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Can Auto Racing Survive the Future? - How Motorsports Will Re-Invent Itself for the 21st Century

F-C

I'm afraid that after cars are fully automated, car racing will go into a severe decline.
Car racing is much more popular then any other form of motorsport because people can relate to it. For instance, F1 is at the top despite MotoGP being much more entertaining them F1. Once cars become automated, people will not be able to relate to the sport anymore.
Once that happens, I think manufacture involvement will also decline. I think eventually racing ( especially F1) will become much more extreme in tracks and car design. Due to automation making road cars nearly accident free, I believe it will make the FIA's racing division disconnected from its road safety mandate, and therefore make F1 dangerous again.

Costco

Surely the market will dictate it. If there is a demand for human control, then available vehicles and entertainment will reflect that, right?

F-C

True, but I would imagine that automated cars will be so much cheaper then manual cars that the market demand will result in no demand for manual cars. Insurance will be so expensive for manual cars that only the most wealthy will buy them.

00TL-P3.2

kurtatx

I think automated cars will be ubiquitous, but I'm not sure that spells the end of auto racing. Racing is separate. F1 drivers drive on circuits long before they can operate vehicles.

Costco

Yeah, the human element is what makes sports (motorsports included) exciting. I would like to think that over time, the number of enthusiasts is only growing, and not shrinking. But who knows?

F-C

Time has already proven that motorsports is in decline. Just look at tv viewership numbers and the numbers attending the race. Look at those historical races in black and white, the attendance was crazy. Back then, cars were the great unknown and racing was dangerous.

Once passenger cars come off the assembly line without steering wheels, it will be the end of amateur racing. Eventually, the general public will view cars as simply a tool without any emotional attachment. It's already happening in Japan and big metropolitan areas, where young people don't care about owning cars.

Costco

Never seen the numbers, but that's sad. I guess I was being optimistic. People introduce their friends to things, it appears that way, and so on.

You have a very valid point about car ownership. In any case, hopefully there are plenty of enthusiast minded vehicles for the rest of our lifetimes, at the least.

kurtatx

This statement makes a ton of assumptions. There is a chance that automated cars will make racing more interesting to the viewer.

And count me as one of the people who will always own at least one car.

F-C

Another assumption is that car ownership will end once cars are automated. Why own a car if an automated Uber arrives at your front door when you need it? Probably more practical in urban areas at least in the near future.

The question is what would happen in the 21st century. Considering that we are only 17 years into this century, I'm sure that alot of these assumptions could occur within the next 83 years.

Or this could be like in the 1960s, when people thought that everyone would eventually own a flying car or jetpack.

kurtatx

I think there are a lot of "Creatures of habit" things where ownership will always be a thing for us, but the next generation might not own cars. But I would be shocked if Uber and Lyft are both here in fifteen years. If ownership is dead, I'm not trusting my livelihood (because that's literally what this is) to Uber. They might be the worst company in the world.

Legend2TL

I don't follow the racing business news much but I've seen quite a few article headlines in the past few years talking about major auto motorsports suffering from falling attendance (especially NASCAR) at the track and some on TV.
The one Bernie mistake was doing all those races in Asia where the fans became fickle after 5-10 years and neglected the more supportive Euro circuits.

In general I kinda wonder if younger folks are slowly fading in interest in auto motorsports?
There still seems to be plenty of interest in motorcycle motorsports.

F-C

That wasn't a mistake for Bernie. He knew exactly what he was doing since he was only a few years away from retirement. Fleece F1 dry and then dump it!

Legend2TL

+1 QFT, Bernie is a evil manipulator and yes I agree he did this for his personal gain. But also Bernie waaaaaaay over estimated F1 enthusiasm in the Asian market. The Japanese have always been pretty hardcore but the rest of Asia is poor to fair compared to Europe for F1