QotW: What’s your favorite form of motorsport?

This week Japan will celebrate Health and Sports Day, a holiday that promotes athletics and active lifestyles. Normally it’s held in October, commemorating the opening of the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. This year, it’s been moved to July to mark the last year’s pandemic-postponed Olympics. Unfortunately auto racing has not been recognized as an official Olympic sport, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate it in all its forms. From illicit touge battles to  Formula 1, diecast tournaments to Dakar trucks, there are plenty of different ways to experience the skill and speed it takes to wield a motor vehicle.

What’s your favorite form of motorsport?

The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What are your best tips for managing your JNC life?

Realistically speaking, the best advice this week came from readers like Tofu Delivery, who cautioned us to keep the number of actual cars to a minimum. Or even better, Ellis‘ sage advice to just be content with what you have.

We asked how to simplify your life, but most of the responses ended up beseeching us to hoard more stuff. Howard D had the foresight to scour Mitsubishi dealerships for Starion parts back when they were still available. F31Roger does the same with Infiniti parts from junkyards. If you must hoard, and space is limited, though, this week’s winner J had probably the soundest input, limiting the parts hoarding to certain types of items that can’t be easily mended:

“The JNC life is not an easy one. It starts with one old, temperamental…”

Damn Ben, you scared me for a second, I started wondering how you knew me.
I’ve been celebrating these cars since 1970 and seeing my first 240z. Bought my first RX7 in 1981. All have had their quirks but you’re right, like me things do tend to get worse with age.
Still, I was just thinking that things were actually improving as the values of these cars have increased and they take their rightful place as “classics”. I can remember being refused entry to ‘show n shines’ because my FD was an “Import” yet when looking at the lot I’d see plenty of BMW’s, Volkswagens and MG’s. Thankfully those days have passed.
As for tips…if absolutely necessary mechanicals can be rebuilt, not so for modules, CPU’s, relays and other electrical bits. Also true to a lesser extent on interior pieces. At least that’s been my experience. So when hoarding that tends to be my focus.

Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!

JNC Decal smash

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10 Responses to QotW: What’s your favorite form of motorsport?

  1. Tofu Delivery says:

    As a toyota fan there’s nothing more exciting and heartbreaking than their Le Mans exploits over the years. But the one I’d like to participate in personally? rallying… the car control is unreal and the cars most similar to what people can actually drive on the street.

  2. f31roger says:

    Coming up in the Honda era and also drifting’s infancy to now.. it is always exciting to see motorsports.

    While most of my friends were into Import Drag racing or drifting… I always loved grassroots stuff. I remember venturing south of Seattle for events held by SCCA in the early to mid 2000s.

    Autocross (solo), rallycross and clubrally events were so awesome to me.
    https://www.f31club.com/2017/04/28/scca-club-rally-and-rallycross-events-2003/
    Time attacks/trials are awesome in my perspective.

  3. Joey Katigbak says:

    I agree with Tofu Delivery; I grew up always being awed by the car control the seasoned rally drivers showed. They were the predecessors of the drift kings of today. Those were the real drift kings.That plus the fact that they don’t just go fast in one direction. They don’t just go around in circles and keep turning in one direction. Frankly, it makes me dizzy. How do these drivers know when it’s time to turn right once they get out of their cars? No offense, I’m sure there’s a reason for this. However, I believe real drivers know how to take left turns and right turns so quickly, it should feel like a straight line!! That’s the way I was taught by my heroes of high performance driving and that’s how I practice it. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.;)

    I still wish Toyota would come back to rallying. That’s why I stick to the brand in my cars, because of all the experiences I’ve had in my younger days. I can still dream, can’t I?

  4. Nigel says:

    Gymkana or here in Canada Solo 1…Track days are cool also.
    Learn your car and learn your limits.

  5. dankan says:

    My motorsport of choice has changed over time with the rules and the drivers. I got started in the early 90s loving F1 and Indycar. Overtime I got increasingly less interested in F1 as they kept banning fun. IndyCar fell apart in the early 2000s, but there were sports cars and we bullied Speedvision into showing the JGTC. That was great. And there was the awesome in-car rally footage from the WRC of the era. And MotoGP was hitting a real peak of action in the 990cc era.

    Then as I aged and life got in the way, I wasn’t able to watch as much, and kind of drifted away for a while. Now I have more time and it’s very much IndyCar, Formula E, and Super GT or IMSA. Wingless sprint cars are also amazing to watch. I think my favourite right now would be IndyCar since the cars are fast, very hard to drive, and the talent is as high as it has ever been. Formula E feels very much like the future, but is run a bit like amateur hour.

  6. crank_case says:

    Hillclimb – because while it does have classes, it doesn’t generally penalize you for building a faster car than everyone else and it’s all about being the fastest and accurate driver, not about pit stop strategy or out psyching your opponent, you’ll see more crazy homebrew stuff at a hillclimb event than any other form of motorsport apart from maybe land speed racing. It also suits my short attention span – hell I don’t even care who wins, I just like watching each run for its own sake.

    Here’s an 11000RPM 4AGE starlet

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_udH67C6pKs

    or how about a spaceframed Fiat 500 silhouette racer running a V8 made from two Suzuki Hayabusa engines? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C94VIwLbfKk

  7. Dimitry Mochkin says:

    Growing up as a kid in cold Russia – watching F1 on Eurosport was always great. After a 20 year gap I’m back to watching it every race weekend. Plus seeing big ole “Honda” on the wings of Red Bull cars just makes me really happy for some reason. Possibly has something to do with the fact that I drive a Honda myself.

    Alternatively, and more down to earth – Time Attack, and yet again I’m biased – being a photographer for the local provincial series – Ontario Time Attack.
    However, there’s just something special seeing older Civic EF, CRX, a V8-swapped S14 (and a absolutely-not-JNC-at-all Acadian Canso and Volvo T5R) duke it out with modern FRS/BRZ/86 crowd.
    But you just can’t beat the sound that the B-series makes when it hits VTEC. It’s a tune for all ages!
    Oh wait, I’m rambling about Hondas again!

  8. Ellis says:

    Thai scooter drag racing. Possibly the purest form of motorsport I’ve ever seen. Take a 125 or 150cc scooter and make it as fast as you can.

    What makes it my favorite is the amount of skill and creativity and ingenuity these riders and their teams have. You don’t need a big budget to be competitive. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on parts. I’ve watched a young man weld an exhaust by hand on the side of the road and it looked better than anything I’ve ever bought.

    In a world where most motorsports are dominated by the people with the deepest pockets, it’s refreshing to watching something with such a level playing field and where almost anyone who wants to participate can.

    The other thing I like is that it you would only ever see this in a developing country. In a developed country not only would big money sponsorship deals make it impossible for an average Joe to take part (I’m looking at you drifting), but health and safety laws would never allow it. The fact it could only exist somewhere like Thailand makes it feel extra special.

    Thai scooter drag racing. Fun, exciting, competitive and accessible. Everything a good motorsport should be.

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