Radio Australia Today Editorial
Archive for March, 2009
The F1 Grand Prix and the Who. I was there.
30 March 2009
The season-opening Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix has been run and won (and in the case of Mark Webber, lost).
After our broadcasts from the track last week, I went to Albert Park again yesterday in time to see Jenson Button do the improbable and win in a car that has only had a three week prep time. His Brawn GP teammate Rubins Barrichello did the even more improbable by coming second after a rally right at the end.
It’s part of the Australian way of thinking that we love the unlikely. This is a country of the underdog. If someone has no chance of winning, we Australians want them to win. In most cases this means that we are a perenially disappointed race. But once in a while, like when an unseeded Aussie diver won Olympic gold last year, we get our wish, and we smile for the next month. Button and Barrichello are not in the slightest Australian, but the spectators at Albert Park last seemed pleased as punch that they pulled off the big one-two.
Almost straight after the race the fun began. Local band Dallas Crane came on what must be close to the world’s biggest temporary stage to blast out a half-hour set before… The Who! The originators of grunge rock took over the stage with an ever-youthful Roger Daltry and the obstreperous Pete Townshend blasting through their back catalogue with aplomb (the only hiccup being Townshend doing a particularly nasty little solo that had the audience wondering whether it was a work of genius or a complete screw-up. The dilemma was resolved by the young Irish tourist next to me who said: “Here’s some rubbish guitar from our Pete”).
The drummer, by the way, was Zak Starkey, son of the Beatles Ringo Starr. I don’t envy anyone trying to fill in for the long-departed Keith Moon, but young Mr Starkey was as solid and flourishing as the songs needed him to be. The most emotional moment came early on, with stage-wide images of Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle (who died in 2002).
I had to leave after about an hour, but forever now I can say that I have seen the Who on stage, and it was fab.
Kiss with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons last year. The Who this year. Wonder who they’ll get for next year. It’ll have to be loud and motorsporty. That rules out Paul McCartney eh?
– Phil
The GP’s fun, but the Aussie Rules is bigger
27 March 2009
Forty-three thousand people went to the first day of the Formula One Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park yesterday. That’s a lot of people for a working day in Melbourne.
But compare the attendance figure to the Aussie Rules season opener last night at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This game, between two mid-table teams, attracted double the figures of the GP.
It could be that Formula One is getting less popular across the world. It could be that people are holding on to their cash in this economic downturn. It could fears about climate change. I don’t know.
What I can tell you is that the people who were at the track with us yesterday were as enthusiastic as ever. I happened to get caught in the maelstrom when former driver David Coulthard was signing autographs. Here was a man who came about as close as its possible to come to winning a world championship. He won an amazing 13 GPs from 62 pole positions, but could never go all the way. He’s also recognised as one of the nicest men in Formula One. Alas, as Australian driver Mark Webber knows, we can’t all drive Ferraris.
We’ll be back at the track today, and expect that it will be a little busier today with ther start of practice runs, with all the big boys on the track.
Drop in and have a listen.
– Phil
I’m going to the Grand Prix today
26 March 2009
I’m about to head out the door to do our broadcast from the first Formula One GP of the season. The actual race happens this Sunday and for the next three days we’ve got practice sessions and all types of funny cars running all kinds of funny races.
This is the third year in a row that we’ve done the show at the Albert Park track, and you know what? Althought I’m no revhead, I still look forward to being there.
There’s a kind of buzz at world events that you don’t get anywhere else. It’s a kind of synergistic energy that brings people together and.. oh forget all that. It’s just fun.
Speak to you from the track.
– Phil
At long last, Australia gets an electric car.
25 March 2009
Yesterday I blogged about the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, being built in India with the aim of getting Indian people off their smelly old motorbikes into a somewhat safer little car.
On this same day, Mitsubishi unveiled its new electric car which is destined for the Australian market. It’s called the iMiev (and we have no idea of how this is pronounced. It goes into the silly name category like the Nissan Tiida and the Mitsubishi Starion). The car plugs into your electric socket, just like your toaster, and charges overnight.
The car is billed as the first emissions-free car to hit Australian roads, although this is not strictly true. Most electricity in Australia comes from coal-fired power plants, and this means that this emissions-free car runs on coal burnings. That sorta does create nasty emissions. Unless your house is connected to 100% renewable energy, like windpower.
The other thing is that you must be able to park your car where it has secure access to that power point. Running an extension lead to the street, like what I would have to do, is not the most secure way of accessing your power. Not to mention the probability of having pedestrians trip over your cord as it drapes across the footpath.
These things aside, an electric car is a long time coming to the land down under. I remember reading a car magazine as a child in the 1970s and we were being promised electric cars back then. Like the much-vaunted and efficient Ralph Sarich engine from Perth, the electric motor never came to Australian roads. Governments didn’t see the need, motorists were too addicted to fumes, and car companies couldn’t have cared less about the environment. Increased fuel prices and Al Gore’s film has changed all that. Falling sales in gas guzzlers has also brough recalcitrant companies like General Motors to the brink of bankrupcy. Greens might say this is karma. I would say it’s a tragedy for millions of auto workers across the world, a tragedy of Greek proportions that can be laid at the feet of the boards of these companies.
– Phil
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Tata’s Nano. The teeny Model-T Ford
24 March 2009
So it’s been unveiled. After years of promises, we’ve finally had a glimpse of the world’s cheapest car.
Tata, the Indian manufacturing monolith has shown us the car that it will be selling for 2000 U.S. dollars. It’s called the Nano, and it’s a surprisingly pretty and up-to-date looker. Of course if you want little luxuries like power steering and air-conditioning, you’ll have to pay for it. But the last time I was in India, air-conditioning was an open window, and power steering was a bicep.
I don’t think we should underestimate the potential power of the Nano. 2000 bucks will not put it within the reach of everyone, but it will allow a lot of people to get off their bikes.
More of us in the west are moving away from four-wheeled transport. Bicycles are the new cool in Australia, and a good thing too. I grew up in a car househoold. Everyone had a car. We salivated over the latest new model of what history has proved to be pretty crappy cars. Hell, we were even known to drive to the corner store to get the loaf of bread.
It was some years before I discovered the joys of bike riding, the feeling of flight, the breeze through the hair, the speed, the feeling of personal power. Not to mention the fitness and the buzz that stays with you after you’ve dismounted.
Of course safe, fuel-efficient cars will be a good thing for the many people across Asia who load up their motorbikes with goods, families and livestock. For them the Nano will be a blessing.
It’s just that I hope that cars will not become even more of a status symbol than they already, undeservedly, have become.
– Phil
