The Explorers Club
No. CCVII - Conrad O'Brien-ffrench (1893-1986), renaissance man & gentleman spy.









This Week in Motorsport
2010: The Year of the Bulls!

Last weekend, at the Grande Prêmio do Brasil (Round 18 of the 2010 Formula One World Championship), Red Bull Racing secured the Constructors' Championship with a dominant one-two finish (Sebastian Vettel topped Mark Webber). Today, in addition to a pole-to-checkered flag victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Rd. 19 of 19), Vettel won the Drivers' Championship. At only 23, Seb Vettel is the World Champion!

There will be more, much more, on this topic, but for the nonce I would like to draw attention to the many different helmet designs sported by Vettel during his successful 2010 championship campaign. My favorites are the silver-and-red design debuted at his home grand prix, the Grosser Preis von Deutschland, in July, & the white-and-red design used solely for last month's Japanese Grand Prix.





And because I'm not the only one who thinks about this weird little detail of the Formula One season, here's a hyperlink concerned with nothing else but Vettel's helmet designs: helmetlink.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Michael Giacchino, "Go Speed, Go!" from Speed Racer: Original Motion Picture Score (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Choosing the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. in Vettel's honor, I was going to go for an obvious, but appropriate choice, Queen's "We Are the Champions," until I remembered that the 2009 Champion, Jenson Button, sang it while his taking his victory lap last year at Brazil (he didn't win the grand prix, but secured his World Championship). Something in Button's manner really bugs me; I disliked him even before he began driving for those blackguards at McLaren. Then I was thinking about a tortured tribute to Vettel's twofold victory at Abu Dhabi, Spike Jones's "The Sheik of Araby," but I soon came to my senses. "Go Speed, Go!" gives me exactly what I wanted out of "We Are the Champions," obviousness & appropriateness, but without the Button taint. We have a winner!