#Tom Rubython

[alianoralacanta]

Important additional context: BusinessF1 is the current outlet for Tom Rubython, previously of F1 Magazine (the turn-of-the-millenium version, that was bought out by FOM after 18 months). He has a longstanding reputation of mixing together articles that predicted things very well with… articles that turned out to have been pure fabrication, absolute tripe. A master of ten-page clickbait. I found it easy to tell which was which, but I could see even then how someone unfamiliar with the writing style (even one reading without an agenda) would be confused. He was quite happy to upset anyone and everyone on the way. I cannot recall a single instance where he or anyone connected with his ventures apologised for published falsehoods, except when a lawyer or judge required it. He hasn't had a consistent paddock pass since late 2002, but makes no attempt to reveal this to readers. I have not read the article where the allegations were made because in this case it was obviously dodgy before I even found out where the rumour was from, and I would advise people to avoid the article also (don't fall for clickbait). (Important addendum: I am not aware of any misogynistic actions on his part, his remit back then meant he could pretty much avoid writing about women as racing drivers (perhaps to not tip his hand?), but he expressed excessive machismo in his writings two decades ago in a way that even then, placed limitations on his understanding of motorsport. Sounds like he has not learned his lesson).

Do you believe that the susie allegations have nothing behind them. From what I can tell the whole thing started with thr businessf1 article but idk i want to believe the fia has something more behind the scenes at least to start this investigation (even if its delusional).

they're completely baseless. there is nothing behind this.

BusinessF1 is not just a libellous rag but a specifically misogynist one. its previous venture into interfering with all-female junior series was an article saying that W Series should have sold teenagers' sex appeal to survive.

you have to understand how much people hate women in motorsport. it's endemic to the point that not hating stands out as feminist. existing as a woman in motorsport is like feeling like you barely have permission to exist, even if (and it's always when) you're much more qualified than any man in the room.

it's also important to understand that in mid-November the FIA appointed Dieter Rencken (my err, former colleague I guess) as the F1 commissioner. I know Dieter, from incidents such as eg: when I worked out which country in the UAE the Mazepin groping incident took place (extremely relevant since there are differing laws between Dubai and Abu Dhabi) he phoned me and said the FIA would be in touch (they never were) - then went off on a strange tangent about "how will young men meet women now" to which I was like "not like this m8."

that's how much they hate us.

[cazzyf1]

hey, cazzy, all good? im contacting you because i decided (in a very not-carefully way) make an article (academic one) about james hunt and his framing as the "perfect macho driver" by f1 fans.

considering you are the person with most classic f1 i know (and enjoy), i wished to know if you have any material about james or if you can recommend me good sources for my research. thank you in advance!

Hey, thank you so much for sending an ask 🥰

That's great you are writing an article about James, and you have to send it to me when it's published because I'd love to read it💕

For recommendations of resources, the best book I've read about James Hunt is 'James Hunt: The Biography' by Gerald Donaldson. It goes into a lot of depth about his life, and his family recommends it as they helped give information to the author about it. There is also the book 'Memories of James Hunt' by Christopher Hilton, a book compiled of people talking about their experiences with James. It's been a while since I read that book, but I remember it being good.

'Grand Prix Season 1976 Hunt vs Lauda' by David Benson is another good book because the author wrote it at the end of the 1976 season, and he was good friends with James, so he had a lot of close knowledge. This book has a split attention between James and Niki.

I would not recommend any books by the author Tom Rubython, as while he has a two books out on James that do have a lot of detail of his life, the author is misogynistic and so that affects what information he includes and excludes about James - and the man also didn't like Niki and that comes across in the book.

Most of the other books I mentioned though you can get pretty cheaply online depending where you live, but there might be some pdf versions around as well or be able to rent them off Internet archive.

Here is a link to an article about James Hunt, his anti-Apartheid ideas, and what he did about the South African gp to support groups fighting for independence and equality.

Here's a link to an article about James's life after Formula One where he had to deal with his addictions and depression and how he over came them.

There are some documentaries about James Hunt on YouTube that have information, including one called 'When Playboys Ruled the World', but that one is a bit more biased in portraying James as a womaniser and leaving out other parts. It also interviews Max Mosley about his scandal which was...not great to watch. But if you want to check that out and other documentaries about James Hunt, on my pinned post I have a link to my YouTube playlist of classic f1 documentaries.

