FAVOURITE THING - F1 (Formula 1)

Member Name: whitby

Product:	Formula 1
Date:	21/07/02 (1200 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast Quick Action, Triumph and Tragedy, A passion!

Disadvantages: Accidents sometimes but rarely occue

THE ACCIDENT


San Marino, Imola Thursday 28th April 1994 through to Sunday May 1st 1994. A catalogue of disasters that unravelled live on International television.

Friday 29th April 1994 - Rubens Barichello unconscious after a high impact crash at 160mph in practise.

Saturday 30th April 1994 - Roland Ratzenberger killed in qualifying.

Sunday 1st May 1994 - Aryton Senna Killed at Tamburello during the race.


That awful weekend wasn't the first Formula One Grand Prix that I have ever watched but no matter how hard I try, or what books or videos I read I can't for the life of me remember back beyond this weekend. I would have been 19 at the time and I know that the most tragic weekend in my lifetime of watching F1 had a great effect on me.

There is company called Duke Video who sell the official FIA review of the season videos. I have watched the 1994 version over and over. It is very poignant to see. After the safety car pulls in, we join Ayrton's onboard camera and follow him on his final lap, until....the screen goes black for a while to mirror the impact, then we cut to scenes of his life.

I think I began showing an interest in motor sports during 1993, probably shortly after gaining my own driving license. I have posters that date back to BTCC (Touring Car) events from 1993/4, so it must have been around that time - just before those tragic events.

Since then there have probably been another three or four events in F1 that gave me that lump in my throat, that feeling of dread and despair in such a way as the Imola affair in 1994, and they include:

Mika Hakkinen - Australia 1995. A deflated tyre caused Mika to crash into a wall at high speed, leaving him with serious head injuries and in a coma. He returned to racing to win his first grand prix in 1997.

Michael Schumacher - Britain 1999. Brake failure at over 190mph caused Schumacher to hit a wall at St
owe and break a leg. Again the sheets came out to cover the images of an injured sportstar.


MY EXPERIENCES:


You'd be forgiven for thinking that I had a 'downer' on the sport from reading my introduction. That is far from the case. I love Formula One with a passion. I have a room at home full of memorabilia that I have collected, dating over the last fifteen years or so.

I have videos for each year, together with the corresponding books. I have numerous books, miniature cars and helmets that I have collected over the years.

My pride and joy though are two Peter Radcliffe (Windsor) Limited edition prints of Damon Hill in his 1997 Arrows bearing the Number 1 for World Champion and another of him in his Jordan. There are only 600 of each ever made and I have photographs of Damon signing them for authenticity purposes. I truly believe that should my house be on fire - these are the items that I'd save.

With regards to subscriptions and other methods of keeping on top of the sport I am a subscriber to F1 Magazine and have every issue going back to June 1996. I receive daily emails from Autosport.com letting me know about events at practice sessions, driver transfers and other up to minute news. Although not quite as good, I always check the Ceefax page 360 and ITV Teletext menus for up to date news as well. Of course I am glued to the television over Grand Prix weekends, although I am not fortunate enough to have the Sky Interactive facility - yet!

I have been to three Grand Prix - Spa, Belgium twice and the British Grand Prix once. Each time I travelled with the Page and Moye motor sport tours as I felt that I wanted an organised package as I am constantly organising others during my working day - and when I go away I prefer to not have to worry about these issues.

I cannot begin to explain to you the roaring, throbbing, pulsating noise that a Formula 1 car makes. Before going to a
GP I thought that they wouldn't be much louder than a touring car - boy was I wrong. Some people wear ear plugs in the grandstands and I can understand why. Believe me, you cannot imagine the sound of an F1 car - you need to hear it! Wow!


MY DRIVERS:


Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen, Juan Pablo Montoya with a bit of a look at how Villeneuve and Button are doing. However with the first three drivers, did you spot a connection? Ummm Anti Schumacher!

I do not dislike Michael and I know that he is the best F1 driver. He will probably equal Fangios's record of FIVE CHAMPIONSHIPS this year, in fact he could mathematically do it at Magny-Cours this weekend. I also respect that Ferrari have a deep history in the sport..

However I love the underdog, and I think this stems back to Damon.

DAMON HILL

Son of Graham Hill (Twice World Champion) Damon was thrown into the forefront of F1 when Ayrton Senna died. Damon became the lead drier for Williams and went on to win the World Championship in Suzuka on October 13th 1996. That day is my best ever memory of F1. I can remember watching it live in the early hours (as I always do) and seeing Damon's wife Georgie preparing a board to hang over the start / finish straight - Damon Hill F1 World Champion. Murray Walker on TV was doing his usual spiel. However he had a freaky way of praising drivers as they drew into the final stages of a GP, only to see them crash, run out of petrol or blow their engines. The curse of Murray Walker - another thing that I miss about thre sport since his retirement.

