I miss the old days when we had 1000+ HP monsters driven with one hand on the wheel the other on the shifter through the crazy tight turns at Monaco. Yes it was insane and dangerous but it was incredible.
I realize safety is important, however I think just as much safety can be achieved if drivers respect yellow flags and are heavily penalized for violations. There is just no reason to effectively stop racing on a multi-mile circuit just because a car went off in one corner. We should go back to the old rules of yellow flags and/or a stop and restart if the track is fully blocked.
It’s incredibly fun in VR.
It isn't many of us ran canyons as a lead up to track days to dial in our suspension or engine maps ahead of time attacks, and just as another poster mentioned: you ignore it entirely when you're in the zone.
You're looking at your own lines, and making your own braking points which often require you go wide (on to oncoming traffic) to make an apex in a high gear and have a higher exit speed etc...
In short, normal day-driving has almost no bearing on how you drive in anger in the canyons or the track. I drive like an old man on the street and seldom speed, but once the helmet goes on I'm a full contact driver and I will block pass and push you wide off the track to make an apex on the track without a second thought.
I was getting too aggressive at the K1 racetrack on my bday one year, I had just assumed people had done track days before and the marshals eventually let me run alone on the track to set a best flying lap because I was forcing people into dangerous situations, which to me is a part of racing: forcing people into mistakes is a critical part of race-craft. And if you go over your limit and you crash those are just racing incidents at the end of the day.
I think I held a Top 10 lap record for most of that year at that location.
As for reminiscing about F1 I think the hybrid era has yielded the most monotonous era on F1 history; which is saying a lot where 5 on track overtakes was considered an exciting race before that. Mercedes/HAM domination is about as compelling as the Redbull/Vettel era but with way more boring engines (they had V8s back then).
I was in Maranello the last season right before the v6 hybrid era and I could hear them testing the V6s F1 engines in the factory and then heard it on the track Fiorano. They sounded pathetic to even the street version V8s and I knew it was an end of an era.
Luckily, I got to see the LaFerrari prototype with its crazy hybrid-V8 get tested out on the canyons up Torre Maina which was a remarkable experience. They always say that when Ferrari sucks in F1 is when their Strada division makes it's best cars.
Either way, I think the Senna/Prost days in manual Turbo V6s was cool but way over valued, to me the pinnacle will always be the V10 era. Seeing that BMW V10 in the Williams screaming at near 20K RPM was insanity [0]! I know the V8s and even the V10s are faster around a track, but these engines were over a 1000HP in qualy trim, and the sound alone was what made the racing back then.
So let me show you what it is and how common a tactic it is to ensure an overtake sticks [0]. Here is a breakdown of the anatomy of what a blockpass is and how it's used to hold the racing line:
Racer Training Technique #1. Block Pass
A. get close to rider in front
B. brake same time or after rider in front
C. remove some brake pressure to get side by side
D. hold position side by side while continuing to brake evenly with other ride. (don't pass in-front.. as it opens up a possible re-pass if you run wide)
E. enter corner holding the inside line ftw!
It is a legitimate overtaking technique.
This video on the 'art of passing' is also worth watching to see what I had described earlier [1], at 0.55 you see what a blockpass looks like on track and that is what forces a driver wide off the racing line and makes him loss time by going wide, which is an entirely legitimate racing technique.
Kelvin describes it rather well and shows how you can execute it best and still drive cleanly.
PS: I used to drive when I was younger but I also marshaled and did scrutineering at Time Attacks, and Open lap track days be it with SCCA sanctioned events or otherwise when I got older and sustained too many injuries and got slower.
There is a saying amongst the experienced veterans: Racing is a full contact sport, and rubbing is racing.