Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Motorsport racing - business against safety
So much to say!
Consequence of the recent event on Sunday, August 23rd 2015, the world of Motorsports is screaming for more changes in SAFETY.
Unfortunately, they are looking at the horse from its behind.
Why accidents happen? Many reasons, right?
Mechanical, been the most. And then is that little word: Safety.
What is safety? Lately that word means: let's do something to keep the lousy drivers SAFE! and the good drivers safer.
I'm not saying let's go back to the 1960's and race in a crazy way, otherwise i think that Jackie Stewart won't be happy about it, and he had been through a lot those days. I sincerely believe that the maFIA, (as i call them), has been doing a good job concerning "safety".
Why do we have to change the way open wheel motor racing do RACE? to make it safer!
Good answer!
Well, . . .
Already they changed the cars, making them slower, safer. Of course, if we all are honest to ourselves, going against the reason of "racing", meaning going faster to be first, right? Well, because of safety, we have to slow down, fine. I do understand that. (Technology will really make you fly away, otherwise!).
But why don't look things from another perspective?
I do understand that accidents happen, doesn't matter if you are a good or a bad driver, it's just racing.
But in the last couple of years i have been stopping watching racing, it's just not my kind of racing, it's not for me.
As an example, the Honda Indy, in Toronto, which i have the chance to go, almost every year since 1996, it is a shame to the racing fans nowadays. The reason? Money! This is not a surprise, it's well known.We all know the trouble in the world, we all know the luxury around this sport, we know the technology it takes to make it SAFE!
So, what do they have to do to survive? Attract people! which people? anyone! how do you do that? well, you have to go beyond the real racing fans and dig deep to bring those other ones who are not.
New marketing ideas target the young people, and the easy ones to bring are men. Therefore you bring nice pretty, young girls in bikinis to show around the track. And don't tell me that i'm wrong because i have been there, before and after the changes in CART, Indy, and now Honda IndyCar. I know the difference.
So again, we come to the question, why accidents happen?
Another reason, consequence of the above is Human Factor, meaning, drivers.
I have to make reference to a name, i don't want to but i have to, and we all know that i'm right.
Danica Patrick, is she a good driver? We all know why she is in motorsports, and don't tell me different because you will be lying to yourselves. Thanks God that for some reason she didn't go to F1, and hopefully won't happen, never.
We all know her story, can't fool me.
Saying that, i'm not against women in the sport, i admired the driving skills of Sarah Fisher, she was a real racer, and now a Great Team Owner.
We all know the Sato's, Maldonado's, Massa's, Grosjean's, Kobayashi's, etc., and many more.
We make fun and jokes, but if you think about it, they are "practicing" the RACING day!
Thanks to the testing ban enforcement in the series, specially F1. Why? Money and environmental safety.
So, again, why do we have to change the open wheel racing cars?
Maybe we just need to change the drivers SKILLS SET! (I remember Jackie Stewart offered mentor Grosjean but this one refused, can't remember why)
Maybe we just can bring their SKILLS first and then the money bringing in.
Maybe we can allow them to practice BEFORE really racing.
Maybe the teams will contract a REAL RACER brought up. investing from a young age (which some teams do have this program in place).
Maybe we can stop the racing of who will be the next driver younger than the last!.
In the old days a driver used to jump from Cart to F1, they needed that experience before. Now they are champions in any other category in Europe and they get the F1 Super license right away. Easy peasy.
Where are the kinds of Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Alex Zanardi, Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti, Sebastien Bourdais, Oriol Servia, Kimi Raikkonen, Scott Dixon, even younger Marco Andretti fits in this category, (very impressed with his skills from the start).
On the track the RESPECT must be ABSOLUTE. The choices are made in an instance. Therefore if a racing driver do not understand OFF the track the word RESPECT, will not applied on the track. Simple.
There is no respect nowadays, with the pressure the drivers are in, it's another kind of ABSOLUTE.
