It’s all clog, all the time, with a clog favourite to take the 75th (less a few on-and-off years like the 33 years between 1986 and 2019) Dutch Grand Prix.
Don’t think there’s less pressure on Mad Max on his home course. No, just remember what happened to Johan de Witt, former Grand Pensionary of Holland and his brother, Cornelis DeWitt, on this very day a few years back.
How can I put this nicely? OK. How about they were lynched by an angry mob who ate their body parts, including their roasted livers. So, watch what happens to Grand Pensionary Max if he loses on Sunday.
If you’re not into roasted livers, then try a very similar dish – whole raw herring. Over the road from the track is food van Berg vis Zandvoort, where you hold the raw herring by its tail and let it slide down your throat. I found it comes up again pretty quickly.
Anyway, it’s clog on clog action this weekend at the racetrack built on sand dunes and protected by dykes.
Mad Max will go head to head with Leaping Lando, who is Belgian and Canadian. But Clog Land and Chocolate Land are basically the same and so is Frog Land where Ocon and Gasley hail from. You see, in 1433 most of the Imperial and French fiefs in what is now the Netherlands and Belgium were united in a personal union by Philip the Good. There you go doubters. In the women’s F1, two clogs, Maya Weug and Emely de Heus, will be among the 15 competitors from all over nine countries contesting the fourth event of the seven-race series.
Talking of international, this week, this very paper reported that Rwanada will start negotiations with Formula 1 officials next month to host a Grand Prix. Many of you only remember Rwanda because of the 1994 massacres that killed up to one million people and saw an estimated 150,000 to 250,000 women raped.
Of course, things have changed otherwise F1 wouldn’t be talking to them. Pres Paul Kagame (who won more than 99 per cent of the vote in recent presidential elections) leads a one-party, nominally democratic state, where elections are manipulated in various ways, which include banning opposition parties, arresting or assassinating critics, and electoral fraud.
Closer to home and using an old Dutch expression: Aux armes, citoyens,
Formez vos bataillons, Marchons, marchons! For non-clog readers it means get off your backsides Aussie citizens and rise up against current Clog Grand Pensionary, Dickie Schoof, who is trying to ban our very own Stake from promoting its sponsorship of Team Sauber. Stake and Kick are owned by Melbourne residents Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani. Despite gambling advertising being legal, Dickie says Stake is not licensed in the Dyke Land and is therefore illegal. Team Sauber currently have no/zero/none/ not any points in the constructors’ championship.
Talking of Sauber, both drivers Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas have been in the news this week. Zhou Guanyu has highlighted that the different responses to his and rising star, Ollie Bearman’s, Formula 1 graduations to show there is a prejudice towards Asian drivers. Zhou has recorded zero points so far this year. Bearman came seventh in his only F1 race. Dutch person Tom Coronel has told the media that Valtteri Bottas is rotting and should quit Formula 1 and give a young driver a chance.
So, what does Botty do? He releases a calendar of nude portraits of himself to raise money for prostate cancer. However, he admitted some friends and family members – including his mother – expressed concern over his nude pictures being seen and bought all over the world.
“I did get a message from my mum that was like ‘what is this?’. She doesn’t really understand English either that well, and she saw some of the videos that I posted and was quite confused and protective. Like: ‘are you sure that’s the path you want to go?’ A steal at $40 at Bottass.com. Then there’s Val’s gin. As Val says: “Where Aussie grit meets Finnish Sisu”. Oath Gin was created by acclaimed athletes, Australian Olympian Tiffany Cromwell and Botty who, as they say, are a number, and well-known Australian identity Ken Oath.
Moving back to real life: Insurance claims for stolen cars rose by almost 20 per cent last financial year at RAA Insurance but in better news, the most nicked car is all Aussie. The claims data shows the top five most stolen vehicle types last year were: Holden Commodore, Mazda 3, Toyota LandCruiser, Toyota Camry and Toyota Corolla.
The Monterey and Pebble Creek auctions were bad news for investors. First let look at the cars that sold for under $10,000, or the price of a large soy latte and croissant from one of former F1 aerodynamics engineer Dr Kate Reid’s five capital city shops. Anyway, you could have owned a 1982 Cadillac Eldorado for $6000, a 1982 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur Sedan for $7150 or a 2002 Porsche 911 Cabriolet for $10,000.
Hagerty Insider’s Andrew Newton tells us: “The results were ‘disappointing’ The numbers, from overall sales totals to sell-through rates on top-tier cars and prices matched against Hagerty Price Guide values all show a drop from the Covid-era highs of the past few Montereys. Auctioneers had to work harder to sell cars, reserves and low estimates proved hard to meet, and even some of the week’s star cars had a shrug-worthy trip across the block.”
Of course, six of the top 10 price getters were Fezzers, interspersed with a couple of Porkers, a Ford and an Alfa.
Cheapest was the very first Porker 935 built which was a testing and development car but also won a race at Watkins Glen, finished on the podium at Dijon in 1976 and was the only Works Martini Racing 935 in private ownership. Official Pebble Beach auctioneer, Dave Gooding, got a lazy $7m for it.
Top seller was the first 250 GT SWB California Spider built. Sold for $25m. Dave also sold the beautiful 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Lungo Spider for $17m This was a $30m car last year.
And apologies if I haven’t answered your email on problems with your car. Things are slowly getting back to normal and I will be in touch with you this week.
