Guilty pleasures in Istanbul
Each morning for the past few weeks I have woken up to the horrifying sight of a huge flotilla of ships anchored in what looks like an entire ocean of oil. The ships are part of a massive, expensive and intense effort by oil giant BP to stop a leak from an oil rig a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico and avert an environmental catastrophe. The eastern towns of Mexico and the southern coastal states of the United States of America are watching with unrestrained apprehension as the spread of the leak widens by the hour and millions of gallons of more oil are spewed into the Gulf. All this because mankind’s unquenchable thirst for oil has driven big oil companies like BP to take greater and bolder risks. Was drilling for oil at such significant depths in the middle of the ocean a risk too far? Probably.
I observe events like these and am ashamed at the folly of the human race. Because we want to drive cars, fly in aeroplanes, sail on ships and have goods manufactured and delivered to us from every corner of the earth, companies like BP have to look harder and wider for a rapidly diminishing resource: oil. We must be mad, mad, mad.
No, you haven’t accidentally logged on to the website of Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth. That last paragraph was indeed written by a self-confessed Formula One fanatic; a devotee of a sport so ruinous, so dissipative and so unnecessary that it ought to be banned. That surely must be the sane and rational thing to do. And yet it has not been banned and, like millions of others, I am drawn remorselessly to it year after year. Why? The answer lies in the final word of the preceding paragraph.
Allow me to explain. You may recall our old friend Max Mosley and his travails with a mean-spirited British tabloid called the News of the World two years ago (see, for example, “Germany and Le Vice Anglais” from 17 July 2008 on this blog). In his legal challenge against the News of the World, Mosley insisted that he “fundamentally disagreed” that his leisure preferences were depraved or immoral and was able to persuade the High Court that he should be left alone in his enjoyment of them. Mosley, in my humble opinion, was being disingenuous. If he felt like he claimed, he would not have gone to the lengths he did to keep his activities secret, even from his wife of many years. Arguing like he did was legal artifice. And it worked.
A more honest appraisal of the situation was offered many years before by Kenneth Tynan, perhaps the greatest theatre critic ever to grace the planet. Tynan achieved fame and wealth and enjoyed the company of a beautiful and loving wife but he still regularly sought after women to indulge in his desire for sadomasochism. Unlike Mosley, Tynan never hid this from his wife but instead had nasty arguments with her when she tried to persuade him to change. “I intend to continue with the sessions weekly,” said Tynan, "although all common sense and reason and kindness and even camaraderie are against it. It is my choice, my thing, my need. It is fairly comic and slightly nasty. But it is shaking me like an infection and I cannot do anything but be shaken until the fit has passed.”
Tynan’s views about his “thing” are similar to mine about Formula One. It is an affliction I cannot shake off, no matter how many oil rigs pollute the world’s oceans and needlessly murder innocent marine creatures and birds. I submit to it out of need, you must understand, not insouciance. I must, therefore, gird my lions as the fever is to re-announce its presence in a couple of days as – once again – the Formula One circus makes its way to the Istanbul Park circuit in Turkey.
I have consistently been unstinting in my criticism of the cartel which runs Formula One. It was led for many years by the double-headed monster of Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley who recruited a team of spanner boys, including a German architect called Hermann Tilke. As the rights to host races were delivered to new countries around the world for the price of a few million shekels, Tilke was awarded the contract to design each new circuit. It seems that part of his brief was to make the tracks as unexciting as he possibly could: “Go out there, Tilke, and produce tracks which your grandmother would be pleased to be driven around on.” Tilke did as he was bid and Formula One has since had a cucumber halfway up its arse.
As it happens, though, there is an exception. Probably under the influence of some super-strong Turkish hashish or after a pleasing night in a seedy Istanbul house with red doors, Tilke had an epiphany. The circuit he designed for the Turkish Grand Prix is an absolute corker. It follows the lay of the land and rises and dips at unusual points. I remember sitting with friends for the first Turkish Grand Prix in 2005 and experiencing a collective moment of beer going down wind pipes as we saw the effect of the legendary “Turn 8” (a complex series of corners) for the first time. Car after car was caught out by the corner’s speed and complexity and spun out. It was and has since been exhilarating.
Following their one-two success at the historic Monaco circuit a fortnight ago, the Red Bull team is fired up and raring to go in Istanbul. I think they may find the going a little more difficult this time. But I still expect either Sebastian Vettel or Mark Webber – evenly matched thus far – to win on Sunday. The big boys at Ferrari and McLaren are desperate to get on terms with them and Istanbul gives the best opportunity yet of doing so.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa won this race three times in a row in 2006, 2007 and 2008. He has been somewhat overshadowed by his new team-mate, Fernando Alonso this season, and needs to prove that he is still good enough to be worthy of the highly prized red overalls. Besides, there are rumours afoot that the Ferrari tailors are measuring up Renault driver Robert Kubica, as a Massa replacement for next season. A win here would, therefore, not do the little Brazilian too much harm.
