Science!
Alas, "weather permitting" turned out not to be the case & Felix Baumgartner's record-setting skydive, the culmination of the Stratos project, will have to wait for another day: abort-link.

"No, GIR! Those piggies are for science. Science!"

This Week in Motorsport
Formula Fun!
Formula One World Championship
Round 15
Grand Prix of Japan
Sunday, 7 October 2012

There were shades of 2011 at mighty Suzuka on Sunday, as double reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel ('10 & '11) of Red Bull (Renault) started the race from pole &, after a brief spell behind the safety car, disappeared into the distance on his way to a dominant victory. By the end, Vettel was twenty seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Felipe Massa of Ferrari, who scored his first podium of the season. There was a thrilling battle for the third & last step on the podium, a battle all the way to the chequered flag 'twixt Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber (Ferrari) & '09 World Champion Jenson Button of McLaren (Mercedes). It was Kobayashi's first career podium & the first time a Japanese driver has stood on the podium at the Japanese Grand Prix. What a feat!

Vettel became the first driver in 2012 to win back-to-back races, & with his wins at Bahrain & Singapore added to Japan he became the third driver to win three races this season, alongside double World Champion Fernando Alonso ('05 & '06) of Ferrari & '08 World Champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren. Before Singapore, Vettel was fourth in the Drivers' Championship standings, thirty-nine points adrift of championship leader Alonso; after Japan, Vettel is second, four points adrift of Alonso. In the last two grands prix Vettel has outscored Alonso fifty to fifteen. Following Alonso & Vettel, Hamilton & '07 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen of Lotus (Renault) are seen as the only other drivers with a realistic, though slim, chance to win the title, even though five others are still mathematically eligible.

Mighty Suzuka opened in 1962, this year celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. 'Tis one of the world's great circuits, with the "Esses" being of unparalleled majesty. My favorite course is Belgium's Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, but the mighty Suzuka Circuit might be my second favorite.

"Silly Season" Summary: The big news before the grand prix was that Lewis Hamilton, aged twenty-seven, who has been sponsored by or driven for McLaren since he was thirteen years-old, will leave McLaren at the end of the season & drive instead for the Mercedes A.M.G. factory team. Hamilton will be partnering his old chum Nico Rosberg, leaving seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher ('94, '95, '00, '01, '02, '03, & '04), whose return in 2010 after three years' retirement has not gone as well as had been predicted, without a seat; in the wake of this, a visibly relieved Schumacher announced his second retirement. Meanwhile, McLaren were quick to name Sauber's Sergio Pérez as Hamilton's successor, partnering Button. I was not an F1 fan during Schumacher's glory days; so, thought I know his nigh-unbelievable numbers, I'm not overawed by him. The driver I've seen in the last three seasons isn't a legend, he's a dirty driver who wouldn't know sportsmanship if he intentionally forced it off track & into a fiery crash. Good riddance, I say!

The next race is this coming weekend, the Grand Prix of Korea, at the awful Korea International Circuit. The last six grands prix of the season are to be contested in three pairs of back-to-back-weekends: Japan & Korea, India & Abu Dhabi, & the United States & Brazil.

Beyond Thunderdome
International V8 Supercars Championship
Round 21
Bathurst 1,000
Sunday, 7 October 2012

The best race of the V8 Supercars season was run this past weekend, the legendary Bathurst 1,000 (one thousand kilometers, or approximately six hundred twenty miles). Alas, Speed did not repeat their live, full coverage from last season; instead, an edited, greatly shortened presentation will be aired this Sunday. Oh well, beggars cannot be choosers & some coverage of the Bathurst 1,000 is better than no coverage of the Bathurst 1,000. Bathurst is madness, an endurance race up one side of Mount Panorama & down the other, at blinding speeds along a narrow, winding course lined with concrete crash barriers. That kind of barking madness is quintessentially Australian.

Also, I love a public service billboard I've seen in the background of most of the V8 Supercars races I've seen this season, an advert against text messaging whilst driving: M8-IT-CAN-W8 ("Mate, it can wait").