I don't know much what exactly is going on behind doors, and i'm sure some of you knows better; but i don't need to know, it's obvious.
There are so many bad drivers out there nowadays, that to me it's a real miracle no more accidents happen, seriously. I don't watch it as often as i used to, as the good drivers are gone.
To ended it up, in my humble opinion, there is no reason for closing the open wheel cockpit (canopy cocoon), just bring, educate, skilled racing driver, not because she/he brings money, and yes, accidents will happen, but not as many or severe. It's not science, it is just logical.
I miss a good race.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Spa 2011
And here we go again with Lewis Hamilton.
I had the opportunity to watch the Senna movie a week or so ago, and i must say i was impressed!
More or less what i was expecting, as must be all documents from the past, which we saw already, but putting it together very nicely.
The most touching part of the movie was that May 1st, 1994 footage following Ayrton all day long, almost, very much his face said it all. A very disturbing Ayrton that day, actually from the day before. His face expressions were priceless, and understandable, but that was F1 life those days.
So, watching that movie, and seeing all the press, all the people fulling their mouth with "oh Senna was the greatest" "oh Senna was unique" "oh Senna was a racer" "oh Senna had no fear" "oh Senna this, Senna that" all very good comments! But my question is, where are the Senna haters? Did he has none? Where are they, if he had haters?
As i said before, I didn't like Ayrton back then, most of it was lack in info concerning other teams beside ferrari. A few years ago I read the book "Ayrton Senna the whole story" by Christopher Hilton, and I started to understand him. Plus I do trust Ron Dennis judgement concerning racing drivers (even knowing he was wrong about fernando alonso).
Consequently, Lewis Hamilton grew up watching Ayrton and has been his idol since.
There is no question that Lewis has the same characteristics as Ayrton. I am not saying he is Ayrton, but you can not deny the similarities. If you do, there you are an Ayrton Senna's hater!
As i said before, Lewis' passion and commitment to BE a real racer is beyond what we can understand, therefore many think his actions are way too far from F1 regulations.
Plus his aggressiveness to be FIRST brings other drivers to think "he is against me", which is not the case.
Other drivers must be aware when Lewis is around them and "race" against him the same way! It will be so much fun! Unfortunately, not everyone has the same talent and respect to each others. (Lewis and Jenson had no problems, except Montreal, but that was poor visibility).
Another concern are politics, teams, and slow cars (back markers), which have been a problem in F1 always. Good drivers in a slow car brings them to try to "show-off" and that means trouble to other drivers.
Adding to all that, Lewis has been in the maFIA's office every single race this year, that gives other drives (and the teams behind them) to complain easier about Lewis.
Awesome overtaking to Maldonado in Q2, just so exciting (reminded me of the Mika quali times). Awesome overtaking to kobayashi, not Lewis fault, just koba didn't want to let go and trying to show-off against the best driver right now in F1.
Right now you can not get excited about anything because you know a penalty is coming after! just so political!
On another note, just outstanding performance by Jenson! As expected.
I'm just hoping that Lewis doesn't have to bend over and he keeps racing the way he knows better!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Montreal 2011 - F1 race
Practice - Friday
I was out already at 6:00 a.m. It was cold! but i was wearing only a t-shirt and shorts. It was cold!
To my surprise i was the only one in the metro going to the track! Even that i know it was friday, i remember going like 10 years ago and it was pack! No today! I used to follow people, this time i really had to look where i was going! Adventure!
I went to get a ticket with no problem at all at their box office at the track!
Got to the gate at 6:45 a.m. not many people either, no line-up! It was cold! what a hell?!!
Gates open at 7:00 a.m. sharp! Went in looking for coffee!!! It was cold and cloudy!
After going to the usual places, that i knew, i realized were the wrong ones!
But finally i found coffee/cheese pie (greek), good one, plus I lost 10 dollars, i believe, as it was cold, and windy, and cloudy, and hungry!
It was nice to see the little changes around the track, less places for GA people to watch. Thank you GP Canada!
