Nipped out for another morning lope, again in superb conditions - the weather and course that is, not me. I'm still showing signs of rust after the weekend.
Elected to throttle back, adding a minute to yesterdays' time, which was good enough. Rest tomorrow, another hill run on Friday before the Firle 20k on Sunday. This race looks to be a good one, with a gargantuan ascent at 7K leading to stunning views back over Lewes. I may take a camera.
Track du jour; ZZ Top, La Grange.
[SIZE="1"]4.96 miles, 44:57 minutes[/SIZE]
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Another creaky climb to the Cap. Cold wind today, harsh and uninviting. Combined with early morning sun it created near-perfect conditions. These are truly the halcyon days of summer for me; bright mornings, cool breezes, clear skies, soft turf.
I struggled for the first twenty minutes, battling against fatigue as much as the muscular mistral. A longer-than-usual pause at the turn before a helter-skelter charge homeward. During the run I thought about the unseemly shenanigans surrounding the current Formula One debacle. Seems to me the fine, although impossibly large to most, is of less significance than the decision to withdraw the team's points but leave the drivers to contest the championship unmolested. This is perhaps the worst fudge in the history of this Machiavellian group of super-rich 'sportsfolk'. The sport needs competition (sadly lacking in recent years) and the race between Alonso and Hamilton for the crown is almost compelling (almost, that is, to those of us generally indifferent to this rich man's playground), not to mention a huge magnet for press coverage, publicity and, of course, the mighty greenback.
Am I the only person who, on hearing the announcement of the fine - 'One Hundred Million Dollars' - thought immediately of that other super-rich villain, immortalised by Mike Myers?
[SIZE="1"]4.93 (!?) miles, 43:29 minutes (year's best for the course)[/SIZE]
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Sweder Wrote:During the run I thought about the unseemly shinnanegans surrounding the current Formula One debacle. Seems to me the fine, although impossibly large to most, is of less significance than the decision to withdraw the team's points but leae the drivers to contest the championship unmolested. This is perhaps the worst fudge in the history of this machiavelian group of super-rich 'sportsfolk'. The sport needs competition (sadly lacking in recent years) and the race between Alonso and Hamilton for the crown is almost compelling (almost, that is, to those of us generally indifferent to this rich man's playground), not to mention a huge magnet for press coverage, publicity and, of course, the mighty greenback.
Not sure I quite follow you there. Is it a fudge? Doesn't the decision to leave the drivers' points intact leave the battle between Hamilton and Alonso just as it was? Admittedly I've not read the small print of the verdict and punishment but on the surface it seemed like a decent decision i.e. to penalise the teams' management but not the drivers.
What have I missed?
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
IF McClaren are guilty of using knowledge gained from Ferrari (as appears to be the case) the cars are technically illegal. How can you be crowned world champion if you're driving an illegal car?
It's a fudge, a verdict of convenience.
Either McClaren are innocent (as Ron Dennis insists) or they're guilty. I don't see how there can be half measures here.
Also, wherefore Ferrari's culpability in this?
IF (that word again) McClaren are being held accountable for the actions of an employee, surely the dossier came originally from a Ferrari employee, and therefore . . .
. . . and on we go. It stinks, like rotten flesh of mouldy cheese. I'm not a big fan of the sport so I care little either way. I'm simply struggling to see this decision as anything other than appeasement to Ferrari who, it is said, have a disproportionate representation at the FIA. According to no lesser light that Sir Jackie Stewart 'information exchanges' go on 'all the time' and, to date, have gone unpunished. Now that McClaren are romping away with all the silverware it's become a matter of life and death.
It'll be interesting to hear what the FIA report in their press conference today. That might clear this us up. Until then I resreve the right to mutter in disgust at what appears to be a rather nasty case of hypocrisy.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Er, OK. It was your comment about the battle between the two drivers as being compelling, which led me to think that you were expressing relief that they'd not been penalised.