I would try checking out interviews with James's sons as well for information. Tom and Freddie Hunt, as they have been trying a lot to get more accurate information about James out there and speak about who he truly was.

On my pinned post under the Niki Lauda section, I have a master list of quotes I've collected from books about him. Some of them also include information about James Hunt in there.

I hope this was of help and have given you some resources and if you need anything else or want to know anything specific let me know! 🥰

[yesterdayiwrote]

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/s/44akH7yohv

Oh dear, oh dear. Toto and Susie could be in trouble.😂

So... I saw this yesterday and I started to write out a rant about it and i never got around to posting it, so this gives me a great chance to say it now.

I think it's really important to look deeper into this story for a moment because as much as I think Toto can be a jackass, there's a healthy dose of misogyny craftily baked in to this that makes me question its legitimacy.

A) Business F1 Magazine is owned/run by a guy called Tom Rubython and he is... not the best source. He was responsible for the article a few years back, defending Mazepin and saying he was a James Hunt-esque 'bad boy' and F1 desperately needed him to inject glamour back in to it. The magazine also wrote a multi page article detailing the love lives of each driver and it still remains to be seen what its relevance was to a Business magazine except to go, "Oooo look how much these boys fuck!"

B) This is framed as Toto being the problem, but it's quite categorically accusing Susie of being the one being indiscreet because surprise surprise, of course its the woman who spreads gossip. Susie is not the only person who speaks to Greg Maffei, and we've all seen how much these TPs like to bitch and complain.

C) We've also seen Stefano Domenicali hanging out socially with ALOT of these TPs. Why does the gossip pipeline he proposes have to be Susie > Greg > Stefano, when it is far more simple to be Random TP mouthing off > Stefano. Also notice how he brings up Shaila Ann Rao, who was an FIA employee so unconnected to Stefano. So the two strong, highly placed women that have links to Toto are gossips who spread rumours, and the catalogue of MEN in the paddock who all have close connections and existing work and business relationships with teams in the paddock couldn't possibly be guilty of loose lips? That would never happen. Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Stefano Domenicali were all ex-Ferrari employees and all held the 3 highest F1 related jobs at the same time and noone batted an eyelid. Also... Zak and Mattia were the loudest voices about who had broken cost cap, not Toto so I'm not sure why it keeps falling back to him, except for the fact he had a connection to the woman they were randomly blaming.

D) Drive to Survive is scripted, but we've seen Christian and Gunther both discuss paddock business with their wives, so we know they ALL chat to people about stuff going on. That paddock is a fucking sieve. The fact this goes on about unnamed sources, and brings up the weird accusation about red bull employees kids being bullied again... sounds like this is a specific anti-Toto hit piece, and it's written by the guy who has already made it clear he hates women, so who better to try and bring down with him than his well connected wife.

It's bullshit, stirring up old gripes to try and create a drama and fill column inches after an incredibly dull and event less season and based on the bullshit notion that women gossip and men don't. Even reddit took the post down because it was deemed 'low quality'.

[superm4ks]

Really love your blog, very insightful and informative takes 🌸 Have you read any f1 related books?

Thanks smmm omfg 💗 yes i have heres a quick list of my must reads ((not gonna give my personal ratings because some of them I haven’t been able to finish 😭 I’ll mark wid 📚 if I did finish it and I definitely recommend it. also ig it always depends what team/driver u root for but imo like these are all worth a try)) in no particular order

📚 How To Build A Car by Adrian Newey

📚To Hell and Back by Niki Lauda

📚Total Competition by Ross Brawn

Watching The Wheels by Damon Hill

Rush to glory by Tom Rubython

The Inside Story of Brawn GP by Nick Fry

📚 Inside F1 by Lee McKenzie

Driven: The Men Who Made Formula One by Kevin Eason

Life in the Fast Lane by Steve Matchett

[asiplease82]

Jessica, the Unknown Burton

Text taken from And God Created Burton by Tom Rubython

But Christmas of 1964 was not a happy holiday. It was dominated by discussions about Burton’s youngest daughter, Jessica; a situation which had finally come to a head after she had been put into an institution and the family had agreed not to visit her.