Over at McLaren, notwithstanding Lewis Hamilton’s superior driving performance, he is yet to win a race in 2010 while his new team-mate, Jenson Button has two wins under his belt already. Button won this race for Brawn last year, so going by that fact alone, he has a better than evens chance of overhauling his team-mate again.
Try and put thoughts of oil leaks, marine pollution and global warming to one side and,
Enjoy Turkey!
Gitau
27 May 2010
I observe events like these and am ashamed at the folly of the human race. Because we want to drive cars, fly in aeroplanes, sail on ships and have goods manufactured and delivered to us from every corner of the earth, companies like BP have to look harder and wider for a rapidly diminishing resource: oil. We must be mad, mad, mad.
No, you haven’t accidentally logged on to the website of Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth. That last paragraph was indeed written by a self-confessed Formula One fanatic; a devotee of a sport so ruinous, so dissipative and so unnecessary that it ought to be banned. That surely must be the sane and rational thing to do. And yet it has not been banned and, like millions of others, I am drawn remorselessly to it year after year. Why? The answer lies in the final word of the preceding paragraph.
Allow me to explain. You may recall our old friend Max Mosley and his travails with a mean-spirited British tabloid called the News of the World two years ago (see, for example, “Germany and Le Vice Anglais” from 17 July 2008 on this blog). In his legal challenge against the News of the World, Mosley insisted that he “fundamentally disagreed” that his leisure preferences were depraved or immoral and was able to persuade the High Court that he should be left alone in his enjoyment of them. Mosley, in my humble opinion, was being disingenuous. If he felt like he claimed, he would not have gone to the lengths he did to keep his activities secret, even from his wife of many years. Arguing like he did was legal artifice. And it worked.
A more honest appraisal of the situation was offered many years before by Kenneth Tynan, perhaps the greatest theatre critic ever to grace the planet. Tynan achieved fame and wealth and enjoyed the company of a beautiful and loving wife but he still regularly sought after women to indulge in his desire for sadomasochism. Unlike Mosley, Tynan never hid this from his wife but instead had nasty arguments with her when she tried to persuade him to change. “I intend to continue with the sessions weekly,” said Tynan, "although all common sense and reason and kindness and even camaraderie are against it. It is my choice, my thing, my need. It is fairly comic and slightly nasty. But it is shaking me like an infection and I cannot do anything but be shaken until the fit has passed.”
Tynan’s views about his “thing” are similar to mine about Formula One. It is an affliction I cannot shake off, no matter how many oil rigs pollute the world’s oceans and needlessly murder innocent marine creatures and birds. I submit to it out of need, you must understand, not insouciance. I must, therefore, gird my lions as the fever is to re-announce its presence in a couple of days as – once again – the Formula One circus makes its way to the Istanbul Park circuit in Turkey.
I have consistently been unstinting in my criticism of the cartel which runs Formula One. It was led for many years by the double-headed monster of Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley who recruited a team of spanner boys, including a German architect called Hermann Tilke. As the rights to host races were delivered to new countries around the world for the price of a few million shekels, Tilke was awarded the contract to design each new circuit. It seems that part of his brief was to make the tracks as unexciting as he possibly could: “Go out there, Tilke, and produce tracks which your grandmother would be pleased to be driven around on.” Tilke did as he was bid and Formula One has since had a cucumber halfway up its arse.
As it happens, though, there is an exception. Probably under the influence of some super-strong Turkish hashish or after a pleasing night in a seedy Istanbul house with red doors, Tilke had an epiphany. The circuit he designed for the Turkish Grand Prix is an absolute corker. It follows the lay of the land and rises and dips at unusual points. I remember sitting with friends for the first Turkish Grand Prix in 2005 and experiencing a collective moment of beer going down wind pipes as we saw the effect of the legendary “Turn 8” (a complex series of corners) for the first time. Car after car was caught out by the corner’s speed and complexity and spun out. It was and has since been exhilarating.
Following their one-two success at the historic Monaco circuit a fortnight ago, the Red Bull team is fired up and raring to go in Istanbul. I think they may find the going a little more difficult this time. But I still expect either Sebastian Vettel or Mark Webber – evenly matched thus far – to win on Sunday. The big boys at Ferrari and McLaren are desperate to get on terms with them and Istanbul gives the best opportunity yet of doing so.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa won this race three times in a row in 2006, 2007 and 2008. He has been somewhat overshadowed by his new team-mate, Fernando Alonso this season, and needs to prove that he is still good enough to be worthy of the highly prized red overalls. Besides, there are rumours afoot that the Ferrari tailors are measuring up Renault driver Robert Kubica, as a Massa replacement for next season. A win here would, therefore, not do the little Brazilian too much harm.
Over at McLaren, notwithstanding Lewis Hamilton’s superior driving performance, he is yet to win a race in 2010 while his new team-mate, Jenson Button has two wins under his belt already. Button won this race for Brawn last year, so going by that fact alone, he has a better than evens chance of overhauling his team-mate again.
Try and put thoughts of oil leaks, marine pollution and global warming to one side and,
Enjoy Turkey!
Gitau
27 May 2010
posted by Gitau at 2:48 pm
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