What do you miss from the old days?

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

ill add my 2p then, most i think are duplicataes of what other people have said.

Dodgy reliability, (at least when there was a leader, leading by 40sec there would be a bit of nail biting wondering if he could finish)
Gravel Traps, (BAHHH! punish them drivers for not sticking inbetween the white lines)
Paul Stoddart, (seemed to actully care about F1 more then profit, and a bit of a grumpy git , makes for good TV)
Minardi, (some of the biggest smiles ive had watching f1 is seeing a minardi get into the points)
Wet races without saftey cars, (What happened to the theory that if its wet, you driver slower, theres less chance of getting injured?)
Old Hockenhiem, (1 great track for the German Grand Prix is better then having two dull-ish ones)
Murray Walker, (Need i say more?)
James Allen reporting from the pitlane, (Niw that where that guy was at home)

 

[siffert_fan]

Then there are the fantastic circuits from the past that no longer grace F1:

Montjuich Park, Rouen, Cleremont-Ferrand, St. Jovite, Zandvoort. Osterreichring, the "real" Nurburgring and Spa, Watkins Glen.

 

[Slyboogy]

The Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher qualifying and race battles.

Here's a clip, commentray is worth a listen especially when Hakkinen crosses the line!

Here's another one classic Murray Walker! "ki ki sch sch Schumacher!!!"

 

[Sarinaide]

I miss the freedom of teams to amp up certain mechanical parts of the car, ie: in the quest to eak our more HP and speed meant running up the RPM counter, which created a situation where there was once upon a time a thingy called "Mechanical Failures", this has all but gone and in the process created rather predictable racing.

I guess the only person that would really love the bulletproof structure of the modern car would be Kimi, often a victim of Mechanical Failures of whatever sort.

 

[Dave Aston]

I miss a variation in configuration of engines, and of general car design. The cars all look pretty similar, but I know the regulations are tight, and maybe the variation should just be seen in smaller increments. But, I do think F1 is in good shape nonetheless. The racing is good. If teams could take a V8 to Monaco and a V12 to Monza, costs would go through the roof, so... I kind of miss braking duels too, but I know there's no going back from carbon brakes, so it's no big deal.

Slightly off topic, I know someone mentioned number 13... Good trivia, in touring car racing in Australia in the 60's, competitors nominated their own numbers. Bruce McPhee and Bob Holden would take 13, as they knew noone else would have it. If they were at the same meeting, one would use 113. But, at the Bathurst enduro, the numbers were allocated randomly to cars by officials. Spookily, both times these drivers were randomly given 13 at Bathurst, they won - the only times number 13 won the race. Bob Holden won in '66, in a Cooper 'S' with Finnish rally legend Rauno Aaltonen, Bruce won in '68 with Barry Mulholland. Mulholland drove one lap of the 500 miles when they shared a car, as Bruce figured it was his car, he was in the groove, and that was the minimum the regulations allowed! He said 'I just needed enough time to eat an apple and have a pee...'

 

[RossTheBoss]

I miss circuits with character. Places such as Osterreich/A1 ring, Buenos Aires, Old Kyalami. All the new tilkedromes seem quite bland. Austin however looks like its going to be a great track with gradients and surely the Indian track will look fantastic!

I'm sure this has mentioned already but I miss when cars looked different from one another and the engines were distinct in noise, power and reliability. I really wish theyd free the regulations up slightly. Theres a great video on youtube somewhere of someone recording 1997 F1 cars go around one corner and you can hear the Hart, Ferrari, Yamaha, Peugeot, Cosworth, Mugen Honda and Renault engines going past and they all sound brilliant and unique! Those were the days....