Alain Prost at Monte Carlo in Renault RE30B

[NOXXism]

Monaco looked so good back then...

[juan833blue]

F1 and Monaco; perfect together,

[lazerpod66]

In this 1981 film, you can hear how precise and effective Prost is shifting that grand prix car, sweet sound, a great driver.

[Lexinho90]

Prost was Senna's bitch!

[J3tal]

so crazy how dark the tunnel was back then, or appears to be in this video

[rowgun500]

Super smooth ,flawless and blindingly fast beyond comparison.Cant improve on perfection simply cant !

[ChrisLynn68]

This is a Renault RE-30 from 1981, not the RE-30B from 1982. The easiest way to tell from this onboard view is that many of the cars from '81 had the front wing sitting on top of the nose cone rather than through it, so to speak, which made them look bloody ugly.

[chumanho]

The Harbour Chicane is different from the current config. When did it change?

[loetkoe27]

@chumanho 1986

[Davidex46]

@chumanho I believe in 1986 ..

[GTRF1V8]

this is hard work. near F1's most dangerous walls for 2 hours, on an insanely demanding track, while heel-toeing through the corners(no paddle-shift box). helps for Renault when you have a racing legend drive for you, though.

[saulocpp]

At this time Alain was a great driver, but not yet a legend. ;-)

[sennathebest100]

The Professor at work...

[renerex74]

il serait possible d'avoir les commentaires traduit en francais?, merci.

[loowww1]

this is not a RE30B but the RE30.

in 1981 Monaco GP Arnoux drove the RE20B (with the big rear wing), and Prost the new RE30. The RE30B appears in 1982 and had no front wings...

[wolfmother4eva]

gotta love long braking distances, compared to nowadays it looks like it will never stop lol... look at the entry to rascasse, i could eat a three coarse dinner in that time...

i also like the sound of the old turbo cars, although i'de prefer the sound we have nowadays i just prefer the V8s at 19000 rpm (i know it's down to 18000 this year) than V6s at 13000...

[Muvisionate1]

Remember, they were also changing gears manually. Besides, this is not race or even practice pace. By the looks of the half full stands, it is probably an early warm up session.

[wolfmother4eva]

i know but still, i mean into ste devote...

"*roar*...*revs drop*...*engine goes almost silent*...*BBRRUUMMMMMM!!!*

it's just a little bit funny, you have to admitt...

[wolfmother4eva]

what the hell was rene arnoux doing?

[Rivelution]

He wasnt paying attention to his mirrors and blocking everyone as a result. Thats typical for Arnoux...

[niikodas]

leave rene alone , lol , when he was with ligier they, marshals

would wave the blue passing flag and rene said he thought they were gitane supporters , lol

[rapperzondernaam]

hahahahha

[annama123]

That (probably) backfire's souunds are very great and excitant!!! TURBO F1 FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[26j1993]

1:07-1:15 OMG

[alainpiot]

this is 81, but in front of him drove arnoux in the 79 car i saw. Is it right??

[Nomastalgic]

can we say "tire conservation"

[Nexxus79]

to be honest I don't think the camera technology was very advanced back then, which is probably why it appears to be constant...no way is it really that dark in the tunnel

[LeonSzillard]

nice beach buggies

[92NB]

UNREAL!?!? u son of a b*tch dont know what unreal is. Thats the real formula 1 i miss the cars in 1990-1994. Nowdays the people we call ''drivers'' just sit there and reads newspaper and downforce drives the car.. Get the old real cars back.

[Michaelingolfhansen]

The cornering speeds and G-forces are the highest ever right now!

They where far from the 5+ g's under braking and cornering the drivers has to endure today.

And with the increasing speed, comes demand for increasead reaction time, hand-eye coordination og psysichal fitness!

Every F1 era has it own charms, and I think the turbo era and the early 90's were great!

But its sad when nostalgia blinds people, so that they bad-talk the great things and people that are today-in the moment!

[92NB]

YEa nice pitstop!!Nowdays the pitstops are the most important thing not skill to drive, god the drivers say that there is no grip, like wtf?? in 70's they drove like rally in slide to every corner, stupid wannabe racedrivers today in F1. Raikkonen would fit the 70's perfectly.

[goerge4]

he would need a rack to put his coca-cola and ice cream in the car..

[rowgun500]

Extremly well said.

[zepedrofd]

Nostalgia is because these drivers had charisma, they drove cars that were brutal, uncontrolable and completely unsafe, and still they went to battle! i'm sorry but racecar today are better but they will never replace this!!!

[Michaelingolfhansen]

I think there plenty of charisma today, but ok that is a very subjective matter!

But just think of the Alonso/Hamilton hatred, the very wierd stone face Raikkonen, party prince Button etc.

I agree that the cars looked cooler in the older days...no doubt about that!

And it was a lot more dangerous, but im sure whether or not to see that as a positive element or not! But anyway if the cars was still unsafe most drivers today would still get their asses in them...they need the thrill!

[wolfmother4eva]

i can guanartee you that a modern F1 is still far far out of reach of the average motorist, especially at the speeds they do which are substancially higher than the '80s...

