It's Czech Mate

Jim Clark.......made any car go quickly be it F1, F2, Saloon car racing or Rally Driving.....proper legend

Mike the Bike.......say no more

Mansell - No other driver has ever been so comitted - he would push Senna to the maximum and beat him, as he did to Shuey a few times. Indycar and F1 champion simultaneously ( for a week! ) - Such wicked committed overtaking....often round the outside. Who can forget his amazing fightback at Silverstone when he set all those lap records to close up and hammer past his teammate. Also could carry a bad car........He got the Williams Judd up to 2nd at Silverstone one year untill it expired!

Respect is due to Senna also, another committed driver with the talent to carry a bad car

Shuey deserves a mention but only for the amount of times he's cheated and got away with it.....roflol

marco polo

iTrader: (1)

Juha Kankkunen

oh yes and i bought his Race suit (repsol)

you know this one



Marco

richm

Senna & Vatenen for me, not neccesarily in that order.
Anyone who has seen Ari in action will remember it forever...

AD-RS1600i

Nigel Mansel - Worst luck in the world but still made it happen in the end!
Senna - Pure talent.....
Tommi Maikenen - Awesome Evo driver what can I say?!
Karl Foggity - Don't know anything about him, but any Britain who wins a sport year after year deserves respect!
U-r- Kankenen (?cant spell that one) - Nutter Group B driver that recently attempted to break the 10 barrier in a very special RS200 up Pike's Peak!
Timothy Burkin - I watched Rowen Akinson in a documentry about the guy who raced Bentley's post war, and he pretty much put everything into it and at Leman with a supercharged version of the Bentley sport's car that wasn't backed or supported by the Bentley factory (it was snubbed by the Bentley factory in fact), deliberately went at pace to make the quickest car at the time retire (mercedes I think?) even though he knew as a result his car wouldn't last, just so the factory Bentley cars could come home with the win beating a factory Merc, what a man ah?

Keith B

Rich W: Senna admitted taking Prost off at Suzuka based on what had happened that morning and the year before. The year before when Prost took him off and Senna got going again and won he was disqualified for receiving a push start even though his car wasnt in a dangerous position. The FIA supremo at the time was said to have it in for him at the time. The following year at Suzuka the rules stated that the driver on pole had the choice of which side of the track should be pole. The same FIA Supremo (Jean Marie Ballestra if I remember right) over ruled it and made Senna start from the dirty side of the track so Senna said that no matter what he wouldnt give way into the first corner. Its my opinion that he was justified in doing that.

Schuey may well have driven stick shift in Group C but so did everyone else! You dont half change the goal posts in order to prove your point! - All I'm saying is that Senna exhibited more skill in the years in F1 when other teams had semi auto and he didnt.

Keith B

Mansell when he had a good day was incredible. British GP's of 86 and 87 were awesome!

EIL132

Senna was the greatest for me, collect his stuff aswell. Mansell is underated, who else has won the championship back to back in GP and Indy. Prost was great but boring. Shuey is amazing if you take your blinkers off. Massive respect for kankkunen and Sainz. Mcrae should have been up there, but threw it away, brilliant driver when he was on form but crap when he wasn't, the list is endless

warleydaddy

Good views guys,im liking it!!!!!!!

Pete....

Rossco

IMO, Sterling Moss, is the daddy, look at him he must be 70+ and every year at good wood he is there ragging a car up the hill, hope iam like that when iam that old.

