THE BREAKAWAY IS A POWER PLAY! The Story of the Attempted F1 'Split' (1981)

[@upthebracket26]

Andretti, Jones, Fittipaldi, Piquet, Rosberg, Watson, Reutemann, Pironi, Prost, that bloke from 5th gear.... what a list to be on.

[@aydankhaliq2967]

That bloke from Fifth Gear deserved much more in F1. Who knows? Maybe in a parallel universe that bloke could've won a title.

[@upthebracket26]

@@aydankhaliq2967 & a Le Man or two. He was a very underrated driver. Lovely bloke as well.

[@danbradley7176]

Gotta love Tiff

[@BOABModels]

I remember when Tiff was 'that bloke from Top Gear' - now I feel old!

[@heliumtrophy]

@@BOABModels It was a much better programme with Tiff as presenter. Hence why I preferred watching Fifth Gear when the split happened.

[@kellyt3382]

The politics are always intriguing. I’ve always suspected the Indy split started with Bernie whispering in Tony George’s ear. I actually assumed it was his reason for reintroducing the USGP at Indianapolis, which he moved away from after that split was accomplished. And coincidentally, all of Indy-Car’s international races promptly disappeared,thus reducing emerging competition for Bernie’s traveling circus. I enjoy both series, but surely miss the Indy-Car of the 90’s. Thanks for what you do, I find your commentary enjoyable, fair, and thoughtful.

[@Sticktothemodels]

Correlation =\= causation but you do make a very good point

[@chrisguardiano6143]

As an American, in addition to the Indycar split we almost had a "split" in NASCAR as well at that time due to Bruton Smith (the owner of Texas Motor Speedway & Charlotte among others) wanting to give smaller tracks NASCAR Cup Series races by regionalizing the championship. Essentially Smith wanted to bring the concepts of divisions & playoffs from sports such as MLB & NFL into NASCAR as a way of growing the sport. Bill France Jr the president of NASCAR at the time absolutely said no to this & none of the drivers & teams joined Smith in encouraging this idea to go forward.

[@AdavidPT]

you just gotta love this talking head talking about racing history :)

[@wibbers01]

Awesome series Aidan. Perhaps you could do a vid on the attempted breakaway series of 2009?

[@Mike_Connor]

You can't end this series without also doing an episode about the early 2000's threat of a split, the Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC). I remember Bernie Ecclestone registered the trademark GP1 to prevent GPWC from using it.

[@heliumtrophy]

Oh I think it's part of an ongoing series....there's plenty of juice in the political ructions just yet.

[@JackKeithley]

Always trying to find a way to incorporate Wrestling with your stories, lovely stuff. Would not expect anything less sir

[@JohnSmithShields]

Whatcha gonna do when Hesketh runs wild over you???!!!!??? Brother.

[@joribremer5260]

Had a comicbook (Michel Vaillant ) where a story was” what if “ the split had happened… (maybe a good idea for the next “what if “ video)

[@interstate366]

8:28 that’s Indy 2005’s music!

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

Awesome video as always, entertaining and informative at the same time, thank you !

[@Mrmayhembsc]

Loving this series. Are you going to do one on the 2009 FIA-FOTA dispute? I remember that one well. haha

[@JJfromIA]

All the videos are so informative and well done!

[@barrycheesemore2928]

Excellent video as always, really enjoying your recent content!!

[@ZeGreatStick]

Speaking of splits, what about 2009 FIA-FOTA? Or is it not worth making a video about?

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

I always learn something new from you. Thank you for all your hard work researching everything, as well as presenting it in a way that doesn't fly over my head! I can't remember if you have already done this, and I'm not able to go look mid comment (using the app), but regarding "offshoots" of racing series, whether started as a "foe" to the original or as a compliment to one, could you (if you get bored at some point) do a series on such, er, series? E.g. FE and A1GP (the "world cup" of motorsports, as it was advertised. I quite enjoyed it, actually) as compliments to F1. I think it would be interesting whether it was created out of spite or otherwise.

