Racing history, told one season at a time
How rulebooks, circuits and liveries shaped Formula 1, NASCAR and endurance racing from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Read the archive
The eras, decade by decade
1950s
- The first Formula 1 World Championship race runs at Silverstone.
- The rear-engined Cooper T51 wins the title and front engines start to disappear.
1960s
- Team Lotus races in Gold Leaf colors, and sponsor liveries begin to replace national colors.
- The last traditional Le Mans start, with drivers running across the track to their cars.
1970s
- The Lotus 78 shapes its sidepods as upside-down wings, the start of the ground effect era.
- The Brabham BT46B fan car wins once and is withdrawn after a single race.
1980s
- Formula 1 requires flat car floors, ending the ground effect era.
- Group B rally cars are banned at the end of the season.
1990s
- Richard Petty starts his last NASCAR Cup race, at Atlanta in November.
- Formula 1 bans active suspension and traction control before the season.
Subjects in the archive
Each post sits in one subject. Every account names the season, because the same car could look quite different from one year to the next.
New in the archive
Read the archive- Retro Racing Jacket: History and Evolution of Paddock Style
Explore the design history of the retro racing jacket, from 1950s cotton coats to 1970s satin windbreakers and 1990s team bomber jackets. - Silver Arrows: Myths and Facts of Germany Racing Heritage
Examine the real history of the silver arrows, separating Alfred Neubauer paint-scraping myth from the engineering dominance of Mercedes and Auto Union. - Le Mans Start: History of the Sprint and Safety Shift
Explore the history of the traditional le mans start, from the running sprint across the track in 1925 to the Jacky Ickx protest and rolling start. - Ground Effect F1: Physics of Underbody Downforce
Explore the engineering physics of ground effect f1 cars, from Lotus 78 sliding skirts to the 1983 flat-bottom ban and 2022 regulation revival.
Every post on JohnHellard is signed Walt Brennan, a pen name shared by the site’s writers. Seasons, results and specifications are checked against series archives and period sources, and where historians disagree, both versions are noted. Drafts are prepared with AI assistance, and no post goes live until each date, result and figure in it has been traced back to a source.