It's no secret that Sao Paulo can be a dangerous place. Business travelers who frequent the city will be able to tell you about the precautions companies recommend they take to protect themselves. Don't leave the hotel. If you do, don't walk alone. Don't carry a laptop (it makes you an instant target for robbery). Wait for taxis inside the lobby. (Example: Criminals will case the hotels, looking for obvious business travelers waiting outside. This lets them see exactly what car they get into so that they can follow it and stage a carjacking once it's away from the hotel.)
Still, precautions or not, the chance for a run-in with criminals is still good -- something members of the Toyota F1 team learned firsthand this weekend. The car carrying Toyota spokesperson Fernanda Villas-Boas and other team personnel was one in a group of vehicles ambushed by around 20 gun-wielding teens about 2 miles from the venue for this weekend's F1 Grand Prix of Brazil.
According to Villas-Boras, who at one point had a gun pointed at her head as she sat in the car, shots were fired at them as they fled, but fortunately no one was injured. Neither Ralf Schumacher nor Jarno Trulli were among those attacked. In any case, it would seem that the Grand Prix of Brazil is something best enjoyed on television, in the comfort and safety of home.
Thanks to reader Brian McPhail for the tip!
[Source: ESPN]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GhostDoggy @ Oct 22nd 2006 8:03AM
I do not have to go to Brazil to run across gun-toting teens. I live in Georgia, USA, and that means even the toddlers are packing before they can even climb out of the strollers.
PushRod @ Oct 22nd 2006 8:28AM
What would the Brazilian GP be without a team getting robbed/shot at by the locals? It's part of the local character of the race--like the rolling countryside at Magny Cours, or the stark desert backdrop of Bahrain. Like ultra-luxurious golf course condos, the shantytowns and feral children that line the straights in Sao Paulo just show the world what a friend F1 is to the world community.
no parts @ Oct 22nd 2006 11:24AM
Wow, I thought the beer hurlin 'necks at Talladega were dangerous! Good luck to Toyota in today's Grand Prix.
nb @ Oct 22nd 2006 11:39AM
i don't know what part of georgia you live in ghostdoggy but that sucks.
Mike @ Oct 22nd 2006 2:33PM
Wow, sounds like a great place to bring the family to watch an F1 race. Until I can afford an armored car and body guard I'll stay in the USA thank you very much.
BobinCobb @ Oct 22nd 2006 5:26PM
I've never been to South America so I can't comment on violence there, I have lived in Georgia for 33 adult years and most of the violence here is tornadoes. Sounds like GhostDoggy must live among rednecks.
Finished Law School @ Oct 22nd 2006 7:56PM
This happens in Detroit on a daily basis.
James @ Oct 22nd 2006 9:47PM
Not surprisiung, third world hell hole + scum = A place no one with common sense will ever go to.
Mr. Oak @ Oct 23rd 2006 1:03AM
James wrote: 9. Not surprisiung, third world hell hole + scum = A place no one with common sense will ever go to.
You sound like that scholar in Washington, D.C. that got us up to our necks in horse shit. I served in the military with idiots like you, and when I thought they deserved it, even stood by and watched them get their asses kicked for disrespecting other people and their culture.
The place that you referred to above, sound like any number of cities across these United States. You ask why the world cheers whenever America is in trouble? It's because of pompus, arrogant assholes like you.
How dare we call anyone "Third World" when the Canadian Royal Mounted Police was able to get to New Orleans before our Federal Government could? How soon we forget, what a shit-hole New Orleans was/is.
...and before you ask, no, I am not Barzilian.
Hamud @ Oct 23rd 2006 7:47AM
Violence in Brazil is really getting worst every day, thank god I live in a town that has less violence than São Paulo, but you can't walk on the streets without paying extra attention to everyone around you.
Anthem @ Oct 23rd 2006 8:40PM
Fantastic! Carrera De Los Muertos!
Here's an idea: Develop an armored-class road racing series where the fans are encoraged to fire, launch, plant or detonate any manner of ballistic, incendiary or explosive weapons/devices all around the course. Winner takes all (his limbs)! Off the top of my head, Sao Paulo, Bagdad, The DMZ, the West Bank and Baltimore all seem to have exciting potential.
GeorgiaBoy @ Oct 25th 2006 4:12PM
Well I go to the University of Georgia, and there's not much to worry about here as far as a poverty-stricken youth that must resort to carjackings with automatic weapons...but way to exaggerate! Anyone seen the movie about the kids in Brazilian favelas called 'City of God?'