Saturday, April 28, 2012

This Week in Motorsport
Formula Fun!
The Bahrain Grand Prix was the perfect way to reengage with the 2012 Formula One World Championships after travel forced me to miss two of the three season-opening grands prix! For our purposes, we shall largely sidestep the issue of whether F1 should have been racing in civil unrest-torn Bahrain in the first place, saying only this: F1 races in the People's Republic of China—without much if any controversy—despite that country's atrocious human rights record, & the Hungarian Grand Prix was commenced in 1986, when Hungary was still under the brutal Communist regime that the Soviets had established after crushing the 1956 revolt; so, we should not pretend as if the massive commercial enterprise that is Formula One cares much about a host nation's politics. Back to the track.

The season opened with much talk of "domination" by Mercedes-powered teams, McLaren (Mercedes) having finished first & third in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, third in the Malaysian Grand Prix, & second & third in the Chinese Grand Prix; & the Mercedes A.M.G. factory team finishing first in Shanghai. My visceral disdain for all things Mercedes-Benz naturally made me skeptical of this view, but so did the fact that other engine manufacturers were also competitive: Red Bull (Renault) finished second & third in Australia & also fourth at both Malaysia & China; Ferrari & Sauber (Ferrari) finished first & second in the rain-interrupted Malaysian Grand Prix. Of the top twelves spots in the first three grands prix, Mercedes-engined cars claimed six, compared to four for Renault engines & two for Ferrari engines; better than anyone else, yes, but not, to my possibly jaundiced eye, dominant. Bahrain further undermined this dominance storyline, with Renault-powered cars claiming all four of the top spots, Red Bull in first & fourth & Lotus (Renault) in second & third.

The first four grands prix of 2012 were won by four different drivers representing four different constructors (teams):'09 World Champion Jenson Button of McLaren won in Australia; double World Champion Fernando Alonso ('05 & '06) of Ferrari won in Malaysia; Nico Rosberg of Mercedes A.M.G. took his maiden F1 victory in China; & reigning double World Champion Sebastian Vettel ('10 & '11) won in Bahrain. Three of the four races have been won by world champions, Button, Alonso, & Vettel, & '07 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen of Lotus finished second in Bahrain. Mark Webber of Red Bull has been the most consistent man on the grid, having finished fourth in all four races. Next week will see three days of testing at the Mugello Circuit in Italy, the first in-season test since '08, before my time. The European season, the historic meat of the F1 calendar, begins in a fortnight, in Barcelona, Spain.

I had time enough this week to watch not only last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, but the Malaysian Grand Prix from four weeks before that. (Thanks, V.H.S. tapes!) My father shakes his head at F1 continuing in the rain, but what would he have them do, run for shelter at the first raindrops like those sissies in N.A.S.C.A.R.? The rain is a challenge, a further test of the drivers' skill, like the heat in Malaysia & Singapore or the wind at Silverstone. If even a little rain would put an end to the running, then great historic circuits like Spa-Francorchamps & the Nürburgring would be impossible; though not in F1, the Circuit de le Sarthe in Le Mans would also be put out-of-bounds by such a fear of rain. (The excellent documentary film about Le Mans, Truth in 24, opens with narrator Jason Statham intoning gravely & gravelly, "It always rains at Le Mans.") Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit is a marvel, but it wouldn't be half as fun a place from which to watch a race without the unpredictability of the weather.

I've now seen three of this year's four Formula One grands prix, & eagerly await the rest of 2012. What a season!

Indy Rock | By Endurance We Conquer
Tomorrow is to be a busy day of racing, with the IndyCar Series in action in Brazil, one of the series's two races outside of North America, & the Rolex Series (henceforth to be referred to simply as "Grand-Am," because while I've nothing against corporate title sponsorship I'm not going to do their marketing for them without some form of pecuniary compensation) in action at Miami. I'm making an effort to follow the IndyCars this year, partially inspired by the reduction of the "spec series" aspect by the addition of Chevrolet & Lotus as engine suppliers to compete with Honda; that said, I'm glad that the majority of the races are on road courses & street circuits, because the appeal of oval tracks continues to elude me. With the American Le Mans Series in self-imposed exile on the espn3.com website, I'm hoping that grater attention paid to Grand-Am will help sate my jones for endurance racing. Between Formula One & the 24 Heures du Mans my love of motorsport has had a decidedly international flavor; will this summer's double-barreled experiment with two more predominantly American series prove fruitful? Only time shall tell.

(It must be noted that this season will see the return of the United States Grand Prix to the F1 calendar—sadly, at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, verdammt Texas instead of a classic Yankee venue like Watkins Glen, New York or Long Beach, California—, & in 2013 there are supposed to be two American races, with the U.S. Grand Prix to be supplemented by the Grand Prix of America in New Jersey. So, even as I try embracing American motorsport F1 is making another of its periodic attempts to crack the nut that is the American market. Let us hope this time, whichever number it is, proves the charm.)

Rally Monkey
There will be one more race to watch tomorrow in addition to IndyCar & Grand-Am, the World Rally Championship's (W.R.C.) Rally Argentina! Yes, the W.R.C. is now on Speed! Hooray! I'd despaired of being able to follow the W.R.C. after it was dropped by Discovery (the fiends!), but now it will be seen—admittedly, in a very limited format—on Speed, which really does seem to be living up to its billing as "The Motor Sports Authority." Yes, the three days of the Rally Argentina will be cut down to a single hour, compared to the three-plus hours H.D. Theater/Velocity aired in 2011, but that single hour is far better than the absence of television coverage that had so far prevailed in 2012. So, woot! "Rally Monkey" has rallied!

Coming Attractions — Update
{a} "Kith & Kin" - The Squeak is a big sister!
{b} "The Explorers' Club" - № CCLXXXIV
{c} "This Week in Motorsport" - the Bahrain Grand Prix
{d} "Bier!" - inebriated idiots = infuriating
{e} "Project PANDORA" - The Interpreter, cont'd
{f} "The Queue" - short stories, short on patience

Two-thirds Five-sixths of the way. None too shabby, if I do say so myself. Done, at last.

The Queue
Once again, complaining seems to have worked the trick: The Man who would be King and Other Stories has improved, with "At Twenty-two" & "The Education of Otis Yeere" being more akin to the Kipling I'd expected. Let us hope this bit of braggadocio hasn't jinxed the endeavour.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day: SKApril
The Hippos, "Irie" from Forget the World (T.L.A.M.)

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