[@tekpic04]

Aidan, it would be nice to have a video on touring cars championship when Bernie Ecclestone felt threatened by other successful series such the first World Touring car championship of 1987.

[@ianwynne764]

Thank you Aidan. I really like these.

[@icewhitegames6875]

Great video again mate. Cheers.

[@RACECAR]

2:14-3:19 Man, that has to be the most epic and star-studded Naughty list ever.

[@minibus9]

awesome video

[@jacekatalakis8316]

Not the last time F1 nearly split apart, curious if you'd touch on the Aurora AFX series and the GPWC saga in the mid/late 2000s. WHo even was Rupert Keegan, anyhow, aside from sounding like something from a BBC kids Christmas speciala And Bernie's put his foot in it....again, as per the media. EDIT: What're your thoughts on the currently swirling rumors about certain teams breaking away and the idea that having manufacturers in makes the sport weaker because manufacturers pull out and weaken the sport

[@matthewlawrenson3628]

Rupert Keegan was the poor man's James Hunt (posh, handsome, lots of photos with attractive women). His dad owned an air ferry company and paid for Rupert's career. Keegan wasn't terrible, but he was never likely to win anything.

[@jacekatalakis8316]

First I'd ever heard of him for winning the British F1 (no not the stocks stuff) title in 79 too. Hoping for a vid on that whole series too

[@matthewlawrenson3628]

@@jacekatalakis8316 British F1 was an intriguing series. Mainly made up of 2nd and 3rd string drivers with 1-2 year old cars. Sort of an Army Surplus store of racing. Still, it gave the world Gordon Smiley's second most famous moment in racing history.

[@jacekatalakis8316]

@@matthewlawrenson3628 I'm now wondering if there's any clips of the British F1 on YT really, I only saw the one in a documentary on Gordon Smiley and that was a few seconds of the great Simon Taylor commentating his win. Went to check and saw Williams were a winning constructor and, hilariously to me, Ensign were too. I'm trying to find why the 1981 season didn't happen though, Wiki just says no season held without any good info. Also didn't Desire Wilson race in British F1 as well around that time?

[@matthewlawrenson3628]

@@jacekatalakis8316 There's a few videos on KZbin of the series. Search for "Aurora F1" and you'll find some. What there is on here is basically at the mercy of what was broadcast at the time and late 70s home video tech.

[@FormulaFox]

The outcome of the FICA-FISA war could have happened in IndyCar a couple years before if USAC hadn't dismissed the Gurney White Paper and instead took it seriously and started talking to the teams. How different history could have been.

[@Furnerfamilyadventures]

curious for you to do one on the FIA-FOTA dispute.

[@HATECELL]

F1 history is so weird. Like there was a time when manufacturers were seen as the rich teams, while some garagistas tried their best to keep up. Nowadays there are beverage companies who run two teams, one for their drinks and one for their clothing line

[@aprilkurtz1589]

I remember reading about that mess at the time. Yeesh. Have you done anything on the tires? Why just Pirelli? Wouldn't having Michelin and Bridgestone in F1 be beneficial? When did the slicks stop having 'tread' on them?

[@phsycresconquest6636]

I believe they stopped having tread after the end of the V10s as the V8s weren’t as stupid fast and strong.

[@indominusrex1652]

@@phsycresconquest6636 it was in 2009 when they became proper slicks

[@Lazbotable]

As for Michelin and Bridgestone, they withdrew of their own accord.

[@T_Mo271]

It's amazing that motorsport survived in spite of such horrible leadership worldwide.

[@T_Mo271]

Perhaps you're onto something with your comparisons between professional wrestling and motorsports organizations.

[@CrunchyMotorsport]

Can you make a video on the 1999 European GP or the 2008 British GP

[@paulmcmullen3267]

He has done them before and they need relaunching. I remember his 2008 gp storytime,... And Massa spun.

