Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/05/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I can attest to Frank's observation regarding motor sport in the USA. Mostly, higher income consumers of sport attend National Football League games, collegiate football games, with smaller numbers attending baseball, basketball events. While many of the NASCAR events attract large crowds, they are mostly blue collar. As a personal example - I follow NASCAR on TV periodically...when they race on road courses and the big super speedway races. Mostly, motor sport fans here do not "get" F1. There's no banging, no low tech restrictor plate type races that generates collisions, and the technology is not of interest. For me (an unusual American in this regard), F1 is worth the effort of traveling to Indy or Montreal for the races. F1 has the internationsl flavor of multiple cultures...like the Colombian contingent shouting "Montoya, Montoya, Montoya for two straight hours!" While it is expensive (one F1 weekend ticket in Canada can be $500), it is worth it to a small number of us! We watch the races compulsively whenever SPEEDTV broadcasts them (two am from China, four am from Kuala Lumpur, or 8:00am from Monaco) and have our live timing on the computer so we know who's in the pits while SPEEDTV breaks away for advertisements. Count me as one of the "tiny but knowledgeable and enthusiatic core of F1 supporters in the US" and its great to pick up inteesting stories from our own Frank Dernie from time to time!! Robert Clark Lancaster, PA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Dernie" <Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 8:32 AM Subject: Re: [Leica] OT: Why God Made UV Filters >I have worked in motor racing all my life, F1 mostly. During the last fuel >crisis there was much heart searching about whether it was appropriate to >race cars. A quick calculation showed that all the cars in all the races of >the World Championship in a year consumed a touch more fuel than -one- >transatlantic Boeing 747 flight... > It turns out that sport using the biggest amount of fuel, amongst those > checked, was Soccer, and it is the fan's cars driving to a huge number of > matches per week worldwide which consume it, not the participants. > BTW you perhaps unwittingly made an interesting point about the > demographic of sports fans. In the USA motor sport is a "blue-collar" > sport, NASCAR and Drag racing, in other countries it is a "white-collar" > sport, and means Karts followed by single-seaters. This is -very- > noticeable when you travel worldwide in the business, and is the main > reason for only sporadic World Championship events being held in the USA. > It is too expensive for most US racing fans to stomach, and too > "low-class" for Americans who can afford it to consider. Having said that > there is a tiny but very knowledgeable and enthusiastic core of F1 > supporters in the US! > cheers, > Frank > > On 4 May, 2010, at 05:02, Vince Passaro wrote: > >> And finally, Nathan, people who fly a lot contribute to vastly more CO2 >> emissions than people who go to auto races. Ahem. You can green up your >> whole life but if you take two planes a year you're part of the problem, >> not >> the solution. We might not like this fact, because despite our good >> intentions we intend to keep flying, but it represents the facts so leave >> the poor monster trucks out of it. > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >