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I absolutely understand the anger and frustration of owners of genuine , virtually unmolested old racing cars . It must be galling to see one's lovingly preserved piece of heritage being left for dead by a car whose oldest component is its driver , and which attains speeds an original could not even begin to match .Not back then, even with a Clark behind the wheel.
There's another side though. BTCC apart , most modern racing in UK is f***ed . Small grids , too many tedious spec formuale , cars with no soul but insane grip and silly costs . But go to an HSCC or CSCC meeting and for most races you will see big grids and great racing . And drivers , teams and spectators enjoying themselves .
Why ? Because some younger drivers have given up the struggle of getting a budget for a drive in BTCC or GT , other , older drivers are having fun in their dotage and regular Joes are racing a car they know won't depreciate like a modern will. They all love driving analogue cars with no aero and no paddle shifts . And we know what happens when a series becomes big - winning becomes more important and the envelope starts to be pushed in both driving standards and car preparation.
Historic racing is always an oxymoron - we haven't got time machines and we cherry pick the best of what we think we remember of the past and ignore the stuff we didn't like so much - y'know , all that bad stuff like fire, injury and death, amateur hour marshalling , rubbish catering and people blowing Woodbine smoke in your face . So we end up with Goodwood , and the host of Classics which every circuit now runs. They are all homages to the past , often pastiches and sometimes parodies - but they are popular.
The cars have followed exactly the same pattern and the only surprising thing is that anybody is remotely surprised ...
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