The story of his daughter, Jessica, had been a blight on Burton’s lfe for over five years; ever since Burton’s sister, Catherine Jenkins, a state registered nurse, recognized some problems soon after she was born on 29 November 1959. The problems, obvious to Catherine Jenkins, took two years to be acknowledged by doctors.

By the time she was two years of age, Burton’s [first] wife Sybil, found Jessica was continually misbehaving, sometimes uncontrollably. As she passed three, then four, and finally five Sybil had to face up the fact that Jessica was retarded. In those days such children were labeled spastics. But Jessica was not deformed in any way and she was an exceptionally beautiful child. The problem was that her mental capacity had not developed and Burton told friends, trying to describe what was wrong, that she had the mental capabilities of a very smart dog. He said, “The shock to me of being told my child had the intelligence of a reasonably clever dog was considerable.”

Burton was always away on filming and most of the burden fell on Sybil as she gradually learned the inescapable truth about Jessica’s condition. After years of tests, specialists finally diagnosed autism as the problem. Then autism was a little understood condition. Autistic children are perfectly normal, physically and intellectually, but because of inner trauma, they shut themselves off from the world and their only form of expression is anger. Autism also varies in intensity.

Sybil was absolutely devestated the day she was told by an autism specialist that Jessica’s autism was 100 per cent. The specialist told Sybil there ws no cure and that Jessica would always be very difficult to handle.

By the time Burton was aware something was serious wrong, he and Sybil had split up and by the time he realized the true nature of the condition, he was married to Taylor. Kate [Burton’s older daughter], a bright, happy child, grew up with little knowledge of her sister’s problems. It soon became very evident that Jessica would need special care forever nd would not have a normal life.

The Jenkins family were never told anything about her condition and Jessica was mostly kept away from them. They eventually started to wonder where she was and when David Jenkins asked Burton about her, he just looked back at him “darkly” and said nothing. Burton found it upsetting just to talk about it, so he didn’t. Graham Jenkins remembered, ‘Outwardly, she appeared a normal, healthy child, if somewhat withdrawn. She never smiled or showed pleasure in the silly games children enjoy. In New York, she spent all of her waking hours staring, uncomprehending, at the flicker of the television screen.’

There was also talk that the autism had been set off by the trauma surrounding the marriage break up. Sybil sometimes alluded to the problems caused by photographer’s flashbulbs going off in Jessica’s face ---- triggering abnormal behavior. David Jenkins said, ‘We do know that Jessica had just begun to talk when Richard left; then, abruptly, all communication ceased. She became locked in her own myserious world, where she has remained ever since.’ That possibility haunted Burton for the whole of his life.

At first Sybil tried to treat Jessica as normally as possible, taking her out to the movies or to eat and be with older children, but she became more disruptive  as she got older. If they went outside of her apartment in New York, Jessica often caused a disturbance and could even become violent. She was often hard to restrain. Eventually Sybil began to find it very upsetting to be with her daughter and to never see her smile or talk. She also found her increasingly difficult to control.

Sybil was advised by specialists in America that, sooner or later, Jessica would have to go to a special institution. They recommended the Devereux Center in Long Island, a specialist institution run by the Devereux Foundation. At Long Island, all the nurses had special training to cope with autism and to give their patients as normal a life as possible.

Ivor and Gwen Jenkins, who were childless, took over most of the burden of looking after Jessica and regarded her as their own. When the decision was made for Jessica to be put in an institution, Gwen was devestated and was insistent that Jessica was responding and making headway. Gwen believed Ivor Jenkins was able to communicate with her in a limited way. But they lost the three-way argument with the doctors and her parents, and Jessica was moved to Long Island.

At first Sybil visited Jessica often, as did Burton when he was in New York.

But when they visited, they found she didn’t recognize them nd doctors said she was locked in a world no one would be able to penetrate. As Sybil described it: ‘Nobody knows what autism really is. That’s the hell of it. It’s a sort of mental illness. Jessica lives in a world of her own. She doesn’t recognize me or Rich or anybody. There’s no way of telling just how much she understands.’

During the Christmas holidays in 1964, Elizabeth Taylor began discussing with Burton a plan to take Jessica out of the Devereux Center and to bring her to live with them permanently. She figured they could afford to employ specialist nurses to care for her 24 hours a day.

