How did you fall in love with sportscar racing?

[dj choc ice]

its yet another rather random and imaginative thread by me lol

well this thread if you all read the title is quite self explanatory really how did all of you people fall in love with sportscar racing whether it be FIA GT, LMES, ELMS, lemans 24 hours, british GT, group C racing and the old IMSA days or further back for the oldies to the days of stirling moss in the jaguar XJR5's and the jackie ickx ford GT40 victories and the great 1970's with porsche 917's, ferrari 512's and in the late 1970's the renault turbo's

here goes mine

first time was at silverstone for the 1997 FIA GT, i didnt really know much about lemans cars then but all i can remember was the shrill noise of the porsche's, other than that it was just a blur since i was only 7 years old at the time and i didnt go to a true sportscar race meet until silverstone 1000km last year which was an epic race with my 2 favorite teams creation and oreca fighting it out for the lead and it was noticeable that the DBA judd 03S was faster on the straights than the audi R8 but the audi was better on the brakes and through the corners

so how did you fall in love with sportscar racing

[Suze]

Sam going on about it all the time so deciding to see what it was "all about" and going to LM this year - since been to PLM and will go to at least LM next year.

[jhansen]

Hmm, this seems like a familiar topic, but oh well.

My first race of any sort was the Monterey Triple Crown at Laguna Seca in 1981, which was part of the IMSA Camel GT series. I distinctly remember Brian Redman winning in a yellow Lola T600. And of course, I was amazed by the Porsche 935 turbos. Lots of great drivers were there like Redman, Ongais, Rahal, Unser Jr, Hobbs, Haywood, and Ludwig. I don't remember too much about it, as I was about 7 at the time. But the Lola was fascinating. A few years later the 962's and Jags had me hooked.

We returned to that race many times until they dropped the date in the mid to late '80's. After that we switched over to CART until the early 90's. High school and college fascinations took over for a while. But I never forgot the prototypes. I finally returned to Laguna Seca in 2003 with my son, then just 4. Been back with him ever since and faithfully following the sport. My only real lament is that I missed the GT1 cars in 1998 and the Beemers in 2000.

Long live sportscar racing!

[AU N EGL]

Racing Endurance go-karts from 1966 to 1968. Plus going to the SCCA races in that time and then Trans-Am and origiinal Can-AM races in the 70s at Elkart Lake WI, Home of Road America.

[Foster]

I was always involved with the local short track stock car scene. When they had a non points race on the former street race, that was when i fell in love. It was the Moosehead Grand Prix of the early 90's. The stock cars where there with the local club, the "American IndyCar series", the British F3000 (I believe this was a non points race for them), and the one that struck me the most....The Rothmans Porsche Turbo Cup Series. Iditical 944's running around the streets of Halifax was something to behold. I was hocked. he year they moved from the streets to the sirforce base, they had the IMSA GTP's there. I never realized what I was watching at the age of 8 was something at the age of 21 I would die to see again. I just loved watching the cars go fast back than, and ever since, the tastes grew to good looking cars going fast....and that's how I became a sports car fan.

[dazbaz_99]

For me it was only very recently. I went to the LMS at Silverstone in 04, then again in 2005. Didnt have much knowledge on Sports Car/Prototype racing as its not on TV alot unless you have Sky. 2005 did it for me, the weather for the most part was god damn awful, but I stuck it out. Watching those cars racing down Hangar Straight at dusk was just mind blowing. Went to see them again this year at Donington too. Hopefully I will get to Le Mans in the near future!! For me the mix of cars, the fabulous sounds, and almost constant overtaking with the different classes makes it so great to watch!

[F360]

My Dad used to take me to Thruxton as a small boy to watch the Easter monday Formula 2 race most years, this usually had a support race programme that included such gems as the "Wendy Wools" Special saloons that included such beasts as a Cosworth powered Fiat 500. I loved that car and still wonder if it survives anymore...
In my early teens, I used to hide under my bed sheets listening to the hourly updates from Le Mans on the radio. I had a soft spot for the 512BB LM's and i remember those years (1979-1981) quite vividly. I vowed one day to go to Le Mans but as (in no particular order !) college, cars of my own, girls etc got to be more important, I lost touch a little.
Then in 1994, a like-minded work colleague suggested to go to LM on his BMW motorbike. WOW ! What an experience. With the exception of 2000 and 2001, I've been back every year since (twice in 2003 with the 1000km's) and have also been to innumerable ISRS/SRWC races, FIA GT, LMES/LMS...
For me, my favourites right now are Le Mans and the FIA GT series.
Love to make the Daytona 24 hours one of these years too.

[JAG]

For some reason someone gave my dad a video of Le Mans 1989 taped from Screensport. It ended at the point Davy Jones's XJR-9LM broke down on the Mulsanne Staright.

Unfortunately when I actually started going to races sportcar racng collapsed and I had to put up with Supertouring and F1 until GT's put the sport back on the map!

The lack of top quality sportscar racing between 92-95 is one of the reasons I get so annoyed when people complain about the lack of cars in the ALMS etc.

They don't know how lucky they are to have such a great series on their doorstep.

