resolved in due course.
But how can the older world
championship cast off the
junior-partner, dirty-fingernail im-
age that still dogs the sport de-
spite all of today's high science,
abstruse electronics, and slick
marketing? Plus, the much more
sophisticated dynamic equa-
tions of vehicles with a movable
center of gravity are seldom
exactly vertical, compared with
a car prosaically plonked on four
corners like a kitchen table.
And never mind the humanity
when all you can see of an F1
driver is the top of his helmet,
whereas the athletic prowess of
a MotoGP rider is a major part
of the enterprise.
Not to mention the danger. F1
drivers spin off and might end
up slightly giddy; MotoGP riders
hit the deck and are lucky to
escape merely bruised.
Simply being more exciting,
S
o, the motorbike season
begins. A week later than
F1 and lagging in other re-
spects. A poor relation, literally.
But while our championship
may have only half the number
of wheels and not a quarter of
the fan base, it is one year older
than the attention-grabbing cars.
F1 is a mere 75-year-old stripling,
MotoGP its senior, at 76.
With action already underway
in Qatar, this column will let
the racing speak for itself. And
leave aside the burning ques-
tions (Will Marc Marquez smash
it on his new Ducati? Will Acosta
be a contender in his first year?
Is Bagnaia deep enough to do
three in a row? And so on) to be
P168
CN II IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
SIMPLY BEING
MORE EXCITING,
DANGEROUS,
ATHLETIC, AND
TECHNICALLY
FAR MORE
INTERESTING
HASN'T BEEN
ENOUGH.
HOW TO
GROW THE SPORT
THE F1 WAY
