WE'LL JUST MAKE OUR OWN F1! A Look at Racing in Cold War Eastern Europe

In a previous video, I said that the Eastern Bloc didn't really do motorsport, but that was INTERNATIONAL motorsport. The Eastern Bloc, being so secrative on the other side of the Berlin Wall, just held their own motorsport contests instead. But because of the way the social and political systems worked, doing it in the same way the rest of Europe did was a bit tricky.
But they still gave it a go, anyway. Here's a look at what they had and how they got by.
Enjoy! And remember to like and subscribe for more!
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[@kurikala]

Hey Aidan. I am from Estonia and my dad was a racing driver. He drove with the Estonia 21 and 26 and later a Reynard . So i grew up on the early 90's racing scene here. Formula Estonia is one of the most produced formula cars out there. With 1331 produced,26models and 40 modifications to the models. And yes my dad still has his Estonia 26.

[@Dat-Mudkip]

Share some pictures!!

[@Rebasepoiss]

I'm also Estonian and my dad worked as a mechanic in Kavor Motorsport in the late 80s and early 90. They also ran Formula Estonias.

[@sarminder4357]

Take good care of that care. It's a piece of history.

[@AntoniusTyas]

So the engine from a Lada, a gearbox from Zaporozhets, and a suspension from minivan. Sounds like a fun kart.

[@blacktoothfox677]

WHAT!? A cart with suspension??? Ambassador you are spoiling us

[@AntoniusTyas]

@@blacktoothfox677 considering this is East European stuffs... probably costs about RUB3 and a bag of spuds.

[@isrcinimatic587]

@@blacktoothfox677 *Kart it's spelled with a K, not a C

[@blacktoothfox677]

@@isrcinimatic587 wtf are you even talking about there... the world isn't just America. It's CART. Never have I driven a horse and kart. But I CAN drive a horse and cart. BTW - Karts, as in, go-karts, and carts - don't have suspension. hence that WOOOOSH you felt there above ya x

[@blacktoothfox677]

@@AntoniusTyas stuffs? you mean, like, empty pillows???

[@mait1995]

There was even plan of holding an F1 GP in Tallinn, Estonia. The track (Pirita-Kose-Kloostrimetsa) would've been on public roads and notoriously quick and dangerous. Though, before fruition of the plans, USSR had been allready collapsed.

[@Rosario_Verano]

If we're talking F1, I also believe there was a thought about staging a race in Moscow as well.

[@ultrahenk]

Notoriously dangerous indeed - its biggest claim to 'fame' unfortunately being Joey Dunlop's fatal crash.

[@stuartross282]

Don’t forget Skoda in rallying regularly winning it class plus joint ETCC manufacturers championship 1981

[@vaclav_fejt]

Oh yes, the legendary 130R. Every boy loved a fastback Škoda.

[@samacw]

The photo at 5.25 says "racing on the streets of Warsaw, in 1957. Energy absorbing barriers created from spectators.

[@oxcart4172]

Same as F1 in those days then!

[@heliumtrophy]

Old timey motorsport humour at its best then!

[@matiasfpm]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@robertvenegas6113]

Very Eastern Bloc.

[@syntax4651]

it is interesting that you mention Ernst Degner, he defected to the west with Soviet 2-stroke technology in one of the most real life James Bond meets racing stories ever. those events need a storytime. also there is a good book on the subject called "stealing speed" it is a lot of fun. Keep up the good work your stories and videos are a welcome addition to my second monitor during work every day!

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

I think I remember his story when watching the Moto GP race on Eurosport in Saxony. Julian Ryder told it if I remember correctly. It was quite a thrilling tale!

[@bleachyberserko4191]

I learned about this when I got a CZ motorbike, I've been wanting someone to do a video about it for ages. It's an excellent story.

[@six65nine]

I'm not worried about the pictures and all Aiden, I enjoy the information you are handing out more than the visuals, keep up the good work.

[@JoshuaC923]

Agreed, i listen to it like a mini podcast

[@mozsab]

Yup. Agreed

[@spankymonkey13]

Same, ideal for my lunch break.

