I'm glad you all found something interesting in that montage.

I never lost interest in motorsports in general even though I lost all but the most casual interest in F1 after the 1970s.

There was so much more that still was pretty undiluted by what commercialism and tech-gone-mad had done to F1. Saloon racing, touring cars, even a couple F3 races as a spectator were exciting times in Britain. I have a Lucas British Formula 3 Championship banner hung down the long wall of the workshop as a reminder (I can't spell "souvenir").

I never won a race on a track, but learned a lot about driving trying my hand at it; did a bit better at rallying eventually, which I found very much more suited to my tastes, talent, and temperament. One of the more bizarre things that used to happen in the far north of America was a competition called "ice-cross", literally a road track laid out on a frozen lake, cars out one at a time under solo rules competing in various classes for time. Utter madness, but you learnt car handling if nothing else!

Oh, the fun we had at amateur racing. All pretty much dead here, now. Local clubs are gone, or at best a couple old guys reminiscing. Insurance costs against litigation are prohibitive. Society doesn't like such adult-play for any number of knicker-knotting "reasons", and quite frankly the automobile is not something viewed with any positivity anymore. They are just a hideously expensive encumbrance packed with tech to replace skills and more tech to distract.

From a societal standpoint, the icon of youthful social independence was the license. Now, its the phone. No-one is interested in driving because no-one is interested cars. No-one is interested in cars so the vast majority are nothing more than white-goods.

I'm glad I'm old. If there was an offer to exchange my being at the twilight of life and having had the experiences of my era for this era with a lifetime before me, it would be a very easy choice.