Motorsports: Entertainment or Sport.

[Milkyway]

F1, BTCC, WRC etc.

The sporting elements have taken a back seat for a quite a few years now... & I can’t see it improving much in the immediate future.

2024: Seems that the Organising bodies will be struggling to make their SPORT great again.

I’ve always enjoyed motorsports... but my love for it is on the wain.

Edited by Milkyway on Friday 1st December 18:08

[Sebring440]

Milkyway said:

The sporting elements have taken a back seat for a quite a few years now...

I can your point on F1, but what makes you think this is the case with BTCC, when all the teams and drivers work so hard to win the championship? Have you been to the BTCC recently?

[Milkyway]

Sebring440 said:

I can your point on F1, but what makes you think this is the case with BTCC, when all the teams and drivers work so hard to win the championship? Have you been to the BTCC recently?

I’m not knocking anybodys commitment ... just feel the racing side has been a bit flat... probably because of all the rule implementations

NB: Watched Touring cars / BTCC since the seventies though.
Been to a few Lombard RAC rallies & GP’s..

Edited by Milkyway on Friday 1st December 20:18

[FWIW]

BTCC is the epitome of show over (motor)sport… Much better racing from the Clios.

Edited by FWIW on Friday 1st December 21:08

[Milkyway]

FWIW said:

BTCC is the epitome of show over sport… Much better racing from the Clios.

I’m glad the Legends are back next year.
Definitely needs a ‘Juniors’ series though... PDQ.

Edited by Milkyway on Friday 1st December 21:12

[flatlandsman]

You all only ever talk about circuit racing, there is so much more stuff about. Circuits offer a basic amount of show, there is vastly, hugely more when you go off grid, off road and the like.

And it is usually cheaper, less queueing, less people and friendlier people

[Geneve]

It’s a ‘business’ not a ‘sport’

[Nova Gyna]

Since Masi confused the role of a race director with that of a film director, it's becoming increasingly evident where F1 is heading.

[Sebring440]

Nova Gyna said:

Since Masi confused the role of a race director with that of a film director, it's becoming increasingly evident where F1 is heading.

I can't argue with that.

Geneve said:

It’s a ‘business’ not a ‘sport’

If we are talking BTCC, Of course it's a business! Where do you think the money comes from?

But it's still a sport, very much so. When you seen how much commitment the drivers put in, with their fitness training regimes, their many hours of sim training, the skill of the race engineers, the passions of all the team members, of course it's a sport! They want to win!

[Milkyway]

You pay for the ticket / subscription / TV Licence etc... but at the end of the day it’s the actual racing that attracts us.

Good, clean & close if possible... less of the whinging & points claiming exercises.
( Getting penalised for being a few millimetres too low or wide).

I have a relation that work for Mercedes F1, even he says don’t believe everything you hear... it’s all hype.

Edited by Milkyway on Saturday 2nd December 10:44

[flatlandsman]

The sport part only really truly exists at an amateur level and even there it can easily become a business.

Any elite series is about all sorts of business, tyre deals, suspension deals, driver contracts, pay drivers, paying amateurs, circuits having to sign multi year deals to host, hosting fees, non appearance fines, immense amouts of fines for driving or riding, sponsors, riders tat bring sponsors meaning you take them over talent, races held in areas where there is a driver or rider,

the top level is really only about business, the competitors are doing sport, but everything else about it is business, until you drop down a few levels

[Milkyway]

That’s a excellent analogy.

Business
Entertainment
sport.

Edited by Milkyway on Saturday 2nd December 11:43

[GlobalRacer]

BTCC make no bones whatsoever about it being an entertainment series. Gow has said that multiple times as have drivers.

F1 has mainstream TV slots so has to compete against what the casual viewing audience might want to watch etc. It's too big a business to survive purely on motorsport fans.