Am I getting curmudgeonly or is this video boring as sin?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXbM2iPRJ70

I've seen this mentioned several times in GRM now so I finally decided to find a video. Ok so first of all this is not Pikes Peak. I know it technically is but all that is now is a tarmac rally. Not only is the driving uninspired but am I the only one who finds nothing exciting about beating a 20 year old record done with 400 less hp and ALL gravel, by a minute on a 10 minute run on pretty much all asphalt?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nY_oOgdERo

This on the other hand has me smiling all the way through. And I'm not even a rally enthusiast so I have no bias horse in this race. The first video is boring, the second one is exciting. Am I alone? I'm only 30 and I'm already feeling like most things new are lame and boring (cars, music, various pop trends).

In fact, things are becoming so different that I feel like sport names should be changed. I don't compete in road racing but I do in powerlifting and there is almost nothing in the modern competition that is related to the things done in the 80s, other than the names. People wear supportive gear which is legal but lets a 600 lb squatter lift 900+. And now here is another easy example. They've paved over Pikes Peak and are celebrating this guy setting records. Yeah no E36 M3. Why not give Ari a helicopter so he can claim it back. They can put some wheels on the chopper to make it legit (it'll just be one big yump from start to finish).

I'm all for evolution but I hate it when sports of different eras are in such dramatically different conditions, yet the accomplishments of both are compared straight up. There's no such thing as best ever anymore, just the best right now. What was I talking about again? Oh well. I'm at work and in my bitter mind I wish I was eating turkey.

The 1990 run has far better video production and multiple camera angles to help make it a great 10 minutes of viewing, however I also agree that the track is not what it once was.

I could kick the biatches who complained about erosion, in their goolies if I had half a chance.

Climb Dance makes me smile every time. At least we have something to remeber it 'as it was' before the ecoweenies decided to wreck it.

And BTW, I am the ONLY GRM approved Curmudgeon.

I think both videos and both runs are amazing in their own way. I agree that comparing current runs to old ones is dumb, because you're comparing apples to oranges. Asphalt vs. dirt is completely different, but it doesn't make Tajima's run and record any less awesome. He didn't pave the course, so I think we should give credit where credit is due. And the fact is that both guys can drive their butts off and deserve every accolade they get, and Tajima has adapted every year as more and more of the course gets paved. He will have to go back to the drawing board next year when the whole thing is paved, so someone else will probably be the new "man to beat." I understand your perspective, I just don't necessarily agree. And I find the first video anything but boring!

People wear supportive gear which is legal but lets a 600 lb squatter lift 900+.

I dont care about peak numbers, cars or otherwise. I'll consider anything that will make me less berkeleyed up (and thus more able to enjoy ANYTHING) when im old, car-safety or otherwise safety-related. I still have to make this POS body last 60 more years. Im really concerned about that. Since i plan to live that long i'm not really offended by getting safer faster than we get faster/stronger, and im certainly not going to try to pick up 900 lbs or race more dangerously than i have to just to prove how hardcore i am in this one snapshot moment of my (hopefully) near-century existence. As you say, i could never be the best ever.. only the best right now. And that doesn't really mean E36 M3 to me if i berkeley myself up forever or die trying. I'd still be irrelevant in X number of years when the next improvement in technology lets guys that are 6 years old right now dick-wave harder than i ever could "back in my day".

When i look at the new video, i think it's pretty berkeleying intense from the standpoint of what i would feel if i was in the car. It might look boring, but you dont experience that kind of movement with just your eyes.

So im not really bothered by the fact that we're celebrating someone going only minorly faster in a much safer way (pikes peak will never be SAFE but i think some of what we're talking about applies to almost all pro-racing). The people who know the sport will take it all in proper context without trying to strong-arm their context onto anyone else. The people who are in it to be the BEST EVAR and dont care about context as much as being #1 RIGHT NOW (!!!!) can kill themselves trying to lift 901lbs with the corset.. let em.

I prefer the pavement but that's just me.

I went there for the '95 climb. The only one in history that was run short due to weather

In reply to a401cj:

I liked the second one best

Climb Dance is incredible.
Correct me if I'm wrong BigD (I was wrong once, in '83) but I don't think BigD was knocking Tajima's run or ability. I think he's just saying that video is less exciting to watch. I agree. Now, I wouldn't go as far as boring but watching a guy to the scandanavian flick at 80 mpg a few feet from a 1,000 drop is exciting!
I enjoy them both, but watching Ari is more fun.

Honestly, I think the difference mostly comes down to a professional film maker vs. guys who normally hit things with hammers comparison.

Seriously, look around on youtube. Ever wondered why some guys' 800 hp track monsters don't look that fun but a 220 hp Honda two videos back looks insane? Shot angles, sound quality, the proximity of walls/trees whatever - it all goes into making an entertaining video. Editing is a big part too.

I agree, both films are really cool. Although I wouldn't be comparing them in a sense that it is all the same. Time and technology always makes thing different and I think that is just the comparions we are seeing. There was a time when Beethovens' music was considered impossible to play and now you can watch 3yr olds master everything he made. So it does make you a bit spiteful sometimes when people make these comparisons as if they were equals. We should just remember them though just as a revolutional moment when the sport does change "again", for the E36 M3 billionth time.

But yep, those days are over when you can build your own car company in front of your house or make medical devices in your kitchen. If I could, I'd love to go back and see how things have started when they were raw and pure.

DrBoost wrote: Climb Dance is incredible. Correct me if I'm wrong BigD (I was wrong once, in '83) but I don't think BigD was knocking Tajima's run or ability. I think he's just saying that video is less exciting to watch. I agree. Now, I wouldn't go as far as boring but watching a guy to the scandanavian flick at 80 mpg a few feet from a 1,000 drop is exciting! I enjoy them both, but watching Ari is more fun.

Absolutely right. Sorry, boring is probably the wrong word since it sounds absolute. I'm of course not saying that a 1000hp little racecar booking it up a hill is boring in an absolute sense. But Climb Dance is mind blowing to me. But the thing that actually bothers me is the way this accomplishment is permitted to overshadow the old one. It's tremendous no doubt, but allowing it to displace Ari's performance, to me, is asinine. I feel like an old whiner saying how things were better in the olden days but I can't help it - in my subjective opinion, it is just not nearly as impressive an accomplishment.

not any different from Sebastian Vettel finally braking Nigel Mansell's pole record... Mansell did in a 14 race season and Vettel in a 19 race season but still the new record

the homerun record of Babe Ruth ... 154 game season and all the records since then ... 162 game seasons

record books usually don't take into consideration different circumstances/conditions....

I think seeing the amount of work that Ari is doing in the second video adds a lot to it and gets you more interested. Just having a camera mounted on the hood of Tajima's car insulates you from the amount of effort he put into this run and makes it look a lot less dramatic.