[@matthewgubbins8515]

It was me Austin. It was me all along

[@colbypupgaming1962]

I think I've suggested this before, but if you're into wrestling, I'd love to see you branch out into wrestling history videos.

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

Have you seen that ESPN 30 for 30: 'Nature Boy' about Ric Flair? I recommend it. Who knew his daughter would exceed his 'winnings'?

[@ashclub1]

You know what would be interesting?? why does Alfa not run its own engines?

[@mpainter22]

Fiat, they own both Ferrari and Alfa Romeo which is why the molten hot Guila has a Ferrari developed engine

[@ashclub1]

@@mpainter22 Ofcourse we know that!! But back in the 50s did alfa have their own ICEs

[@areasquirrel]

Start the piano. Anyone watching as a kid/teen make the mistake I made and thought, anytime a new version of the document was discussed on ITV, it was called Concorde Agreement because it was signed on board a Concorde? 'Cos this is a rich sport and rich people used that aircraft? It must have been difficult for BBC to keep up with at the time, threatening their still young Grand Prix programme because we end up going "see you in two weeks time", and then two weeks later, "now on BBC 2, due to industrial action, in place of Grand Prix highlights, here's the Royal Shakespeare Company". In archive several programmes open with Murray Walker saying something along the lines of "the political wrangling continues this weekend, let's hope to put it behind us and have a great race." It's awkward when he does it at Zolder in '82, because then he enthusiastically says it is hoped for a race free from internal politics, but then goes solemn and says we are instead mourning the loss of a driver. That meant that the end of the 'war' gets more attention than the beginning, so it was interesting to see where the lines were being drawn.

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

I didn't know until after the plane was 'dead', that there was this whole deal about the plane being named Concord or Concorde... that must have really chapped some British asses when the French won that round. Are you old enough to remember when Konkordski crashed at the air show?

[@kurtisduke2685]

The fisa foca war was all ove the destination to ban side skirts wich negatively affected the British teams

[@Rosario_Verano]

Bernie Fears Ratings.

[@chrisswain488]

Doesn't fear bullets apparantly.....

[@danesorensen1775]

Ah, Jonesy's 13th win. He's still bitter it doesn't count in the official history books.

[@p0t4toePotato]

vroom!

[@hotwings9382]

Thwird

[@Bigs81]

Foyst

[@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303]

Ah yes, Indy 500 winner A J Foyst

[@patrickspringer6534]

Ah yes, the French...classy bunch.

[@dasmoools606]

Ahh don't ever change FIA! You and Corruption just go hand in hand doesnt it? Hang on.. Wait wait please change! Then again, I've stopped watching F1. I just watch some highlights on KZbin an that's it. It's such a shame that the FIA with all its potential.. Is always flushed down the drain. Thankfully, Theyre so focused on F1 the Saturday TV cartoon. They've accidentally left some at your very least, reasonable people to manage the other series. Hence why GT3/ENDURANCE Motorsport is infinitely more fun to watch and far more competitive! And no I'm not advocating for Spec or BOP for F1 as that will honestly just kill whats left of the desecrated old corpse that is F1 now. After all, FIA is only focused on The Show, hence the terrible 22 cars that look like a childs scribbles and are rife with not being very raceable and quite a fair bit more dangerous for the drivers. It's typical right? The 2021 cars were finally starting to catch up to the Mercedes! We were getting some nice good tight racing! Bam, FIA presses the reset button, putting the backmarkers straight back to square one and having to spend their precious few resources into a car they KNOW will be off the pace and no where near being competitive! So the backmarkers were sent back again, the midfield become a shietshow and time big teams race on ahead. As if the budget cap would help. It changed nothing. The small teams still can't keep up with the big teams and oh it also got ALOT of people fired! Though.. The FIA love doing that, considering what happened to the Grid Girls, who lived their jobs! On grounds of what they were wearing to.. Lmao.. Grid girls wore more clothing than your average school cheer leading squad. Anyway, ima go watch some actual racing.