raceway? Sure, it allows for greater speed...but it is so boooring.
What I'm saying is that of course the racing will be close - but that is simply because no one can really get away from anyone else. The cars all have pretty much the same horsepower, and how difficult can it be to set up a car to keep doing right corners well?

I'm not trying to bring down the series (I've never been able to watch a race), I just want to know how such a concept can be so popular - surely corners are the thing that makes racing interesting.

Or as Colin Chapman (I think) put it: "Straights are just the boring bits in between corners".
The racing in NASCAR is close because the series makes sure of it. Other oval series in the US are not as close and they are not as popular.

It's popular because it's viceral racing, door to door struggle for 300 to 600 miles (and you do know that they race on difficult road circuits as well? Even a former F1 track?) It is sport, and that's the point, isn't it? From a promoters stand point it's a spectator dream, a large area where you can see the whole track and not miss a minute of the action and allow the spectator into the event.

Racing a oval isn't as easy as locking left (and it's left. I know your toilet bowls go 'round weird in Oz, but it's left) and falling asleep for 3 hours. It's really a lot more of chess match than other forms of racing as you are trying to make your car last and put it in position to eek out that last bit of edge to win the race. A true racing fan would recognize the racing in there instead of just looking for the turny bits.

And even Chapman had room in his heart for ovals, having contested the Indy 500.

-snip-
I think one of the things people like about NASCAR is you can see the entire track from the stands. You can watch 'your car' during the entire lap not just the 10-15 seconds during one perticular straight (like in Formula 1).

Sprint Cars count as "Other". I didn't put them in because I didn't think people like them so much.

It's kinda popular in Oz too, but I always found it a little boring. Maybe it's the whole oval track thing again.
Oval, sideways, on dirt, open wheels. You really need to get over this thing and learn to look for racing and not 'displays'.

snip, because I don't know why you're making an incomplete list of tracks
I went to their website. How am I supposed to know that they put incomplete information on there?
I was wondering why there was no Laguna Seca in there.

From a promoters stand point it's a spectator dream, a large area where you can see the whole track and not miss a minute of the action and allow the spectator into the event.
I guess so...but then again, the majority of a season you're bound to be watching it on TV.

Racing a oval isn't as easy as locking left (and it's left. I know your toilet bowls go 'round weird in Oz, but it's left) and falling asleep for 3 hours.
Could be right if you drove the other way 'round.

It's really a lot more of chess match than other forms of racing as you are trying to make your car last and put it in position to eek out that last bit of edge to win the race. A true racing fan would recognize the racing in there instead of just looking for the turny bits.
But you can have the same thing in any other endurance race + the turny bits.

And even Chapman had room in his heart for ovals, having contested the Indy 500.
Touché. ;)

But you can have the same thing in any other endurance race + the turny bits.

I spliced out a bit I wanted to comment on, NASCAR prides itself on attendence.

The chess match is different in an oval race than it is in an endurance race, and why shouldn't it be? There already is endurance racing. It's a matter of managing the pack that you simply can't get on a road course, and that has it's compelling element to it.

Having said all this, I don't watch it much my self (which is why I'm irratated that you've put me in this position) I just recognize racing when I see it.

Le Mans. Formula has simply gotten boring, Nascar puts me to sleep and the rest are sadly not available for my viewing thanks to Nascar TV, I mean the Speed Channel.

I voted NASCAR. Although Sprint Cars are my favorite. Especially, when you get to the A Main and B Main races. 30/25 cars (respectively, IIRC) on a half mile of dirt for 30 laps. It's very exciting.
There is a drawback though, if watching it live (having already accepted the possibility of getting pelted with a mud clod) is the two laps, wreck, fifteen minutes of clean up, two laps, wreck, fifteen minutes of clean up...

It gives lie to the notion that people are watching it for the wrecks because the racing is more dynamic without them and the fans respond to that.

Le Mans. Formula has simply gotten boring, Nascar puts me to sleep and the rest are sadly not available for my viewing thanks to Nascar TV, I mean the Speed Channel.
So much cooler when it was SpeedVision and not owned by FOX...(but I'll wear the hat again if they use me next season, I'm a whore...)

So much cooler when it was SpeedVision and not owned by FOX...(but I'll wear the hat again if they use me next season, I'm a whore...)

SpeedVision rocked. The Speed Channel sucks the big one.

For me, it has to be Formula 1 and Gran Turismo.

What about the World Racing Championship which is the new F1 but fairer?

What about the World Racing Championship which is the new F1 but fairer?
Did that actually happen? I've been out of the loop...

I like the concept of the A1, but I'm not really much of a racing fan.

Eight friends, a couple bottles of JD, and Go-Karts.

Go-kart drunken racing

I noticed that the poor excuse for a formula that is A1 didn't make it onto the poll. :p

I noticed that the poor excuse for a formula that is A1 didn't make it onto the poll. :p
Yeah, I forgot it. Had thought about it, but then again...it's only been around for a few months.