In the TVR website there is a viewer poll asking what you consider the “Golden Years of Auto Racing”?

Every choice is actually quite valid; arguments could be made for and against each time frame.

“So where is this old goat going with all this?” you may well ask.  I can only answer that I’m not completely certain myself.

Since the very first automobile races before the turn of the twentieth century, racing has been not only a contest of speed and endurance, but also a contest of courage, ability, stamina, and ingenuity on the part of auto engineers, the car builders, the mechanics and of course those who, by choice, risk their lives to prove they are the quickest and best.  Perhaps not the smartest, but for certain, the quickest and the best.

During the early years of the century, almost everything learned on the racetrack was applicable to the cars of that time.  Improvements to all the many different systems of the automobile came directly from the racetrack to the dealer’s showroom. 

By the 1920’s, things like Dual Overhead Camshafts, four valve cylinder heads, improved carburetors, dry plate, single and multiple disc clutch systems, dual ignition systems, four wheel brakes, better wheels and tires, and the list could go on and on, had all found their way from racing to the showroom.

Things like improved mechanical, and hydraulic four wheel brakes, solid disk steel wheels, fuel injection systems, improved and safer fuels, better lubricants, better and easier steering systems, improved chassis designs and new construction materials and techniques are all products of either racing or adapted to the automobile by racing engineers or mechanics.

In more recent years we’ve seen the use of crash testing, still more newer and better materials, better  design work with an accent on crash survival, engine developments continue, as does the search for additional power and better fuel efficiency, better, more durable and more efficient power train components, and increased reliability as well.

It wasn’t all that many years ago that nearly half of the drivers who climbed into a racecar could expect to lose their life in their pursuit of speed and the spirit of competition.  Today any death in the sport is major news and rises an outcry for all sorts of investigations, immediate improvements in car and track designs, and year long mourning sessions. 

The racecars have become so specialized that for the most part they are using technology discovered and developed by the auto manufacturers instead of the race technology going into the showroom models.  One exception to this is obviously the work being done in the wind tunnels and aerodynamics labs of the race teams in all areas of the sport.  It was not long ago that most racers felt aerodynamics had no effect until cars reached a relatively high speed.  Now they realize there is an effect as soon as the car starts to move and this technology is being applied to the current production car lines.

I guess the point that I’m trying to make here is that there is no such thing as one time frame we can call the “Golden Years of Auto Racing”. 

While much has been gained from the sport, the price in human life has been rather steep. I’m certain that there is much more to be learned and can only hope and pray the price continues to decline as we find better, more efficient and effective ways to protect those folks who feel the need to search for fame and fortune by climbing into a race car and going as fast as they can on a race track with a bunch of other like minded young (or at least young at heart) men or women.

“The Golden Years of Auto Racing”?  Would they perhaps be the years each of us have spent, working, playing, partying, laughing, maybe shedding a few tears now and then; swearing that we’re going to get out of this damn sport, but never quite getting completely away from it?  

Maybe in some other lifetime?  Maybe not either.

- R.L. "Bob" Manley

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