It was cold, cloudy and windy, but by 10:00 a.m. the sunshine was there to stay!
I have to admit Lewis' car sounded sooo sick! Specially when braking farted like there was no tomorrow! His engine sounded sick, really sick! Jenson was good!
The engine which killed my ears was the Renault, OUCH, seriously!!
Very smooth the rb, i have to admit! and the Mercedes, the rest . . . ok.
I'm still have a buzz in my right ear!
Nico's engine was really smooth, a pleasure!
But in all means, i missed to see those cars and listen in person those roaring engines! Just plain and simple: BEAUTY! Except, of course, that the rear wing is absolutely awful, still!
Hoping to see more fans going to the track, but not really, they really bather me! lol
FULL of ferrari fans! as usual, disgusting, specially kids, very few McLaren and almost none rb.
FULL of ferrari fans! I couldn't talk to anyone, as i have nothing in common with them. Made sure they could see my tattoo!! lol
I always have fun going to the track! Always! \o/\o/\o/ but not when it rains though! ;-)
My camera decided at the end not to work! but with a few hits, its working again! hopefully! ;-)
Another update tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Now hockey game!
ciao!!
Practice - Saturday
Bad weather plus i knew who was gonna be on pole, decided to do something else! Many things to do around Montreal, but needed to be inside as weather didn't collaborate through this whole weekend at all.
We went to the Beer World Festival!! They opened at 11:00 a.m. so Eric and I met at that time. It was very cold, windy but not rain.
We spent the day in there, drinking and drinking and drinking! Just a break to watch F1 qualy, which i couldn't resist plus we needed a break from the beer!
I was right about the pole position guessing person!
We had a beer glass, which appears in the pictures and 10 coupons each! To do the testing, some places you needed 2 coupons for 4 oz! or 3 or 4 for more!
Usually they were very "generous"! . . . we had fun!
Then, we went for a walk to downtown, passing by Crescent again and looking for a McLaren wine which Eric said he saw it but we couldn't find it this time at the liquor store. Maybe sold out?
We ended up having dinner at a nice restaurant after walking for hours! I had noquis! I needed some carbs or something that could absorb all the alcohol i had in me!
Race day - Sunday
I decided to wake up early and see how the weather was. I checked all kind of websites, apps, tv (english and french) and all said rain and thunderstorms, no good!
At 5:00 a.m. alarm went off! As i didn't have a ticket, needed to be there early as i did on friday!
The sky didn't look good, i checked again all the websites, tv, everything! It was cloudy, windy and cold. After thinking a lot, at 6:00 a.m. i said to myself, it's a NO go! :(
I wasn't happy!
By 9:30 i was in downtown walking through the malls as it was cold outside. What i really like about Montreal are their malls, they go forever and they are like labyrinths!! So i started playing if i remember my way back the same way! There were so many ways, it was fun!
Stores were closed, they open at 11:00 am.
At around 11:30 i left and went to a supermarket close to the hotel, got a baguette, old fashion ham and coca-cola, ready to watch the race!
To my surprise the tsn (RDS) french has a coverage before the race! It was good, didn't understand much but i least i was watching the track and their affairs!
The race came and stay for longer than expected!
Once again Lewis was the point of debacle to everyone. Everyone has different opinions and i won't try to convince others of my believes.
I like Lewis for his passion. I really think that he is "genuine". He is one of, or if not, the only one on the grid with a sense of just racing! Pure and simple racing!
If you race, you must take risks. Sometimes you are gonna be right, other times wrong, as, and i can believe i'm going to say this, Schumacher said, sometimes other drivers won't give in, sometimes they will, and that's the difference.
If we try to take that passion away from Lewis it will be wrong. Mature? Lewis is mature already, he proved many, many times. Should i remind you about the Canadian GP in 2007? Safety car, many times and everyone was pondering Lewis? Well, what happen nowadays? It's just something to talk about!
