Over
5 weeks have passed since the Brazilian Grand Prix and already the mighty sound
of V8 engines hurtling around Interlagos and the nerve-jangling tension of the
drivers’ title showdown seems like a thousand lifetimes ago. I am now starting
to experience severe withdrawal symptoms. I suppose absence does make the heart
grow fonder (but then again I was pretty darned fanatical in the first
instance) and we all need time to regroup, reflect and recover from the most
incredible of F1 seasons. But all that aside, the lack of F1 in my life is
almost killing me.
You
know that you’re in a bad place when you hop onto Sky 408 (the remote is almost
self-programmed to find that channel) only to see a re-run of the Indian Grand
Prix and actually consider watching some of it. Luckily sense or a small child
related crisis must have intervened and I was lured away. I did find myself
wondering whether Sky were showing re-runs of every single race of the season,
otherwise who on earth would ever have chosen the Indian GP, one of the most
soporific coma-inducing races of the season.
These
dark times call for emergency measures so here is the Dash of Eau Rouge
Survival Guide for Winter 2012-2013:
1. Jake’s Humphrey’s book (The Inside Track: Paddocks, Pit Stops and
Tales of My Life in the Fast Lane) (aka. Christmas present #1)
Absolutely
not a plug, I promise you (I’ll leave that to Jake himself who has been working
Twitter to within an inch of its life to promote his book relentlessly). Actually
to tell you the truth, I’m not even sure how good it will be. Put it this way, reviews
on Amazon have labelled it ‘F1 for dummies’ and ‘pedestrian’. Not staggeringly
surprised to be honest. Jake’s wide eyed ‘ordinary dude who randomly found
himself presenting F1’ persona and faux banter with best buds, DC and EJ, became
increasingly tiresome as the season drew to a close. Time for a change all
round and looking forward to seeing how Suzi Perry handles DC and EJ (and
indeed Bernie). Googling Suzi Perry throws up some interesting popular searches
(‘bra size’ ‘pics’ ‘leather’ and somewhat bizarrely ‘tights’) but I’m keeping
an open mind. At least she has a proper petrolhead pedigree.
2. Di Spires’ book (I Just Made the Tea: Tales from 30 Years Inside Formula 1) (aka.
Christmas present #2)
3. BBC Two’s Racing Legends
Sir Stirling Moss |
Two
programmes on F1 legends (and knights of the realm), Stirling Moss and Jackie
Stewart (a third programme on Colin McRae has mysteriously disappeared from the
schedules?). So far only watched the first, on Stirling Moss, which was full of
glorious black and white footage from a bygone age of F1. If the BBC Head of
Programming (forever in my mind this is Tony ‘smell my cheese’ Hayers of
Partridge fame) is stuck how to fill a few winter evening slots, please please
please just commission a whole series of Racing Legends. Thanking you.
4. Formula 1 Retro: 1976 (and other years)
Bernie and James |
As
it was the husband’s birthday just after Christmas, the review of the 1976 season was selected from
the bulging Sky Plus library. It’s a pretty legendary season so the big
headline events (Lauda’s horrific crash at the old Nürburgring, a string of controversial
disqualifications for McLaren, Lauda’s remarkable return at Monza and the final
dramatic race in torrential rain at Fuji which saw James Hunt clinch the world
championship) are well documented. What was utterly fascinating was to see rare
up close and personal footage of Bernie Ecclestone (then owner of Brabham), Max
Mosley (then owner of March) and Stirling Moss as roving reporter pouncing on
the drivers for a quick interview as they were still in their cars after the
race. Pure gold.
5. Formula 1: 2012 – What a Year (BBC Season
Review)
And
of course, the season review which we have all been waiting for. Well it’s the
only season review I’ve managed to record. I think Sky did one but it mysteriously
disappeared from my Sky planner but perhaps that’s all for the best. As much as
I miss F1, I’m not sure I could have coped with any more of Simon Lazenby or Georgie and Ted’s stilted
banter outside of a race weekend or, heaven forfend, a review of the season
through the medium of the craptastic Skypad. Shudder. Having said that, I have
not actually watched the BBC1 review yet. Apparently its pretty decent, the
husband appears to have provided the soundtrack (Muse and Daft Punk heavily
feature so I’m told) and there’s a bit of Schumacher bashing which will undoubtedly send me
into rant mode. Sp pretty much standard fare for the season then.
6. 50 Years of Bond Cars
Slight
cheat as not F1 related but cars is cars. This TV offering (as yet unwatched)
has been billed by the husband as his dream programme for it combines two
things he loves more than life itself, Top Gear (it is a Top Gear Special™) and of course James Bond. The show just
features Richard Hammond and not Jezza (Clarkson) or Captain Slow (James May)
so the husband might be a tad disappointed but no doubt he will get over it
while watching all those lovely Astons and I get to see Daniel Craig on my TV.
Everyone’s a winner baby.
7. Internet forums
Often
brutal, sometimes enraging, occasionally enlightening but totally addictive all
the same. Rest assured, if there is the slightest sniff of a rumour or a car
launch, then the petrolhead forums will be all over the news in a flash.
Autosport already has a four page post entitled ‘Countdown to Australia 2013’.
Take a bow, forumistas, that is true dedication to the cause.
8. Holiday plans 2013
Anyone fancy a VIP package to Malaysia? |
Ah
soddit, I might pretend for a moment that I don’t have any small children and,
oh yes, that we’ve also won the lottery (and don’t need every spare penny to
buy a new house, new car…both of which are old, knackered and suddenly too
small) and do some investigative research into some Grand Prix race packages.
Someone on Twitter asked me if I was going to any races next year and so the
Dangerous Seed of Hope was planted in my mind. I’m now obsessing about going to
a race quite badly. Husband, you have been warned.
9. Raid the DVD collection
Somewhere
behind the mountains of children’s DVDs (no idea how we accumulated so many but
put it this way, when my friends’ kids got chicken pox, another friend
recommended our kids' DVD collection to them!) we have some real gems lurking
that are long overdue for another viewing. Such as ‘The History of Grand Prix
Racing’, ‘The Golden Years’, ‘Monaco Race of Kings and best of all (this is real
class) the VHS of Damon’s title winning season that I bought on eBay a couple
of years ago (there is no DVD equivalent anywhere!!).
10. A quiz?
Right
I was SO stuck for a tenth survival aid, that I asked the husband. And you’re
going to love this (hash irony etc). He suggested an F1 quiz with such
questions as ‘what car was known as Colin’s confusacar and why?’ and ‘what was
the Tyrrell Project 34?’. You can probably deduce 3 things from this: (1) the
husband loves a quiz, (2) he is quite old (hehehehe) and (3) the long winter
nights until the start of the new season will simply zip by. Sigh. Bless him he
does try. I have reminded him that he still owes me a guest blog and that the clock
is ticking…
So
2012 is almost over and soon we will be talking of the new season that is
starting ‘this year’. Thanks for reading and for all your lovely comments and
tweets in 2012. See you all the other side of the Big Ben Chimes in 2013!
Australian GP (11 weeks to go and counting!) |
its looking different to see and thanks for sharing the information with us.
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