They took a shoe competition, 2 formula 1 drivers and an empty racing track and they got a good few advertisements out of it.
What did they do? They took the winners of a competition and said they had won 20 pairs of shoes. To get all 20 they had to do one lap in the passenger seat of a car, driven by a Formula 1 driver.
Not so bad?
Well, there was one simple rule; For every scream they emit, they lose one pair of shoes.
Anyway, with the Formula 1 season now over and the last Grand Prix watched, analyzed and misanalysed I thought I'd share with you two things I love: Fry & Laurie and Auto Racing. Like oil and water mixed in a puddle they show a myriad of color .. blah blah blah
There was a huge race this Sunday, a championship deciding race, but due to circumstances beyond my control I was unable to watch it. As always I decided to download it and watch it in my own time.
No problem there except I can't read my emails because I get Brawn F1 team news sent there. I can't read blogs in Google Reader as I subscribe to 15(ish) F1 blogs (with Sidepodcast probably being the best one out there right now).
I also have friends who phone me during the races to chat about whats happening so I haven't been answering the phone to certain chaps. Sorry!
And I can't even check the news with the amazing Morning Coffee software in Firefox as all of the UK press will be putting the results on the front page.
So all day I've been bored at work waiting to rush home to watch the race. I even left the office early only to find that 'Her Indoors' had paused all downloads to make her Facebook surfing slightly faster and forgotten to start it going again. Grrr!!!
Now all is downloaded, I have watched the introduction, I have a 7 month old baby boy with a baby head cold in his exer-saucer beside me and I am watching the race.
UPDATE:
So far in lap 1; 2 crashes, 2 drivers arguing out fo their cars, one pit fire, one car driving off from his pit-stop with the fuel hose still attached.
I guess its not very proffessional but fun to watch!~!
So, what the gosh darned rooting tooting is that title all about then?
I am a fan of Formula 1. Any sport that can end in serious pain if you make a mistake gets my attention. Formula 1 has the added draw of having a large amount of information flowing throughout the year and not just on race day.
Crashes are not uncommon but generally do not alter the final result as they either happen at the first corner to some back markers or later on in the race to a couple of cars who are fighting for position and then take each other out.
There are some famous crashes such as Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton deSilva Senna's fatal crashes (in the same weekend), as well as Michael Schumacher taking himself or nearest competitor out, and a couple of beauties when cars went, literally, flying over others.
That's not the point though. The level of danger involved is the point.
Any crash involves pieces of car flying at high speed in all directions. This allows the energy in the crash to dissipate without harming the driver. But it also means that basically, bits go flying everywhere. Tyres have landed in the crowd killing spectators and we are coming to terms, in F1, with the fact that Felipe Massa is going to be out for the rest of the season because he was hit in the head by a piece of debris that fell off another car in front of his during a practice session.
He was hit in the helmet with a 800g piece of coiled metal at over 180mph that left him unconscious. He is recovering now and has a beautiful scar (above) to tell the tale.
And that is where today's revelations leave me with my mouth agape and my mind not comprehending what happened.
Nelson Piquet Jr.'s intentional crash, in the the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
Today it was revealed that one team, Renault, had asked one of its drivers, Nelson Piquet Jr., to crash on purpose. The FIA stated that Renault had planned and carried out actions:
to cause an intentional accident with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of their other driver, Fernando Alonso, who went on to win.
The team stated
“The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the F.I.A. concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix,”
Which is pretty damn shameful, dangerous and ultimately, suicidal for the careers of those involved.
So what also gets my goat here, and you may notice that I'm still very annoyed and shocked by it all, is that they actually thought that they could get away with it.
In an industry where millions of dollars hang in the balance for every point a driver can make people are going to be ruthless. And they are going to have very long memories.
The chap on the left, Flavio 'Flav' Briatore, has been in Formula 1 for a very long time. He helped to bring Michael Schumacher into the limelight. He was teh Team leader for Renault.
The chap on the left is Pat Symonds. He too has been in F1 forever and he was Flav's no. 2 man.
Today they both left their current (and probably last) Formula 1 team after the team admitted that these two individuals had in fact conspired with their no. 2 driver, Nelson Piquet Jr., to alter the outcome of the race.