I don't know if the cars themselves have been declared illegal, or whether the team has been penalised for generally being a bit dodgy in the way it goes about things. Arguably, to penalise the drivers for the failings of their management might be unfair.
Being the devil's avocado, I'll declare that the decision seems a good one to me.
And anyway, criticism (even merely implied) of Bernie Ecclestone is no longer permissible on this forum...
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Understood old chap - my fault for muddying the waters.
Hmm, turns out the drivers were far from innocent - at least, Messrs Alonso and de la Rosa. Hamilton it seems need only bend forward slightly to unleash a blinding ray of sunshine
This doesn't clear things up for me.
The FIA appear to be saying the drivers (at least two of them) were complicit in the use of the purloined information helping the team gain unfair advantage. A better result would surely have been fine the team, take away their constructor points and expell the unctious Alonso.
I'm sure Ana is even know tooling up for an armed assault on the Lewes Arms but hey; it's not my fault that the current world champion is a sullen, whining spoilt brat. Remember, we had to put up with Mansell, so we know one when we see one
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
I do think McLaren have rather spoiled the party. I'm not entirely sure what the appropriate penalty should be, but I agree with Sweder - the penalty doesn't seem right. If a jockey rides a winning race, and the horse fails the dope test, then the jockey quite rightly loses as well, even if he had nothing to do with the doping. F1 drivers are no different, surely?
As far as I can tell from the sketchy report in the International Herald Tribune, it wasn't the car that attracted suspicion as being unexpectedly superior. The suspicion was top-down (info about management shenanigans), and no satisfactory evidence has been advanced that Hamilton or Alonso have had an advantage any more unfair than they would otherwise have had by driving a car that is probably superior in the first place.
Does that make sense? It does to me, after a couple of Asahi Blues while watching Wales - Australia rugby in a raucous Irish bar in Kyoto.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
If there's guilt - and the FIA's certain there is - then the team has benefited from information received. That appears to be at the heart of this decision. Don't forget after the initial hearing - when McLaren accepted they'd had the info but claimed to have made no use of it - the FIA slapped their wrists and let it lie.
It was the revelation that the drivers were openly discussing Ferrari tactics and technical details about the cars (via e-mail) - thereby, according to the FIA, making use of that information - that drew the full force of the decision. Clearly the drivers were involved and should be punished along with the team. I agree that it is unlikely to have made a lot of difference to the McLaren vehicle this season, but that doesn't seem to matter in all this.
It's a split decision, split purely for the convenience of the sport. If the drivers were banned/ relieved of points the rest of the season would be a shammery of a mockery. This way there's still a crowd pleasing, money-drawing battle to follow.
I'd still like to know why Ferrari escaped censure when it was one of their employees who started this mucky ball rolling. Although, would I? Actually, no - there's more important issues at hand, namely the Firle 20k tomorrow and a rather wooly looking hedge to finish off.
On the rugger, glad you had chance to watch a decent contest. The public spanking dished out by the Springboks on Friday night was nothing short of a horror show.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote:It is a curious thought Andy, if you are suggesting that management has no effect on performance! Of course it benefitted the drivers!
It may, or may not in this case. I don't know. Anyway, my disclaimer was that I'd not read a detailed report -- and certainly nothing about "drivers... openly discussing Ferrari tactics and technical details about the cars (via e-mail)". Hadn't heard that. If true, that would seem to make a difference.
I'm still uncertain to what extent the drivers should be punished though. They may well have benefited, but it's impossible to tell how significant that benefit was.
On the rugby front, mercifully I missed the SA-Eng game. Didn't know it was on, fortunately. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
The amount of any benefit is hard to measure but, in my view, irrelevant. If the team has cheated - and that's what the FIA are saying, harsh though that appears - they should be thrown out, lock stock and drivers. I just don't see how Alonso or Hamilton can celebrate being World Champion under these conditions. A lot of people here are voting with their remotes and switching off - myself included.
