The Explorers' Club
№ CCXCI - Sven Hedin (1865-1952), Part II: Pragmatic humanitarian or naïve reactionary? Both a friend & a foe of the Nazis.







This Week in Motorsport
Formula Fun!
Formula One World Championship
Round 6
Grand Prix de Monaco
Sunday, 27 May

O Monaco! What superlatives are superlative enough for the grandeur, the glamour, the splendor of "the jewel in the crown" of Formula One? Monaco is the most atypical of all F1 circuits, & yet the most essential to the sport. Only the World Championship is a prize more coveted than victory on the streets of the principality. O Monaco! This year's honor was claimed by Mark Webber of Red Bull (Renault), his second victory around the Circuit de Monaco in the last three seasons, & Red Bull's third in a row. Webber became the sixth different driver to win one of this year's six grands prix, & Red Bull became the first constructor with a second victory.

Round 7
Grand Prix du Canada
Sunday, 10 June

The race round the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal saw '08 World Champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren (Mercedes) become the seventh different victor in 2012's seven grands prix, & McLaren the second repeat victor amongst constructors. Bizarre one-stop strategy calls undid the races of both defending '10 & '11 World Champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull & '05 & '06 World Champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari; late in the race with their tires thoroughly toasted both Vettel & Alonso were easy prey for Romain Grosjean of Lotus (Renault) & Sergio Pérez of Sauber (Ferrari), both of whom made a one-stop strategy work. (For reference, Hamilton made two pit stops.) Vettel made a late pit stop & on fresh tires charged through the field to salvage a fourth-place finish.

Round 8
Grand Prix of Europe
Sunday, 24 June

Vettel secured his thirty-third pole position ahead of today's grand prix in Valencia—Spain's second of the year, hence the "European Grand Prix" name—moving him into a three-way tie for third position on the all-time pole list. From the start of the race Vettel looked as he did through his second world-championship campaign in 2011, outpacing the field & disappearing into the distance. Vettel had build up a twenty-second lead over the second-place runner before a safety car period bunched up the field; back to green-flag racing & Vettel again disappeared into the distance… until his car suffered a still-mysterious mechanical failure & stopped on track. Grosjean, making a strong run for second, also retired with mechanical failure, while Hamilton had a shunt on the last lap that cost him a third- or four-place finish. The Spaniard Alonso slashed through the field before his home crowd, winning the race after starting eleventh. 'Twas a graybeard podium, Alonso flanked by '07 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus, returned to F1 after two year's retirement, & '94, '95, '00, '01, '02, '03, & '04 World Champion Michael Schumacher of Mercedes, his first podium finish since returning from three year's retirement for the '10 season.

Despite the chaos of today's grand prix, F1 is settling down a bit after a wild & unpredictable start to the season. Seven different winners from the year's first seven grands prix is an all-time record, & a very different scenario from 2011 when Vettel won six of the first eight grands prix. Alonso's repeat victory might not seem all that significant itself, but it is the third consecutive win for a repeat constructor. Five different constructors won the first five grands prix, including Mercedes's first win since their return in '10 & Williams's first win in eight seasons, but the last three wins have been by teams that had not only already won in '12, but finished 1-2-3 in '11's World Constructors' Championship. Belatedly, the cream seems to be rising to the top. As a Red Bull partisan, I am bitterly disappointed by Vettel's mechanical woes, which robbed him of a likely win, but I am buoyed somewhat by his qualifying & race pace, which seem to indicate something of a return to his imperious form from '10 & '11.

Indy Rock
Izod IndyCar Series
Round 5
Indianapolis 500 Mile Race
Sunday, 27 May

Round 6
Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix
Sunday, 3 June

On the same day as the Grand Prix de Monaco, I also watched the second challenge of the "Triple Crown of Motorsport," the far-famed Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. This was the third time I'd watched the Indy 500 & the third time I failed to see the appeal. I've followed the IndyCar Series more closely this year than ever before; I knew the teams & the standings & the championship implications of the Indy 500, & I still didn't care. Oval track racing remains as opaque to me as all of motorsport used to be. In the word of Jar Jar Binks, "My give up." I shan't watch the Indy 500 again until something changes to make me think I might like it better. After Indianapolis, three of the next four races were on ovals, & I skipped all those. I tried to watch the only road-course race in that sequence, Indycar's return to Detroit the Sunday after the 500, but I was at my parish festival with the Knights of Columbus all day on Sunday, & a long mid-race delay on Belle Isle meant that my timed recording of the race broadcast was mistimed. C'est la vie. I'll resume following IndyCar in July, when they return to road courses or street circuits for five of the final six races.

Grand Damn
Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
Round 5
Detroit 200
Saturday, 2 June

Round 6
EMCO Gears Classic
Saturday, 9 June

I watched the Grand-Am version of endurance racing at Belle Isle (in support of the IndyCar Series) & at Mid-Ohio & I just didn't like what I saw. I don't like the artificiality of racing in Grand-Am, where cars that win too often are given extra weight to carry in an attempt to slow them down. I don't like all the bumping & ramming that happens between competitors, much of it intentional. (I come from the F1/Le Mans school of thought, where if you ram a competitor hard enough to do him race-compromising damage you're more than likely going to end your own race, too, as well an incur the wrath of the stewards.) I don't like the lack of innovation, the fact that teams running Daytona Prototypes can buy a car only from a few series-approved constructors, & then only the chassis constructor is allowed to do any development work on the car (aerodynamic improvements & the like). I know that the eight penalties & the lack of car development are meant to improve the show, meant to prevent any one team from becoming dominant, & every series does this to some extent (if they didn't, they wouldn't have weight or power rules, only a few basic safety requirements & may the best car win), but there is something gauche in the Rolex Series's approach. I'm no longer convinced that the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series is better than nothing.

The Queue
If pressed, I would say that The Gods of Mars isn't quite as good as A Princess of Mars, the first book in the John Carter of Mars series, but that's very much like saying Return of the Jedi isn't quite as good as The Empire Strikes Back; 'tis hardly a complaint. Burroughs is a master, & my mind enjoys flying through the black vastness of space to the Barsoom of his astonishing imagination.

Recently
Nicolas Sarkozy, translated from the French by Philip H. Gordon, Testimony: France, Europe, and the World in the Twenty-first Century
Richard Price, Lush Life
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Gods of Mars

Currently
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Warlord of Mars

Presently
Barry Wynne, The Man who Refused to Die
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maid of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars
Richard Price, Clockers

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Michael Jackson, "Smooth Criminal" from Bad (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I woke up this morning with "Smooth Criminal" stuck in my head. I know not why.

Samstag, 23 Juni
Jacqueline Schwab, "Flag of Columbia" from The Civil War: Original Soundtrack Recording (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: At the invitation of one of my History Club chums who is also an historical reenactor, yesterday I sojourned to the Michigan Historical Michigan in Lansing, sacred Michigan's capital, & there viewed half a dozen battle flags under which several Michigan regiments has fought during the Civil War (1861-1865). 'Twas humbling & powerfully moving to behold those literally bloodstained banners, under which loyal Michiganders had fought & died for our perpetual Union one hundred fifty years ago.