Will you follow the new Formula 1 racing season?

Tonight is the first race and I'm looking forward to it :) I cant wait for Murray Walker!

I was so pissed off when the BBC stopped airing the F1 races. I liked Murray Walker a lot more than the Dutch commentators.

I don't know what it is and I am not interested. I'd rather be out driving fast...than sitting watching others out driving fast

We have two channels that play the race, but usually watch the Murray Walker one, because on the other one, they are always talking about Villeneuve this and Villeneuve that...

Murray Walker the Australian? Or is there another Murray Walker sports commentator?

No, I'm not interested AND I don't know what F1 racing is. That earns a "bad."

My Dad probably will.

ILJ: No, it's bad you don't know what F1 racing is!

vos: It is? I'm actually rather proud of that fact! I've seen the kind of people around these parts who are into auto racing and they are (for the most part) a frightening and inbred lot. I have no idea what qualifies a race as "Formula One," but if finding out means I have to drink Budweiser, chew tobacco, wear baseball caps advertising lawn care equipment, and drive a Ford pickup with a rear window sticker of a little guy urinating on a Chevy logo, I'll pass thanks.

ILJ: No, that's drag racing!

vos: Isn't that when they get in the little pointy cars, drive for about twenty feet and then deploy a parachute? No, I don't think that's what they're into here. From what I've seen, it's a bunch of guys driving around in a circle for a couple of hours and occasionally crashing. Is that Formula One? It seems to be quite popular with the trailer park crowd; many of them actually bring their homes with them. You know, the same people who watch professional wrestling...

ILJ: No, that's Indy Car racing. Formula 1 races are not on oval circuits, and that's why it's much more interesting than Indy Car racing. F1 is popular among all kinds of people and not just the white trash trailer park crowd.

Auto racing is much more fun to do than to watch.

ILG, there's a BIG BIG BIG difference between Formula one and the kind of racing you're talking about... I think you're talking about Nascar... F1 is a totally different thing.

and as for the Murray Walker I was talking about, its this one here:

vos, Matt: Okay, I'll take your word for it!

So what is the difference?

babe, it's different vehicles and tracks all together

Not interested but I'll watch it if it's on. I'd love to see an F1 race in person. I just want to be near the start line so I can watch all the cars flip over during the opening rush.

Since no one else has elucidated the difference, I'll give it a shot.

Stock car racing (ala NASCAR) involves driving cars which at one time were regular street models but now are purebred racing vehicles. They look a little like regular cars, though. The race tracks are oval, the cars' wheels are covered and the drivers run into each other a lot. Sometimes when they hit each other, they wipe out. I think the speeds get up to 150 mph.

Indy car racing involves little cars with big engines, usually derivitaves of regular car engines, but hopped up like you wouldn't believe. For example, the Oldsmobile Aurora has an engine that is somehow distantly related to an Indy car engine. Anyway, you combine a 1000 pound (500kg but I'm just guessing about the weight) car with a 900 horsepower motor (not guessing here) and you get a really fast car. Speeds regularly exceed 200 mph on oval tracks, but many of the races are on twisty tracks. The cars have open wheels and try not to run into each other. The rules governing car design are strict.

Formula 1 I know the least about, but here's my take. This is very popular in Europe. The cars look a lot like Indy cars. Little race cars with open wheels. I'm guessing speeds get up to Indy car levels but the tracks are hardly ever oval so they usually go a lot more slowly. The rules for car design seem to be "anything goes, as long as you're rich enough". Most of the racers seem to be princes from small mediterranean nations. The cars cost tens of millions of dollars each (they might as well race F-16s) and have gadgets like sequential shifters (see also Ferrari 360 modena) and engines that rev to 20,000 rpm. Yes, that is three to four TIMES as fast as your car and no, valve springs actually don't work at that speed now that you mention it. So basically this is a super-expensive, super high-tech racing circuit. Given that, it's too bad that all the cars run their wheels into each other when the light turns green, flip over and burn on the starting line. But the Europeans seem to love it.

Matt: Ah thanks, didn't think it could be the same one (and it's not), but you never know. There is also a sports commentator (mostly, perhaps only, Cricket) in Australia named Murray Walker.

Your welcome supplicant. This Murray Walker has been doing F1 since it started I think!

Formula 1 is a World Wide thing, not just European. There are races in Japan, Australia, Brazil and Canada too, this season they added USA(Indianapolis). It is the Elite automotive racing circuit in the world.

My Dad use to race those races, and he also help build MANY MANY MANY THOUSANDS of the cars. Well maybe not thousands but lots.

I don't know what I hate more: football or car races...

Schummi!!