I looked around and didn't see basically any racing-related thread, and while that implies there aren't many people on this forum following any of those series we still should have a thread covering them (I'm currently lumping all the very different types here together for convenience).
I personally grew up being a big fan of Formula 1 and Michael Schumacher and to some extent paying attention to other stuff like the World Rally Championship, but I largely lost interest as an adult (it helps that I'm not significantly into sports in general, and that there's a common tendency for a single driver/team to have a long boring winning streak). I did kind of start watching rallying again in 2017 when regulation changes made it more exciting, and since it coincided with the Estonians Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja becoming consistently successful (eventually winning the championship in 2019) and the competition at the top level being really tight, I grew to genuinely like it.
The interesting thing is, I feel like motorsport as a whole is at this pivotal moment where it has to adapt to continue being relevant in the future. Several series (like the sports prototypes or even F1) are becoming almost obsolete and losing public/manufacturer interest - racing doesn't really serve the purpose that it used to in the past when road cars were much less powerful and sports played an actual role in their development, at the same time massive expenses are still necessary to win in most cases, and of course the climate crisis makes the entire concept kind of tone-deaf. Formula E seems to be somewhat of an exception, specifically because electric cars are still a work in progress and it actually helps developing their tech, and so it's one of the few series with growing manufacturer participation.
I personally grew up being a big fan of Formula 1 and Michael Schumacher and to some extent paying attention to other stuff like the World Rally Championship, but I largely lost interest as an adult (it helps that I'm not significantly into sports in general, and that there's a common tendency for a single driver/team to have a long boring winning streak). I did kind of start watching rallying again in 2017 when regulation changes made it more exciting, and since it coincided with the Estonians Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja becoming consistently successful (eventually winning the championship in 2019) and the competition at the top level being really tight, I grew to genuinely like it.
The interesting thing is, I feel like motorsport as a whole is at this pivotal moment where it has to adapt to continue being relevant in the future. Several series (like the sports prototypes or even F1) are becoming almost obsolete and losing public/manufacturer interest - racing doesn't really serve the purpose that it used to in the past when road cars were much less powerful and sports played an actual role in their development, at the same time massive expenses are still necessary to win in most cases, and of course the climate crisis makes the entire concept kind of tone-deaf. Formula E seems to be somewhat of an exception, specifically because electric cars are still a work in progress and it actually helps developing their tech, and so it's one of the few series with growing manufacturer participation.
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