Taylor was encouraged by the success she had enjoyed with Maria, who was born a cripple and was now leading a normal life because of her intervention. Taylor genuinely believed that she could intervene again and make a difference to Jessica’s life and maybe even cure her.

Gianni Bozzacchi, who was Taylor’s personal photographer, confirmed that Taylor wanted to bring Jessica into their household, where she could be looked after by a hired nursing team. But Burton told her she did not know what she was talking about. Taylor, however, didn’t give up on the idea and pursued it for a long time. In the end, she backed off when Burton told her that Sybil would never give her permission.

Today there is a very well-endowed trust fund that is believed to have grown to well over $10 million to provide for 51-year-old Jessica’s care.

[itunesbooks]

Rush to Glory - Tom Rubython

Rush to Glory FORMULA 1 Racing's Greatest Rivalry Tom Rubython Genre: Sports & Outdoors Price: $15.99 Publish Date: August 1, 2013 Publisher: Lyons Press Seller: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group The greatest duel in Formula One: the 1976 season between Austrian Niki Lauda and Britain's James Hunt.  http://dlvr.it/R1BP4B

[rathertoofondofbooks]

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, which is all about sharing the books that you’ve acquired in the past week!

It’s been a while since I joined in with Stacking the Shelves; it’s partly because I’ve not been blogging regularly for the last few months but also because I’m not buying so many books at the moment (although I did acquire rather a lot of books in May, hence this haul!).

So, here are all the books that I got in May…

The Wanderers by Meg Howrey

I’ve read really mixed reviews of this book but it still sounds really appealing to me so I decided to buy a copy.

Don’t Make a Sound by David Jackson

I really like David Jackson’s previous novels and this new crime thriller sounds brilliant so I couldn’t resist buying this. I hope to read this soon as it’s a kindle book and I can fit it in around the print books that I’m reading for my 20 Books of Summer challenge.

The Man Who Didn’t Call by Rosie Walsh

I didn’t think this was my kind of read but I kept hearing great things about it so I bought it and read it straight away; I honestly couldn’t put it down and really enjoyed it.

The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton

I couldn’t resist treating myself to this hardback as I love Sharon Bolton’s writing as have been waiting for this book to be released.

Big Bones by Laura Dockrill

I’ve seen quite a bit of hype around this book and I had to get a copy to see what the fuss is all about. It does sound like a lovely YA novel with a body positive message.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

I’ve been interested in reading this for a while but have read mixed reviews about it so couldn’t decide. It ended up in a kindle deal recently so it seemed a good time to buy it!

Only Fools and Stories by David Jason

I love David Jason – especially his roles as Del Boy and Inspector Frost so I bought this book as soon as I saw it. I think it’ll be a nice book to curl up with one evening and I’m looking forward to it.

Left and Leaving by Jo Verity

I’ve been sorting through my huge wish list recently and when I re-read the blurb for this book it sounded really good so I bought it on kindle.

You, Me and Everything by Catherine Isaac

I just bought this the other day because it was on offer for kindle at 99p and I decided to give it a go as I’ve seen lots of good reviews of it.

The Poetry Pharmacy by William Sieghart

This was a bargain buy that I was really happy to spot as I was sorting through my wish list and discovered it was the kindle daily deal on that very day so I snapped it up! I think this will be a lovely book to dip in and out of, and if I enjoy it I will buy a physical copy.

The Songs of Us by Emma Cooper

I saw the author tweet that it was her ebook publication day this week so I went straight to Amazon and one-clicked as it sounds like a really intriguing premise. I hope to get to this one over the summer as it sounds like a good, summer read.

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

The premise of this book grabbed me as soon as I read the blurb so I had to get a copy. This is another ebook purchase so I’m hoping to read it in between my planned print summer reads in the coming weeks.

Fatal Weekend by Tom Rubython

I was a huge fan of Ayrton Senna and so after watching some documentaries about him on the anniversary of his death earlier in May I decided to look and see if there were any new biographies of him. I found this one so bought it and read it straight away. It was a decent read but not the best biography of Senna.

The Reservoir Tapes by Jon McGregor

I got Reservoir 13 for my birthday earlier this year and whilst I haven’t read it yet I still couldn’t resist buying this book as I do love Jon McGregor’s writing. I hope to get to both books before too much longer.

