Auto Racing Commentary

Formula 2 was conceived in the 40s as a steppingstone category to Grand Prix, replacing the 30’s voiturettes. In the 60’s, after some seasons in which only Formula 1 and Formula Junior existed as single seaters category in European racing, F2 came back in 1966 and an European Championship was created in 1967. This championship ran non-stop until 1984, when it was replaced by Formula 3000. Current Formula 2 only shares the name with the old 2.0 liter cars (the engine size from 1972 to 1984, before that, 1.6 liter), and have much larger engine capacities and power. Additionally, while a large number of Formula 2 participants, championship winners and point scorers, and even some non-point scorers, made it to Formula 1 in the above mentioned period, the same cannot be said of GP2 (which was recently renamed Formula 2) drivers. Making to Formula 2 at present is not really a guarantee you will ever drive a F-1 car in the world championship. In fact, generally two, tops three Formula 2 gr...

These days, we are quite accostumed with the idea of GP drivers from the old Iron Curtain. After all, drivers from Poland, Russia, Czech Republic and Hungary have all driven in Formula 1, and the Pole actually won a race before a rally accident ruined what looked like a great career. However, in the 70's, we still lived under the Cold War, and the Eastern Block was basically shrouded by mystery. Russia every once announced even more mysterious GP level cars, touring car races were held in Brno, Czechoslovakia, as well as Budapest and Belgrade in the 60s, and East Germany also had a fairly active racing scene. However, dreaming of  an Iron Curtain GP driver in Formula 1 in the 70s was as far fetched as an imagination could go. Not that the Eastern Block did not have a representative in F1, for Edgar Barth, Jurgen's father, did drive in the category while still East German. And later as West German. Allow me some poetic liberty. As Formula 2 was, at least i...

The Bible's Book of Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new under the Sun, hinting that new happenings are nothing more than revamped versions of yesterday's occurrences. For those who do not believe the Scriptures, consider the macroeconomic books, that suggest there are Economic cycles of prosperity and scarcity, caused by a number of external factors, such as supply and demand imbalances, climatic factors, extreme speculation. This tells us that continuous prosperity on a macro level is a fallacy. Let us talk about another book, Autocourse. I was reading an annual from the early 70s, and the writer forecast problems ahead for the world of racing; He simply said there are too many categories in European racing, and the market could not support it. In the late 60's,  there was F1, European F2, British, French and Italian F3, World Makes Championship and the European and British Touring Car Championships. Then, with the advent of commercial sponsorship, beginning of TV c...