Best era of Formula 1?

Awesome era very exciting, however the death rate was just unacceptable.

 

I agree.

To me it was about 1975 to 1985. I want to include the turbos and the whole skirts era. Second half of the eighties the turbos were being starved and regulated into extinction.

I started watching in the late seventies and the sheer number of innovations in that time was overwhelming. Basically each team had a different car (with a few FW07 clones in between). Lots of different motors. The cars didn't last as long and DNFs were the norm. Some years had more cars than grid spots and prequalifying to qualifying became necessary. The great tracks were still great (e.g. Hockenheim had its long straights). And F1 was still a very dangerous business.

 

I'm widening the era from 1974 - 1994 - 20 years of amazing racing and relative stablity so teams could really design some of the most memorable cars:

312T series
Lotus ground effects cars
Tyrrell 6 wheeler
Renault turbo
Brabham fan car
Brabham arrow point car - 83
Ferrari 156
McLaren MP4 - won WDC from 84- 86
Lotus Active suspension cars
McLaren / Honda of 1988

you also had some of the best Drivers ever:

Niki Lauda
Gilles Villeneuve
Prost
Senna
Fittipaldi
Hunt
Shcekter
Laffite
Mansell
Piquet
Arnoux
Jones
Patrese
Andretti
Pironi
Watson
Reutemann
etc.....

same for makes:
Ferrari
Matra /Liger
Renault
Williams
Lotus
Mclaren
Shadow
Tyrrel
Alfa Romeo
Arrows
Bennatton etc....

 

The 1960s and 1980s - best crop of drivers. The '05 and beyond era has been very nice too.

If we can include the pre-F1 era, it would be the 1930s with some of my favorite drivers participating.

 

Agree. Mid-80's to mid-90's for me. Turbos, V-12's, Senna v Prost, beginning of Schumacher, great circuits, greatly improved safety record, 641, etc.

 

Yup, 10 years from 1985 to 1994 with most powerful engines in 86 and 87 to most high tech systems in 92 and 93, basically mirrors Senna's career. Best drivers, tracks, sounds, and car looks.

 

Pre War was also interesting - but the cars were so hit and miss.

Basically you had 3 eras:

Bugatti - early on.
Alfa Romeo - Kind of always in contention
Silver Arrows - Mercedes and Auto Union - amazing at the end...

the rules were arbitrary per each race, so you never really got a good steady competiton going. It was usually between team mates of the same Marque.. but none the less interesting.

I've always wanted a Bugatti Tp 35... To me one of the most beautiful cars ever... and sounds amazing. I've rode in one - PGH vintage Gp in 1988 - and it was scary / awesome... I could not imagine running one of those - and GP's back then were all afternoon... No safety at all- burning alchohol & gas mixtures.. fumes, heat etc... you had big balls, and a short life!

I'm partial to a couple of drivers:
Renee Dreyfuse
Rudy Carachiola
Tazio Nouvalari
and a young gun who stopped driving when he hit the big time: Enzo Ferrari

 

Best era? Anything but this current one...

 

For me 79-94, beginning of G. Villeneuve and ended with Senna's death. In between it was awesome from the development of the Turbo's to the great tracks and drivers.

 

60s, no question about it, brave men, fast car, no safety, no wings , no brakes and very pretty cars

 

Every era has it's cool things. (exept the 00's)
Personally I am an enormous fan of the 50's-60's. Gentleman drivers, no fences, dangerous but awesome circuits and beautiful cars...

Thijs

 

Yep.

Lots of different cars, brilliant engines, Schumi, Senna, Prost, Mansell...awesome!

Some of the best looking cars, too. The 1998-2001 Schumacher/Hakkinen battles were brilliant as well.

 

I can't agree... I mean, the 90's were great but in comparison with for example the 60's/early 70's it's nothing... I find Clark, Steward, Ickx, Hill and Fittipaldi a lot more interesting/exiting to see in a lotus 49 or a Sharknose then Schumacher or Mansell in for example a Williams fw15 or an F399.

But that's just my opinion.

Thijs

 

My biggest turn offs to the 70s are:

1.) The looks of the cars - hate the huge intakes and big rear tires/little fronts
2.) The fact that almost every car ran the same engine
3.) The drivers in the 80s-mid 90s were better too, IMO.

 

The mid-60's cars were beautiful cars and the drivers could throw them around. So If you find that era more interesting then no one can argue that feeling. But it was a rich guy gentlemen-racing league, not yet a business. (the 70's was hodge-podge of ugliness and transient drivers that served as a transformation from the old boys club to a real "sport" that happened around 1981 with large budgets and big business invlovement.)

But the reality is they were 2 different worlds. The 1966 season had engines of 300bhp and thin tires with very little knowledge of down force. The drivers were a mixed bag, some athletic, some not even close. Did some still have drum brakes?

Fast forward to 1986 horsepower is almost 5 times stronger in qualifying, the tires are wide and sticky, the brakes are carbon-carbon, with a good understanding of down force. Just watch Senna's qualifying lap at Adelaide to see probably the most exciting lap ever done. All that power and all that grip being flung around in power slides laying down rubber. Plus it was up to the driver to keep the car in that very peaky power band.

Night and day, before tilke ruined it.

 

+1. From the intro of Renault's hopeless turbo exercise through the pre-qualifying era.

Childhood memories...Kelemata anyone? Always favoured the shoestringers....

 

This^^^^

Nothing like watching a DFV vs a Flat 12 vs a V-6 Renault. Same for the cars......great stuff all around. Same for drivers. Lauda, Andretti, Peterson, Rosberg, Jones & Regazonni and all the rest. Just a great time in F1

 

IMHO: When the Cosworth DFV was introduced in 1967 in a Lotus, it was a game changer and became the dominant engine in F1 for many years. Those were great years.

 

Best era in F1?
For me it's the 60s.

Private teams and gentlemen drivers, variety of cars and engines, less professionalism, more amateurism, more challenging tracks, and pre-Ecclestone!!!

I look at that period with great nostalgy indeed.
Clark, G.Hill, Dan Gurney, McLaren, the Rodriguesz brothers, Rindt, Stewart...

4 cylinders, V6, V8, V8, V12 ...

Cooper, Brabham, Lotus, BRM, ...

Rob Walker, Centro Sud, Team Bonnier, Karel Godin de Beaufort, Bob Anderson ...

 

That's one of the reasons why I didn't like the sixties and early seventies. F1 became too much of a standardized show. I loved it when Alfa, Ferrari, Matra, Renault, Honda, Porsche and others started to mix things up again.

 

Mid 70s to late 80s for me....

 

Mid 70's into early 90's best for me...I started watching around the time of Lauda's accident and GV's rise. Remember a few of his early wins and Scheckter's WDC.

Of course loved the turbo era, but drifted away at the time of Senna's death. After that weekend, I stopped watching for a few years - not just because he passed, but I was newly married and starting a new chapter in life.

Schumacher's arrival at Ferrari got me back into it. Don't remember a lot of 1996, but '97 onwards...so a 3 year gap where I didn't watch much if not all.