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Umberto Agnelli

Thursday, 27 May 2004 ‡ 19:59

1st November 1934 - 27th May 2004

The newly instated Fiat^? Chairman dies of cancer just over a year after his elder brother, Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli who died in January 2003.

Umberto Agnelli was the youngest of seven children of a growing automobile dynasty. Umberto grew up in the shadows of his stylish, jet-setting playboy elder brother, Gianni.

Umberto studied law and occupied his free time with the family's soccer club, Juventus. At 22, he was named chairman of the team. Umberto's father died when he was 1 years old, his mother died when he was 11 years old and then his own son, Giovannino died, at the age of 33 with a rare cancer. Giovannino was set to take over Fiat.

In 2000, Fiat struck a deal with General Motors Corp., selling 20% of its auto operations to the Detroit-based automaker with an option to sell the remaining share by 2005. In January 2003, when Giovanni Agnelli died, the family met immediately and named Umberto to take over, as Fiat faced its gravest crisis since its founding in 1899.

By the previous year, the share price of Fiat's auto unit had lost about 80% of its value since a high in 1998. Many speculated that Umberto would be more willing to relinquish the automaker and finally move the Agnellis out of the auto business. They were wrong. Instead, he helped consolidate operations, focussing above all on the auto business.

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Political Correctness gone mad

Saturday, 1 May 2004 ‡ 22:18

Racism is one thing i will not tolerate, at all. A comic telling a joke, as a joke, that is funny, take it as it is, "a joke".

When children are stopped from singing "Ba ba black sheep", because it may offend black people or it conditions children into thinking black sheep are the odd ones out or some other dumb reasoning, thats when things get stupid. A blackboard is a black board, is a blackboard, OK, call it a chalk board, but that may be offensive to chalks! Children are not allowed to participate in competitions and sports events because insighting competition is bad for the character at such a young age.

Education is important, but trying stop this is like sweeping it under the carpet, making it a taboo word or phrase. Competition has been part of live, forever, fullstop. I educate my son to understand that everything is not a race, but he must perform well if he wants to succeed, making him understand the difference is the key to educating him this issues. Will it come to a point when nobody is allowed to sing certain nursery rhymes, label certain objects, do certain activities...

Get a grip.

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Roland Ratzenberger

It has been ten years today since the death of Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna. Roland Ratzenberger also died, the day previously. Roland Ratzenberger's death is overshadowed by Senna's death and many forget or do not mention Ratzenberger, purely because he was new to Formula One racing and the immense presence Ayrton had in Formula One. Imola would have been Roland's third race, but he tragically died qualifying his Simtek. The car's aerodynamic front wing plate failed, which launched his car upwards, due to loss of downforce at the front of the car, at 200mph, unable to steer or effectively slow down, he continued straight on towards a concrete wall at Villeneuve corner. The 180mph impact caused severe damage to his neck, which was obvious as the car came to rest, with Ratzenberger slumped in the cockpit.

After winning the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, in 1986. Ratzenberger raced in European Formula 3 and also for BMW Touring Cars, but was not very successful. He moved to Japan and joined the Stellar Team and won a Japanese Formula 3000 event at Suzuka in 1992. In 1994 Ratzenberger joined Simtek, but failed to qualify for the Brazilian GP at Interlagos. The next race at TI Aida in Japan, Ratzenberger qualified and finished the only race of his Formula One career.

A charity football match in Italy, before the San Marino GP was held against the current F1 drivers and the 1994 Brazilian Football World Cup winning team. The match ended with a 5-5 draw.

formula1.com: roland ratzenberger

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