Emotion Before Perfection

The Slow Blog

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May 2020

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198 NORDSCHLEIFE 202005 29.05.2020 17:19

Things go in cycles: spring, summer, autumn, winter – a fact on one hand, on the other hand the Nordschleife, always good for a surprise. Today, spring’s perspective, based on an overview on the last decades and related gained experiences.

The Castiron attended the Nordschleife with a number of different cars, with quite different tyres, too. During spring, sometimes you are confronted with additional challenges, often not quite unexpectedly.

Heavy, normal or light rain (in combination with low temperature close to snowfall) with a wet or just humid track surface, as a variation dry, humid and wet in combination; to that, spring offers also the experience of pollen grain and moisture (please see blogpost 137) and the low sun in the morning and late afternoon as an extra.

Especially in April weather can be very unpredictable. Conditions change dramatically, up from one moment to the next. Surprises for every driver, sometimes leading suddenly to emergency situations.

The Castiron likes to drive in difficult, even harsh conditions; but when Nordschleife is in combination with a quite powerful vehicle, such as his Ford Mustang, Eleanor V, and the track conditions are wet and inconsistent, he does not feel very comfortable. Then, one fact dominates: it is unpredictable and can go almost up to the ride feeling on a snow covered surface.

Nordschleife is and will remain Nordschleife! Keep in mind: do not underestimate the manifold challenges of this track and be aware, that weather in this region and all its related factors do not make things easier. Be alert – have a safe and effective drive, being it on the track or on the road.

See you next Friday. - God bless you, all the best! The Castiron

Recommendation: http://thecastiron.ch/en/links-en.html

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197 MILLE MIGLIA PART II 22.05.2020 17:09

A quarter of a century ago, The Castiron got the unique chance to participate in the Mille Miglia 1995 – as co-driver of a German aristocrat. The car originated from the late thirties – a collector’s piece belonging to a prestigious German vehicle manufacturer.

Those days in Italy are simply indescribable. Anyway a few headings: support by the manufacturer, a good team spirit in general, especially between the aristocrat and The Castiron and many, many unforgettable impressions – men and machines, the route and the scenery, above all the enthusiastic crowd from the very young to the really old.

Just a few facts: though the two were novices in this multi-day regularity race, they achieved to win one stage, overall they finished into the first third of the classified cars. They brought the car back to Brescia as they received it a few days before – no accident, no damages, no technical defects, everything very well. For The Castiron, all this was a gift from the Lord the heavenly Father, too.

Less words, more pictures – please have a look at them. Again: a picture is worth a thousand words. Not even in thousands of words this adventure, this experience can be adequately described.

See you next Friday. - God bless you, all the best! The Castiron

Recommendation: www.1000miglia.it/?lang=en

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196 MILLE MIGLIA PART I 15.05.2020 16:55

According to Wikipedia, the Mille Miglia was an open road motorsport endurance race, which took place in Italy from 1927 to 1957 – from 1953 until 1957 as part of the World Sportscar Championship. Mille Miglia means thousand miles – the synonym for the distance, meaning at least a good ten hours in the car, or much longer.

In 1955, Sterling Moss and Denis Jenkinson, were setting the record at an average of 97,96 miles per hour. Jenkinson gave directions to Moss during the race by a coded system of hand signals; although this undoubtedly helped them, the driver’s innate ability was the predominant factor.

The race was banned after crashes; in 1957, a team waited too long to make a tyre change and continued driving instead. Too long was too late, too: a worn tyre caused a very tragic crash, the driver and the navigator in the car and nine spectators died.

Since 1977, the Mille Miglia has been reborn as a regularity race; participation is limited to car models, which had attended the original race. The route is similar to that of the original race, maintaining the point of departure and arrival in the city of Brescia.

Less words, more pictures (from recent times) – please have a look at them; a picture is worth a thousand words.

Part II will be about an adventure of two sportsmen, an aristocrat and The Castiron as co-driver, participating in the Mille Miglia 1995 – a quarter of a century ago.

See you next Friday. - God bless you, all the best! The Castiron

Recommendation: www.cbmcint.com/signup-now

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195 CIGAR HERBIE 08.05.2020 12:07

Today’s focus is on another hero of the past, Herbert Müller, also known as Cigar Herbie (11th May 1940 – 24th May 1981). This blogpost is dedicated to this Swiss – smoking cigars as an evident mark. He would have turned 80 this month.

As relaxed and funny his nickname sounds (Cigar Herbie / Swiss German „Stumpe Herbie“) as awful were the circumstances of his death. This is the extremely sad and harrowing story of motorsport, Nürburgring, fire accidents and the racing driver Herbert Müller – just as much as necessary, not as much as possible. It is hard to find the right words.

A brief comment on today’s video: the final accident was not his first fire incident. In 1972, Herbert Müller could free himself (shown at the end of the video) and ran as a living torch to the stewards, who extinguished the fire – the same driver and the same racetrack.

Years after the unconceivable tragedy in 1981, The Castiron met a man, who had been an eyewitness as a spectator. The deep involvement was still perceptible and one point really harrowing: he said, the specators heard Herbert Müller squall in pain until the loss of consciousness.

This time, Herbert Müller could not free himself. All this causes tremendous anguish and makes us tragically aware, how transient our being in this world is.

See you next Friday. - God bless you, all the best! The Castiron

Recommendation: http://www.herbertmueller.ch/

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194 TRANSIENT 01.05.2020 11:56

Now, between Easter and Pentecost, it is a good opportunity for some thoughts from the pastor’s view, once again. Transient: a term valid for anything we possess, for our whole live. The Holy Bible presents in the Book of Ecclesiastes (Ecc) much to that.

Ecclesiastes 1, verse 14: „I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them meaningless, a chasing after the wind.“ From this initial position, some other points are worth mentioning, all well known and inevitable for all of us.

Ecc 1, 17: „... understanding of wisdom and also of madness and folly ...“ / Ecc 2, 17: „... the work that is done ...“ / Ecc 2, 26: „the task of gathering and storing up wealth ...“ / Ecc 4, 4: „... all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another ...“ / Ecc 6, 9: „Better what the eyes see than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.“ In sum, ultimately: all transient.

This awareness should be a constant companion for The Castiron and actually for you, too – easier said than implemented. It is a fact, sometimes a real drastic one: transient can also mean the facing of definitive and extremely hurtful incidents in our lives.

Next week you will be confronted with the shocking significance of this, taken from the real life of motorsport.

See you next Friday. - God bless you, all the best! The Castiron

Recommendation: https://www.bibleserver.com/NIV/Luke12%3A16-21

PS Basic thoughts source reference: Lebendig! VOM GEHEIMNIS MÜNDIGEN CHRISTSEINS von Michael Herbst SCM Hänssler