5 Racing Series You Forgot About Come Alive In Film

Ever have those evenings where you’re watching related videos on YouTube for hours on end? These five series are pretty firmly in the history books—at least as you see them here—so if you care to see some great duels and atypical race cars, this weekend playlist is for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yxVGQ3WA4A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4eANfFJjA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYFKWY2T1e0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNKpmWfHvIc

The four clips above are all you need to watch in order to love F5000; it’s an old ABC series called Once Upon A Wheel that was filmed in period. Moreover, it hovers around Sam Posey and David Hobbs’ duel for the 1971 F5000 Championship. Why ‘5000’? That’s how many cc’s of displacement were allowed. And yes—there’s even period helmet cam footage!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1rzCXBJdFE

I was going to write a long and detailed explanation about precisely why this 1995 race at Suzuka is a great introduction to the Japanese Grand Touring Championship (JGTC; now Super GT), and why it’s worth more than an hour of your time. After all, it’s grainy and in Japanese without subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2-xC6d-HuA

This is better: it’s like watching a real-life version of Gran Turismo, only with none of the good cars left out—there are Porsches, Ferrari F40s, Lamborghini Diablo… The coverage is great, too, and includes in-car footage from said F40s. Not good enough? The 1996 race adds the McLaren F1 and a fleet of Honda NSX race cars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMcGuAgySDI

You know how the Formula 1 contests held at Montreal are often among the most exciting races held in a season? What if you substituted Formula 1 cars for, oh, say, the lairy World Sportscar Championship’s Group C cars? Yeah…(Don’t worry, nobody was seriously injured.)

Back in the day, before the Second World War, someone had the bright idea to hold the Swedish Winter Grand Prix, where spectators were taken to a track freshly carved…mostly on a frozen lake. What’s surreal is that these are many of the same shapes you’ll see gracing auction catalogue covers—not sliding around through a snow-covered forest.

This German film may start as some of the most boring frames committed to celluloid, but it quickly becomes apparent there’s a lot of footage you probably haven’t seen of Audi’s IMSA GTO, including factory footage.

^{Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of Audi}