Great read Folks, and thanks Neil, a great thread, some of the guys know a bit of mine, but thought I may as well put it here, though maybe less interesting, and I guess that makes me the baby of the group . . . feck . . . yous guys are old, lol
No-one in my family (apart from one brother) was or is into motor port in any way, we were into water sports, due to coast location, of family holidays, anyway, my father, used to teach us how to drive on the empty coast roads on the way back to the caravan , first lesson at about 11, I was aware of F1, but never followed it,
one year though, think I was about 14 at the time - in his "Renault 21 Savannah" estate, and as I was driving back, he turned the radio on - and had my "Kennedy moment" - i.e. you knew exactly where you were, and what you were doing, when the news came through
"Senna was dead" I was floored, even without following the sport at the time, I knew a driver of his calibre, it just shouldn't have happened.
Then when finding more out about it, came the decision of who to follow / support - that was easy, there was only 1 Irish team, "Jordan"
Will always have a soft spot for independent teams, and with Jordan selling out to VJ, had to look elsewhere,
Having learned a bit more about the teams, and factories, Enstone, was another logical step for me, liked their style, and I learned to drive in a Renault, my own first car was a Renault Clio, Also at this stage, my one brother who was into F1, was now a committed reds fan,
So when Fernando, wiped the smile off that face, it was all the more pleasurable, and thus grew the passion, loved getting the Lotus name back there, but I was unaware, of the damage Lotus / Genni, were doing, with under investment at the factory.
And then began the rebuilding process, back with Renault - it's looking positive for the future there.
That being said, I have loved learning more and more about the history of the sport, over the years, like you Neil, not so great on the technical side, but I do see it as a completely "Team" sport, so picking a side is an important factor for me, but as I've said many times, no matter who you support, or for whatever reason, the respect between rivals, is one of the things I like most about it, wasn't aware until I came to the comments pages, that I found just how bitter, some "so called" fans could be, I used to dislike McLaren, mostly due to Ron Dennis - nothing to do with the Lewis / Nando saga, I just never warmed to the fella, and also, didn't like some of the SF, shenanigans, However, I have come to respect both massively, and whilst not a supporter of Merc either as a brand or team, respect them hugely also
It's a sport built on bending the rules, to the extreme, so I never fully understand, why some get so bent out of shape, when something gets "broken"
Just my nature though
Ps. My brother, who is the only other in my Family into F1 (and a reds fan), is also called Neil, haha
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