Sunday, June 12, 2011

This Never Would Have Happened in My Day. Harrumph!!

Watching the Gran Prix from Montreal. They have just gone off for rain. Yes, you heard that correctly. After starting behind the safety car and spending half the race that way, except for a few laps in which Hamilton discovered once again that his car will not go through a hole smaller than itself, they have now stopped and are waiting to see if it clears up. There have been no accidents of any consequence, it's purely because they're afraid of driving in the rain.

I have never seen this before and I wonder if there are new safety rules. I haven't heard of any. And if they are going to stop the races in future every time it rains, for me the show is over.

Harrumph!

Note added: The only driver killed racing in the last 30 years was the great and lamented Ayrton Senna. In the 60's and 70's they averaged one a year. Drivers walk away from crashes that would have killed them a few years ago. Cars no longer take off when their wheels touch, they don't disintegrate on impact, the driver's head does not bounce around like a grape if he crashes, it is almost impossible for metal parts to penetrate in the river's section, and all of this is wonderful: I don't need blood on the track to enjoy the race. But rain is a different matter. Rain makes driving more difficult. You have to do things differently and pay more attention to more details. It lessens the importance of the car itself and allows the most skillful drivers to show what they can do. The complaints are that they can't control the car properly. What they mean is they have to drive differently and they don't like it. We, the spectators, do, but it seems we don't count.

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