Formula One still retains some of its image as a glamour sport, favoured by playboys and daredevils with little regard for training schedules and nutritionists. Juan Manuel Fangio, who dominated the sport in the 1950s, developed a physique that could best be described as portly, while James Hunt, the 1976 world champion, was a notorious party animal and occasional marijuana smoker.
In the modern age, F1’s increasing demands mean drivers have to be extremely fit and focused at all times. Go out on the town the night before a big race and your dulled reactions will show up all too easily the following morning on the electronic telemetry readouts… Details
A British team is on course to break one of the last great speed records. Piloting a yacht that looks like a futuristic windsurf on steroids, the team hopes to achieve the world sailing speed record in the next few weeks, with an average speed higher than 50.57 knots (the existing record).
That is the equivalent of nearly 60mph …Â Details
The undefeated 2008 Powerboat P1 SuperSport Class Champions will be back in 2009 with a new boat, new engines and flying the flag of a new sponsor–literally. Chaudron
Team throttleman, Angelo Tedeschi and pilot, Aaron Ciantar recently launched a new Ilmor High Performance Marine-powered, 41-foot, Maltese-built Chaudron hull. The Ukrainian Spirit team christened the #43 Seagull, painting it in the color scheme of the Ukrainian Flag. …Â Details
Testing conditions greeted competitors in the NZ Offshore Powerboat Championship in Napier on Saturday, and despite one to two metre swells and a one metre chop, both the 100-mile and 60-mile races saw very close racing.
The leading 100-mile and 60-mile competitors finished within two to three hundred metres of each other, commented Greg Brinck, spokesperson for the New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Association and driver of 60-mile championship leader ‘Konica Minolta’…. Details