I think there's an interesting disconnect going on between European and American fans about how serious they think cheating scandals are. This sort of thing one really needs motorsport historians on, but I do think the different origins of motorsport on both sides of the Atlantic are relevant here. - ThreadSky

putdorianedown.bsky.social • 11 days ago

I think there's an interesting disconnect going on between European and American fans about how serious they think cheating scandals are. This sort of thing one really needs motorsport historians on, but I do think the different origins of motorsport on both sides of the Atlantic are relevant here.

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putdorianedown.bsky.social•11 days ago

European motorsport was almost entirely a gentleman's pursuit. It's important to play the game. Now, it rapidly became accepted that bending the rules was part of the game, but you weren't supposed to break them. This is kind of hypocritical, but we _are_ talking about the European aristocracy here.

putdorianedown.bsky.social•11 days ago

Conversely in the US a lot (though not all) of the racing scene grew out of bootlegging and other illegal practices. Showing how good you were at getting away with breaking the rules was kind of the whole point. The idea that you could win by fooling inspection is basically legitimate.

putdorianedown.bsky.social•11 days ago

And so here we are. Though I think it's an imperfect comparison, because the way one cheats without definitively cheating in F1 isn't really open in most other forms of motorsport.

rechegp.bsky.social•11 days ago

There's a saying: if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Smokey in NASCAR comes to mind, for example. So it doesn't surprise me when someone is caught, but it's funny that it was penske again. It's a terrible look for the current indycar administration. Makes Red Bull owning two F1 teams look fair

formerinstants.bsky.social•11 days ago

How do you think an American sanctioning body would have reacted to the WRC Celica?

nightmere.bsky.social•11 days ago

certainly by the '80s we'd pretty much fully embraced it in Europe, or at the very least the understanding that it was an accepted part of the game as long as you weren't completely taking the piss

nightmere.bsky.social•11 days ago

earlier than that off the top of my head I couldn't speak on as confidently, but I think even by the '60s you're probably getting into it being an unspoken but accepted thing

but 100%, in the early days of the sport it was all very proper and gentlemanly

luke.turningfortune.com•11 days ago

No idea what you’re talking about

Pick any of these homologation cars you’d like to drive, I promise you they all are fully operational

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