I’m a list guy, a countdown guy, a “numbered stuff” guy if you will. I cannot flip past a television show, video, or story that counts stuff up or down or presents a bunch of information with some sort of numerical ranking. That’s why when I saw this video by the legendary British Pathe company that gathered up lots of their old racing footage and compiled it into a video called “8 Races That Shaped Motorsport” I had to watch it. The natural question with anything of this nature is whether or not they are right in the eight events that they chose. Note that they are not selecting specific examples of crucial years, moments, etc that shaped motorsports but rather overall events. We’re not going to give away the whole list but as a “for example” LeMans is one of the races they included.
The we were interested mainly to see the the ol’ USA would get the shaft on this one or not because British Pathe being, well, British could have leaned hard in the favor of European racing history. If you are unfamiliar with the British Pathe company they were (are?) one of several companies founded by French brothers with the last name Pathe. In 1896 the guys got hardcore into the film equipment and production business and by the early 1900s they were the largest film production company in the world. In 1908 they altered the course of history by creating the newsreel that would run before movies in the theatre. That was an idea that launched a thousand other entities into existence and forever changed the way we (literally) saw the world.
Because of their early start in the business, the archives of the company are incredible and they have captured events around the globe that would have never been seen by modern eyes outside of still photos without them. You’ll see some legitimately old footage in here and boy is it fun to watch.
ahh did he say the Indy 500 is 250 laps and about 500 miles?
“Shaped Motorsport” interesting depending on your definition ,1955 La Mans that caused Mercedes to stop racing for 30 some years.
Senna’s death in 1994
even Earhart’s death.
I would say the quest for speed has been replaced by the desire not to kill the hero’s that chase it is what truly shapes motorsport.
Isle of Mann TT has always been on the bucket list. Anyone want to see if we can get a Groupon for this?
A Snobs view of racing! I’m not saying that these are insignificant or uninteresting. I do get tired of Thurston Howell the third explaining to me how factory backed rich people are the best at things. How about real achievements by the little guys at Bonneville, Early days of stock car racing on beaches, Innovations and inventions on drag strips. Certainly these have their place in Auto racing history. Unfortunately they are often disrespected or forgotten. These are the things that inspire me. European racing is like lusting after a super model babe, It ain’t gonna happen!