[Mixer]

So I recently watched the 2000 Canberra race as part of the classics that had been playing (I recorded it).

First thing I had to comment on was just the difference in the cars, still have production dashes and so on, and they were really unruly beasts to drive. The cars we have now are so on rails, they have just become so refined by comparison. It was great to see guys really muscling the cars around, and drifting them in a way you just couldn't do now. Canberra was rough as guts too.

The other thing though is just how much better the driving standards are now. People bemoan the officials getting involved but back then it was so much more common for people to just outright block, even for lapped traffic, and the amount of punting that was going on is way more than now.

I also have the say as much as people moan about the commentary now, it is just so much more professional than it was back then. I really miss Mark Oastler in the commentary box, he was the last of the "old school" professional callers in my view, and I dearly loved Barry Sheene (still missed), but the standard of commentary compared to now was just nowhere near as good. Crompo and Skaife are really on the ball, no dead air, no umms and uhhs of amazement.

I do really miss this era of racing, and the old guard who were still racing then, privateers and so on. But it is a moment in time, and we can't go back to it.

So I miss the old days, but we've also never had it so good.