Post #384,761
12/29/13 10:34:00 PM
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Schumacher seriously injured in skiing accident.
http://www.bbc.co.uk...d-europe-25545993
Michael Schumacher, seven-time Formula 1 world champion, is in a critical condition after a skiing accident, says the French hospital treating him.
The 44-year-old German suffered serious brain trauma, was in a coma on arrival and underwent a brain operation.
He was skiing off-piste with his son in the French Alps on Sunday when the accident occurred.
Schumacher was wearing a helmet when he fell and hit his head against a rock, his manager Sabine Kehm said.
[...]
He was an amazing racer. Here's hoping he can recover from this.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #384,788
12/30/13 7:27:14 PM
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The Law of *Accident*
Seems he was doing nothing silly--just ... unLucky.
Dunno how his 2012 talents (could be) compared with Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio--the immortals.
Mere improvements in practical application of F=MA will cut lap timees, etc. Artistry??
But (from just my POV) the truest gauges of overall-Mastery were exhibited during the lengthy On-real-Roads races of the past:
Nuvolari; rounds a curve (prolly MIlle Miglia) to see:
a couple/some cars spinning uncontrolled; Sees: The Oil==some crankcase+rod met; Decides!
Observers said that his hands moved in blurs ... as he managed his car, untouched, through the spinning obstacles and proceeded well-under-control.
(Sucker probably had genetically-enhanced transmission of nerve-impulses? thus some ludicrous 'reaction time'.. 50 mSec?)
And yeah.. F1 is a Euro sport; driving around in circles is Ours; Multiple-skillz -vs- Endurance of machines.
Hope he surprises everyone; seems a nice non-hubristic kinda guy.
(Saw the Monte Carlo GP once.. Sterling Moss days ... tricky city streets. Don't think I could become a groupie, though.)
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Post #384,790
12/30/13 8:03:57 PM
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Comparisons are hard, but...
Schumacher in his prime was amazing.
http://www.bbc.com/s...formula1/19998444
After crushing Williams drivers Hill and David Coulthard in 1995, Schumacher joined Ferrari. His first season at Maranello was one of his greatest.
He won three races in a car that was miles off the pace, his driving on a separate level from the rest. The best was a stunning victory in torrential rain in Spain, where he routinely lapped as much as five seconds faster than anyone else.
He may have had some questionable help in many cases, but he was very good.
The list of the BBC's "top 20" F1 drivers (at the bottom) is interesting - Nuvolari isn't on it for some reason (!). Schumacher is #4.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #384,791
12/30/13 9:25:05 PM
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My list is now obsolescent, but..
eliding Nuvolari can only be a demographic error--age of these BBC jocks? Doubtless my 'support' is out there on bookshelves, not in minds of Millennials.
(but I rarely have read ones on this topic, certainly not recently.)
That I recognize only ~8 on that BBC list (which I hadn't seen) disqualifies me from any further opinions on F1 du jour.
(But I do remember Lance Macklin--a nobody, the idiot-Brit who pulled out of the pits and caused the Magnesium-fuelled! conflagration of the '55 Le Mans.)
Those Mercedes SLRs--saw one at Stuttgart, maybe touched it?--do exactly what we'unses all did/saw in HS chem-class. :-/
From the Ayrton Senna bio there, I see that I missed also following any details of his exploits; had he survived, perhaps he might.. have eclipsed all?
(Something of the way I deem that Nakariakov equals or eclipses all such artists I've heard/heard about.)
I hereby resign from further comments on F1; it's TMI on my Oooh! list.
(Unless, of course, some next Ferrari model sports a Cat.. on its theme car!)
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Post #384,793
12/30/13 10:05:21 PM
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Familarity, etc., etc.
Anyone who could tame the mighty Auto Union cars was a master. But Nuvolari was in a class by himself, even among them.
http://thejudge13.co...olari-legendario/
In 1925, after a severe crash in a one-off drive in the Monza GP, he was ordered a monthÂs detention in hospital. But.. he had previously signed with Bianchi motorcycles, and had been allowed a temporary release to race for Bugatti. Not wishing to disappoint Bianchi, he left his bed on the fourth day, to the consternation of his nurse and the indignation of his doctor. Trussed up in bandages he couldnÂt move a step, let alone bend down. He certainly could not mount a motorcycle in that straightjacket condition.
As ever, Tazio, full of resources, called the head doctor and demonstrated, with a few sketches, the exact position his body must take on a racing motorbike. ÂNow please do me the favour of undoing all these bandages and then do them up again in this position.Â
Trussed up like a mummy he was loaded into a car, conveyed to Monza, and lifted onto his Bianchi bike. With a broad grin on his face Tazio set offÂ
and won the grueling 200 miles race at an average speed of 80mph.
Zooks!
Senna was amazing. His battles with Prost was great racing and great theater. He died far too young.
I haven't really kept up with F1, either. I did see one of Schumacher's races on TV (don't recall which one) - he spanked the field.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #384,795
12/31/13 4:52:09 AM
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Thanks! Great short-bio of Tazio
and some good links to Old film-clips.
Who could not LOVE.. IT.. [1935 German Grand Prix; the Mercedeses with >100 HP over Tazio's 4 yo. Alfa-Romeo]
when von BrauchitschÂs Mercedes shed two tires near finish.. the Nazis had their flag ready to hoist ...
Tazio streaks in for the Win.
..and what naturally comes to mind is the '40s Spike Jones record, Der Fürher's Face
..when Der Fürher says, 'Ve Ist Der Master Race'--We Heil..pffft! Heil..pffft!--right. in. Der. Führer's. face.
[That Race and at That Time: must have really Pissed Him Off!! {retroactive {chortle}}
It's near impossible to 'empathize'/imagine! the conditions of cars, roads and what every driver had to do--then.
Never hoppen again.. impressive as are the numbers made possible by the near-cyborgs of today;
transistors-->sensors-->car-->driver<--stats<--strategists<--air views
only these historical clips can give a hint of how/possibly such primitive machinery could be flogged to accomplish feats that demanded
such brilliant mentation + flogging of bodies, merely to 'finish'
(Imagine listing all the modern materials we take for granted.. jeez, they didn't even have Duct Tape!)
But then, it's 2014 somewhere and nostalgia ain't what it..
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