I remember sitting watching, knowing that Damon could be champion. He'd had altercations with Schumi but he'd come through - OK he had the best car, but HE still drove it to the end of that race. With one lap to go, I drew my knees upwards and huddled around myself, watching, waiting.......

Three more corners to go, hold it together Damon, Two more c
orners, you'll be ok so carry on, the final corner and Murray Walker said something along the lines of "And Damon Hill has won the Suzuka Grand Prix and is the 1996 World Champion but I have to stop because I have a lump in my throat..."

I am sitting here now with tears in my eyes because that comment summed it up for me and I balled my eyes out - a whole seasons tension came out that night - fabulous!

Damon subsequently had to move to Arrows and then Jordan as Williams didn't renew his contract. The frustration of not being at the front end of the row led to Damon's retirement and that is another day that I remember though not for such good reasons..

June 1999 - I knew from the various articles that I read that Damon's on/off/on retirement would probably be announced soon. I was working in North Acton and my Mum telephoned me on the 16th June to tell me that Damon had confirmed he'd see out the season, but then that was it. I immediately phoned Paul and demanded that we go to see Damon race just one more time - the downside was that we didn't have the money.

For the first time in my life I didn't care, I contacted Page and Moye and told them that the news had been uncovered (they confirmed that they had been warned it was coming). That was it - I checked availability.

What with work issues and need for grandstand seats on the start/ finish line we managed to work out that the only time that suited everyone was Spa 1999. The only package available was Gold seats at the start/finish line for the whole weekend, travelling to Brussels via Eurostar and staying at the Sheraton! Paul's dad lent us the money and I'd got an American Express Blue credit card at a touring car race they were sponsoring - that would pay for the bills!

In the end that final view of Damon at Spa 1999 cost Paul and I £2800 for five days - but it was the best experience of my life so far! I have a
couple of pictures of the events on my personal homepage.

MIKA HAKKINEN

When Damon retired I felt a void. Yes it was the sport that I followed but I loved the competition and nobody has really given me that same passion. So when people asked me who I'd support in 2000 I knew it couldn't be Schumacher - the wounds from the Damon Hill clashes were too raw. That left McLaren and Mika.

You'll remember from earlier that I had a soft spot for Mika anyway following his awful accident and subsequent return to F1. Prior to Australia 1995 he'd been deemed as being the quicker of the two drivers - Michael and Mika. Once he returned to the sport it seemed unlikely that this would be the case and people questioned whether or not the accident affected his confidence. Anyway Mika, again an underdog went on to win two world championships - well done Mika!

Mika however, then went on to announce a sabbatical - he decided to take a year off in 2002 to decide his future. No official announcement has come as to whether he will return next year.

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA

So Damon gone, Mika gone and I still wasn't gonna support Schumi! The only other front running option was new boy Juan Pablo Montoya - The monster. Juan appealed to me because I'd seen him race in America on TV. I knew he had spirit and thats vital against such a great opponent as Michael.

I have been quite impressed with Juan so far although his first year was a bit erratic. I think that I have finally found a driver who evokes the passion in me in the way that Damon did....

SUMMARY

Formula 1 has its ups and its downs - like all sports. But the 22 men who take to the grid every other Sunday from March to October (almost) are great sportsman - from the car in position 22 to the guy on the front row. It is a hard but increasingly safer sport which I thoroughly enjoy. I hope that this piece of writing has helped you to und
erstand my passion.

Sources of Reference:

I have numerous books about Formula One. They cover the races, the drivers, the teams and their owners, the tracks and the statistics. I am not going to list them all here but I shall mention the more "thumbed or viewed" items in my collection:

Mika Hakkinen - Doing What Comes Naturally by Christopher Hilton

Life at the Limit - Triumph and Tragedy in Formula by Professor Sid Watkins

Video - The official FIA Season Review 1992 - 2001, obtained from Duke Video


TRIBUTE TO JILL MURPHY

Jill initially launched this project at Dooyoo, but I asked her permission to carry the idea over to Ciao where she is rapidly becoming a valued member too.

I confirm that the opinions that I have posted on both sites are word for word identical, however that point I feel is irrelevant as this article is part of a wider initiative - which is to celebrate the sometimes small but great things in life such as enjoyment, pleasure, belonging and love - without which life is not worth living.

Jill Murphy asked me to write about one of my favourite things to help her celebrate her fourth anniversary of cancer-free living and to remind ourselves of all the nice things in the world. It takes more muscles to make a frown than a smile you know. If you'd like to join in, whether you've only just joined Dooyoo, or you've been here ages, you're more than welcome. Just write about one of YOUR favourite things, make your title "A Favourite Thing: [your choice]" and include this paragraph at the foot of your opinion. And post before Friday, 9th August.

Thank You

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