Thursday 3 March 2011

Welcome!

It’s good to be here’, one might say. Not that I would be clever enough to know how, but the eagle eyed among you might spot that I have had this blog registered for a year, but this is my first post. And this first post is all about my passion for motor sport and blogging about it...bit of a misnomer you say? Well...you’d be right, but I hope I have some good excuses! But first, let me explain why I will be blogging about motor sport.

‘It’s just cars going round in circles’...well everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it is fair to say that if the types who would express this stand on the North Pole, I’ll be pootling around in the South Pole! I certainly have not approved of everything that has gone on these past years in the sport, but fundamentally, ‘all things being equal’, motor racing is fundamentally, for me, the best and most exciting sport in the world. The speed and propulsion of the vehicles, usually in close proximity to each other, the multitude of drivers and cars to follow in a race, the fundamentally different character and location of tracks (Tilkedromes excepted), the multitude of factors that can influence one driver’s performance, the noise, the smell, the bravery of the drivers...and if you’re fortunate enough to be at the circuit, to give you a good view of them, they even ‘go round in circles’...can’t do better than that! I would be partial to watching or attending cricket, tennis, snooker, or even football if I’m in a good mood, and all have considerable merit, but the ‘base standard’ of motor sport is simply aeons ahead of them, for my two cents. And while County Cricket, or Challenger level tennis say, may be enjoyable but retain the same essential ingredients, pitch, players, equipment, just the steak without the chips, motor sport is different. We go down from ‘Eff One’ and we have other open wheelers, sports cars, tin tops, ovals, dragsters....you name it...from good ol boys to bobblehat brigade, it’s all there. And the level of diversity means there is an element of balancing out, as series rise and fall. When the FIA embarked on their plan to remove the ‘all things being equal’ part of my ‘best sport in the world’ certainties, with refuelling and cars which rarely overtook each other, Champ Car was sensational. Now, the Indycar series is somewhat weaker compared to halcyon days, but Formula One flourishes in what I think is a great period for the sport. If ever you find ALL forms of motor sport dull, then I will eat your white coat, riding a hat, and wearing a flying pig. Or something similar....

So how did I come to follow this wonderful sport? At this point I would love to spin a ‘love at first sight’ yarn of attending a race, seeing the speed of the cars, but the reality is more...prosaic. I was 7, and for some reason, left alone in front of the TV one night, managing to tune the button to the 1991 British Grand Prix, and was captivated by the closeness of Senna and Man sell racing. And they reminded me of Scaletrixc....I watched the next races, but what really burst the floodgates was the 1991 Italian Grand Prix. I think my father had the genius idea of videotaping the race (something to keep me shut up?) and so we did. And that video tape had to bear some strain over the next few days. What a magnificent race, the cars looking wonderful in the Monza autumn glow, Mansell hunting down Senna for the win, from Prost, Berger, Schumacher and Alesi. No tuggers in those days eh? Fantastic. I had to find out more. But where? No internet, wifi, multichannel, even Ceefax in our house then. But luckily, thanks to the encouragement of my mother, I was always a voracious reader, and after forays into local newsagents, was swiftly a Motor Sport, Autosport and Motoring News reader. Oh the hours I would read and read and re-read the wonderful prose such of Jenkinson, Roebuck, Arron, Tremayne, Saward...I think I got lost in a few Motoring News race reports, but I was airlifted out....I will expand on this in future, but suffice to say the British motor sport press was wonderful, an inspiration, and I didn’t bother much with comics and ‘kiddies TV’ after that...

....but I’m still very much bothering with motor sport twenty years on. And thankfully, experiencing top class writing has been supplemented by personal experience, seeing Senna and Prost in a Grand Prix, the Goodwood Festival of Speed (I still mispronounce that as ‘Charlie in the Chocolate Factory’), rallying, and much more, up to a couple of weeks ago, as a very lucky competition winner at the Motor Sport Hall of Fame ceremony (thank you so much Motor Sport!). And I still can’t get enough of them going round in circles...

But anyone still here might be asking, why your terrible tardiness in setting up a blog? Well I have had the great fortune to be a long-time student, completing a PhD after my undergraduate degree. While I may get (rightly) pilloried and ribbed for avoiding ‘proper work’ for far too long, one drawback was that (play the violin!) if I was writing or reading, it was always nagging away at me that it should really be something to do with my thesis – all the material wouldn’t read and write itself...So after a fit of optimism after completing a big deadline, and a violent spasm of excitement about the impending 2010 Formula One season, I took the sensible (and rather dull) decision to concentrate on my studies, and here we are, 2011, thesis completed, passed, and ready to blog! And why blog? Well my goodness I don’t expect to become rich, nor generate thousands of readers, but my goodness I love the sport, and if it gets me writing and thinking more about subjects relating to motor sport, even if no one reads it, it will have been a very good thing...although I would much prefer if people read it! And it generates a frission of excitement. I will never hold a candle to such as Roebuck, but given how their writing has inspired me it is inspiring to think I am writing about some of the same topics too – although it they are checking into the top floor of the Empire State building in terms of pay and status, I would be somewhere in the basement doing the plumbing! And as I will expand later, there are some wonderful magazines and blogs out there, lots of news, and little I can realistically add to that. But hopefully I can bring my own unique view of some of the ‘big picture’ topics. I always thought the sadly stopped (hopefully it will restart) Motorsports Ramblings blog had it right, a meaty, well written essay once a week. While I won’t make the same guarantee on my output, such a methodology seems about right. I certainly will not produce a few lines on each press release or similar. Although I reserve the right to wack in a few betting posts, because I would be partial to a flutter on the sport. Oh and for the really eagle eyed amongst you, yes you are right the colour scheme of the logo, and the name Motoring Views is a little homage to the glorious old style Motoring News. So here we go, I hope it is enjoyable!