Ferrari Mailing List: Re: F1

[Erik Nielsen (judge4re]

I knew the NASCrap comment would get a rise.

There is nothing wrong with motorsports from a competition standpoint, but when 
the big money gets involved, jeez what a mess.  Pure test of skill occurs in a 
spec Miata or a shifter kart, higher budgets than that are just dick swinging 
contests.  I don't buy into the whole brand lifestyle approach being pushed by 
Ferrari and the others (to some extent), it's just a form of a drug deal, got 
to get you hooked.  Look at it from the outside and it's just sheep being shorn 
on a regular basis.

As for cars, we're still early in this journey, the question is do we put the 
object on the pedestal or accept that its functionality is more important?  I 
enjoy the technical elegance of a well executed design, but can really do 
without all of the cultural emotional baggage that comes with it.  

I leave you with just one more psychoanalysis tidbit for Sunday. 

Do you know what Sigmund Freud said comes between fear and sex?

Funf.

Cheers,
Erik

Sent from my iPad

> On Nov 2, 2014, at 8:20 AM, Rick Lindsay <richardolindsay [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> > Easy Rick, you're starting to sound like you're promoting NASCAR...
> 
> Now you're just getting nasty! 
> 
> > The sport is no longer relevant
> 
> The sport is no longer a 'sport'...as if it ever was.
> 
> > I spend enough time on the continent to tell you that there is a limited
> > audience there, too.  Let it die a natural death and let's see what
> > grows up to replace it. 
> 
> Probably good advice. Perhaps I'm just too old and want back 'the old ways', 
> as Miss Marple says.
> 
> I wonder if our parents felt this same way, or is this unique? If so, is it a 
> game-changing mega-trend, as the cultural geographers say? In the '30s a 
> motorcar was a luxury and one needed to be a mechanic, or rich enough to 
> employ one, to operate the machine. By the '60, at least in the U.S., every 
> family owned a car and corner garages kept them running. By the '80s the 
> beasts were considered dirty and dangerous so multiple defenses were added. 
> In the 21st century, motorcars are questionably necessary major appliances 
> but owning one is an entitlement - like free government money, housing, food 
> stamp cards and healthcare. Oh, and high speed internet, smart phones and 
> tablets. Can't buy food or pay child support but they have a Facebook page! 
> Now THAT is a mega-trend. Our parents' generation may have been poor but they 
> prioritized food and child care first.
> 
> Motorsport is dangerous so lots of protection has to be added. We seem to 
> have realized that civilization must be safe and our inate desire for carnage 
> and competition has to be satesfied elsewhere. How about a team (tribe) of 
> football players (warriers) egged on by fight songs and blood thirsty cheers, 
> competing on the field of battle for breeding rights over the cheerleaders?! 
> Yes! Natural Selection wins another one! Now if fantasy football could just 
> replace the actual games, perhaps with computer generated decisions, everyone 
> would be safer. Racers could compete on their smart phones - or if adequately 
> wealthy, have someone wiggle their thumbs for them. And in the end, award 
> double points for their entitled entertainment!
> 
> > YMMV,
> > Erik
> 
> Indeed it does, Dr. Erik