[@jonnyspa27]

I’d say this is the next branch of racing history I’d love to know about. I only know a little, some of what you shared here. I wasn’t aware of the Soviet F1 series. As you pointed out MotoGP and motorcycle racing had a solid foothold in the Eastern Block. The Masykaring (sp?) near Brno, Czecho was used for bikes and touring cars. I believe Tom Walkinshaw won a race there in his Jaguar touring car. Rijeka, Croatia 🇭🇷 is a beautiful, sweeping circuit that held MotoGP for a long time. I’d love to see the necessary updates so they could go back!

[@williamross2579]

The Big Three tracks in 'Ost F1' were Schleizer Dreieck (Schleiz triangle), The original Sachsenring, and Frohburg.

[@mickcompagnoni1114]

"Estonian Companies based in ..... Estonia." Fantastic delivery there Aidan, I did not see it coming.👍

[@legendarytoaster]

11:30 took me couple of minutes to get the joke. For those of you who was born to the west of Berlin wall this one is about Michael Schumacher(yep, I'm flexing on being native in russian and german)

[@sokudo4143]

As someone from Estonia it's always cool hearing about our formula cars from foreigners. If there are any questions I'll try to reply.

[@OhKnow379]

Was it popular with the masses in estonia?

[@MartinVRS41]

Hey Aidan, a Hungarian here. Born after the fall of the Soviet Union so I can't tell from experience, but from what I researched circuit racing was never huge in the USSR. Probably because of the extra cost of building and maintaining a venue to race at. However rallying and hill climbs, that's where the focus was. In those categories some of the Eastern drivers and manufacturers like Skoda achieved some pretty good results on the international level, mainly in the ERC in the 60's and 70's. Once the cars got more powerful and engineered into purpose built race cars, they couldn't really keep up. I mean you probably know the best effort was the fast Ladas out of Vilnius.

[@Cynon]

There's some full race videos of Formula Easter races on KZbin from the GDR. Honestly, the racing looked pretty good. One of the most amusing things to me is that for NASCAR Racing 2003 season, someone recreated the Leipzig street circuit that existed from 1950-1960, and it's not that bad of a track, honestly. A little unforgiving, but it's neat. :D

[@BartAnt84]

Aidan, those Formula Easter cars had way more than 75BHP. Those Lada engines were quite modyfied and had around 130BHP(gr.b Lada VFTS had around 160BHP). Here in Poland cars and Bikes were owned by the clubs and were assigned to a driver/rider. Afther the collapse of communism, some of drivers forgot to return them to their clubs. Those are the ones that exist today ;) Tires were a big problem on eastern block, so the PZMot (Polish Motorsport Organisation) would privide them for drivers. But it was never enought of them, do one year some genious decided to give only three tires per car. So he could say, that thanks to him, more drivers got new tires that year. Before F. Easter we had normal F3. Polish cars used 1000cc two stroke engines from East German Wartburg. They've manager to produce something between 90 and 100BHP, some of the better drivers got Cosworth engines. Those F3 cars had also issues with tires. The only ones tha would fit, came from (again) East German Trabant(around 20BHP shitbox) those tires were so bad, that at the long straight in Brno (old Brno race track) they would actually changed their shape. Drivers had to first lift off the throttle and use the brakes only when tires started to look normal. The only full time race track in Poland (Tor Poznań) was officially build as a test track for Tarpan. A pickup truck designed for farmers. And so on, and so on.

[@AidanMillward]

Can only go with what’s written on what I can get. 😅

[@Evaunit98]

This was possibly one of the best story times you’ve made, you should do one on Lada and it’s rallying history

[@colinmunro7337]

The group b Ladas a super cool

[@anthonynonya]

Wow, this was a great video. I had no idea there was racing in the Eastern Bloc. Also, as far as I'm concerned, you don't need to keep saying sorry for the lack of images. We get it, the copyright issues suck, and you're channel is still great without them.

[@Cedric898]

My grandfather was a rally racer and along with one of his friends they went on to vin a Rally in there class with a modified Lada 2101 back in the 1970s in Bulgaria. I have some pictures and the rally guid of the 1981 FIA approved rally “Golden Sands” and when he was alive my grandfather told me a lot of stories about rally racing in Bulgaria which was not all that different than the average 70s-80s western rally. Only the cars were a lot more let’s set eastern and often the guys with the money and western cars would sweep all the wins and leave the Lada guys to scrap for a name on the timing board.

