At midnight last night the Formula One Teams Association announced that it was to start planning a breakaway “F1” series. FOTA comprising of Ferrari, McLaren, Toyota, BMW, Renault, Red Bull, Squadro Toro Rosso and Brawn GP have elected to form an alternative series to Formula 1 rather than accept the revised budget cap of €100m for 2010 to be reduced to €45m from 2011 onwards. I really don’t care what happens now I just want all the bullshit posturing to stop and get back to racing. If we have eleven new teams plus Williams and Force India next season so be it; Formula 1 will survive especially with well known brands like Aston Martin (Pro-Drive), Lotus (Litespeed), Brabham and March being on the standby list. The FIA screwed up by allowing teams to have too much power; in my mind teams bring the cars and race; the governing body makes and enforces the rules and regulations and the two should never mix. But I have come to the conclusion that Max Mosley needs to be replaced as he clearly doesn’t have the balls to follow through with his threats of excluding the FOTA teams after today’s dealine indicating that further negotiations could go on right up to the start of next seasons opener in Melbourne next March. The FIA president either needs to follow through with his threats or give into FOTA’s demands so we can concentrate on racing instead of off track bullshit politics.
Facebook; is it a good thing or bad thing? I am starting to believe that Facebook in particularly the groups section is bad for the world. I noticed a group today that was demanded that a suspected child pornographer who comes from my home town of Plymouth be removed from the social networking site and it seems that the groups wishes have become reality (or virtuality maybe). The group also suggested that people leave defamatory comments on this individuals profile page. It seems to me that Facebook isn’t actively moderated allowing for all sorts of groups promoting everything from racism to sexism to promoting of suicide. In this case what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? It’s not the job of the general internet population to police; it’s the job of the authorities to uphold the law. Besides everything else, social networking sites are making people less sociable; spending more time on Facebook than in the real world!
Back home in Plymouth it seems that DJ Mark Williams has gotten Plymouth’s alternative rock nights all sown up. He now DJ’s at the Quay Club on Wednesday, The Warehouse on Thursday and Friday in JFK’s. The Voodoo Lounge alternative night, Asylum, that replaced my (Alternation) club night has now moved to Tuesday night instead of it’s traditional Wednesday night slot that it has held for more years than I care to remember. The Voodoo Lounge has gone out of favour with the alternative crowd it seems mainly because of the extortionate prices for drinks. Oh well nevermind, it’s not like I am ever coming back to Plymouth to live in the future!