网络安全检测|网络安全服务|网络安全扫描-香港墨客投资移动版

《中国周刊》1月号封面文章：法拉利F1赛车
 
2004/01/16 19:52  中国周刊  

　　With cash running out and cigarette ads being wiped off European sports fixtures by EU legal eagles, Formula One is quitting its European birthplace and moving to China. Mark Godfrey has been to Germany Hockenheim, home to modern motor racing and looks to what China can expect when the engines rev up here.

　　A Formula One race overflows with thrills and sensations. There's the deafening noise, the flashing colour, fearsome speed and awesome competitiveness of the drivers. There are the celebrities, the model girlfriends, the pretty cheerleaders, the VIP tents. And then there are the thousands of ordinary fans for whom Formula One motor racing has become more of a creed than a sport. In this unforgettable spectacle exuberant fans celebrate the glory of victory and taste the bitterness of defeat, watching drivers battle at death-defying speed for poll position. It誷all part of the incredible road-show of fans, freaks and ferocious competitiveness that is the Formula One World Championship circuit, snaking its glamorous way across the world every year.

　　The Formula One world championship is an annual worldwide series of circuit races, each race being around 300 kilometres in length and slightly less than two hours in duration. The cars, custom-built by each team, have huge wings designed to push them down to allow for incredibly fast corner-taking. With three litre engines most cars boast an incredible 800 horsepower. Since 1984, the championship has been dominated by just three teams, McLaren, Williams, and Ferrari, who have provided the cars for all but two of the World Champions during the period.

　　One of the most famous courses on the global Formula One circuit is the Hockenheim track in Germany. For many fans it's the home of modern Formula One racing. The Schumann family never miss a race there. A flag flies from the roof of their caravan, the red, black and gold colours of Ferrari flapping in the breeze. Official Michael Schumacher Fan?scream the large letters stuck to the side of the caravan. A signed sticker of Schumacher adorns each window while posters of a smiling Schumacher are hung everywhere inside the caravan.

　　Jens and Susi describe how they bought a motor-home just so they can drive to Formula One races around Europe. In 2003 they drove to Hungary, Barcelona, Hockenheim and Belgium. They also twice made the journey to sunny Monaco to watch their hero Michael Schumacher pass the finishing flag.

　　chumania?hits hard in the world champion homeland. The Wandelhalle family in the tent next to the Schumanns are singing the Official Schumacher Anthem.?The fans refer to him only as Michael Michael says Dieter Wandelhalle, Is a fine guy.?Wandelhalle stokes a barbecue as he talks. He has perfected a special type of Frankfurter sausage he calls a strong and spicy, a real racing sausage?he smiles.

　　Many thousands of miles away, Wandelhalle beloved Formula One is getting used to the spicier taste of Chinese hotpot. Formula One is coming to China, and bosses from the world most glamorous sport are scouting for Chinese driving talent and sponsors among the local business community. Ferrari chief Luca de Montezemolo wasn kidding when he said ormula One needs China.?And the Chinese are happy to welcome the world most glamorous sport to the world biggest population. Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has snubbed Canada and other nations because of tightening anti-smoking laws, flying instead to cigarette-friendly China to sign multi-million dollar deals to move Formula 1 racing to Asian climes.

　　China has less problems with cigarette sponsorship of sports than far more restrictive western Europe, where European Union laws have gradually shut sports events off from cigarette companies, whose sponsorship is a major source of income for Formula One racing. One of the biggest cigarette makers in the country, Septwolves, was a major sponsor of soccer club Real Madrid recent visit to Beijing. Over three hundred million smokers help to make China the world biggest market for cigarette makers. The Chinese smoke an incredible 1.7 trillion cigarettes a year. Cigarette stalls dot every street and laneway in local towns and cities. Dozens of local and international brands fight it out for a share of the market but Marlboro and Camel, both sponsors of Formula One teams, lead the field.