[@afcreative22]

A friend of mine made a bunch of the Formula Easter mods on RD. The amount of research he puts into models is unreal

[@MartinoVonTischnowitz]

Hi Aidan, thanks for the video, here are some "fun facts" you probably did not know.: - the Czechs built their F1 car called Tatra 607 Monopost for the F1 championships in 1950 - 1958. It never raced due to obvious political reasons. The engine was a water cooled V8 with a displacement of 2.545 ccm. You can easily find the pictures on the internet. The car did race in the Eastern block championships. - Tatra is unfortunatelly remembered in the F1 world for something else. Do you remember the Hungarian GP where the safety car took out Taki Inoue? Yep, that was that special moment for Tatra in the F1 history. - there was a F1 Grand Prix in the Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia at that time) before it was actually officially called an F1 race. The race was held on the old Masaryk circuit of Brno on 25/10/1949. The race was won by Peter Whitehead on Ferrari. On the first lap the legendary Giuseppe Farina had an accident that killed two people and injured 8 others. Till this day you can find on the old circuit The Farina curve. A year later Farina was the first official F1 champion - The one and only real Czech driver in the F1 was Tomas Enge. I believe he drove 2 races for Jordan (the B&H livery) and in general it was a collosal fcuk up.

[@psykkomancz]

Enge drove for Prost actually, several races towards the end of 2001 season. He tested with Jordan before though.

[@MartinoVonTischnowitz]

@@psykkomancz Thanks for the update, I did not know that

[@stegena]

@@psykkomancz I think 3 races at very end of Prost existence. I think he was supposed to continue in Prost, but Prost were not able to run that team anymore. He was able to be equal to Weber, Bourdais and Pantano at F3000, but then he had THC in blood and some ban that slow down his progress

[@MartinoVonTischnowitz]

@@stegena I remember only a really fcuked up pitstop in a Jordan during a race and the THC scandal that ended his career, that's it. But is he's doing quite fine I believe, still in the motorsports

[@stegena]

@@MartinoVonTischnowitz I think he is basically retired now. But he was great in le Mans GT(maybe even record with most pole positions in row), he was decent in Czech rally...quite universal talent

[@ultrahenk]

In case you want to see some of the actual racing action from the Eastern Bloc, check out the channel Jürgen Meißner. There's some wonderful footage to be found there, mainly from the late 1980s. The Eastern Bloc had some really cool road circuits, like the original Sachsenring, Schleizer Dreieck (lit. Schleiz Triangle) in East Gernany and the original Brno track in Czechoslovakia.

[@ianwynne764]

Thank you Aidan. These stories are great.

[@niksvucans]

I am from Latvia, and, while too young to have lived in the Soviet era, my dad raced buggies in USSR and also Latvia, once we became independent. That side of motorsport was well and truly alive back then, with Latvian SSR champoinships, as well as USSR ones. I actually live nearby to one of the circuits used, and, while deserted (and turned into a campplace of sorts 2 years ago), it still had a layout you could drive about on with a bike or something. While motorsport may not have been as popular here, in the lower classes it was still very much a thing - and even nationwide. Has to be said, the tech used was obviously quite bad, so my dad (and a lot of others from that time i imagine) now has some back problems from the lack of suspension when landing from jumps. If there are any more questions about it, i think me and a few others here might have more insight into it

[@blacktoothfox677]

He raced buggies??? Please tell us more about these!

[@niksvucans]

@@blacktoothfox677 haha, gladly. He and his team (some friends who were mechanics) raced more or less every weekend i think (im not sure how it worked in the winter since it might have been a bit impossible), go away for the race on friday, come back sunday evening or monday morning. I would have to ask him about stuff like how the races were run and technology used, but i do know that he was the first latvian champion, and was on the USSR national team towards the end of the 80s. Mostly he raced in Latvia, went away to the other soviet republics to bigger meets. Honestly im not too sure on what i could add to this here, my knowledge also lacking about it all. Questions appreciated :)

[@blacktoothfox677]

@@niksvucans awesome - would love to know more about the configuration of these 'buggies' - fascinating stuff

[@niksvucans]

@@blacktoothfox677 Will ask dad, will reply once i have an answer 😄

[@paveloleynikov4715]

That yearly soviet F1 were like amateur races for individuals, auto plant constructors and DOSAAF (basically, auto and aviation training schools) trainees. There were many sport types in USSR where there were pretty small support from actual government - basically, cobble some actual resources, and we will help with getting workshop and some logistical support.

