Unpopular Motorsport Opinions

  • Thread starter Liquid
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Most of the posts here are anything but unpopular.

Here's one, F1 should not do closed cockpits, if they're heading that way let's remove the format and have the WEC as the premier motorsport.
 
Liquid
- Senna wouldn't have done much in 1994 and probably would have retired soon after.
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Sir Jackie Stewart in his autobiography (Winning Is Not Enough) mentions that he believes that Senna was seriously considering retirement. Now, I don't want to jump to conclusions, and I also do not know how good of a source Mr. Stewart is, although I'm personally inclined to believe him, but I've never seen anything that definitively confirms whether this is true or not (i.e., Senna's retirement), and we'll probably never know if it is true or not, because the only man who could have made that decision is Senna himself.
 
Northstar
That's not a NASCAR definition, it's just the definition of "casual fan".
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I only used NASCAR as an example because you did, I mean my wording probably wasn't amazing but it is 2:35 AM so I'm running on fumes :lol:

sems4arsenal
Most of the posts here are anything but unpopular.

Here's one, F1 should not do closed cockpits, if they're heading that way let's remove the format and have the WEC as the premier motorsport.
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That's popular opinion, really.
 
All right. I don't have much but:

- As others mentioned, Nurburgring does not produce great racing. To a lesser extent, Long Beach and Laguna Seca.
- F1 fans booing does not actually bother me that much.
- America has a long way to go to produce top notch drivers.
- Diesel cars should be banned from motorsports.
- A Daytona 500 victory is not that significant anymore.
- F1 should bring back refueling.
- I never thought Danica was a bad driver in Indy cars. My objection was that her move to NASCAR was based on marketing.
- Kyle Busch should not have been given a medical exemption last year.
- I actually think the newer Silverstone layout is better than the old one.
 
Lewis Hamilton is overrated.

Is he one of the best of his generation? Absolutely. One of the best of all time? Probably (only time will tell).

But he's overrated.

To hear some of his fans (and the media) tell it, he's so good that he could win every race by fifteen laps in a five year old HRT after pulling over for a toilet break during his first stop. It doesn't help that the media fall all over him.
 
  • The benefits of Tilke for Formula 1 won't be seen until a generation from now
  • Road courses (And Eldora for that matter) should not be in NASCAR (They're fun to watch, but 5% of the season should not be radically and fundamentally different from the other 95%)
  • There should not be a series of Endurance Racing, one off events like the 24 Hours of Le Mans/Daytona are fine
  • Brian France isn't as bad as everyone makes him out to be, the charter system is going a long ways towards having a series where any of the competitors can compete and win
 
Alonso is the best F1 driver of all time

Hamilton and Vettel are merely mediocre in comparison(better than most but nowhere near Alonso)

The new V6H engines are the best engines that F1 has ever had

More sponsors on an F1 car, if used correctly, look better than no sponsors

Tilke makes some damn good racetracks

We need cockpit protection in F1. The halo has not been thought out but a version of the aeroscren might be the solution.


Mine are very F1 oriented. I'll think up some for WEC later
 
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FutureF1
Alonso is the best F1 driver of all time

Hamilton and Vettel are merely mediocre in comparison(better than most but nowhere near Alonso)

The new V6H engines are the best engines that F1 has ever had

More sponsors on an F1 car, if used correctly, look better than no sponsors

Tilke makes some damn good racetracks

We need cockpit protection in F1. The halo has not been thought out but a version of the aeroscren might be the solution.


Mine are very F1 oriented. I'll think up some for WEC later
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Agreed, people are down on them for producing dull F1 races but the old ones don't do much better. Driving them in other games is almost always fun too.
 
Formula E is better than F1.
Perez is better than Hulkenburg.
Indycar would be great with Aero Kits if teams were allowed to make changes to them.
Chase Elliot is a okay driver not a great one yet.
 
DcrRaikkonen
Formula E is better than F1.
Perez is better than Hulkenburg.
Indycar would be great with Aero Kits if teams were allowed to make changes to them.
Chase Elliot is a okay driver not a great one yet.
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Other than Formula E I don't disagree with these at all
 
Bo
It's for a rich elite to indulge in a pastime far out of the reach of normal working-class people, or for big manufacturers to market themselves. Nothing about motorsport is cheap, nothing about it is simple or basic. Football, tennis and the like are popular because anyone can feel a connection to what they see - they could go out and buy a ball or some rackets and emulate what they see professionals doing.
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Difficult accessibility to participate doesn't equal difficult to watch.

Also racing video games are pretty much the emulation for casual viewers, they don't care if it is Arcade, Sim or Simcade, they'll say they are epic racers just because they are the best at Need for Speed.

I very much doubt Tennis is any popular than any big national motorsport, maybe in England but here in Australia hardly anyone cares unless the Australian Open is mentioned.

Also all your things come to is comparisons, not just its overall appeal. Doesn't mean its exclusive or small, it just means not as big as others.

Bo
I'm not sure how much everyday media exposure Supercars gets in Australia, but be honest, do you really see it taking top billing in the sports news over football or rugby?
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That is hard to say, while hardly anyone gives 🤬 about ordinary football. AFL and Rugby are different depending on the state, one is really massive while the other is meh but VA Supercars always has consistent popularity in the country.

In fact, except Soccer, Motorsport is probably the biggest sport consistently thanks to various series able to support it.

Baseball: Only Americans and Japanese care.

Cricket & Rugby: Oceania and Europe only mostly.

Basketball: I never hear about Basketball that isn't NBA (which is American) and even then it isn't that big. Even our NBL is poor.

