What are your all-time favorite race cars, and is there any particular reason for your choices?
I've got a lot to list, so I'll just put up a couple for now. Starting with the car that made me fall in love with racing as a wee lad in the first place, the Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo. I saw this beast at Mosport in the late 80s. I couldn't have been more than a couple years old at the time, and it is without doubt my earliest memory of anything. This is the car that started it all for me, and as such holds a special place in my heart. Looks badass, too
It's probably one of the reasons that I still love prototypes more than any other sort of racing vehicle; especially closed cockpit cars. Pretty advanced for its time, too; look at the aero management in the front end, it's very similar to today's prototypes.
Another one is the Lotus 49. There's several reasons for this. Jim clark was my father's hero as a kid, and that idolization has been hereditary, it seems, even though I am much, much too young to have ever seen Clark behind the wheel. While not the first car to use its engine as a structural piece, it was the first one to really make it work. Additionally, it is the car that first started the dominance of the Cosworth DFV, which was successful well into the late 70s and even into the 80s as the choice of privateer teams. While not unique to this particular car (for obvious reasons) it also signifies the end of an era; its first season of use being the last full season of the non-winged Formula 1 cars. It's success throughout many seasons is another admiral quality, as well as the innovations throughout; for instance, the first car to employ the use of wings (with mixed success, admittedly). It was also the vessel for the coming of mass-commercialism in motorsport in the form of a livery (we've all seen the Gold Leaf Lotus). Take that as a good or bad thing, it definitely had a major impact on motorsport. Like the Nissan, it's damned good looking, too.
There's many, many more I could list, but I'll stop there for now. What do you guys have to list? I'm keen to see. Don't think you have to post vintage or upper-tier cars, either; if last year's Formula Vee championship car is your favorite, post it!
I've got a lot to list, so I'll just put up a couple for now. Starting with the car that made me fall in love with racing as a wee lad in the first place, the Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo. I saw this beast at Mosport in the late 80s. I couldn't have been more than a couple years old at the time, and it is without doubt my earliest memory of anything. This is the car that started it all for me, and as such holds a special place in my heart. Looks badass, too
It's probably one of the reasons that I still love prototypes more than any other sort of racing vehicle; especially closed cockpit cars. Pretty advanced for its time, too; look at the aero management in the front end, it's very similar to today's prototypes.Another one is the Lotus 49. There's several reasons for this. Jim clark was my father's hero as a kid, and that idolization has been hereditary, it seems, even though I am much, much too young to have ever seen Clark behind the wheel. While not the first car to use its engine as a structural piece, it was the first one to really make it work. Additionally, it is the car that first started the dominance of the Cosworth DFV, which was successful well into the late 70s and even into the 80s as the choice of privateer teams. While not unique to this particular car (for obvious reasons) it also signifies the end of an era; its first season of use being the last full season of the non-winged Formula 1 cars. It's success throughout many seasons is another admiral quality, as well as the innovations throughout; for instance, the first car to employ the use of wings (with mixed success, admittedly). It was also the vessel for the coming of mass-commercialism in motorsport in the form of a livery (we've all seen the Gold Leaf Lotus
). Take that as a good or bad thing, it definitely had a major impact on motorsport. Like the Nissan, it's damned good looking, too.There's many, many more I could list, but I'll stop there for now. What do you guys have to list? I'm keen to see. Don't think you have to post vintage or upper-tier cars, either; if last year's Formula Vee championship car is your favorite, post it!
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