Ivy and Abe by Elizabeth Enfield

This is a review book that I got from NetGalley, I think it’s due out later this month so I plan on reading it soon. It sounds like a lovely, comfort read and I feel sure I’ll enjoy it.

The Date by Louise Jensen

This is another NetGalley book also due out later this month. I love Louise Jensen’s writing so I couldn’t resist downloading this one. I’ll definitely be getting to this very, very soon!

Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh

I’ve had my eye on this book ever since I first heard about it earlier this year so I was thrilled when my wish was granted on NetGalley recently. I actually read it as soon as I downloaded it and thought it was brilliant. I’ll be posting my review soon.

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

I love Lisa Jewell’s writing so this was another book that I requested on NetGalley as soon as I heard about it. It sounds like a great read so I’m eager to get to it soon. I think it’s due out in July so not too long to wait.

Snap by Belinda Bauer

I was thrilled when I was sent a copy of this in the post. I read the novel in one sitting earlier this week and I loved every minute that I spent reading it. I’m hoping to finish and post my review in the next week or so but I can say that I highly recommend Snap!

Toxic by Nicci Cloke

I adore the cover of this book and when I read the blurb I was very keen to get my hands on a copy as soon as possible. I was so happy when NetGalley approved my request! I’ll be reading this a little bit nearer publication date as it’s not due out until the end of July.

Falling Short by Lex Coulton

This book arrived as a total surprise recently and it sounds like a really good read so I’m adding it to my TBR. Hopefully I’ll get to it soon!

Did you get any new books recently? I’d love to know. Have you read any of the books in my book haul? Are there any that you recommend me getting to sooner rather than later? Feel free to leave a link to your own stacking the shelves post in the comments! 🙂

Stacking the Shelves with my May Book Haul! Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, which is all about sharing the books that you’ve acquired in the past week!

[cazzyf1]

"Nearly 15 years after the accident, he decided to get a divorce from Marlene. At the family house in Spain, he recalls: "I took her out for a walk and I said to her: 'Listen I think we should get a divorce' and she said 'I think that is a good idea'

Having expected a somewhat more robust reaction, Lauda admitted he was taken back. His attitude to her was: "Oh really?" to which she replied: "I've got my life" and he said: 'Okay, tell me what you want. You can have anything you want.'

Her demands were modest, as she told him: "I want the house, I want the donkey, I want the cat and the dog and the three chickens." By this time Lauda was annoyed at how easy it all was. He had expected a fight and outrageous demands. He replied: "Fucking fine, help yourself woman, couldn't give a shit."

Lauda later confined in John Hogan, the man he had enlisted to help him get married all those years ago, that: "Well the dogs, the horses, and the cats, and donkeys, and all the other shit: that's what drove me mad anyway. Then I realised I'm stuck with two houses in Austria, fucking aeroplanes, cars, all this fucking shit that I don't want anyway. And she's got all the stuff I want."

Lauda spent the next 15 years reliving his playboy years. He finally fell for one of his airline stewardesses, Brigit Wetzinger, who donated him a kidney that he badly needed as a relic of the accident. In 2008, they had twins a boy and a girl. They married in 2009." - Shunt the story of James Hunt by Tom Rubython.

[f1mister]

Follow @Formula1RD

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Ayrton Senna no era solo el éxito deportivo. Era el carisma, era su osadía, sus formas de describir lo que sentía, la rivalidad con Alain Prost, sus maniobras bajo la lluvia. Era un conjunto de factores que lo convertían en el referente indiscutido de una era. Aquel 1° de mayo de 1994, el mítico piloto brasileño tomó a 310 kilómetros por hora la curva Tamburello del Gran Premio de San Marino. Del otro lado lo esperaba la muerte. Del otro lado aguardaba el paso a la inmortalidad.

Aquel Williams-Renault había respondido a la perfección en la clasificación de las tres primeras competencias y el brasileño había obtenido la pole position en Brasil, Japón ySan Marino. Como si fuese una premonición, llegó a San Marino con el desafío de subsanar las malas experiencias en las dos primeras presentaciones, donde había tenido problemas durante las carreras que lo habían obligado a abandonar.