Ice Hockey: Canada and America.

AFL: Pretty much Australian only.

Motorsport: Thanks to different series that reach out to different audiences, pretty much all continents have a big motorsport that while isn't the biggest compared to the other sports, it is still there and it does draw crowds and ratings, if it was so small and exclusive then I doubt they would have the funds to keep running them.
 
- That driver/track/team you love isn't as good as you think they are. Ow, my grammar hurts.

- That driver/track/team you hate isn't as bad as you think they are.

- 90% of everything - motor races, sci fi books, chicken tikka masalas, everything - is mediocre.
 
  • Williams will either be bought out/go bust etc. before they ever win a race again.
  • F1 was better pre 2009 with the more aero-reliant cars.
  • Colin McRae was a brilliant driver but was never the greatest as he had no self-control
  • Prost>Senna
  • Nelson Piquet Jnr is a better driver than his F1 career suggests
  • Badoer and Fisichella weren't driving bad in the 2009 Ferrari F60, I just think it was a really hard car to drive.
 
F1 is Terrible
Le Mans is a dull track
Silverstone is a god-awful venue
Senna was a bit of a ****, and if he hadn't have died there wouldn't be anywhere near as much worship of him
Classic F1 cars look rubbish
Marshals... (I didn't mean the guitar amps!) & Spectators.
The Indy 500 is about as boring an idea for a race as you could imagine
Things can be 'too safe' in motorsport
 
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Jimlaad43
I'm hoping that's only a complaint about the spelling
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Ooops, fixed.

I appreciate that it's something you do, but being a volunteer force doesn't give them a free pass. If it makes you feel any better, I'll add spectators to the list as well.
 
MatskiMonk
Ooops, fixed.

I appreciate that it's something you do, but being a volunteer force doesn't give them a free pass. If it makes you feel any better, I'll add spectators to the list as well.
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So you're saying that people for which motorsports can't run without are bad? Good plan man...
 
-F1 tracks are almost all entirely garbage.
-Tracks designed with F1 in mind are equally terrible.
-I'd rather watch Continental Sportscar Challenge than most high-dollar motorsports.
-Circuit of the Americas is pretentious koombaya ********.
-Daytona Prototypes have produced some of the best motor racing in the past 10 years.
 
MatskiMonk
Dunno, are you saying that they are above criticism?
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No, there's a lot to criticise, especially when I watch foreign marshals badly attempt to deal with a problem. For example, during qualifying for this year's GP2 race at Silverstone, Ollie Rowland broke down on my post. I ran out alone, talked to him, worked out the situation and ran to safety until the track was neutralised and it was safe enough for more of us to come out and get it moved/waited for the JCB. Only one marshal was needed. However, at last years Malaysian GP, Marcus Ericsson spun into the gravel at turn 1 during the race. No fewer than 10 marshals all ran to the car from the post, and all were beaten by the JCB that had obviously not been given clearance, but went anyway. After that you had 10 marshals standing in the firing line while one other hooked the car up and told Marcus where to go and got it out of the way ASAP. With everything voluntary, you're going to get good and bad.
 
  • The points system in Formula One is Stupid and I think every position except last place should recieve points.
  • Formula E racing is fantastic.
  • Daytona Prototypes look and sound better then the LMP2 style cars that will replace them.
  • IndyCar racing on Short Ovals isn't very exciting. It's cool and all, but watching a race where the leader laps every one but the top 4 isn't fun to watch.
  • Formula 1 shouldn't have closed cockpits, but some kind of roll bar or shielding screen to protect drivers from debris should be used.
 
RazorSharkz
I've never seen a bad Formula E race, I'm not sure the idea of thinking it's great is unpopular at all.
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As someone who quite enjoys FE as a novelty series, I can see the common reasons for people's complaints though:

- FanBoost (I legitimately dislike this as well - haven't met anyone on GTP who doesn't :P)
- Drivers needing to use two cars to finish a fairly short race. Personally I prefer giving them time to perfect the technology, but there's always those who find it an inconvenience.
- The race tracks. Some are legitimately good (Putrajaya) but the problem is that not a whole lot of thought is put into the design of most of them, resulting in either boring profiles (Beijing) or courses almost too narrow to race on (London). In my opinion, if they intend on using street courses, they should take it to some pre-existing ones lying dormant at the moment instead, like the Houston IndyCar circuit.
 
Jimlaad43
No, there's a lot to criticise, especially when I watch foreign marshals badly attempt to deal with a problem. For example, during qualifying for this year's GP2 race at Silverstone, Ollie Rowland broke down on my post. I ran out alone, talked to him, worked out the situation and ran to safety until the track was neutralised and it was safe enough for more of us to come out and get it moved/waited for the JCB. Only one marshal was needed. However, at last years Malaysian GP, Marcus Ericsson spun into the gravel at turn 1 during the race. No fewer than 10 marshals all ran to the car from the post, and all were beaten by the JCB that had obviously not been given clearance, but went anyway. After that you had 10 marshals standing in the firing line while one other hooked the car up and told Marcus where to go and got it out of the way ASAP. With everything voluntary, you're going to get good and bad.
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In all fairness, you are better qualified than me to judge how much of an issue comes down to training, experience, or simply common sense - however being volunteers shouldn't really alter the attitude towards their ability and competency - and, I really apologise in advance for how this will sound - but physical fitness too.

My issues with marshals however, aren't based so much on competency as they are attitudes and experiences - and I know from past history that even a paying spectator with common sense will always be trumped by someone in an orange jumpsuit "giving up their time"... hence I've posted this in the unpopular opinions thread.
 

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