Quote:
Originally Posted by helgi
You just can not understand the 20's - 30's racing using the terms of modern racing.
|
This should the epitaph on the tombstone for the fora supposedly discussing the history of automobile racing.
This is the basic, if not fundamental, reason why so much of the supposed history of automotive competition being provided by non-historians and/or untrained researchers ranges from, not to mince words, merely poor to utterly abysmal; one need only read fora such as this one and others to realize that. It is not only regarding relatively obscure matters such as this one referring to the rather convoluted way the early Grands Prix de Endurance were actually conducted, but the lack of empathy for an era that comes from being unable to shed the anachronistic thinking that is brought to an examination of the topic. People tend to dwell on the low hanging fruit such as the machinery -- the cars -- and avoid the "politics" and the context of racing which tends to not fit very easily with the way automobile racing has been conducted over the past several decades. A forum such as this one and the few others attempting to be "historical" in their content tend to do as much (if not more) harm than good.
I have generally stopped paying much attention to these fora with the exception of an occasion look every once in a great while. The fora tend to be exercises in a few voices attempting to explain things in a matter consistent with the Zeitgeist while being drowned out by the usual cacophony of generally mindless chatter.
Not that I would wish to venture an opinion, of course.