Comments on: Historic day highlights our golden generation

By: amused

amused — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:37:24 +0000

Adrian without trying to be too harsh here, every article you write begins with “this is a historic day” or “it’s Australia’s greatest ever sporting event”……..please, dont you think the hyperbole is a little overdone?

but I must praise you for stating how the motogp and f1 drivers can really be considered “athletes” in the true sense of the word. who else puts their life on the line each time they compete at speeds in excess of 320 km/h? john daly, woods, sampras et al certainly don’t.

By: megatron

megatron — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:06:50 +0000

Or Ralf Schumacher!

By: Hansie

Hansie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:07:28 +0000

I suspect that Kiwis would be pretty quick to point out their F1 heritage. Denny Hulme was a Kiwi and he won 8 F1 races and the 1967 Championship. Bruce McLaren won 4 F1 races, and established the McLaren F1 team that has won over 150 races. Chris Amon was the lead driver for Ferrari and Mike Thackwell was one of the youngest ever F1 drivers. In the modern era, Scott Dixon is a Kiwi and has won the Indy 500 and the IRL championship. But yes, I’d be modestly pointing to Australia’s weekend of winning.

By: Hansie

Hansie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:00:06 +0000

Marcos Ambrose’s efforts in NASCAR are worthy of a mention. He is proving himself to be a genuine contender in a form of motorsport that is unique, including in cultural terms. Plenty of big names, such as Franchitti and Paul Tracy, have tried NASCAR with much less success. Briscoe’s effort was another highlight. I could never understand why Toyota didn’t persevere with him in F1. He had the speed – they just needed to be patient with him. Surely he was a better option than such a luminary as Jarno Trulli.

By: megatron

megatron — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:22:39 +0000

I don’t think they do, and I don’t think they appreciate how remarkable this motorsport achievement is. We are so lucky to have drivers and riders in these categories, let alone winning.

By: Greg Russell

Greg Russell — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:53:50 +0000

I agree international motorsport was to the fore, but let’s not forget Sam Stosur’s maiden win on the WTA tour last weekend.

I am an Australian who has lived in New Zealand for 15 years now. This little country is very good at sport and punches enormously above its weight. However in my entire time here it has not had one single F1 win, one single MotoGP victory, or one single singles title on the WTA tour. But bang, bang, bang, and Australia has all three on the same weekend.

I am very fond of examples like this that evidence the greatness of Australian sport. There was a classic one earlier this year: on the very weekend that Australia was losing the Ashes at The Oval and the Bledisloe Cup in Sydney, Steve Hooker and Dani Samuels were winning gold medals in the IAAF World Championships in Berlin.

Do Australians appreciate how lucky they are in having so many and so varied a range of sporting triumphs to celebrate?

By: megatron

megatron — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:57:28 +0000

Ricciardo winning with the backing of Red Bull is a big one. He will come along at a time when Webber will be retiring so we could still have an Aussie in F1 which is a big deal considering we went over a decade without one when Alan Jones retired.

By: The Link

The Link — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:26:25 +0000

I would say it is one of Australia’s great sporting days. F1 and to a lesser extent MotoGP are huge international sports. Often we bang on here about the global reach of the winter codes but all bar Football are eclisped by F1 and MotoGP in terms of exposre, sponsorship etc.. by these sports. A greater achievement given the odds are increasingly stacked against Aussies doing well in F1 and Moto, given the money and proximity to Europe required to succeed. Well done to Mark and Casey as well as Crump + others.

By: James

James — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:16:09 +0000

Drivers need corporate support to go overseas and I doubt the government will ever get to the point where it funds young drivers like it does other athletes, especially in these ‘green’ times.

By: megatron

megatron — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:09:32 +0000

I worry it could be a one off period. No one cause has led to this and as you say some luck was involved. V8s are now so strong why would drivers risk it all when they have a decent career at home.