[@rotkiW9014]

Hey, Aidan, great video, good to see someone finally give some light to these forgotten soviet machines If you consider covering more eastern European race cars noone knows about, here’s an interesting car- Polonez 2500 rally, also called Stratopolonez So, Polonez is a polish road car, you might have seen Jeremy Clarkson driving it in Top Gear in the 90’s. It’s not particulary interesting car on it’s own, apart from having couple crazy rally versions One of these versions is Stratopolonez: it came to life, after the son of Poland’s prime minister bought a Lancia Stratos to race in a rally, and proceeded to crash it on a tree. Pretty much everything apart from the frame, the engine, and the powertrain was destroyed, but these key elements were still good. These salvaged parts found their way to FSO(polish car company) race division, where they were tasked with making a rally car out of this and the Polonez. The engineer managed to get a little bit more punch out of the engine, making a little bit over 260hp. They’ve put the wngine in the middle, into the modified Polonez body on the Lancia frame and suspension. The cooling system came from a truck. As yoy might imagine, it wasn’t particulary pleasant car to driver: most of the weight was at the back and the car was massively overpowered, so it was terribly oversteery. The fact that FSO didn’t even bother to run any tests before the thing’s first rally in 1978 didn’t help either. On that first rally, the drivee lost control and spun three times, but still managed to win by a decent margin. The car took part in various rallies until 1985 when it was retired. The car can be seen in Warsaw’s museum of technology, however the exact state of the car is unknown- last renovation work was done in 2012, since then there were reports of the car being beyond repair at this point If you’re interested in some technical data, there is a Wikipedia page on the car(although it’s in Polish, but a little bit of Google might do the job), as well as an article in English on motor1. com. Top speed was around 230 km/h(143 mph), and it did 0-60mph in under six seconds(the exact test was never performed though) Edit: there is one more article in English about the car: www.carsguide.com.au/oversteer/rushin-motors-stratopolonez-59187

[@allainangcao28]

Some of the vehicles have been recreated for Assetto Corsa and I gotta say whilst they aren't powerful, they are pretty fun to yeet around classic F1, F2, and F3 circuits.

[@bobroberts2371]

Perhaps 15 years ago, one of the Brit classic car magazines did a profile of an Eastern block car museum that included some racing cars. I'll dig through my stacks and try to find it.

[@anon-fq3ud]

4:54 made me crack up. The text translates to: "race on the streets of Warsaw in 1957 (the energy absorbing barriers were made using the audience)"

[@thomasg2488]

“I’ll make my own F1! With blackjack! And (censored)!” - Bender, maybe.

[@sulphurous2656]

I'm still salty about Poznań missing out on being able to host a Grand Prix event when it was still a facility that was up to F1 spec.

[@Patrique2001]

yeah, there's an anecdote saying that the guy in charge of whole "F1 in Poland" operation - Andrzej Jaroszewicz, son of son of the then Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz - drank too much at one party and was injured, which was effectively the end of the plan

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

Don't worry about the pics, the story is why we're here! It's lovely to hear about things that I hadn't before. As mentioned in another post, Degner's story is quite a tale in itself, and it would be a good video idea imho. Edit: SynTax mentioned it!

[@Denes2005]

The estonia-25 is one of my favourite ac cars

[@E53-f7z]

I've got an old book kicking around from around about 1992, called "Racing Cars of the World" or something pretty generic like that. It has a section on the racing that went on behind the iron curtain and what was happening "now" the Soviet Union had fallen. I remember a printed quote from one of the drivers, "capitalism is fun", which for sure dates it after the fall! I'll have to dig the book out, it's in a box somewhere.

[@MrSaywutnow]

The move to motorcycle racing in the eastern bloc can still be seen today. Poland is still extremely competitive in the Speedway World Championship. And from what I've seen on KZbin, Poland is also very keen on rallying.

[@markdavis2475]

There's a long history of local innovation in former Soviet bloc countries. A mate here in Estonia has a replica Honda Monkey bike built by her grandfather on his farm, lots of odd parts including a chainsaw drive! There was a company here called Race Tech who built the Locust Seven using Lada and Volvo parts, I believe there was a race series but I don't think it runs any more.

