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The Sixties – The Killer Years

April 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The excellent motorsportretro web site published this brilliant and extremely moving BBC documentary this morning. It details the appalling loss of life that characterised the 1960′s world of Formula One grand prix racing. It’s a long movie, nearly an hour, but, if you want to see where we’ve come from and why we’re here, watch it and be shocked and saddened and angered at the horrific cost that being involved in the sport during those days extracted from the participants and their friends and families. As one who lived through that era and remembers the names and the tragic circumstances in which they met their end, I can tell you that I found it very hard to contain my emotions watching this clip.

Filed Under: Other Racing

X Games XIV

August 10, 2008 By

Quiet afternoon at home this arvo so I was surfing the channels on AUSTAR. Found the X Games XIV broadcast on ESPN. Great entertainment for a couple of hours.

The skateboard guys in the pit were amazing; how many years you’d have to practise in order to be able to do that is anybody’s guess.

But the Rally Special Stage was super entertainment. One-on-one racing on a combined dirt/tar course that required some pretty amazing skills. In the end it was a Final that featured drift specialist Tanner Faust against the former multiple Motocross, Supercross and Freestyle Motocross champion, Travis Pastrana.

Since a run of injuries has sidelined Pastrana from two wheeled competition, he has concentrated on rallying instead and is featuring well in the American Rally Championship.

The Final was superb entertainment with Pastrana reversing the result from X Games XIII where he also faced Faust but was disqualified for an indiscretion at the finishing line. Faust bit the wall early after the first jump and was hampered from there on. Pastrana got a bit ragged in the closing stage, but was really show-boating as he knew by then that he had the race.

I confess to getting pretty involved, but, then again, if it’s got a motor and there’s competition involved, then I’ll usually be pretty hooked from the get-go.

What it did illustrate to me, aside from the entertainment value, was that a true champion will be a champion in whatever form of motorsports that they might choose to try. And a good motorcycle racer will always end up being a great car racer should they choose to switch to four wheels because the skill and the discipline required for motorcycling will provide an excellent basis for any other sort of racing.

The classic example is John Surtees, the British winner of 7 World Motorcycle champonships and the 1964 World Formula One championship. Surtees proved that motorcycling was the very best foundation for success on four wheels. Many other riders have also done the same.

Filed Under: August 2008, Other Racing

What’s in the water?

August 6, 2008 By

At Wakefield Park on Sunday, David Curtis and I were speculating as to why there is a disproportionate number of Australians competing at the top level in World Championships overseas when we only have a population here of 20 million people.

Now this is not new, of course, and we reached no definite conclusion, but a study of the stats is fascinating.

Currently we have competing O/S:

MotoGp: Chris Vermeulen, Casey Stoner, Anthony West

WSBK: Troy Bayliss, Troy Corser, Carl Muggeridge

WSS: Andrew Pitt, Josh Brookes, Broc Parkes, Russell Holland, Mark Aitchison, Jeremy Crowe

World Superstock 1000: Brendan Roberts, Gerry Jones, Chris Seaton

World Endurance Championship: Alex Cudlin, Damien Cudlin, Steve Martin

AMA Superbike: Mat Mladin

AMA Supersports: Aaron Gobert

World Speedway Championship: Jason Crump, Leigh Adams

Supercross: Chad Reed

British Superbike Championship: Billy McConnell

British Supersport Championship: Glenn Richards

Henderson R1 Cup: Shannon Etheridge

This list is not exhaustive, but, just within this list there are 14 Champions of their respective classes. So, what IS it that makes us continue to produce World Champions from such a tiny population base??

Answers on a postcard, please.

Filed Under: August 2008, Aussies abroad

Beautiful Sunday.

August 3, 2008 By

What a great day. I drove down to Wakefield Park today to help commentate the bike race meeting there. I have memories of some bitter winter days at the Goulburn circuit, so I went well prepared. Parka, beanie, scarf and gloves.

And, guess what? I hardly needed them, Sure, it was a bit cold first thing, but by about 11 it was sunny and not a cloud in the sky and it pretty much stayed like that the rest of the day. I couldn’t believe it.

The race itself was a beauty. 40 teams competing in a 4 hour relay endurance race. There were battles everywhere on the circuit all day and the issue was only resolved in the last 15 minutes after a furious scrap between two of the top teams that had lasted all race long.

I LOVE endurance racing.

Filed Under: August 2008, Australian scene, Other Racing

Night Racing

July 21, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Stayed up and watched the WSBK meeting last night. I usually watch the first race and the WSS and then tape Race 2 as it often finishes very late, but, meh, I watched them both.

Bayliss is awesome and he patently benefits from riding the 1200 that is easier on its tyres than the I4 machines are. I wonder, seeing that the Ducatis finished 1,2,3 in the second race if the organisers are going to follow through with their promise to weight penalise them for the next race? Somehow I think not. Might have something to do with the series being promoted by an Italian company??? By the way, that face plant by Laconi in the 2nd race looked pretty sickening from where I sat.

As usual, the WSS race was a thriller. I couldn’t help but giggle over Johnothan Green’s excitement at Rae’s win. If you listened to him, you’d swear that Rae had just taken the lead in the championship and couldn’t now be beaten. The reality, of course, is somewhat more sobering for the UK rider, this being his FIRST EVER win in the class and the championship leader finishing 2nd and INCREASING his lead in the World Championship chase. AND the previous 2nd place man, Foret being ruled out for at least 3 months with serious spinal injuries…I’m sticking my neck out and predicting an Aussie 1,2,3 in the overall Championship.

The MotoGp race was a disappointment as far as Aussie fans are concerned, although I suppose that 2nd and 3rd isn’t THAT bad. Unlike previous encounters, Casey cracked first. I thought it was a little disingenuous of him to criticise Rossi’s passing moves in the Press Conference. Nobody likes a sore loser.

Terrific to see Chris get 3rd, he really likes Laguna and the track seems to suit the Zook. And Andrea continues to be my pick for the Next Big Thing. Definitely “Rookie of the Year” material, that’s for sure. Beating a former world champ on his home turf when he’s never seen the track before is pretty impressive.

Chupa Chup boy has certainly blown his reputation with another unforced error. The predictions of many that he would self-destruct in the pressure cooker that is MotoGp seem to be coming true. I won’t lose any sleep, I don’t like him at all.

Filed Under: July 2008, Moto GP, No way!
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