  Senna largó en la primera posición en San Marino tras haber abandonado en las dos primeras carreras del año

El bólido azul y blanco, con sus sobrios colores, no captaba tanto la atención como lo habían hecho otros más llamativos en el pasado. Sí lo hacía su casco amarillo, mítico al día de hoy. Senna largaría delante de todos por tercera vez en la temporada en San Marinoy sostendría esa condición durante las seis primeras vueltas.

  Allí su auto perdió adherencia, no le respondió como esperaba o él no alcanzó a realizar la maniobra que pretendía. Nadie supo explicarlo pero el desenlace todavía hoy sigue siendo una de las imágenes más impresionantes en la historia de la Fórmula 1: un vehículo que impactó contra el paredón y quedó sin las dos ruedas del lado derecho y perdió una porción de la carrocería de ese lado. Dentro de él, un Ayrton ya sin vida aunque la noticia se confirmaría tres horas más tarde.

  Mientras un helicóptero partía desde el centro del asfalto rumbo al hospital Maggiore di Bologna para intentar revertir lo irreversible, una grúa naranja con tres mecánicos cargaba los restos del Williams FW16 con el número 2 para someterlo a años de estudios, discusiones e interrogantes.

Durante ocho largos años, el vehículo estuvo a disposición de la Justicia de Bolognapara realizar inspecciones y controles que, finalmente, no entregaron una sentencia concluyente. No hubo explicaciones sobre el accidente ni culpables.

  El auto del accidente quedó en manos de la Justicia durante ocho años

La Justicia estableció que existía una rotura de la barra de dirección del volante, aunque no se pudo establecer si eso decantó en el accidente o si alcanzó ese estado a raíz del impacto contra el muro de hormigón. También se analizaron los neumáticos –que podrían haber sufrido pinchaduras o haber fallado por la temperatura baja– pero no se encontraron con problemas significativos.

Al fin y al cabo, la extracción de las partes sirvió para reconstruir los últimos 13 segundos. Ayrton levantó el pie del acelerador, realizó un fuerte frenado que redujo la velocidad considerablemente hasta llegar a casi los 200 kilómetros por hora, lo que permitió dictaminar que no se había desvanecido antes del choque como especularon algunas versiones.

A mediados de marzo del 2002, la publicación suiza Motorsport Aktuell informó que los restos del auto de Senna fueron devueltos a Williams tras permanecer en un garaje judicial de Bologna todo ese tiempo.

Por entonces, la Justicia había señalado que el auto no entregaría más conclusiones y decidió devolverlo tres años después de la absolución a empleados jerárquicos de la empresa, que habían quedado involucrados por los supuestos problemas mecánicos que las autoridades judiciales nunca comprobaron.

Si bien las informaciones escasean, algunos medios señalaron escuetamente en la época que el propietario de la escudería Frank Williams confirmó al sitio GrandPrix que el auto había sido destruido: “Confirmo eso, no hay nada más. Fin de la historia”, habrían sido sus declaraciones sobre la máquina que se encontraba en un avanzado estado de deterioro. El sitio TheSennaFiles publicó una serie de fotografías que corresponderían al bólido antes de ser destrozado para que no se transforme, en teoría, en un tesoro de los coleccionistas.

  El casco de Senna tenía una perforación en la parte superior derecha

A toda esta etapa repleta de incógnitas y misterios en torno al destino del chásis del vehículo de Senna aquel 1° de mayo de 1994 se suma otro capítulo no menos llamativo: qué ocurrió con el icónico casco amarillo que terminó siendo protagonista directo en su muerte.

Si bien el impacto fue considerablemente fuerte, el piloto brasileño que tenía 34 años por entonces no terminó muriendo por el choque en sí. En el arco superior derecho, tenía un agujero en el casco que se generó por la perforación de un brazo de la suspensión que terminó quitándole la vida al piloto.

Más allá de que el periodista Tom Rubython planteó en su libro La vida de Senna algunas irregularidades sobre el casco, esto nunca fue confirmado. En 2002, junto con la entrega del vehículo a la escudería, la Justicia italiana también le devolvió el cobertor a Bell Racing Europe, empresa creadora de este emblema que llevaba los colores de la bandera brasileña. Según se informó en esa época, la pieza fue incinerada en abril del 2002 por pedido de la familia. ¿Qué sucedió con los guantes, el traje y los zapatos que utilizó por entonces? Quedaron envueltos en un misterio aún mayor, ya que jamás se volvió a hablar sobre ellos.