My believe is that this season the cars are more doable of really racing, more passing and therefore more tempting to go for it, which is Lewis weaknesses! . . . or not! And the McLaren cars are not bad either!
As every race in the rain, the unexpected always happens! That's why i don't like them! I knew that something was gonna happen to Lewis as he was like a sandwich between a few other great drivers!
Saying that, by now, other drivers should be aware of his presence when close by and pay extra attention when Lewis is behind them. Not saying that they should let Lewis go easy, but check your mirror more often!
Lewis will not sit behind a car and just wait for some miracle presented itself and allows him to pass! eh, no! don't people know his history? didn't people read his book? don't people know where he's coming from? Well, they better learn, and fast! But i do understand the reporters, they have to talk about something!
I already said this, and i will say it again, i never liked Senna in his racing days, for many reason, but after reading his book, i understood him. I can see the same pattern in Lewis.
Drivers should know each other, they should know who could do what! and what i have being saying is: why not spotters as in Nascar? to advise each driver who and where is around them. How they will do that? No clue! i don't get pay to tell them everything. I'm not in the maFIA operations! So, they better think themselves.
They introduce so many stupid rules anyways!
To finish, after 4 hours of F1 racing, outrageous weather, Jenson Button wins in Canada!
I left the hotel with a huge smile, couldn't stop smiling, 'til i started seeing the people coming from the track. Of course most of them ferrari fans! It was a nice pleasure looking at them seen them with their heads down and quiet, very quiet! Priceless! I couldn't stop smiling anyway!
And did you know that there is a group of protesters against the Canadian GP?? I didn't know it 'til now i was watching some F1 news in french! Interesting! but they are crazy!
Ok, and that was my weekend! If wasn't for the weather could it been one of my best!
Until next time!
.
.
.
I was out already at 6:00 a.m. It was cold! but i was wearing only a t-shirt and shorts. It was cold!
To my surprise i was the only one in the metro going to the track! Even that i know it was friday, i remember going like 10 years ago and it was pack! No today! I used to follow people, this time i really had to look where i was going! Adventure!
I went to get a ticket with no problem at all at their box office at the track!
Got to the gate at 6:45 a.m. not many people either, no line-up! It was cold! what a hell?!!
Gates open at 7:00 a.m. sharp! Went in looking for coffee!!! It was cold and cloudy!
After going to the usual places, that i knew, i realized were the wrong ones!
But finally i found coffee/cheese pie (greek), good one, plus I lost 10 dollars, i believe, as it was cold, and windy, and cloudy, and hungry!
It was nice to see the little changes around the track, less places for GA people to watch. Thank you GP Canada!
It was cold, cloudy and windy, but by 10:00 a.m. the sunshine was there to stay!
I have to admit Lewis' car sounded sooo sick! Specially when braking farted like there was no tomorrow! His engine sounded sick, really sick! Jenson was good!
The engine which killed my ears was the Renault, OUCH, seriously!!
Very smooth the rb, i have to admit! and the Mercedes, the rest . . . ok.
I'm still have a buzz in my right ear!
Nico's engine was really smooth, a pleasure!
But in all means, i missed to see those cars and listen in person those roaring engines! Just plain and simple: BEAUTY! Except, of course, that the rear wing is absolutely awful, still!
Hoping to see more fans going to the track, but not really, they really bather me! lol
FULL of ferrari fans! as usual, disgusting, specially kids, very few McLaren and almost none rb.
FULL of ferrari fans! I couldn't talk to anyone, as i have nothing in common with them. Made sure they could see my tattoo!! lol
I always have fun going to the track! Always! \o/\o/\o/ but not when it rains though! ;-)
My camera decided at the end not to work! but with a few hits, its working again! hopefully! ;-)
Another update tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Now hockey game!
ciao!!
Practice - Saturday
Bad weather plus i knew who was gonna be on pole, decided to do something else! Many things to do around Montreal, but needed to be inside as weather didn't collaborate through this whole weekend at all.
