Get your brains on for a change!
Today under the new boss’s orders, we are doing book reviews. “People still buy a lot of books you know, particularly from Big W and the books are all published by Harper Collins which is part of our global multimedia-dollar platform,” NB said.
Our younger reader adviser, JP of Perth, said we had to explain what a book was. It’s all paper, with a hard cover usually with a lurid illustration, hundreds of pages, lots of words, rarely any pictures and no light behind the words.
This week’s book is Surviving to Drive by Gunther Steiner. No children, this is not a book about Rudolf Steiner who believed that humans once participated more fully in spiritual processes of the world through a dreamlike consciousness but had since become restricted by their attachment to material things like fast cars.
Gunther, 58, born in Merano, South Tyrol, now resident of Mooresville (Race City) North Carolina, is the boss of the Haas F1 team (the smallest team in the sport) but better known as the constantly swearing star of Drive to Survive.
Basically, the book, which is a diary of Haas’s 2022 campaign, is safe for the kiddies since he uses an Italian accented version of the magic word as in the 2022 campaign had “more drama in it than a thousand episodes of a foking Mexican soap opera” and “Why the fok would someone ask me for an interview about Formula One five days before Christmas? Do these people have nothing better to do? Don’t they have lives?”
STD starts on Monday, December 13, 2021, the end of the season and one Gunther had to write off. “Actually choosing to be sh.. for an entire season goes against everything we believe in; every single race weekend put the team on a downward spiral.”
Their 2021 car was rubbish and trying to make it better would only make it more rubbish.
The sexiest parts in the 2022 season were telling Nikita Dmitryevich Mazepin, 24, the son of Dimitry Mazepin – the former largest shareholder and chairman of Uralkali, which strangely enough was the major sponsor of the Haas team – that invading the Ukraine wasn’t cool and they should take the roubles and run.
Then there was the blue with Mick (son of) Schumacher. Mick managed to do a bit of damage to his car – well two prangs that cost Mr Haas nearly $3m which I don’t think AAMI covered. Gunther had to nicely tell Mick to fok off.
Gunther describes himself as “an Italian wanker with a big nose, a weird accent and a German name” but he is very pragmatic. “People talk about football managers being under pressure. Trust me, that’s nothing. Pressure is watching one of your drivers hit a barrier at 190mph and exploding before your eyes.”
STD is a great read even if you’re not too interested in F1. For whatever reason it’s not available in Australia until next month. That’s probably because it’s published by Penguin which is not owned by our group. $25 from Amazon and Big W.
Talking of the arts and F1, Brad Pitt (brother of Arm and Cess) will star in a movie – with the Hamster consulting, Jerry Bruckheimer producing and Joseph Kosinski directing. Joe directed classics like Top Gun: Maverick, Taco Bell: Web of Fries and Spiderhead.
Unnamed will be shot at Silverstone. The Hamster says his Brad Pitt movie will be the “greatest racing movie ever”. “I know we’re going to make the best racing movie that’s ever existed, both visually and we’re going to work on making sure we pull on the heartstrings of all those fans.”
And is this the start of a North American takeover of F1? Four races in septic land this season, Las Vegas, Austin, Miami and Montreal. My bet is the F1 brains trust will add a street circuit in Manhattan next year and 10,000 canucks will write in about that last sentence.
In recent classic car sales Bonhams sold two of the most famous works Monte Carlo Rally cars at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting.
A 1999 Subaru Impreza WRC99, campaigned by the late Richard Burns, in the 2000 Rally, sold for $830k, while a 1963 Mini Cooper S, driven by Flying Finn Rauno Aaltonen, brought $270k.
The Mini secured the 1964 event’s team trophy, along with its two sister cars famously driven by overall winner Paddy Hopkirk and Timo Mäkinen.
Brightwells in soap dodger land is selling a 250 SWB with FIA papers – it was built over two years by GTO Engineering in 2010. GTO takes written-off Feezers, rebuilds them with new chassis and bodies but old ashtrays and used to sell them for around $1.5m. This is one of 10, only about 7000km, drives better than an old one at a seventh of the cost and should still only set you back $1.5m.
Next month we all should head to Dordrecht in clog land when Gallery Aaldering flogs The Palmen Barnfind Collection.
The collection includes a 1955 Lancia Aurelia B24S Spider America, a 1953 Mercedes W188 300S Roadster and seven of his favs, Maseratis. The collection also features Tatra, Monica, Moretti, Matra, Alvis, Imperia, and Villard (No, I don’t know either).
And in riveting news about our new favourite subject, young reader Peter McLeod, who had the sense to move from Adelaide, tells us he lives less than a kilometre from the Oceanic Chinese restaurant in Salamander Bay and always orders from the Australian menu.
Reader 16, Ian McColl, recommends the Golden Sea Dragon at Coonabarabran. Ian knows a thing or too because the GSD takes out our best decorated Chinese Australian restaurant every year and with boneless lemon sauce chicken only $17.90. Why aren’t you there now?
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