In reply to chaparral:
Great post! You must've been on the Debate Team!
In reply to chaparral:
Great post! You must've been on the Debate Team!
Trackmouse wrote: As said in other thread, the Audi Quattro dominated so much it had rules changed around it, then it still walked away with hat tricks, they gave tons of advantage to other makes, they still win. *snip*
Hey Trackmouse, fixed that for you...
From WiKi:
"The Type 35 was phenomenally successful, winning over 1,000 races in its time. It took the Grand Prix World Championship in 1926 after winning 351 races and setting 47 records in the two prior years. At its height, Type 35s averaged 14 race wins per week. Bugatti won the Targa Florio for five consecutive years, from 1925 through 1929, with the Type 35."
Or the 962.
whichever one is in my garage at the time
It's easy to think along nostalgic lines when a question like this come up but in terms of development and sheer domination I'd say the prototype Audis at Le Mans.
I'm going to say this one; Al Cosentino's Fiat Abarth 1000. He was undeniably an odd guy, but he racked up 51 wins out of 53 starts, often times beating the A Sedan big boys with his tiny D Sedan Fiat. In fact, he got the car banned by the SCCA.
The Porsche 911 has more than 20,000 race victories.
My other two nominees are the Porsche 917-30 in all it's 1,000hp glory. It effectively killed Can Am.
And the Nissan GTP.
They also have something in common. The Nissan broke the 917's long standing track record at Road Atlanta some 15 or so years later. Pre track change of course.
The greatest race car wasn't a car.
Bert Munro's 1920 Scout.
I've no argument for "greatest," but I love Smokey Yunick's Floor Shifter Special:
noddaz wrote:Trackmouse wrote: As said in other thread, the Audi Quattro dominated so much it had rules changed around it, then it still walked away with hat tricks, they gave tons of advantage to other makes, they still win. *snip*Hey Trackmouse, fixed that for you...
I wouldn't say "fixed" but I do agree, in the same way as the skyline the Quattro dominated.
Maybe not the greatest but I love the old group7 CANAM cars few rules big power big tires big balls to drive them
Might not be the best per say but I think the Audi Quattro Coupe rally car changed the game in the early 80s bringing all wheel drive/4wd into the game.
The top car on my list goes to the McLaren MP4/4 won every race but one for the season. Clean, simple looking car, and in the hands of Prost and Senna, demolished the competition. Realistically, since this is about the greatest car of ALL time, it is hard to go against the Porsche 962. Such a dominant car for so long, I'd have to give it the top spot.
In reply to Nick_Comstock: Wow Nick. I felt sure you'd go for the GT-40
JamesMcD wrote: I've no argument for "greatest," but I love Smokey Yunick's Floor Shifter Special:
One of my favorite cars of all time! A few years ago I was geeking out to it during the Amelia Island Concours. I almost lost my mind when the caretaker (it lives at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum) asked me if I wanted to sit in it! Damn straight I do!
Bobby Johns (the driver) must have had cajones the size of basketballs to drive this thing. I"m 5'8" on a good day, and I could barely squeeze into the cockpit. My knees were in my face, the pedal-box was impossibly small, and the only gauges were mounted on the main fuselage---meaning you had to take your eyes completely off of the road to check them. The steering wheel was square, and mounted at an angle like a city bus. I can't imagine driving this thing at 170+ mph! Awesome outside the box thinking.....but also just plain crazy! 
This was the veiw most had of the MP4/4.......GOAT
Rupert wrote: In reply to Nick_Comstock: Wow Nick. I felt sure you'd go for the GT-40
My Ford hate stops abruptly at 1971, Fords built prior to that are acceptable
Joe Gearin wrote:JamesMcD wrote: I've no argument for "greatest," but I love Smokey Yunick's Floor Shifter Special:One of my favorite cars of all time! A few years ago I was geeking out to it during the Amelia Island Concours. I almost lost my mind when the caretaker (it lives at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum) asked me if I wanted to sit in it! Damn straight I do! Bobby Johns (the driver) must have had cajones the size of basketballs to drive this thing. I"m 5'8" on a good day, and I could barely squeeze into the cockpit. My knees were in my face, the pedal-box was impossibly small, and the only gauges were mounted on the main fuselage---meaning you had to take your eyes completely off of the road to check them. The steering wheel was square, and mounted at an angle like a city bus. I can't imagine driving this thing at 170+ mph! Awesome outside the box thinking.....but also just plain crazy!
I'm glad someone else likes it as much as I do. In his book, Smokey said he was inspired to build it by the experimental asymmetrical twin fuselage Blohm and Voss nazi aircraft he saw fly overhead near the end of WWII. (That's not to say I think it's cool because of a link to nazis - that's just an interesting part of the back story.)
My personal favorite, I love the old Lotus, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Chaparals. Highly innovated for their time and just completely awesome!
BlueInGreen44 wrote: It's easy to think along nostalgic lines when a question like this come up but in terms of development and sheer domination I'd say the prototype Audis at Le Mans.
Specifically the R8, which won Le Mans 5 times and only missed 6 because they built a coupe version of it, painted it green, and renamed it a Bentley in 2003. The other R-cars have done well, but nothing like the R8.
Old yeller is one of my favorites.
I will post what I posted on the CMS forum:
The answer is Formula Ford; this allowed thousands of people to get a chance to experience a single seater and lap at a pace road car drivers could only dream of. It also made race driving schools what they are. My pick for the chassis is Swift as these were the first big leap in performance.
Tom
More nominees:
Ford 999 - Did a lot for Ford, and that did a lot for racing worldwide for over a century.
Old Yeller II deserves some consideration ...
... as does Caballo de Hierro ...
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