Forget the Olympics in frog land. You have to forget the F1 because they're all on school hols. This is bigger than all of that. Yes, it's Milliondollarcarmageddon and Snailarmageddon!
Last week, Mick and I drove from Spa to Congham, SDL to cover the 2024 Snail Racing World Championships. After weeks of speculation and debate, megastar gastropod Jeff silenced all his doubters with a commanding victory. Jeff, hailed as possibly the greatest snail of all time to emerge from Congham, and ecstatic owner and trainer Simon Lilley received the World Championship Trophy from Snail Master Nicholas Dickinson and Ian Haynes. Jeff won in four minutes and five seconds. A good time compared to last year's winner, Lettie, who took seven minutes 24 seconds. But Sammy's 2019 world record of two minutes 38 seconds remains intact.
The crowd of six roared with excitement as the starter echoed the SRWC version of the Indy 500's "Gentlemen/women and others start your engines". "Ready, steady, slow" and the championship race was under way. Eighty-five snails, five heats and months of training had led to this moment.
Of course, Jeff's easy win was in stark contrast to that other soap dodger in a German car, Sir Lewis Hamilton, who slid in half a second ahead of Kanga Oscar with Ferrari's Chuck Leclerc third, last weekend in Spa. The Jeff of F1, Mad Max, was fourth.
Quick summary. Georgie Russell knew better than Pirelli and his team and every other so called automotive genius that as his tyres were wearing they were getting faster. So, he only made one stop and that was a winner till the fun police weighed his car and said it was too light. Bye Bye Georgie.
More importantly just a few weeks of more sleeps to Monterey Car Week where the phrase "too much money is never enough" was invented. Seven auctions; one Prancing Ponies Women's Car Show; one Ferrari owners club concours; one Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance; one lot of vintage racing at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and one Stillwater Surf & Turf for $150 and one night in the Eastwood (Clint) Cottage on the famed first fairway at Pebble Beach Golf Links, a snip at $12k.
The buy of the millennium is a 40th anniversary tribute to the 1984 Paris-Dakar Rally-winning 953. Two Connolly leather and houndstooth fabric bucket seats fitted with lap belts. Yours for around $40k at RM Sotheby's. Well, it is a car for the kiddies. But what ankle biter wouldn't want a Porker with a 400cc engine generating 11kw horsepower for speeds of up to 80km/h, handpainted in the two-tone iconic Rothmans livery?
OK. Want something grown up and funky? Dave Gooding says mention the Sultan for a special price on the 1966 Austin Mini Moke "Mini Surfer". Twenty readers this is the real deal. A one of three special-Edition Mini Mokes made to promote The Beach Boys. For $100k, you get one of the unsafest cars in the history of powered vehicles.
jc@jcp.com.au