[isynge]

While I’d been loosely aware of sportscars beforehand it all really started for me in early 1982 with the late lamented GPI’s Le Mans special issue. I’d seen it in the newsagent and hankered after it for days, working odd jobs around my parents’ house to scrape together the pennies to buy it. Once in my possession it captivated me entirely. The diversity of cars with weird and wonderful shapes so divorced from F1 (the Kremer CK-5 and the Grid being particularly appealing), the 956 making a legitimate claim to be the most beautiful car I’d seen, the dramas of the race ranging from Rondeau’s collapse to Joest’s brave effort to name but two. It’s still one of my more read copies of GPI.

Since then interest’s wavered a bit over time. Through the late 80s interest waned a bit, more to do with me than the series’ fault, until Montreal in 1990, when I was reminded of the terrific variety and charisma sportscars had. Of course the revival of interest coincided with the meltdown of Group C, which led to another relative decline in overall interest only really stemmed in 1999 when Mercedes’ airborne antics proved enough to drag me out of my father-in-law’s study and stop trying to write up my thesis. Since then it’s been largely a constant interest and hopefully one that will long continue.

Good thread BTW – sure it’s been gone over before but it’s always nice to have an excuse to dredge through why we bother.

[Nick49]

Hello

I got interested in sports car racing in the 60's. Le Mans, as ever, was big in those days and I seem to remember the BBC broadcasting bits of the race. I don't think I'm dreaming that. Anyway Autosport covered sportscar racing as much as Formula One (unlike today ) in those days so it was easy to keep up with the Ford v Ferrari battles, then the Porsche v Ferrari battles and so on. In the 70's I managed to get to see some of the Group 5 and Group 6 races until they declined. I can vividly remember sitting in a cafe in Chichester reading all about the forthcoming Group C class in an Autosport. What a fantastic series that turned out to be and I again managed to travel a bit across Europe to watch it.

Unfortunately I got married ( ) in 1987 and my sports car watching stopped for a while although I did get to see some on TV. The various LM Series have really got me going again and I did get to Silverstone in 2005. I like any sports car racing and it "amuses" me when people "slag off" one series against another.

"You've never had it so good" springs to mind and "enjoy it whilst you can" is another.

Nick

[Mal]

A group of Friends in 1983 said to me lets go to LeMans - its a good crack - so off we went did the typical Le Mans hooligan getting drunk thing but I was hooked and have gone most years since.

[LC2guy]

In 1983, my 2 uncles took me to Silverstone for the 1000km. It started a bit wet, and at the end of lap 1, the 2 Martini Lancia LC2's came by a mile ahead of the rest. To my little brain, this meant they were the coolest and fastest. Little did i realise at the time that they were the only ones starting on wets. Of course, they ended up going backwards, but that initial impression has stuck ever since. Just look at my user name 23 years on !!! Took me till 1988 to get to LeMans, but have been to most since then, and all since 1999 ( including 1000km pilot in'03 ). Give me a sportscar any day above F1 / Touring.

[kingkai]

It began when I saw a carmodel of the mercedes CLK-GTR in a shop in 1999. I got in love with it and since been in love with nearly all the current (from 1996 onwards) GT1 cars. Well I'm still young and no one near me likes carsports. So it really began watching F1, which I still do from time to time when I'm bored. The first time I really saw footage of LM was in 2003 and follows all the GT1 competing races.

[Lloyd87]

Hi all!
First of all, I think that motor races passion is something belonging to our DNA family. I've always watched to Formula 1 races. Once my father came back home from Milan with a Ferrari Testarossa, and I believe it was there where my sportscar passion started. Few years later, he returned with a Lamborghini Diablo; It was the period of the Mclaren F1 great years, and he bought a 1:18 model of that car for my brother, while me and my brother were happy of our bugatti and lamborghini models. When the Play Station videogame Gran Turismo came out, I could learn more of sportcar racing, and the following series (2-3aspec-4bspec) helped me to learn more sportscars!
But it was only 2 years ago that I really got in love with these races, when I saw the FIA GT championship on TV, and felt in love with the Saleen S7-R, in particular with the "vitaphone racing team" model. Last year and this year too I've gone and seen some Italian GT races, but this year i've also seen two spectacular FIA GT races (Mugello and Adria). Next year, apart from some FIA GT races, I expect to see the LMS race in italy, and the 24 hours of le mans.

[zac510]

Wow, there are some 'experienced viewers' in here

I've only been watching for a few years. Although I've been a racing nut for more than half my life, the LeMans exposure in Australia is quite small. The first time I looked twice came after finding mulsannescorner on the net. I loved the variety and technical insight (thanks Mike). Of course these days we have DSC, endurance-info, etc for news but for a while MC was all I knew on the net! Now I've moved north where the awareness of the event is much larger. Can't wait to visist Le Mans next year.