  Los médicos trabajando contrarreloj para salvar la vida de Senna: ya era tarde

 La entrada 24 años después continua el enigma. ¿Qué pasó con el auto y la indumentaria que Senna uso el día de su accidente? aparece primero en Todo sobre autos y velocidad.

via Todo sobre autos y velocidad

[alianoralacanta]

F1 Journalism Reminisces

This is the second part of a cross-posted comment to the excellent item complaining about the current standard of F1 journalism at Battling Blog:

I remember the good old days of F1 Magazine before Bernie Ecclestone bought it off Tom Rubython. Stories with beginnings, middles and ends that usually checked out (and if they didn't, you could easily tell, and move on to the next article). Long, detailed articles that would get into the heart of whatever was being investigated. Interviews where anything and everything would be discussed. Proper explanations of the journalist's thought process (second only to those Matt Bishop used in F1 Racing's "The Long Interview", before he went to McLaren at the end of 2007). Speculation and opinion that, if sometimes very wrong (where's our 1978 Brabham-esque fan cars?) or obvious hobby horses on the publisher's part (third cars with pre-qualifying for the third cars, anything to do with Ayrton Senna...), was written with some sort of logic (the publisher column was interesting - there was exactly one logic flaw per month. Finding and extrapolating from it was good practise for academic study of logic).

Compacting silly-season rumours into one page per month (unless there were a lot of updates to do), where the believed state of play was linked together with some sort of logic. Clarity of difference between speculation and reality, with corrections sometimes getting more space than the original entry; the example where it accidentally suggested Mike Gascoyne and Flavio Briatore were sacked was particularly good, as they included such things as their (humourous) reaction to their alleged sacking and the real reason for the meeting that F1 Magazine had confused for the dismissal meeting. Admittedly, there were more "major" corrections to be made than in other publications I've seen, but only once do I recall an error not being corrected next issue - an example none of the other magazines I've read (in any field) has matched.

Call me a rose-tinted nostalgist, but there is a lot that today's F1 publications could learn from F1 Magazine's original iteration. Granted, the sales figures suggest that 10-page, small-font articles (which would probably be 16 pages of a magazine with justifiably-popular current font size) are not sizes the current readership would have, but I don't think it's a coincidence that pre-Ecclestone F1 Magazine managed over twice the readership of F1 Racing or Autosport. (Ecclestone-era F1 Magazine reads like a parody of modern F1 journalism's failings, with extra ads for expensive stuff).

Would it really have taken more than a well-placed phone call to confirm the real gap between Carmen Jorda and Whingepot's performances? I think not. Would it really have taken more than 1 hour to post a quick website update with a reality check, complete with snazzy headlines and a photo? I think not. Yet the easy story was missed because it didn't fit stereotype - and writing something quickly has become more important than writing it accurately or interestingly.

It reminds me of a time when Mercedes was "definitely" joining F1 as a full constructor - almost 2 years before the green light was given to do so - and most journalists were claiming it was so, a few perhaps conceding a formality meeting needed to happen first. Until James Allen wrote an article saying they definitely weren't attempting to be on the 2008 grid. Why? Because he was the only journalist that bothered to phone someone present at the meeting.

Some journalists do try to do some of this, and are therefore worth reading. Among English-speaking journalists (other languages probably have some specialists worthy of attention, but I haven't read a big enough sample to name names), Kate Walker (of ESPN.com and Motorsport.com) is good at trying to get drivers and team principals a fair chance to discuss the human side of structural flaws in F1, and Dietrich Rencken (of F1 Racing and Autosport) does good investigate work at the technical end of the same issues. They and Joe Saward work together on this project - for all the flaws in Joe's writing, he does have a solid understanding of the structural issues in F1. Between them, they're doing a decent job of analysing why F1 is largely a spending arms race.