We went to the Beer World Festival!! They opened at 11:00 a.m. so Eric and I met at that time. It was very cold, windy but not rain.
We spent the day in there, drinking and drinking and drinking! Just a break to watch F1 qualy, which i couldn't resist plus we needed a break from the beer!
I was right about the pole position guessing person!
We had a beer glass, which appears in the pictures and 10 coupons each! To do the testing, some places you needed 2 coupons for 4 oz! or 3 or 4 for more!
Usually they were very "generous"! . . . we had fun!
Then, we went for a walk to downtown, passing by Crescent again and looking for a McLaren wine which Eric said he saw it but we couldn't find it this time at the liquor store. Maybe sold out?
We ended up having dinner at a nice restaurant after walking for hours! I had noquis! I needed some carbs or something that could absorb all the alcohol i had in me!
Race day - Sunday
I decided to wake up early and see how the weather was. I checked all kind of websites, apps, tv (english and french) and all said rain and thunderstorms, no good!
At 5:00 a.m. alarm went off! As i didn't have a ticket, needed to be there early as i did on friday!
The sky didn't look good, i checked again all the websites, tv, everything! It was cloudy, windy and cold. After thinking a lot, at 6:00 a.m. i said to myself, it's a NO go! :(
I wasn't happy!
By 9:30 i was in downtown walking through the malls as it was cold outside. What i really like about Montreal are their malls, they go forever and they are like labyrinths!! So i started playing if i remember my way back the same way! There were so many ways, it was fun!
Stores were closed, they open at 11:00 am.
At around 11:30 i left and went to a supermarket close to the hotel, got a baguette, old fashion ham and coca-cola, ready to watch the race!
To my surprise the tsn (RDS) french has a coverage before the race! It was good, didn't understand much but i least i was watching the track and their affairs!
The race came and stay for longer than expected!
Once again Lewis was the point of debacle to everyone. Everyone has different opinions and i won't try to convince others of my believes.
I like Lewis for his passion. I really think that he is "genuine". He is one of, or if not, the only one on the grid with a sense of just racing! Pure and simple racing!
If you race, you must take risks. Sometimes you are gonna be right, other times wrong, as, and i can believe i'm going to say this, Schumacher said, sometimes other drivers won't give in, sometimes they will, and that's the difference.
If we try to take that passion away from Lewis it will be wrong. Mature? Lewis is mature already, he proved many, many times. Should i remind you about the Canadian GP in 2007? Safety car, many times and everyone was pondering Lewis? Well, what happen nowadays? It's just something to talk about!
My believe is that this season the cars are more doable of really racing, more passing and therefore more tempting to go for it, which is Lewis weaknesses! . . . or not! And the McLaren cars are not bad either!
As every race in the rain, the unexpected always happens! That's why i don't like them! I knew that something was gonna happen to Lewis as he was like a sandwich between a few other great drivers!
Saying that, by now, other drivers should be aware of his presence when close by and pay extra attention when Lewis is behind them. Not saying that they should let Lewis go easy, but check your mirror more often!
Lewis will not sit behind a car and just wait for some miracle presented itself and allows him to pass! eh, no! don't people know his history? didn't people read his book? don't people know where he's coming from? Well, they better learn, and fast! But i do understand the reporters, they have to talk about something!
I already said this, and i will say it again, i never liked Senna in his racing days, for many reason, but after reading his book, i understood him. I can see the same pattern in Lewis.
Drivers should know each other, they should know who could do what! and what i have being saying is: why not spotters as in Nascar? to advise each driver who and where is around them. How they will do that? No clue! i don't get pay to tell them everything. I'm not in the maFIA operations! So, they better think themselves.
They introduce so many stupid rules anyways!
To finish, after 4 hours of F1 racing, outrageous weather, Jenson Button wins in Canada!
I left the hotel with a huge smile, couldn't stop smiling, 'til i started seeing the people coming from the track. Of course most of them ferrari fans! It was a nice pleasure looking at them seen them with their heads down and quiet, very quiet! Priceless! I couldn't stop smiling anyway!
