{"id":460304,"date":"2004-10-01T17:00:31","date_gmt":"2004-10-02T00:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=97344"},"modified":"2024-02-16T10:48:30","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T10:48:30","slug":"historic-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you\u2019ll see elsewhere in this month\u2019s issue, 37 sophisticated Group C and GTP machines took part in a historic support race for this year\u2019s 24 Hours of Le Mans. This gathering was interesting for several reasons, not the least of which being that it may have provided an answer to a long debated question, \u201cWill today\u2019s racecars, ever become tomorrow\u2019s historic racers?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Spaceship-like cockpit of the Toyota-Eagle GTP car.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At least once of twice a year, for about as long as I care to remember, this question has made the rounds of post-race parties, race shop b.s. sessions and online chat rooms. \u201cWill the electronics-filled, spaceship-like racecars of today ever see a historic race grid 20 years from now?\u201d Even our own in-house pundits Pete Lyons and Mike Lawrence have weighed in on this issue several times each in recent years, usually lamenting the fact that today\u2019s cars will likely be too technologically sophisticated to ever be viable historic racecars. While in my heart I have long feared that they may be right, I\u2019ve recently been encouraged by a number of different indications that this may not be our pre-ordained fate.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Le Mans race is one shining example. Group C and GTP cars were ultimately banned because they were too technologically sophisticated\u2014and thus, too expensive\u2014to be run by anything other than the factories. Shortly after the series\u2019 demise, many journalists fell into the familiar mantra that these cars would be too difficult to maintain for historic racing. And yet, not only do we currently have 37 \u201chistoric\u201d Group C\/GTP cars taking part at Le Mans, but also several fast growing historic race series for these cars in Europe and America.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, another area where there have been doubts is the current era of Formula One cars. We\u2019ve all seen and heard about the dozens of engineers and support crew that is required to field a modern Formula One car. Surely, these won\u2019t make the historic grid in 2024? Well, I\u2019m not so sure. If you take for granted that modern Formula One Ferraris are about as technically sophisticated as they come, then you might be surprised by the number of late model Ferrari F1 cars that are already taking part in historic events around the world. This year alone, I\u2019ve seen recent era Ferrari F1 cars take part at events like the Monterey Historics, the Monaco Historique, the Historic Festival at California Speedway and the BRIC at Road America. In fact, a year or so ago, I was at a private historic test where a late \u201990s Ferrari F1 car was being run. I was genuinely surprised to see that just one \u201chistoric\u201d mechanic was looking after the car and that he really didn\u2019t have much equipment with him. In surprise, I asked him, \u201cI thought these things took a team of specialists to run?\u201d He grinned and replied, \u201cIt would seem that way, but actually they\u2019re not too hard to run. The hard part is the engine rebuilds!\u201d However, now that Ferrari has created a special \u201cClienti\u201d division that specializes in the parts and maintenance of their \u201ccustomer\u201d F1 cars, the chances are good that we will continue to hear these amazing cars scream for many years to come.<\/p>\n

Now, of course, you might say, \u201cSure, but who can afford to run and maintain a million dollar Ferrari?\u201d But, the truth of the matter is that there have always been, and hopefully will always be, wealthy enthusiasts who will want to run these special cars. If you doubt this, you don\u2019t have to look any farther back then the \u201960s and \u201970s. In relative dollars, was a Ferrari 312T any more expensive to run in 1980, than Schumacher\u2019s 2002 is to run today? What about other technically sophisticated cars of the period like the 917 and the BRM H16? In fact, it has only been through technological developments made recently that the BRM H16 has even been made to run reliably. In its day, not even the factory could get it to work properly!<\/p>\n

All in all, I find more and more evidence that historic racing is, in fact, a constantly moving continuum. As today\u2019s modern racecars are pushed aside for next year\u2019s model, they take up their position in the historic queue\u2014awaiting their appointed time to be re-discovered by the historic movement. My only concern is that I\u2019m around to see for myself what\u2019s on tap at the 2025 Monterey Historics!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you\u2019ll see elsewhere in this month\u2019s issue, 37 sophisticated Group C and GTP machines took part in a historic support race for this year\u2019s 24 Hours of Le Mans. This gathering was interesting for several reasons, not the least of which being that it may have provided an answer to a long debated question, \u201cWill today\u2019s racecars, ever become tomorrow\u2019s historic racers?\u201d At least once of twice a year, for about as long as I care to remember, this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":688441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260,13063],"tags":[432,15234],"class_list":["post-460304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-events","category-vintage-car-racing","tag-events","tag-events-vintage-racing"],"yoast_head":"\nHistoric Future<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Casey Annis ponders the question of whether the electronics-filled racecars of today will ever have a place in the historic racing of the future.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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