Modern legends include;
Rossi
Mick Dohan
Caloz Sainz
Colin Mcrae
Micheal Shoemaker (lol)
Juha Kankkunen
Karl Foggity
Seb Loeb

And the list goes on and on

tonyturbo

used to live next door to louise-aitken walker. fookin mental in a road car. she got 1 of the first 16v cav sri's and it was fooked in no time down to sheer abuse.

i'd have to say her above or Tony Pond as thats who i was named after..

space hoppers

for me at the moment its VALENTINO ROSSI all the way. He is a true racer yet he is a character and enjoys himself he can also get into peoples heads and play mind games. 75000 people watched in the rain on sunday to watch him take the piss out of the rest of the field and i was there to witness it truelly amazing

RickDraper

Colin Mcrae, Valenteno Rossi, Sebastian Loeb, Michael Schumacher and Bernie Ecclestone.

justin.e

so many....Joey Dunlop,Sainz,Bertie Fisher,Frank Meagher,McRae,Vantenan ...etc
and dont forget Mouton probably would have won the world championship if it wasnt for her fathers death...just noticed many of these are gone...

Tigran

Ari Vattanen - how many times do you see rossi or senna hanging it round a fast left with a several hunded ft sheer drop inches from them, and with a twitchy 1000bhp+ audi quattro under their right foot? His skill and courage make him an absolute legend in my eyes and a role model in the way he carries himself when not on-track.

jamesers20004x4

as far as im concearned there aint no better drivers in the world than the WRC drivers.
any of them really!! id like to see schue doing the RAC rally he wouldnt get round the first bend!!!!

they drive on tarmac, grass, gravel, ect ect and can controll that car like nothing ive ever seen!!

thats what i think, anyway!!!!

MARCOSWORTH

iTrader: (24)

Alessandro Zanardi,Carlos Sainz,Kevin Schwantz,John Bowe....maybee more but think this is enough

AGAR-COSWORTH

Touring cars - Soper, Rouse, Brock, Johnson
F1 - Senna
Bikes (road racing) - Joey Dunlop
Bikes (circuit racing) - Rossi
Rallying - Vattanen, Carlos Sainz, Blomquist

Rich_w

Interesting call

And can everyone please stop saying Foggy. Bloke won 4 WSB championships. And then didnt step up to the top class of Moto GP because he knew hed suck

Oh and the bloke is possible the biggest prick in Motorsport.

Random thoughts on the above

Mansell : Capable of mind bending ability. But then hed throw a strop, or be no where. Infuriating man The Indy title is largely irrelevant in my eyes. He was so much better than the competition it was a weak title. It would be if he went back to F3 after winning the F1.

Loeb : Makes it look very easy doesnt he.
McRae : Marketting over actual ability to bring the car home. Only really famous to non WRC followers because of the game.
Joey: Good call. I would add DJ to the list because he rode the roads (doh) in a completely different style to anyone previously. Both greats but Joey just that little bit more.
Sainz or Auriol: Doesnt really excite in the way a Legend should. Great driver, but Legend?
Ari -Never drove a Quattro as suggested above. He was mainly a Peugeot driver
Doohan : GReat consistency, and the NSR 500s were evil to ride. But it was still the class of the field. And he had no real competition.

Anonymous

I actually quite liked Mansells "win or break the car trying" attitude, although i wouldnt call him a legend exactly.

Has to be Kevin Shwantz for me as all time motorsport favourite hero.

It's Czech Mate

[quote="chip-3door"]I actually quite liked Mansells "win or break the car trying" attitude, quote]

Thats actually farly untrue, he was very kind to his cars if you ever look into his career in detail and read what his engineers/team managers have to say

During his championship season he used on average 20% less throttle a lap than his teamate and consequently could run with far less fuel and preserve his tyres better

Anonymous

I stand corrected then, thats just how it seemed from a spectator point of view.

TBH even though ive done some occasional bits of work for the F1 team here its not really a sport i have much interest in, i'd far sooner watch a rally or a decent single make series.

It's Czech Mate

I think it's the way it looks because he has a strange driving style and car set up.....he had much softer springrates ( thoretical in the active days ) than his team mates and likes to turn inand apex a little before most drivers.....consequently the car seems to squirm a little bit more than drivers with a more classical technique and it looks like he is 'chucking' it round....consequently tho he was able to open the throttle sooner than other drivers

Also with regards to being a moaner....if you are consequently demanding the best from your team, engine supplier, sponsor and track organiser/FIA to get the best result and win does that make you bad?

