Since we already “wasted” your Friday afternoon with BMW’s new online encyclopedia, any interest in lounging about this Saturday with some free-to-watch vintage racing videos?
The aptly named Vintage Road Racing is your destination for road race footage from the ’60s. Available for free on Tubi, the series currently lists a seven-episode first season covering Daytona, Le Mans, Nassau, and Sebring. Running times are no more than 28 minutes with the longest episode (#3) needing 38 minutes to cover the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans, and deservedly so.
That historic race featured an epic fight-to-the-finish between Ford and Porsche. Spoiler alert: The race ultimately went to Ford, driven in the final hours by the legendary Jacky Ickx. Another battle, though, was between Ickx and Le Mans.
Just 24 hours earlier at the starting grid, Ickx protested the race’s unsafe running start. Called the “Le Mans” style start, race cars are positioned along the pit wall in the order they qualified while their drivers stood across the track. When the clock struck “go,” drivers literally ran to their cars to buckle in, start the engines, and drive off. Ickx walked. The following year, Le Mans drivers started the race already seated in their cars.
While you’re seated on the couch, you could watch the entire Vintage Road Racing series within three-and-a-half hours. Or you could spend that time looking for that missing 10-mm socket. Your choice. There is no word on whether other episodes are forthcoming or even exist, though.
The series is compiled by Choppertown, an entertainment destination for car and motorcycle enthusiasts. Its YouTube channel focuses more on two-wheeled action and builds, but the company has its Certified Vintage Collection, which includes old-timey video sets for road racing, Trans Am, and drag racing—all available for free on Tubi.
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