Comments on: 800 F1 races: how many have you seen?

By: pitflaps

pitflaps — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:28:06 +0000

a million…no, 7. 2 races in 1985 to present without missing a single one.

When I went on holiday in ’98 – missing live coverage of the Austrian and European GPs which were on back-to-back weekends – I taped both (including qualifying) AND WATCHED THEM BEFORE I WENT TO WORK HAVING COME BACK FROM CHILE ON A 14 HOUR RED EYE FLIGHT.

My wife has left me.

By: _Ben_

_Ben_ — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:40:04 +0000

hello,
does anybody know where i can download of f1 races

You can find a fair few full races in parts on youtube, ones I have found include

Suzuka 94
Nurburgring 99
Suzuka 98
Silverstone 98
Spa 98
Spa 97
Monaco 96
San Marino 94 (Not watched it, not my cup of tea)
Melbourne 99
Adelaide 89
Monaco 97
Brazil 01
Usa 05

There are more I just can’t remember, also as an added bonus most of these have Murray & Martin commentating!

By: thombach

thombach — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:03:14 +0000

hello,
does anybody know where i can download of f1 races

By: Architrion

Architrion — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:56:23 +0000

I feel what I would call Jealousy… knowing that some of you, Brar, Top Gear, Steven Roy, have been around before I was born. You have treasures between your memories…. Graham Hill, 1969. That sounds great!!!!!

By: ajokay

ajokay — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:03:17 +0000

Alianora:

my next taste of F1 was San Marino 1994. Surprisingly this timing didn’t put me off

I feel your pain too, that was my first race. I’m glad it didn’t put me off either.

And Gman, it’s great to see someone get into F1 so recently, espicially someone from the States in the year that you lost your Grand Prix. I’m certain it’ll be back one day. (c’mon Laguna Seca!)

By: GMac

GMac — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:52:23 +0000

and bringing up the rear….
goodness knows the number, picked it up on “World of Sport” on ITV Saturday pm’s in the 70′s, then the Beeb started live broadcasts in the 80′s with Senna & Nige etc, used to watch with me old mum or the highlight show late Sunday eve. Ahhh. Started attending Brit GP in 2003 (or ’04 maybe)with a Friday practice in damp conditions – never forget the hairs on my neck standing on end as I neared Silverstone on that morning, hearing the first guys bombing around the track. You know when your going to love something ’til you die at those moments (FIA permitting!)
Then to top the lot, the first car I saw at Abbey as I reached the trackside was Schumacher who promptly spins in front of me, gets out & hangs with the marshalls until the session finished. Nice guy eh? Perhaps, but what he was really up to was to supervise the recovery of his Ferrari – now there’s professionalism for you.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:24:06 +0000

My first race that I deliberately watched was France 1993. My dad and granddad are/were F1 fans, so presumably the race had been on in the background before then, but before then I hadn’t been interested in it myself (apart from playing an extremely unrealistic F1-themed game on my computer which I didn’t even realise was linked to anything else until several years later…) Anyway, on the afternoon of France 1993, there was a thunderstorm at my house, so I had to stop playing outside and come in. It was about two-thirds of the way through the race and I thought “Those pointy blobs look interesting, I’ll watch them for a bit”. Eventually deciding that I liked the blue-and-white blobs best, I decided to start cheering for the driver with the easiest-to-remember surname – one Damon Hill…

Due to my abysmal ability to keep track of something that was only one once a fortnight, my next taste of F1 (apart from discovering a very old encyclopaedia of F1 and devouring it) was San Marino 1994. Surprisingly this timing didn’t put me off (possibly because the encyclopaedia was so old that it didn’t even mention Senna – it was published the year before he raced in F3!), and I made a proper effort to watch every race after that. Though I still missed Monaco of that year…

I watched every race of 1995, but then missed 3 races across the next seven years due to swimming galas (Britain 1996, Britain 1997 and Germany 2001). It would have been more but for the trusty VCR. I still remember Austria 2002, when I missed the race, decided to watch it after school the next day and nearly had the main event of the race revealed by a member of staff (who was in the middle of a tirade about declining standards of sportsmanship)…

So I’ve seen 247 Grands Prix in full so far. Hopefully I will see a lot more in future

I’ve seen no races live so far (hopefully I will get to see Singapore next year, but I feel like I really should see Silverstone’s swansong as well), but I have seen the 2002 British GP qualifying. I will not forget the sound of Takuma Sato’s nose section scraping on the tarmac in a hurry!

I’ve never slept through a whole race, but I did have an “alarm clock malfunction” for the 2008 Australian Grand Prix. When you turn on the TV and the first thing you see is Timo Glock crashing, you know you need a better system of waking up for late-night races…

By: Tako

Tako — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:43:04 +0000

The first Grand Prix I saw on TV was Silverstone 1973 with the mass crash in the 2nd lap.
In those days it was hard to see a GP on television.
The first GP I saw live was Netherlands in 1973 with the fatal accident of Williamson.
I do not know how many GP I saw live after that. A lot. I think around 25 Grand Prix’s
Only the recent years I do not visit them. It is just to commercial. Give me back the old days. It was just much more fun and the drivers were real heros.
Now they are spoiled.

By: Gusto

Gusto — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:18:45 +0000

First race I remember well was San Marino 89,counting to 30 then shouting at the TV `weres the fire marshals`as Berger eventually climbed out his burning Ferrari,had seen races before,were and when I cant be sure,I could`nt face F1 till 96 after Senna,Ratzenberger and very nearly Barrichello,but Ive only missed 3 races since then.So I guesstimate it must be around 300

By: Top Gear

Top Gear — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:10:42 +0000

Garyc – I’m jealous of your early visits to the ‘Glen for the USGP. That was always my dream.

Architron – My oldie pictures:

- A line of F1 cars coming down a hill with high wings on the front and rear at Jarama (I think it’s Jarama)

- Jackie Stewart in his Matra with an open face helmet with goggles

- Emerson Fittipaldi winning his first GP, coming through on the misty circuit as golden sunshine drizzles on his Gold Leaf liveried Lotus 72 at the USGP in 1970

- Young Ronnie Peterson contemplating the old ‘tea tray’ STP March 711 at the start of the 1971 season

The early 70s were interesting years for car designs, with ‘coke bottles’ like the McLarens, wedges like the Lotus 72, the 711 and the Brabham BT34 lobster claw as designers searched for understanding emerging aerodynamics.

I remember too sharply, too, announcements about Piers Courage, Francois Cevert, Peter Revson, Bruce McLaren, and Ronnie Peterson. Those are just the ones I heard announced on the radio that froze the moments for me. Later came Roland and Aryton as moments on TV.