[@Patrique2001]

in Poland, we were also doing some racing and rallying (mostly rallying with FSO Polonez, as @Wiktor Mach said in his comment) - even in late 70s, Wolf Racing Team took one of its F1 car to Poznan Motor Show. And son of our (at the time) Prime Minister, Piotr Jaroszewicz - Andrzej - did some laps in this team's car at Poznan race track (which is still in use for national racing series - it also have FIA Grade 3 license!). There were rumours that F1 race behind Iron Curtain could be held in Poznan... Besides Poznan, we have a race track in Miedziana Gora (the track is simply called Tor Kielce) - both of them were opened in 1977, but Tor Kielce didn't held any race on national level since late 00s/early 10s. And speaking of Estonia race car... we're still racing them, sort of - during historical events. But what is also cool, after 1989 and before Kubica debut in F1, Jaroslaw Wierczuk was testing with Forti in 1995, and in the years of 2002 and 2003 we have Polish team in FIA GT Championship in N-GT class, called Alda Racing. Also in 2005, Maciej Stanco took part in some FIA GT races. Sorry for chaotic comment, but I had plenty of information to share with.

[@ModeliGT]

They started building an actual f1 race track near Sliven, Bulgaria. The project started in 1981 and was abandoned around 1985, just before Hungaroring debuted. The track foundations and infrastructure remains to this day. There are some pictures feel free to google f1 sliven track bulgaria

[@strongarmclimbing]

Appreciate you Aidan.

[@Lord-Lexz0r]

I actually found out about formula Easter through the AC mods on racedepartment, I find them exotic little racers and after trying them in Sim I actually tried to find some more on the Cup of Peace and Friendship. Now the mods aren't perfect but those little cars are so much fun to drive. Great video once again Aidan.

[@ivaneurope]

Bulgaria was also one of those Eastern European countries that wanted to hop on the F1 bandwagon - there was even a project started in Sliven, but it really went nowhere. But Bulgaria was successful on the international motor racing scene - in rallying. Back in the late 60's and early 70's there were Bulgarian-built Renault and Alpine cars that were badged as Bulgarrenault (Renault 8 and 10) and Bulgaralpine (Alpine A110) to emphasize that they were Made in Bulgaria and were successful on the rally stage

[@mgrzx3367]

I had a discussion about different sports with someone. If you want to go racing you have build a car. If you play basket, base, football you don't have to built the field your playing on. You just bring a ball.

[@beauty.of.the.struggle]

Interesting. I always thought Petrov was dumped too early.

[@PaperBanjo64]

He wasn't horrendously bad, he beat Fernando Alonso on speed at Abu Dhabi.

[@vaclav_fejt]

There was an old Tatra racing car used for promotion with a contemporary-ish Red Bull car for their promotion campaign. It's small, it's cute and who knows how it would have fared if thrust onto the world stage and given the necessary development.

[@briansergeant]

Czech Republic's Tomáš Enge raced 3 Grands Prix for Prost in 2001

[@AidanMillward]

Yep. He did. I didn’t name all of them otherwise it would have made the video longer.

[@maggusmala]

If anybody of you ever have the chance to go to a ADAC HAIGO Race in Germany/Poland/Chech you should totally do it. It's so great. There they race with eastern block touring cars (Skoda 130R

[@lazarkrstic8578]

I'd be happy to help researching this stuff if you plan on doing more similar videos, as I'm from the former Yugoslavia. There was a MotoGP race there until the early 90s

[@darknessesdarknesses2492]

Me listening to this while making breakfast. "Hmm, topical."

[@RandomCarGuy17]

Aidan, I'm just happy to listen to your narrating.

[@arfived4]

If you want to get into the "but what abouts" with eastern bloc drivers, you also have Mario Andretti (kind of)

[@RyanHellyer]

What connection does he have to the Eastern bloc?

[@arfived4]

@@RyanHellyer He was born in what is now Croatia

[@rogxxxr]

Aidan I never comment but just wanted to say you have come a long way and I always look forward to your videos

[@T_Mo271]

Fascinating.

[@bundesautobahn7]

But wasn't it so that Bernie did peak the interest of Brezhnev when he proposed an F1 race in the Soviet Union, and that any plans were "officially" on the backburner after Brezhnev died and Andropov came to power?

[@reinissprude6671]

Here's some footage from Latvia in 1972 (then part of the USSR). kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5bOlHmkr9d0g9k There's a kart race at 2:15 and footage of what I think is F-Easter at 3:03

[@highspeedhawk]

Pioneer 1 & Pioneer 2M were soviet LSR vehicles that set records between 1960 -1972.