[wolfmother4eva]

one thing i noticed is that nowadays the camera lenses are rock hard giving an unrealistic perception of how smooth it is to ride in one of them cars but in the 80s the camera was shaking everywhere, if you loaded a morner camera onto an old car i can guarantee you it would look unchallenging... load an old camera on a new car and it would look very 80s-esque...

...i'm not mocking old drivers but thier zombie followers who glorify them and speak of modern drivers as if they're lower beings...

[niikodas]

we prefer to call them LEGENDS long live the #27

[megahurtz30]

I think it also has to do with the tracks beeing less bumpy as before. Also, the suspensions are probably better nowadays.

[tiadaid]

Well, modern drivers drive cars with paddle gearbox on their steering wheel as well as the clutch, have switches to change their brake balance easily, and of course power steering. Give them an old car like this one, I'm sure they can drive it no doubt, but to race it at high speed for long after getting used to the new cars? Not sure they can stand it for long.

[man710r]

@wolfmother4eva Modern drivers have to cope with much more technology in the cockpit whilst driving inch-perfect. Turbo Era drivers simply had big balls - hats off to both !

[ClassicF1Vids1]

@wolfmother4eva You are unbeliveably, shockingly misguided.

[ClassicF1Vids1]

@wolfmother4eva The camera lens has nothing to do with how rough or how smooth the ride is. Today's tracks are billiards table smooth and safe where as tracks back then were rough and dangerous. Just look at the track surface. And no, it wouldn't make a difference what kind of camera you could put on the car, even one from today or one from the early 1980's, they are both probably bolted in some way just as tightly to the car, it makes no difference.

[ClassicF1Vids1]

And also, the RE30's suspension is a lot softer than, say, the suspension of a McLaren MP4-25. So the RE30's suspension reacts differently to certain existing bumps on the track. The RE30 would react better but still, in terms of camera tightness 30 years ago and now, it makes no difference. A camera that is as loose as the one you described would fly off a ground-effects car like the RE30.

[TestECull]

@wolfmother4eva So I suppose there's nothing to be said about those older cars having more power and less grip than modern ones?

Go check out Top Gear's Ayrton Senna tribute. Lewis Hamilton drives Senna's old car and says the same exact thing those 'zombie followers' say. I'd take his word on the subject over yours seeing as he actually drives the modern cars for a living.

[rosun82]

@TestECull Not necessarily....80's cars has almost no restrictions on how much ground effect they can use....car crazily close to the ground, side skirt, huge diffusers, wide rear wing....it is actually astonishing that because there are so much downforce that even the front wing is unnecessary....

Plus, they have wider tyres, though the compound is less advanced

It is not really like the early 70's that people were really struggling for downforce

[McLarenMercedes]

@rosun82

Ground effect was banned after 1982. Therefore the 1983 cars looked pretty odd like the Brabham BMW and Williams.

Lotus invented ground effect in 1977 (although the car was designed in 1976) and the ground effect era came to a close in 1982. In Indycars it remained.

[rosun82]

@McLarenMercedes Ground effect is until today, the only thing banned is the wing-car with side skirt.

Let the car close to gound + diffuser is also ground effect

[McLarenMercedes]

@rosun82

True, but the "ground effect" today is not nearly as efficient as those inverted wing side pods with sliding skirts. That was true ground effect, although some other interesting ideas was also tried by Brabham with their fan-car in 1978 which had a huge fan at the rear which sucked the air out and created lower pressure under the car. It worked too well and was banned after 1 race, which it won easily.

From 1983 the cars had to have flat underbodies to limit high cornering speeds.

[kallo182]

@TestECull

Yes i have see Hamilton Drive the 1988 McLaren, and i remember after that drive, Hamilton say this Car remember him on his Formula 3 Car.

So i think it say Everything.

[XiaoPow]

@wolfmother4eva

All racer drivers of that calibre are fantastic, there's nothing easy about modern racing.

[Pupixario]

@wolfmother4eva 1200+ hp on 500 kg and no safety at all ... just sayin ...

[heliumtrophy]

@wolfmother4eva I would love to see an 80s camera on a Red Bull to see how much difference there is.

[ClassicF1Vids1]

@wolfmother4eva they both are. I can't imagine an average driver being able to take the performance figures of both a turbocharged Formula One car and a 21st century Formula One car.

[vieugmat]

Ennnnnorme!

Le heros de ma jeunesse

impressionant, le pilote est presque assis au niveau des roues avant. Quelles sensations, quel courage

thanks bellxl for these video

[TG7]

Great vid!

Onboard camera through the tunnel in the early 80's??

Something is wrong with today's technology... :(

[racerfink]

This footage was shot with a movie camera, so it's on tape and not being beemed to a helicopter.

[DentistTubster]

Correct - the footage was stored on the car rather than being sent to a helicopter, or to garages, as they are these days. You will notice, though, that recently the images have been digital - thus, the tunnel no longer causes turbulence to the images.

[LeonSzillard]

agree, today's technology is very weak

[euskafreez]

Manual gearbox + turbo engine + Monaco = Alain "The professor" !

[h2junkey]

Most racecar drivers can only dream about revmatching as smooth and crisp and Prost's!

[Orvieta]

First time ever that I see passing of the tunnel without having turbulence.

[FM77]

Great stuff...bravo..

[bpwnyc]

this (these) is (are) unreal!!!