And did you know that there is a group of protesters against the Canadian GP?? I didn't know it 'til now i was watching some F1 news in french! Interesting! but they are crazy!
Ok, and that was my weekend! If wasn't for the weather could it been one of my best!
Until next time!
.
.
.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Monaco 2011 - My view
It's time for another tiny blog.
Everyone says want passing in F1, but what they don't understand is that it's not easy as just saying it, you have to actually do it!
Lewis Hamilton is the ONLY driver on the grid in F1 at the moment that gives 100% at passing and take risks, of course.
How are you gonna pass someone, on a track, at 200 km/hour (+ or -) without taking risks? The same is to say, for example, hockey without hits!!! Hockey is not hockey without hits! Well, racing is not racing without risks! The risk taken is passing another car!
Monaco is always a hand full of incidents. Monaco is even more risky with the new car development and regulations.
Today, whoever thought that Lewis, starting in 9 position, was gonna set back and leave it to destiny to unfold in front of him; was a really innocent soul.
I knew Lewis was gonna go for it and a lot of controversy will unfold.
So here they are:
Lewis and the #6 car (i can't even write his name anymore) incident.
Car #6 KNEW that Lewis was after him for many, many laps. Car #6 was SLOWER than Lewis. Car #6 should it expected, with Lewis record, that passing. Car #6 didn't look in his mirrors. Car #6 closed the door. Car #6 was hit and out of the race. Surprise? NO!
Did Lewis close the door to car #7 at the start of the race? NO!
There are places to pass, relatively, at the Monaco track. Lewis didn't pass on a NON-PASSING zone. Any driver should be aware of other drivers behind them.
Other one, everyone is talking about Lewis experience.
Condemn Lewis in this race because he has experience compare to other backmarkers drivers it's just lame.
Lewis was penalized because another car situation was similar, therefore Lewis had the same. Wrong.
Kobayashi did the same to Sutil, and even worse after, a big crash happen consequence of that. Let's see if he will be penalized also.
Let's go back to qualifying for a bit. Lewis was blocked by car #6 in a fast lap, but because Perez's accident happen, that was forgotten.
Because Lewis is Lewis, and because everyone expect Lewis to go for it, he's always under the microscope! It's not his fault that he's in this sport for the passion, talent and knowledge of racing!
Car #6 must be furious with Lewis, understandable, but that's not Lewis fault, that is because car #6 is already in trouble with ferrari for not delivering all the time, plain and simple. Not really Lewis fault. Car #6 is an inept.
Lewis is very different than any other driver. He has talent. He has dedication. He has extreme passion for the sport. He takes risks. He is the dream driver.
What's the problem? Not everyone is ready to understand him. As happen with Senna in his days.
I didn't like Senna when he was racing, until i read the book by Christopher Hilton: "Ayrton Senna the whole story", and i understood where he was coming from and what he was thinking as a driver. Understood his passion and love for racing. A real lost for the sport.
Lewis has the right to become angry, he is human, he is not a hero or superman; but he feels like a trap animal sometimes, with the world against him, and he reacts. Is he right? no, not all the time, but understandable.
I really admire Lewis Hamilton commitment and passion to a very danger sport . . . racing a car in F1.
Big thanks to Ron Dennis for giving him an opportunity at McLaren.
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Sunday, October 17, 2010
So much to say, so little time . . .
I'm trying to put some of my thoughts together, but there is so much out there that i can't handle it all at the moment.
I would like to have a typewriter in my head or a tape recorder, maybe i'm way too much into the future. Kinda like taking my thoughts without doing nothing.
That's why i like "Star Trek - The Next Generation" counselor Deanna Troi, she didn't need to speak much, it was all through thoughts. I wanna do that, maybe i'll avoid the next 2 centuries and come back by her time.
Although, i can do something like her, i'm getting there.
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