"Richest teams control the rule changes" is a bit of a misnomer. Actually, Ecclestone - the commercial head of F1 - has primary control over the rule changes, having convinced the wealthier teams that it's easiest just to agree with him on most things, and the FIA that it's easier to not speak unless "permitted". As such, he typically controls between 12 and 15 of the 18 possible votes - except the few times the FIA insists on opposing Bernie. Hence bending over backwards to make Red Bull - the most loyal of the Ecclestone lapdogs - look like the victim instead of the architect of its troubles in securing a 2016 engine. The "FIA subservient to Bernie" thing dates back to the FIA selling off the commercial rights to Bernie at bargain prices to ensure Bernie stayed at Max Mosley's side, in response to the EU threatening that pairing by imposing the Nice Agreement to control the FIA's monopoly (that no other sport has because only motorsports is dangerous enough for a single body controlling safety standards to be deemed more important than competition). However, this was only considered news back in 2001/2002 and therefore is considered "assumed background information" by journalists nowadays.

Also, Will Buxton's Off The Grid work features interviews that give properly-rounded and detailed understandings of people - and not just the most-interviewed ones - and Peter Windsor makes a solid attempt at analysing drivers in F1 Racing every few months (i.e. when he's allowed proper space to do so - occasional attempts in his monthly column tend to be too short to be useful). Note that Kate and Dietrich are relatively new to F1, but sufficiently established that we are likely to continue seeing their work for a long time, and Will is also quite young - but that Joe and Peter are veterans. In other words, both youth and experience can provide the quality journalism people are aching for but mostly not getting.

Contracts and employment situations are rarely looked at in any analytical detail, though complaints about non-prompt payments to suppliers are now endemic, and the matter of prompt payroll for staff is being an increasingly-common issue due to budget squeezes. I see no reason for the lack of analysis, and it's a gap ripe for filling. A similar gap is clear in the lack of analysis of national attitudes to F1 (I think the last journalistic study on this was done in 1999 by the then-fledgling website Pitpass).

The lack of scrutiny of matters FIA is easier to explain. Passes have been lost, or made unusually difficult to obtain, on the basis of comments perceived to be anti-FIA (including legitimate ones). Martin Brundle has admitted it happening to him on several occasions during his tenure at ITV, particularly in 2007/2008 when he dared criticise Max Mosley's actions towards McLaren and Renault - it is unknown if this also happened during the BBC or Sky eras. Criticism of stewards has also been known to result in such behaviour. Even TV analysis could potentially do so, depending on whether such output annoys the FIA or Bernie (why do you think 2015's viewing figures are late being published?)

Accident investigation is an even worse sore point for the powers-that-be, hence even more reluctance to investigate. After FIA Medical Commission head Gérard Saillant <a href=https://formerf1doc.wordpress.com/2015/03/11/todt-saillant-le-denouement-part-1/>attempted to get Dr Hartstein sacked from his non-motorsport-related job</a> for (admittedly brashly-expressed) <a href=https://formerf1doc.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/the-bianchi-accident-investigation-panel/>modest complaints about the Bianchi investigation</a> (a <a href=https://formerf1doc.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/round-2-of-get-gary-jeans-after-me-again/>legal case between the FIA and Dr Hartstein is pending</a>), it is hardly surprising that journalists in the paddock have been conservative about looking too closely at <i>that</i> particular powder keg - Dr Hartstein is in a very well-paying, shortage-skilled job practising his profession in the United Arab Emirates these days and thus much better able to defend a legal challenge (from geographic and financial viewpoints alike) than the journalists who go to races.

The FIA is doing something about women. The trouble is that general lack of knowledge about what works and what doesn't (there is a lot of reliance on a study of when women drop out of motorsport dating from 1997, so moribund is the field!) that it will be some time before the knowledge is present about whether the FIA's current actions are helping or not. Hopefully this will be chased up (don't be surprised if Kate Walker is a key voice in such investigations - it's one of her other "specialist areas" within F1).

Good journalism can be done. The problem is that increasingly, it isn't being done.

(Parenthetically, pretty much everyone in F1 knows why there's no African Grand Prix: no African government has yet successfully bid for a race in the Ecclestone era. Unlike FIFA, for example, the requirements for a Grand Prix are extremely clear: a circuit meeting strict Grade 1 criteria, willingness to do anything Bernie and the FIA ask for... ...and at least $270 million for hosting fees in a five-year contract. No African circuit can cover that in other-activity income, and no African government has so far shown any willingness to put that sort of money into F1 for any reason, preferring other methods for attracting tourism or getting business deals done. Hence the lack of stories on the topic.)

[glennlife]

Some thoughts on this book about the 1976 F1 season....

http://whatglennthinks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/in-name-of-glory-tom-rubython.html