Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Sponsor Man of Lettuce's gorgeous son, growing facial hair in the name of medical research to improve Aussie blokes' health.

Monday, November 06, 2006

A thing of the past

10 things I hate about Rally Australia

1) Limited local and Australian media access to report on the event, despite half of the pre-assigned Euro media contingent not bothering to travel to the 'arse-end', leaving half the media passes unused, but still not being able to report on it.

2) mercenary promoters who do not value local fans, roping off any remaining reasonable photo vantage points for corporate ticket holders who only stay for the first 5 European cars anyway

3) Jiffy Van food to the exclusion of reasonably priced, or healthy, or even digestible food

4) Having to drive for hours only to be able to access very little, mostly in full sun

5) Filling the Falcon's wheels with red dirt, after driving on unsealed roads that rattle the knobs off the dash

6) Getting pulled over for slowing down the speeding idiots in would-be rally cars, who think they're the next best thing since Loeb

7) Flies, & Porta-loos used a billion times (by lots of very diverse-food eaters who have also, been eating Jiffy Van food for three days) positioned in the full Ausssie sun all day - spewtastic!

8) Those bright orange shirts!

9) Having to park in full-sun so everything you cannot carry with you, melts in the car

10) That Australian and N-Class drivers and their crews are often treated as 2nd rate to the super-slick European teams, when they are highly-skilled drivers experienced in challenging Australian track conditions


10 things I will miss about Rally Australia

1) Taking photos of the very melty & happy-go-lucky Petter Solberg, when he stops by the side of the track to shoot the breeze with Mikko Hirvonen, & unzips his zootsuit down to his woolly long-johns to cool off

2) Observing Langley Pk's amazingly speedy transformation to house the Service Pk, & the even quicker load-out

3) The hoards of tourists and millions of accents heard

4) Normally quiet pubs in the city always full of laughing, happy people every night from the load-in day, regardless of how poorly their cars might be doing

5) The Euro-beautiful-people who swan around like they aren't bothered by the heat, flies & sweat - it's an alternate reality right before my eyes

6) The Australian and local drivers mixing it with drivers who are meant to be the world's best

7) Little Miss Rally competition which attracts young women from diverse socio-economic groups some of whom are sometimes also quite bright

8) The unpredictable race results due to the rugged & recalcitrant red terrain, which is a great leveler

9) My little home town-the most isolated city in the world, being linked to a competition which occurs all over the planet, specifically for the unique conditions and terrains in the places that host it

and drumroll please...
10) The amazing community mindedness of the hundreds of volunteers who give up their time for no personal gain and at their own expense, to make the event safe & good fun for the spectators & competitors