[Net-Ranger]

For me was at fall of 1989, at the age of 11 years old when my parents take me to see the WSPC (Group C) at the Hermanos Rodriguez race track, i was completely astonished when i saw and hear the Mercedes C9, the Jaguars XJR-9´s. the Nissan´s, the Coswoth powered Spice´s, the Aston Martin AMR1, and of course, the electrifying sound of the 4 rotor Mazda engine in their prototypes

[racerkeke]

My dad raced enduro sportscars when I was young, mostly homebuilt and not even remotely in the same league as the Porsches of my hero, Ludwig Heimrath. But I loved bundling up for Mosport's Sundowner to watch the cars swoop down the T2 hill as darkness fell. Falling asleep cuddled up in a blanket to the constant sound of racing cars is wonderful when you're not yet ten years old. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I always sleep so well between shifts at Le Mans -- I've had lots of practice!

keke

[Banks]

Was on holiday in 1970 not far from Le Mans. A friend and I decided to check it out. Unforgettable memory was standing at Arnage watching Dickie Atwood fighting an almighty 'tankslapper' in the 917 as he floored it out of the corner on a damp track - I was hooked.
Have only missed about five Le Mans since then.

[Truckosaurus]

Whilst I'd seen the odd British GT race before hand, it was a trip to the 1997 Le Mans that got me into this branch of motorsport.

I also think that sites like this and the various incarnations of SportsCarWorld/TotalMotorsport/DailySportsCar have contributed massively to providing coverage of matters that the print media rarely touch.

[GT6]

I first went to Lemans in 1985, on a coach overnight on Friday and back overnight on Sunday, no tent if fact nothing much at all, stood for 6 hours on the start finish line from about 11.00 on saturday, got burnt, did not have a clue that year about how to get around or anything. Only missed 2 Lemans since and have seen races at Spa and in the UK. Not sure why it is but perhaps like it's a combination of the noise, the smell (camping and oil), the race cars and people that makes me return.
To be honest it's now part of me and I suspect it always will be.

GT6

[gucom]

I'd always been into F1 through my father, which led to me buying race games for the computer. Need for Speed porsche made me fall totally in love with the '98 GT1, and cars such as the 935 Moby Dick and 993 GT2, and the "race history" film inside that game showed me some of the amazing sportscars that porsche has made.
That led to me getting interested in sportscar and GT races, and learning of the McLaren F1's incredible success at Le Mans sealed the deal, i got hooked and watched the race through the night on TV and the internet. Then in 2005 i went there with my dad, which was amazing ofcourse... went again this year, and planning for next year

[Zurbert82]

My father has been an on and off F1 and Sportscar fan since the late sixties. He used to go to Lime Rock in the 70's with a bunch of his college friends, and that evolved into him taking me to Lime Rock in the mid 80's during the IMSA GTP heyday. I was way too young to even notice I was at a sportscar race, but that was my first taste. I used to be really in to Nascar from the early to mid 90's, but one morning I caught the 1994 Belgian GP on TV and I was hooked. I remember thinking it was much more interesting than Nascar. My father and I have gone up to the Canadian Grand Prix about 8 times between 1995-2003, and we went to our share of IMSA WSC races at Lime Rock in the mid 90's with the Riley Scott MKII's and 333SP's, but at the time I was more of an F1 fan. I was oblivious to the ALMS until around 2004 when my father and I went to the New England Grand Prix and as a result I was instantly hooked and have been obsessed ever since.

[johnny yuma]

First was the late 60s at Oran Park night meetings [Sydney] Ross Bond in a worked Austin Healey 3000 with red hot discs glowing through the fat minilite mags.

Next was Frank Matich in his own creation the SR4, BEATING ALL COMERS .World class vehicle.

Best was Nations Cup at Queensland Raceway in 2002 [its a long time between drinks for sports car fans in Australia] with neck and neck 20 lap races between Ferrari Porsche and Dodge Viper.

[FREE996]

In the Quaife pit Silverstone 1999 last BPR round .

Nice long chat with Mike about his Quaife "Monster"

Ambling around the 911 GT1s

OH the sounds

[The Badger]

My first experiance of Sportscar racing was the Brands Hatch 1000kms in 1986. It was just amazing , Brun Jagermeister-Gaggia-Torno , Joest , Fitzpatrick-Danone and Obermaier-Babicressi with Silk Cut (the white one) Jaguar and of course RLR with 956-106B . Yep , the old Group C days were hard to beat and especially at a beuatiful track like Brands . I would like to see LMS there again someday .

Brilliant Bob and Baldi won the race with old 956-117 in 2nd place and Brun Jagermeister in 3rd with a lovely wild sounding Lancia LC2 screaming about with Giacomelli and co .

I didnt see another sportscar race until 1988 , again at Brands where Jag won .

Then i decided to give Le mans a go and have now been there 16 times . I didnt have a choice but to miss LM this year for the first time .... gutted is an understatement but I did manage to watch 22.5 hours on Motors TV and my trusty laptop tuned to Radoi Le Mans . Thank you to all involved there .

I couldnt make 1990 cuz i was away working in the Middle East and 1992 was a crap entry , and found a hotel where i got plastered and watched their TV for as long as i could drink pints !!!

But im already planning my little pilgrimage to France for next year ..... and I can hardly wait !!!

Id like my ashes to be scattered at Tetre Rouge , so i will never miss another one .