Your favourite F1 season: the 80s

Racing events, drivers, cars or anything else from the past.

What is your favourite 1980s season?

1980
0
No votes
1981
1
5%
1982
3
16%
1983
1
5%
1984
1
5%
1985
0
No votes
1986
6
32%
1987
1
5%
1988
0
No votes
1989
6
32%
 
Total votes: 19

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Antonov
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Your favourite F1 season: the 80s

#1

Post by Antonov »

Vote!

I will consider, but I'm inclined to say 1989.
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#2

Post by Michkov »

Too many good ones in that decade, but I have a soft spot for the 86 cars.
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#3

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

I have over 5 decades of watching F1 (I think the first F1 race was in 1965 when my Father took me to Brands for the Race of Champions) and you want me to choose from just one of those decades. I enjoyed all the seasons back then (80's) so to pick a favourite is too difficult, although I liked 1984 when Lauda won, we had the Monaco wet race. There are probably more races I remember from that year.

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#4

Post by PTRACER »

1982. It's the only one where I watched every race and, aside from the tragedies, the racing was perfect. I hope I haven't trivialised two deaths in this post, but the racing was honestly fantastic and the championship battle so close.
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#5

Post by EB »

PTRACER wrote: 5 years ago 1982. It's the only one where I watched every race
Not at the time, presumably!

1983 was very good, the cars had a brief spell of not running on rails anymore.
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#6

Post by PTRACER »

EB wrote: 5 years ago
PTRACER wrote: 5 years ago 1982. It's the only one where I watched every race
Not at the time, presumably!

1983 was very good, the cars had a brief spell of not running on rails anymore.
Evidently not :wink: I have all of 1983 on DVD back in the UK, it’s perhaps the season I know least about, aside from Long Beach.
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#7

Post by erwin greven »

can't remember any season. only fragments of races over the whole decade. its almost 30-40 years ago... Wonder if antonov can remember all seasons by him self. And if he saw all the races LIVE? bc its easy to pick a season when you know the outcome.
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#8

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Sort of my point when I picked 1984.... I liked the outcome, a half point difference at the end of the year in Lauda's favour. It was also fairly close with 0.5 points being the title race difference after 3 races during the season. It was an exciting finale! Plus Niki won his only home GP that year. :smiley:

Yes it was a McLaren TAG benefit, particularly the second half of the season despite 3 other teams winning early races. 5 drivers in all had wins.... Piquet in a Brabham BMW won 2 races that year, Alboreto in a Ferrari had a win and Rosberg won one of the Murican races for Williams Honda.

Was 1984 the best season of the eighties? I wont judge that, or claim that..... but it was my favourite for those reasons above. :wink:

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#9

Post by Antonov »

I also liked them big rear wings in 1984.
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#10

Post by Antonov »

erwin greven wrote: 5 years ago can't remember any season. only fragments of races over the whole decade. its almost 30-40 years ago... Wonder if antonov can remember all seasons by him self. And if he saw all the races LIVE? bc its easy to pick a season when you know the outcome.
I watched the BBC highlights of all these seasons (except 1983 and 1988). While I knew the champion per season, I didn't know the details behind it. While I didn't see the races live (as I wasn't even a-live), I like to think I know pretty much about them now.

I loved those screaming 1989 engines after the turbo era ended. But the turbo era in itself also had its attractions. Like @Everso Biggyballies , I also quite like the 1984 season. 1981 Was pretty good as well, as the championship leader (Reutemann) seemed to stall mid-season while others caught up in the standings.

I should have a look to 1983, although I heard that Brabham used illegal fuel in the latter part of the season.
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#11

Post by theracer120 »

From what I've read it seems that 86 was a standout, what with supposedly the most powerful cars in F1 history and a three way battle for the title at the final race with Mansell dramatically losing the championship to Prost at the last moment because of a spectacular tire blowout.
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#12

Post by Antonov »

theracer120 wrote: 5 years ago From what I've read it seems that 86 was a standout, what with supposedly the most powerful cars in F1 history.
'87 was even more powerful IIRC. It was only in '88 that a power restriction was brought in.

Also, they were the most powerful cars over 1 lap.
Over a race distance fuel restrictions (first in '84 to 220L, then in '86 190L?) meant the power had to be managed carefully.
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#13

Post by erwin greven »

1987 engines were by far less powerful, going from 1200+hp to around 800-850hp They had to install a power valve which opened at 4.0 bar
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#14

Post by Antonov »

erwin greven wrote: 5 years ago 1987 engines were by far less powerful, going from 1200+hp to around 800-850hp They had to install a power valve which opened at 4.0 bar
Thanks @erwin greven , I didnt know that. So 1986 was peak then in terms of power.

How much bhp did the 89 engines generate?
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#15

Post by erwin greven »

some 650-680hp. Ferrari has something like 660hp which was less than the Honda engine which had 670-675hp.
from there it went up with sometimes 10 - 15hp per year. Till 2004 engine rules were not changed that much, when it reached some 950hp.
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