Emotion Before Perfection

The Slow Blog

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Wöchentlich deutsch und englisch

September 2020

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215 HALF A CENTURY

It often depends on a single person if remarkable things become possible or not; one of them: the Swiss Peter Sauber, the only one with a Formula 1 company in Switzerland – the country with the ban of circuit races (since 1955). It is a long story, beginning in 1970, starting modestly and developing for half a century, quite continuously.

Let us have a closer look at this story. According to the official website (please see recommendation) PP Sauber AG was founded in Switzerland, as an independent constructor of open two-seater racing sports cars in 1970. The first race car, the Sauber C1 („C“ stands for the first initial of his wife’s name, Christiane) won the 1970 Swiss Sports Car Championship. Sauber achieved soon international prominence with the C5, in which Herbert Müller won the 1976 Interserie Championship.

A very broad overview:   the eighties with Sportscars Group C, victory in Le Mans and the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles in the World Sportscar Championship   /   1992 - 2005 Formula One Championship as a private team   /     2006 - 2009 Formula One, the BMW-Sauber era   /   2010 - 2017 Formula One independent Team   /   2018 Formula One Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team   /   2019 Formula One Alfa Romeo Racing.

Among the motorsport rookies who made their first notable steps with Sauber were Michael Schumacher, Kimi Räikkönen, Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica (winner of the Canadian Grand Prix 2008 with BMW-Sauber), Sebastian Vettel, Kamui Kobayashi, Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc, to name just a very few.

Be it reports in the media on Peter Sauber and his business, be it The Castiron’s personal talks with people from the world of motorsport: no complaints, just great respect – a rarity in this business.

The Castiron takes the hat off to Peter Sauber and his former, present and future staff; collectively many things are possible; furthermore – best wishes for the future!  

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

Recommendation:       https://www.sauber-group.com/

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214 MISERLINESS IS NASTY

Is an explanation necessary? Maybe, maybe not. Today, this topic in connection with human beings and cars – not a general broad approach.

Tyres, brakes, shock absorbers, to name just a few: a broad realm in relation to costs – and quality. Tyres, good looking, cheap vs. a rather expensive high reputation brand product: often huge differences, primarily in safety and durability. Brakes: on the whole more or less the same. Shock absorbers: also in this case, usually you get what you are paying for; the same key word, reputable manufacturer – cost, quality, safety. In a nutshell: worth the money!

For those who want to know more, The Castiron invites you to have a look at former subjects: tyres (blogposts 21, 22, 82), brakes (88), shock absorbers (166). Either way, miserliness is not helpful – in particular and in general, to yourself and to others. And, please have a look at today’s picture: nobody wants to end the ride in uncertainty.

Or, in other words, as someone once said: „Buy expensively, cry once – buy cheap, cry several times.“ Buying cheap may have consequences: from buying more than once to life-threatening in extreme case. Have a safe and effective drive, on the track or on the road!

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

Recommendation:       http://thecastiron.ch/en/all_blogs.html?year=2016

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213 NORDSCHLEIFE 202009

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, summer’s perspective, based on a comparison of two extremes.

Like the driver in today’s video, The Castiron attended the Nordschleife with a number of different cars, with quite different tyres, too. Also during summer, you are confronted with a quite wide range of external conditions – especially in temperature, besides all others which are typical for the Nordschleife. This year, a trackday with temperature closer to the freezing point than to summerly ones (combined with more or less heavy rain, humidity close to 100 percent); last year a trackday on a very hot day, both in July! 

Either way, it is demanding. In brief: cool and wet, all the high requirements already mentioned in former blogposts – really challenging, especially for the line knowledge and the tarmac conditions; on a very hot day it is a must to take adequate breaks and to drink, as far as possible. And: sometimes it is the combination of these two, apparently good weather and nevertheless track sections with rain showers or even thunderstorms.   

Nordschleife is and will remain Nordschleife! Keep in mind: do not underestimate the manifold challenges of this track and be aware, that also beautiful summer weather makes the job behind the steering wheel not simple. Do not become exuberant, be alert – have a safe and effective drive, 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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212 ACCIDENTALLY ACCIDENTS

Is that so or not? It is not – more than 4 years after the very first blogpost it is opportune to have a closer look at this topic, not a very simple one. Quite a few of the past blogposts dealt with this subject, in a quite broad range: from minor accidents to the 1955 Le Mans disaster (please see at the end „Retrospective“). Accidents are not accidental.

Also The Castiron was not spared from car accidents, on road and track; till now, he always remained uninjured, thank the Lord! Every review, every analysis showed: the accident did not happen accidentally.

Some accident causes, to name just a few key points: inattentiveness, distraction, overrate oneself, lack of ability to drive and of car control – finally, almost always, it is human failure, even with rather seldom material defects (material made by people), even under difficult external factors (such as the weather, bad road surfaces, unpredictable racetrack conditions).

Not for the first time this conclusion: participating in driver trainings are very helpful and of great benefit -  sometimes lifesaving! Latter is not guaranteed, but you never have full guarantee of life and death in this world here. Be alert and humble – have a safe and effective drive, on the track or on the road.

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

Recommendation:       http://thecastiron.ch/en/instructor.html

 

Retrospective (Exzerpt)

12 NORDSCHLEIFE BERGWERK 1976   Niki Lauda    

45 TREMBLING HANDS   The Castiron     

60 NORDSCHLEIFE 201710   The Castiron    

61 MERDE   Sébastien Buemi     

86 JIM CLARK 1968     

112 NOT HUNDRED JUST NINETY-NINE   François Cevert     

120 PAUL WALKER 2013     

121 HUMBLE   The Castiron     

127 DRIVER OF THE YEAR 2018   Sebastian Vettel    

139 STEFAN BELLOF 1984     

141 JO SIFFERT – THE CHEQUE BOOK     

155 GERHARD MITTER 1969     

156 THE INDESTRUCTIBLE   Clay Regazzoni     

171 DRAMATICALLY OVERSHADOWED     

195 CIGAR HERBIE   Herbert Müller     

202 LE MANS 1955     

208 ON THE ROOF   The Castiron