[@MaximkoGamerUA]

It took me a while to understand the joke about Michail Sapozhnik, but my God, it was a good one

[@minibus9]

great video, absolutely fascinating

[@areasquirrel]

Interesting. Gives a little bit of context to the intro and outro of the 1987 F1 Season Review, the one bizarrely presented by Peter Ustinov in front of the Berlin Wall. "This would be the finishing straight behind me, where speeds of anything up to 55 mph could be possible, by a madman, although overtaking would be difficult." At the end he made a crack about Bernie being allowed through Checkpoint Charlie and an 'East German Grand Prix', "with 2-stroke engines only. May the best man - chug-chug - win!" The rickety nature of Lada was first revealed to me by the song on Dustin the Turkey's album Poultry in Motion. Oh yeah, he had multiple no. 1 singles and albums in Ireland, he was arguably overqualified for Eurovision in 2008. The Lada Song was to the tune of The Pina Colada Song, so... # If you like drivin' a Lada, Breakin' down in the rain Send to Moscow for spare parts, Then you must be insane! If you like getting stuck at midnight, On the dual carriageway, Got a bargain for ya, pal, £25 towaway!#

[@AEPRacing]

another awesome video aidan!

[@marekbudai8682]

I found an episode from czech version of Seconds from Disaster (in Czech) from apparently Formula 3 race in Sokolov, Czechia in 1966 which is famous for a crash, where formula slid out and crashed into people. 4 spectators killed and driver also died. Video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnvOk5yZpZl6ibs Edit: I found and article about the crash. www.motorsportmemorial.org/focus.php?db=ct&n=1011 There are some discrepancies between the episode and the article for example about people killed, which I think are translation errrors, because the article refernces the episode.

[@danesorensen1775]

That's really interesting. I had no idea, but it makes sense a massive petrostate like the USSR would at least attempt motor racing, though I imagined it would take the form of something more like "Formula Lada" or something. Anyway, I don't know of any F1 drivers from the Eastern Bloc, but I do know of a Bathurst winner: Tomas Mezera was born in what was then Czechoslovakia and was groomed by the state-run sport programme before he got out and came to Australia. Less than a decade later, he won Bathurst with Tony Longhurst and then got the Holden Racing Team through its darkest days. I understand his life story is hugely inspiring but the V8Sleuth podcast requires money so I haven't heard it. Come to think of it, rally champion-turned-Bathurst polesitter George Fury got out of Communist Hungary as a child too. I think there are a couple more whose names escape me right now too.

[@Mercman1010]

I like knowing im not missing seeing anything when i put this on while im driving

[@weslittlereptilefamily3418]

This is awesome history!

[@har234908234]

Enjoyed this one Aidan... I think those that are possible to satisfy would be satisfied with an explanation on screen about the lack of pictures, rather than you explaining it every episode.

[@Thee_Snow_Wolf]

Edit : Listening to the commentary from the Sachsenring onboard, turns out those were Formula Easter cars. They claim a power rating of 110PS (108.5hp) and weighing in at around 420 kg. The commentator also claims a top speed of 260 km/h (161.557 mph), although for the power output it does seem on the high side. If anyone in the comments section is hungry for some more Eastern Bloc racing, there's a great channel called "Jürgen Meißner". He's uploaded a load of old Eastern Bloc races mainly from the late 80s to early 90s. Including my favourite, a Trabant race with a load of Trabants going door to door @ 100 mph. Trabant Race : kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZvUZKl6Ytxoj68 A modern Single Seater onboard at the Schleizer Dreieck. While it's not the same track as in the Trabant race, it still has a lot of the original character. : kzbin.info/www/bejne/lX-Wf6djbKljg80 A period onboard Formula Easter from a E1300 class Single Seater at Sachsenring from 1984. You thought that the Nurburgring was dangerous in the 1980s, yet this is even worse. It's basically some closed roads in a rural town without ANY crash barriers. Spa 1960s style. : kzbin.info/www/bejne/p2GYlWSLoNeEask

[@evanmadurai966]

I don't mind the visuals at all I totally respect your decision to respect copyright, but one thing that might be nice is leaving some links to images/pages in the description so we can do our own research and look at it ourselves either, normally not an issue but hard to transcribe some of the Russian info! Love the videos keep em up

[@filipruml]

I've seen the Mercedes W124. It's in the national technical museum in Prague. What might be cooler when it comes to eastern racing is rally. Škoda has been rallying for quite some time now even though Škoda 130LH could hardly compete in group B. But won a race in Turkey anyway.