The case was re-opened because of these driver to driver e-mails where the details of Ferrari's strategy and technical information was discussed. David Croft, the BBC's correspondent, described the information as 'damning'. Cutting to the chase it sounds like the details of the dossier were discussed within the McLaren team on and informal basis, and the drivers swapped e-mails about some of the juicier details. FYI the FIA asked the drivers to forward any relevant documents or details for the enquiry; Alonso couldn't cough up his e-mails fast enough.
I see him driving a different brand of vehicle next season.
Funny how the England national football side get their act together and all our other sides start falling apart at the seams. Rugby, Cricket, Golf (Walker Cup, Solheim Cup) . . . it's all gone the shape of ther pear. I'm just happy there's no Springboks on RC at the moment. It's bad anough having a resident Aussie
Tragic news that Colin McRae, along with his five year old son, died in a helicopter crash this weekend. McRae was a supreme driver of more than simply rally cars; he impressed in all forms of motorsport, including a turn in an F1 car. He was a winner and someone for whom compromise was not in the dictionary. RIP.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Yes, I heard about Colin McRae -- and passengers. Sad news indeed.
I'm going to duck out of the F1 discussion because I'm clearly slightly out of the loop with the details of the case. Before I left, I was under the impression that the case revolved around technical details of the Ferrari car being disclosed/sold to a McLaren rep. The story hadn't filtered down to drivers openly discussing leaked Ferrari race strategy. I certainly wouldn't defend the former practice but my reasoning was that any disclosure of technical detail would be likely to be of longer term strategic benefit that today's drivers may well not know anything about, and therefore shouldn't be punished for. But the story appears to have inflated beyond that point now, so as I say, I'll shut up. I've no interest in defending cheating, unless of course, I'm the one doing it.
Talking of pear-shaped England teams, I understand the women's football team is doing OK.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Andy Wrote:Talking of pear-shaped England teams, I understand the women's football team is doing OK.
I'm not sure about pear-shaped . . . some of them look rather fit. They just squeeked past our old friends Argentina by six goals to one and are in the quarter-finals. Where I understand they get to play the good ol' US of A.
Hmm . . . England . . . football . . . quarter finals of a major competition . . . any money on 'us' going out on penalties?
[SIZE="1"]PS: Glad you're dropping the F1 stuff. It really doesn't warrant the oxygen of publicity, even here in humble RCland.[/SIZE]
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Excellent! And so the overblown circus descends into anarchy and ridicule. As I said, a shammery of a mockery. Tough on floppy discs, tough of the causes of floppy discs. Marvellous stuff for the casual observer.
I also heard tell of a potential complaint from the Williams camp regarding some carefully prepared notes on the back of a fag packet . . .
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
First run of the week . . . on a Wednesday!
Still, the two day sabatical seems to have paid off. The pulped flesh that used to be my thighs had recovered enough to get me over just shy of 8 kilometres in 44:02.
Nice to feel some good honest cold blustery wind laced with drizzle. No more of this pseudo summer rain rubbish; this is Autumn, coming in hard and fast and I for one welcome her. Here's to mud, soft turf, grime-flecked leggings and impossibly rosey faces, the hot sting of the shower on partly frozen flesh.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Sweder Wrote:Nice to feel some good honest cold blustery wind laced with drizzle. No more of this pseudo summer rain rubbish; this is Autumn, coming in hard and fast and I for one welcome her. Here's to mud, soft turf, grime-flecked leggings and impossibly rosey faces, the hot sting of the shower on partly frozen flesh.
Completely agree. Autumn and spring offer great running days. It looks like I'll be working from home a fair bit in the future, and intend to start most days with a decent plod to set me up for the day. Am looking forward to it.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
September 2007 - General Stuff
![[Image: DrEvil.jpg]](http://www.habitationofjustice.com/wp-content/uploads/DrEvil.jpg)
