Silverstone GP 2009 : Name dropping.

Once again this year i got to see the British GP for nowt by grafting on the pit-straight Grandstand gate checking tickets and trying to keep tempers at bay on the Saturday Qualifying - after the organisers decided letting anyone with a grandstand ticket into any grandstand was a good idea. It coursed mayhem.
Anyway it went good in the end and on Sunday the grandstand was packed with people with the right tickets.
The media compound is situated behind our gate - and this year we had a new set of celebs to spot...in fact we wanted their autographs as well, which we managed to get. The new BBC team was great, they took time out to sign fans tickets and other pieces of paper/plastics/body parts - and of course pose for pictures. The most popular people seemed to be Jake Humphrey's and of course David Coulthard...yes!, he stood next to me whilst having his photo taken with a fan!. I was star struck!.
The BBC team were thoroughly decent throughout the whole weekend and i will not hear a bad word said against them...even Johnathan Legard, ha ha!.

S.

Isle Of Man TT : Experience Motor Sport At It's Most Dangerous.

If you have ever thought F1 was not as dangerous as it was forty years ago...or ten years ago for that matter? you would be right. You can sit back and watch a GP on a Sunday afternoon safe in the knowledge that you will not see your favourite F1 driver get wiped out in front of your very eyes. However there must be just a little curiosity - as is the case with me as to what it must have been like as a F1 fan in the 60's. What was your mind set knowing that the drivers were doing a sport that could be extremely deadly. How would you regard the drivers bravery?...and would you say to your self, 'sod doing that for all the tea in china?!'.
You could talk to people who were about at the time; or, you could watch this years Isle-Of-Man TT races...
The Isle of Man has hosted these unique races for over a century - and in the early years cars would take part and it also featured on the Moto GP calender, which it of course does not any more.
One of the reasons is because compared to the other circuits on the Moto GP calender - it is very long...37.5 miles. The other thing is that Moto GP riders would all of a sudden face the prospect of instant death in an accident (check above video, and you will see what i mean). Imagine Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso and all the other currant F1 drivers being told that for one race per season they would have to go and race at the old Nordschleife race track - without seat belts or hands devise...and for that matter...maybe divert the circuit through a few villages and...oh yes! take down all the armaco barriers?. It would be a team bosses worst nightmare. He could lose his best driver to the angel of death laying in wait round every tern.
The Isle of Man TT races are on now (21:00pm ITV4). The riders are TT specialists and even though the circuit is maned by marshalls and medics of the highest quality...death could be the end result for any one of the riders on any part of the circuit at any time. It is terrifying just to watch. But it is also thrilling!.
S.

Jenson is no Schumacher and Lewis is no Senna.

With five wins out of six races - and a fantastic win in Monaco to boot, Jenson Button is now starting to get referred to as 'Schumacher esc'.
Last year Britain's Lewis Hamilton was referred to as, 'Senna esc'.
Both drivers in their own right are very good in F1 terms. But, Schumacher and Senna they are not...or maybe they are when they are in a good car? but which F1 driver isn't?.
When Lewis drove in the wet last year he was deemed as good as Ayrton Senna, who was, as we all know, sublime and stunning in the rain. Just like Lewis at Silverstone in his well behaved McLaren, Senna could knock the other drivers into a cocked hat. But, the Brazilian could do this sort of stuff in a badly behaving Tolman, at Monaco, in the rain. The Tolman was nick named, The General Belgrano (a battle ship) by the teams mechanics because of it's sluggish handling. But, in the hands of Senna at Monaco, in the rain, in 1984, the driver flattered the cars inabilities. This is when Senna's team realised he was no ordinary driver. He was a genius.
Micheal Schumacher, when it counted, could put stunning laps together to get a dog of a car on poll, or get the same misbehaving machinery into the lead before and after pit-stops. Senna and Schumacher of course had their time in the best cars, but in these cars they made it look easy.
Button and Hamilton might be able to simulate something drivers in a different league could do when those drivers were in inferior machinery, but, just like Lewis has found out this year and Jenson in previous years : they are just mere mortals when trying to wrestle a misbehaving car round a circuit.

S.

Rubens Barrichello : Out Of The Ferrari Pan And Into The Brawn Fire.