[@ancomfin4270]

I believe that Škoda was one of the GrB cars that were more designated as such due to limits on weight and size in GrA. Pretty dominant in its class too. John Haugland consistently took class wins in the British Rally Championship with one

[@eddiecatflap3838]

that was a great vid.Really interesting subject

[@Woodie-xq1ew]

Does anyone else find it slightly ironic that most images of racing in the USSR are not shared with everyone

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

I mean, aren't those the people's pictures?

[@GenuineRage]

There's a LOT of irony in the ussr

[@kurikala]

I think there was talks in the end of the 80's to host a F1 race at Riga Bikernieki racetrack.

[@svenschmidt3337]

Well, "but you forgot" 2018 Williams Driver Sergey Sirotkin ;-) Anyway, great video, thanks for your work!

[@blacktoothfox677]

didn't he refer only to drivers from the USSR? Coz that's Russia now, which technically isn't the same thing. As Ukraine well knows right now, obviously...

[@AidanMillward]

Sirotkin was born in 1995, so he isn’t Soviet.

[@svenschmidt3337]

@@AidanMillward You're absolutely right. Sorry 'bout that.

[@blacktoothfox677]

@@svenschmidt3337 see - United Soviet Socialist Republics - You would not take it from me, but you would my younger, less learned cool-as-garak content creator brother there. That is called subscription-shaming. You know, where you only respect those with more internet clout than 200 subs, obviously. Thanks for that. I feel suicidal now, like a jilted 13 yr old girl. I know you know exactly what I mean. Bloody listen next time jk teasin ya x

[@svenschmidt3337]

@@blacktoothfox677 How could I - a drummer - disagree with you? Always listen to the guitarist ;-)

[@schuylershane5325]

Did Germany use prewar racing to secretly develop war tech? Like the way Germany trained pilots by developing a glider program

[@chrisguardiano6143]

Even though international car racing was largely absent in Eastern Europe & the USSR during the Cold War, Yugoslavia did host a round of the MotoGP World Championship from 1969-1990.

[@AdamTheMan1993]

So did East Germany at the Sachsenring and Czechoslovakia at Brno

[@dschoene57]

The East German EMW team competed in the 1953 Nürburgring GP. Also, slight correction: Romania did have a car industry. Ever heard of Dacia? They've been license-building Renaults since 1968, so actually they did even have access to western tech, if slightly outdated. Except for Bulgaria, each eastern-bloc country had an automotive industry: East Germany (Sachsenring, Wartburg, Barkas, IFA), Poland (Polski Fiat), Hungary (Ikarus), Romania (Dacia), CSSR (Skoda, CZ, Tatra), Yugoslavia (Zastava), USSR (Moskvitch, Zaporoshets, Zhiguli/Lada, Kamaz, Ural)

[@foxy126pl6]

We were talking about a pre war expirience. The other nations just built licence cars

[@AlexHM93]

Seems like an early version of the spy gate lol

[@ZeGreatStick]

Auto Union and Ferdinand Porsche… I won’t be surprised to find a Tiger P or the Elefant with an Auto Union logo 🤣

[@tingewickmax]

I remember when Skoda's UK importer had a showroom on the Goswell Rd (1985), in EC1 at the northern edge of the City of London. The respected motoring magazine "CAR" used to have a potted guide to all the cars available in the UK, at the back of each edition. Under the heading of "Skoda" was the pithy comment - If you want to find out how a Posche 911 should handle then try a Skoda. Ouch ! What do you call a Skoda on its roof ? - A skip ! Things have changed. Who is having the last laugh now.

[@icewhitegames6875]

Great video mate. A VPN may help access those sites for your research.

[@pablobarrera7613]

Really interesting!!!

[@markmatthews7202]

Great story about Ernst Degner and his defection to the west which gave Suzuki their first Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championship

[@briansergeant]

So that's why there's a corner called Degner in Suzuka

[@markmatthews7202]

@@briansergeant Partly, he was the first person ever to crash at Suzuka but Suzuka was built by Honda corporation and not Suzuki. He might not have raced at Suzuka before anyone else could have crashed there had he not defected though so yes it's partly the reason why.

