Just curious how the age demographics are playing into our F1 forum. This is a public vote btw.
Good comment. So what got everybody started? In my case it was watching compatriot Clay Regazzoni leading and then winning the first victory for the Williams team at the Silverstone GP.
Been watching ,reading since mid - sixties. I think the ABC tv network did a few with Chris Econamacki (sp) ..Monaco,Watkins Glen...and when I found out that the Glen was in the U.S.A. - I hitched up there to see the cars live. Then it was Jackie Stewart, Jacky Ickyx(sp),Peter Revson,Ronnie Peterson and Francois Cevert that I wanted to see. Along with the screaming Cosworth DFV's and the ear piercing MATRA and BRM v12's. The Ferrari v12's were nowhere near as shrill as those engines. Been following ever since.
when wild world of sports would do Monaco first exposure lasting effect actually wish there was still RACING in F1 ya know wheel to wheel dives into corners
Since the eighties! Supported Scuderia Ferrari since day one. Been around too long to see how many years it took Ferrari to finally win the constructors' title in 99 and the drivers' title in 2000. I hope they continue to win the titles for atleast a few more years.
Eighties for me. My passion was initially sated by eagerly devouring the race reports in magazines like Autocar and Motor. F1 was not telecast where I was back then. I started watching races for the first time only in the 90s.
While I voted for Eighties, this does not really answer the question accurately for me. My father is a motor racing nutter and has followed F1 since he was knee high to a grasshopper. I thus grew up surrounded by motor racing and fantastic books. Thus while I did not follow F1 sinces it's inception ... I've read and read again over and over ALL the years and really feel the history, etc. Pete
Good point. Our neighbours watched it since it was televised in Europe towards the end of the sixties and that's when I started watching not knowing anything about anythin - just like now, but now I'm a moderator, hehe... -. But that drive of Rega to victory really hooked me. So I admit pure chauvinism and also the love for the underdog in Rega and Williams got me to the sport, I eventually got rid of chauvinistic traits for the most part. Had to, there are not many Swiss left... Pete, if you ever get a chance, go rent/watch the movie La Passione. I think it best describes both of our roots.
Since I was a wee lad, my Uncle is a fanatic and i used to go over to his house next door during the summer. The whole world stopped for F1 in France, Prost was tops then.
I originally got hooked when Andretti started driving for Lotus. The only F1 races I remember actually getting to see back then was Monaco on ABC. If I remember it was tape delayed. I kept up with FI through Autoweek. I got to attend a couple of GP's in person. The first was Las Vegas in 82 then Long Beach in 83. Both thanks to my employer, Toyota. As I mentioned in another thread, Las Vegas is where I heard the Matra V12. Still makes me gooey. After that I sort of lost interest for awhile. Not because I didn't enjoy the show, but because the ex-wife hated motorsports and by then I had children and other things just filled my attention. I got re-involved around the time Prost and Senna were at the top. But once again my kids conspired to take up all my time with competitive soccer, so I drifted away around the time Ayrton was killed. I really got re-involved this time in 99. Purely by accident I picked up a F1 Racing Magazine at Barnes and Noble. Then I finally got Speed TV on cable and now I am addicted all over again. F1 is like the Herpes Virus, you never really get rid of it, the symptoms just diminish, only to re-erupt when you least expect it. LOL!
Looks like I'm the first one from the fifties, makes me feel even older than I am. I started following F1 and other forms of racing in 1958 when I was 15 years old. Gary
First race I saw was Eddies loss at Japan in 99. I started the race with no idea what was going on, I ended screaming no!!
I started watching F1 racing in 1993. I can't remember what was the first race I saw, as I was something like 9-10 years old, but what I do remember is how I tried to pick some raceteam I would like the most. After couple of races I chose Benetton Renault with young Michael Schumacher. He was giving hard times to Damon Hill, as I recall. Since then, I'm a Michael Scumacher fan.
I suppose my first exposure to racing was listening to the Indy 500 on the radio (..."stay tuned for the greatest spectacle in racing"...). This would have been in the mid 1960's. Bought my first Road & Track in April 1967, my first Autoweek (Competition Press) in 1968. Attended my first race (USRRC at Kent, Washington) in 1969, I think.There was NO coverage of racing on the TV back then unless someone was killed (about once a week), or maybe when Ford won at LeMans. Very different today!
Auraraptor, Thank you very much. It was nice of Doug Hayashi to mention your forum in the new chapter on his nsxfiles.com. I really like this place, it's nice that so many Ferrari dudes chat here and put the pics of their monsters online. I enjoy reading the topics.
started paying attention to things around '60. was totally hooked by hill and von trips. good to know there's other tifosi from that era still around.
mid 80's while in Jr. High. First, by reading about it months late in R&T magazine (pretty good writing, no?), and then progressing to scanning the sports section for more up-to-date results, and then to TV. (Fri. practice, Qualifying, and Results listed in itty-bitty print waaaay in the back of paper.). It seems weird now, as sometimes it took days for me to find out who won, in the days before the internet! Tag-Porsche and then Williams Honda ruled the day. I think Nelson Piquet was the first driver I followed. Guys like Senna, Mansell, G. Berger, Prost were the players. Lost interest during the Mika Hakkinen salad days, but I am fully back. Have't missed a race on TV (taped) so far this season. People now, make fun of Minardi, but I miss the real oddball teams from the 80's era. (Coloni Subaru? Does it get any stranger?). Also, 3.5l NA motors running with 1.5l turbos was pretty weird.
*sigh* Im almost ashamed to admit I have only been following F1 for two years...but I do consider myself a die hard fanatic now! Although I have known about it for as long as I can remember...and I did sit in an early 90s F1 car at Ferrari of Houston. Wish I knew which one!!!! The year it was on the showroom floor would have been around 95 (maybe a few earlier or later). Can anyone help me out?
got hooked when my dad first took me to monaco in the early 70's. saw stewart and hill in all their glory.
Since I read about the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort which was won by Count von Trips in a Ferrari Sharknose. I was standing in line to buy lunch in the Montrose Market on a school day in the fall of 1961. I was about 12 and the whole thing took over. Skipped lunch so I could buy the magazine and I've been a fanatic ever since.