Pictured left is one of F1's most talented drivers. One of the most talented drivers never to have won the F1 world championship. The picture is of Barrichello standing on the podium in tears after winning the Brazilian GP, his home GP. The image could also be a summing up of the downside of his career. After taking F1 by storm driving for Jordan in his 1993 debut at Donnington, a race in which another Brazilian, Aryton Senna, drove one of the finest F1 races ever, Barrichello went on to impress in other teams such as the Stuart Team - where it became apparent that he was championship material. However, this was not to be.
In 2000 the Brazilian joined Ferrari. The team brought him money, fame, glamour and a parking place with his name on it at the top of the F1 grid. It could also bring him his first F1 win and a championship...well, a win perhaps but not a championship. There was one slight catch to driving for Ferrari and that was the fact that only one car was supposed to cross the finish line first and that car belonged to racing legend, Michael Schumacher.
Schumacher at the time was number one and had a reputation for trouncing team mates who dared to take him on.
This marked the end of Barrichellos title hopes; at least until 2005.
After winning nine GP's with Ferrari (these wins were when Schumacher had no chance of winning or after the German ace had secured the title) Barrichello left the team looking for a shot at the title with Honda. His team mate was Jenson Button, who did not have the mite of Schumacher but still had a reputation of trashing team mates and being the number one driver.
Ok, they had good years and bad years - but lets get right up-to-date. In fact, as up-to-date as last Sundays Spanish GP (10/05/09).
Before last weekends race, Button had won three of this seasons the first four races and finished third in the remaining one. Rubens felt he could win the fifth race of the season at Barcelona. To cut a long story short. He did not win. Jenson did. Not only did Rubens look mortified and was crying inside after race because it looked as though his old Ferrari boss, Ross Brawn, had instigated coded team orders to blunton Rubens three stop charge and a chance of a win, but it also told him that once again he was going to be rear gunner to his team mate and forfeit the championship.
It looks like Rubens championship 'ship' has now set sail and on board is Jenson Button.

My Two Sense :

Ross Brawn is a brilliant, ruthless boss who owns a motor racing engineering team. The drivers are employed to get everything out of that engineering. This might be Brawns best chance of a championship double. It is his choice and it is logical to favour the younger driver who is leading the championship. He and the team are doing a great job and Britain should be proud of them for their success. However, his old Ferrari history is being brought up by the success hating moaning minis. This is now a golden era for F1, on track and on TV. Rubens says he will quit if he thinks he is the victim of Brawns team orders. Unfortunately there are plenty of drivers who would gladly bring this giant among drivers career to an end by replacing him; and Ross knows it.

S.

Beyoncé Live...

This video moved me to tears of laughter...take it away girl!.

Ok, i know someone has played with her voice on some sort of electronic gizmo...

Why is google in Morse code? Y M-A ASK (You may Ask)

Text Messaging champions are said to be the fastest tapped message senders on earth...and they are usually teenagers.
Perhaps today some of you might have thought that Google had had a few problems with their logo and maybe there was a page error? because the logo was broken?. There was in fact no problem with Googles page. The dots and dashes were Morse code, spelling out the word Google. This stunt was put up by Google to commemorate the invention of the some-what dated form of communication. However, the code might be dated, but it is not a slow way of tap, tap, communication. In the hands...or 'fingers' of an ex Morse code expert the dots and dashes can be delivered to there translator far quicker than any teenage text addict can send a message via their Mobile. These old vets even invented the so called 'text speak' short hand by, for example, using the Morse code for 'U', as 'you', etc.
Follow the link and read about the 93-year-old Morse code vet who, in a Morse-code verses text competition, blew the doors off a whizz-kid text champion.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article381748.ece

Lewis Hamilton : Would he make A Move To Ferrari?.

After being stripped of his Melbourne third place and then being told he could...along with his McLaren team 'be throne out of the 09 championship', the talk is that Lewis Hamilton could terminate his contract early (which runs out in 2012) with McLaren and don some red overalls with a big yellow shell stuck to them...and of course the name, Ferrari also embossed on the out-fit as well.
It is said that the prancing horse would go so far as gallop! - kicking the other top flight teams to one side! - in a bid to secure the Brits services.
Would Hamilton - who as a ten year old boy was taken under the wing of the Woking team and then in 2007 given the chance to drive for them - securing the title in 2008 want to leave?; and if so, why go to his deadly rivals Ferrari?.
Well Ferrari pay a lot of money to their drivers...up to $23million per season in Micheal Schumachers case. But like Schumacher, he doesn't really need a money incentive...he needs - just like the vilified German, security.
Ferrari give their drivers more protection from all the haters...and the FIA of course than any other team on the grid. Micheal Schumacher was getting sick of being black flagged, penalised and called a cheat when he drove for Benetton. Ferrari offered a shield from all that, although it still went on because just like Lewis, Schumacher was a marked man. 'A German that seems to lie and cheat, how typical', would be the thoughts and comments from those people who are just a little, lets say...backward in their assessment of a Human being from a different land.
Ferrari could not only take the bullet for it's drivers but they could also fire back. Schumacher (although still being accused of cheating by his somewhat special followers, who hate him - and put in the same category as Hitlers black army - who did some sickeningly nasty things over forty years ago) was now allowed to get on with what he did best. Racing.
There are a lot of so called 'F1 fans' out there with the same retarded backward views that were bestowed on Schumacher, who is German!, yes!, watch out! he might pull you finger nails out!, oh my god!. Might these people also get confused about Lewis Hamiloton, who is a British man and is black...oh my god!, he might mug you the next time you get near him!. These sad individuals find it much more relaxing to sit in their chairs and watch the blue eyed white Brit driver, Jenson Button, win the championship; it makes more sense to them and is easier for their lonely brain cells to process.
Lewis from now on, will still be accused of this that and the other...and will always be called a cheat by the ignorant plebeian, so called 'F1 fans' that cant get their heads round him and who are also obsessed with hatred; but if he joins Ferrari, he will be able to race. He will be able to mesmerise and entertain the real F1 fans...and he will be protected.

S.