[@King_Ears]

Fast forward a year and we got the Grand tour in formula Easter in Eurocrash

[@MsZeeZed]

Like western aerodynamicists, the Soviets too discovered ground effect in the 1960s, but rather than waste it on fast cars they used the technology to build an airborne troop transporter that was theoretically capable of skimming a few feet above the Pacific Ocean and under American radar (The Caspian Sea Monster). However, by the time they’d met the needs of every branch of the military, from carrying tanks to having a rocket battery mounted to the fuselage, spy satellites were a big thing and it was abandoned in the late 1970s.

[@neilcam]

For those wishing to know more then there is a treasure trove of info & pictures on Eastern Bloc racing on Autosport's Nostalgia Forum: forums.autosport.com/forum/10-the-nostalgia-forum/

[@MartinBennett12]

I saw some formula Easter content online a few months back

[@Mladjasmilic]

When spelling Russian, some tend to use 'kh' for sound which is made in words like 'loch'. It is 'h' pronounced a bit differently.

[@vaclav_fejt]

Also, props to you, Aidan, for not pronouncing the town name "Most" (means "bridge") as the English word "most". (y)

[@AidanMillward]

Pure guess tbh 😅

[@mihaimarin89]

There is a cool story about 2 Mercedes W154 Silver Arrows that were hidden and then found in Romania after the war. One of them was an ex Rudolf Caracciola car. Check it out, might be a good idea for a video :)

[@cargobroombroom3827]

I guess they might bring it back

[@zizhgames4328]

You need to learn about DOSAAF in USSR - government sports support system

[@blacktoothfox677]

Vlastimir Tomasek. Hmm sounds suspiciously like a Romulan to me...

[@Mistertbones]

Anyone notice the cute Pikachu in the background?

[@stanislavkostarnov2157]

do not think there was a formula pedigree as such in the USSR (except maybe pre-war), though, rallying and ice-touring was very much a thing as were power-motorbike racing of all kinds... cart like stuff did exist, but it was always a lower tier of the sport.

[@albert_gyorgy]

I'm Hungarian and even though the Soviets did many terrible things to my country and Eastern Europe in general, at least there is one positive to take away: We wouldn't have a Hungarian Grand Prix if cold war didn't happen.

[@hazeluzzell]

Maps are fine. I love maps…

[@ivailok3376]

So this whole thing was basically a side effect of the Cold War. USSR/Eastern Europe competing with everyone else for technological superiority, except this particular project never managed to be successful. Pretty interesting piece of racing history.

[@AdamTheMan1993]

Hungary wasn't the only eastern block communist country to host a FIA championship event, from 1976 to 1987 the Brno circuit in Czechoslovakia hosted a round of the European & World Touring Car Championship and a year later with the World Sportscar Championship which was won by Jochen Mass and Jean-Louis Schlesser driving a Sauber-Mercedes C9

[@AidanMillward]

Was the only one to host a round of the Formula One World Championship. Which is what I said.

[@kert.k6iv]

Thank you for the video! I understand that a lot of this material is quite hard to get a hold of due to language barriers, and I hope that the spam in the streams wasn't too bad. The TARK team was essentially just a group of guys interested in motorsport. Kinda like a Soviet depiction of how the Hesketh team operated in the movie Rush. They engineered their way out of whatever available materials and spy mission schematics they could find. Their success did land them state orders, which helped with parts/tools acquiery. The main problem was that every car/part/design HAD to show the excellence of the USSR (so basically if Britain had to build F1 cars from the BL parts bin.) A few links to the Estonias: (for more background info and some car specifics) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia_(race_car) f3history.co.uk/Manufacturers/Tark/tark.htm

[@adamgalambos8137]

Thomas Enge?

[@tippersimracing6070]

Not fully true, Hungary was under the USSR and they hosted thir first GP in 1986 still under Soviet rule.

[@stanisawkaczmarczyk5312]

Pozdrawiam z Polski

[@ivarsvilkens8426]

Lot of pictures in FB page that translates as "Autosport in USSR": facebook.com/autoussr/photos Some pictures Bikernieki (Riga, Latvia) race track web page: www.bksb.lv/index.php/features/par-trasi/bildes/category/1-trases-vesture other source: spoki.lv/automoto/psrs-autosports/151896/1/3