Friday July 18th, 2003
Jockey Japes
Jockey Frankie Dettori revealed on Thursday that he used the Ferrari hierarchy for personal gain - and managed to jump the ordering queue for one of the company's 360s. Dettori, a guest of Ferrari sponsors Vodafone on Thursday, is no stranger to Formula One. He has attended several events in the past and, at one of them, he revealed, he brokered the deal. "I wanted to get a 360 and I couldn't get one quick enough," he said. "So I spoke to the main guys, basically Luca di Montezemolo and Michael Schumacher, and said 'where can I get one quicker because there is a two-year waiting list'.
"So eventually they helped me and I got one in six months! It's Ferrari red. I had the coupe one but because the weather was good I then got the spider." Dettori admitted he has been attached to Formula One since he was younger - being a fan of Gilles Villeneuve and Niki Lauda when he grew up in Italy. He claims horse racing and Formula One have one thing in common: "They are the only sports where we are followed by an ambulance! It's not nice to go to work like that!" He also revealed his friend Eddie Jordan had offered him a go in one of the team's Grand Prix cars but then mocked: "It probably would not have got round one lap."
Silverstone Chaos
Confidence was building as the days counted down towards Silverstone weekend when a heatwave hit Britain and it looked like the brollies and mackintoshes associated with the British Grand Prix would be replaced by suncream and shorts. But then, with the journalists and teams heading for Silverstone on Thursday, it all fell apart. Early morning drizzle greeted the world's media as they descended on the much-criticised Northamptonshire track and traffic problems were on the tips of everyone's tongues once again. All roads to Silverstone, it seemed, were destined to fail on one of the most crucial mornings of the year as North London was clogged, the M25 was blocked by an accident, the M40 suffered long tailbacks and inconvenient roadworks, no doubt placed on the M1 especially for the Grand Prix weekend, caused hold-ups on the way up North.
Fortunately for Silverstone, their part of the bargain worked perfectly as the lovely smooth dual carriageway whisked everyone from their nationwide traffic jams into the circuit in more than double quick time. They even impressed FIA. "I came the back road that we always used to come," said the governing body's president Max Mosley. "I wouldn't want to try that on Sunday but I honestly think that if people take the traffic route on Sunday that it will work extremely well." Watch this space.
Jordan Party
A brand new 'Jordan Experience' has been set up this weekend at their factory, just across the road from the Silverstone entrance. The event, which began on Friday and runs through until Sunday, entices fans with live music, big screens and a Jordan Formula One simulator. The 'Party Village' also includes a pitstop challenge, a 14-piece soul band called Chain Gang, and a Jordan EJ13 Formula One car for fans to have their photos taken with. The team also took the opportunity to continue selling off memorabilia, including team clothing, car parts and autographed items and topped it off with appearances from Eddie Jordan and his two drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralph Firman.
Super Sato
Japanese driver Takuma Sato is so desperate to keep in shape for a possible promotion to BAR-Honda's race team next year he took part in a spot of professional cycling recently. The former Jordan man had had little time on the track this year in his role as BAR-Honda test driver and he has been left to work on his fitness in the gym. But he got out and about to ride for a gruelling 200km in the 'Velo Magazine Etape du Tour de France' through the Pyrenees from Pau to Bayonne. Sato is a keen cyclist, and said that when he was back in Japan he used to cycle every day "for fun".
The Tour de France, he said, has always been "a dream" and he added: "My schedule in Formula One is so hectic that I don't have time for longer training sessions on my bike but I still try to ride it two or three times a week for a couple of hours as part of my fitness routine. It's excellent cardio-vascular training for being in the car because the heart rate you reach after a two-hour bike ride is between 140 and 190 beats per minute - about the same as you reach in the cockpit. For the Etape du Tour de France, I had to train more than I usually would on a bike, doing longer sessions just to get ready for the race."
Sato trained in France and in north Wales, riding around the mountainous Snowdonia area, and even worked out by riding around the tracks he was testing at when the running had finished. Unfortunately, as typifies his Formula One career so far, the Japanese rider was forced to retire early, this time due to his own Achille's heel rather than that of a Jordan car or a Honda engine.
False Alarm
A fire scare halted the British Grand Prix weekend as journalists were forced out of the press room just an hour-and-a-half before the first qualifying session. Organisers said the fire alarm had been "accidentally set off" but the amassed hacks were forced away from their desks ahead of the one-lap qualifying shoot-out.
Published at 13:57:53 GMT
(03-11-2005): 