Better a moaning winner than a quiet loser

My personal hero if you hadn't noticed If i can live my life with the attitude and morals he had then i'll be proud of myself.

Big up to Colin Chapman for believing.

ps. I cant believe more peeps havent mentioned Jim Clark!!!

Rich_w

Theres a difference between whinging and depressing them and encouraging the team to do better.

Anonymous

Suppliers who have hung themselves from depression/boredom dont supply sadly

Anonymous

Been following Motorsport since 1955 & 3 Drivers were a class apart, Moss, Clark & Senna. Schuy is very good but a step-back from the other 3. Moss & Clark could drive anything , Moss the greatest Sportscar driver of altime & Clark the best alrounder.
On two wheels Mike Hailwood simply the best although this guy Rossi has got me thinking & may yet get my vote.
Rod
ps. Fangio was past his best by the time i got interested many including Moss say he was best F1 ever.
Rod

justin.e

Rich,
dont forget his team-mate Coleman

Keith B

Rich W - did you read my comments on the Senna taking Prost off thang at Suzuka? Had you heard about that before?

SimonT

What about John Surtees? F1 and motorbike world champion?

Rich_w

Yes.

But you must admit its a positive spin on Sennas actions. Prost made an attempt at a pass into Casio Triangle. Which resulted in him taking Senna off. Racing Incident.

A year later Senna just didnt lift. Which was stupid. He'd been "out psyched" Im sure you remember the fact he wouldnt talk to Prost as a result of it. He let it get to him.

Which goes back to my opinion that he relied on instinct or emotion rather than his ability. If hed applied himself mentally. He could have been even better. This is where someone like Rossi / Schumacher are legends. They've got half the field beaten through mindgames. And if there ever is a pretender to the throne, they can dig very deep within themselves to win. And they'll look at the bigger picture (Obviously they have off days but theres not many)

As for Surtees.

Neither discipline was as specialised as it is today. He was good certainly, but I think it wasnt as much of a test as it could be. I would be interested if Rossi can replicate it.

Anonymous

I think in reality that schumacher is probably the best driver there ever was simply because nowadays its a 24/7 hobby where as in "the good old days" it was a far more parttime job, i think schumacher trains harder and takes it more seriously than any driver before him, and as a consequence is probably quicker in an equivalent car than they would have been.
Thats not to say i think he has more ability.

same with all sports really, the bar keeps getting raised, even teams that fail to qualify for the world cup now would have kicked our arse in 1966 at wembley probably if you took them back in time, standards in general are just higher

Tigran

Ari did drive a quattro up the pikes peak hillclimb. As well as his 405 T16

RichardB

Its close between Joey Dunlop and Mick Doohan

Daviet

vatenan as the man is a LEGEND dont have to explain that his driving speaks for itself
mcrae as people have said he is FAST on anything.saw him on bikes,cars and push bikes and hes fast on them all.could have been world champ at any motorsport he choose to do.also brought crowds bac to rallying after group B days

Daviet

also my dad and grandad for the things they achieved in motorsport on a VERY VERY tight budget.infact neary no budget

capri-rs

randy mamola the showman of gp500

henri toivonen

Mul@AMS

Senna, Auriol, Kankkunen, Tommi, Prost, Mcrae, Muller. (In no particuler order )

They are all top, top drivers.

andre_k

iTrader: (2)

ME!!!!!!!!

not really


Schumacher

B11GNS

Rally - Tommi Makkinen, Ari Vatanen, Carlos Sainz
Touring cars - Andy Rouse, Dick Johnson, Steve Soper
Bikes - valentino Rossi, Kevin Schwantz, Joey Dunlop
F1 - Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda

And one that i cant believe hasn't been mentioned yet on this topic is the late, great...

Gilles Villeneuve

John Laverick

Not seen Hannu Mikolas name mentioned!!