News from The Herald: "Motorsport should be banned"
In a column for Scotland's The Herald newspaper, James Porteous throws down from the first two paragraphs: "There is a sport more dangerous than any other, that kills far more people than boxing and yet there are no calls for it to be banned. Not rugby. Not equestrianism. Not even Ultimate Fighting. No, it's time to ban motorsport: not to save the drivers, who are probably at less risk of injury than footballers, but the rest of us."
In what some will see as a call-to-arms and others as a hateful screed by someone who apparently doesn't dig the sight of fast cars going fast, Porteous calls auto racing "the most wasteful, harmful, pointless leisure pursuit on the planet." The article is full of end-of-the-world hooks: "a couple of degrees more global warming will trigger a catastrophe," "we need to cut carbon emissions by 90% in the next 20 years," "biodiesel creates more problems than it solves," and so on. It is, though, light on the scientifics -- not that he doesn't have facts to back up his claims, but he should tell everyone where he got them. F1 takes the brunt of punishment because there is more data available on F1, supposedly. Ironic that Porteous' column comes just as F1 announces a hybrid transmission for the monococques. But that's "general waffle" according to Porteous, and anyone who doesn't agree with the assessment is either "George Bush or another Halliburton henchman." Mental note: don't discuss auto racing in Scotland.
In the fourth paragraph, however, Porteous writes "Cars that do 3.5 miles to the gallon are not unacceptable." Apparently, speaking on a soap box and typing at the same time leads to typos.
[Source: The Herald via Daily F1]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ian 5:07PM (6/06/2007)
Of course the writer forgets to mention that his own lawn mower is far more detrimental to the environment than any racing car. And he ignores the use of bio fuels in many series.
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Mulad 6:44PM (6/06/2007)
Blah, the lawnmower thing is a silly argument. Take one catalytic converter and call me in the morning.
Ian 7:18PM (6/06/2007)
Yes, however, the lawn mower comment is still true. Add to it the leaf blower and trimmer. Most in use today have no cats and blow "stufff" out to the atmosphere more than any race car.
Casey S. 5:06PM (6/06/2007)
Thank you Mr. Porteous, you may shut up now.
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Kunal Shah 5:49PM (6/06/2007)
So you are eco-friendly....do you eat meat?? If you do do you consume beef?? Studies show that methane production in cattle farms is a big green house contributer.
If your answer to these questions is yes Mr. Porteous, I think you just lost credibility....enough said!!
JamesWB 5:08PM (6/06/2007)
Hasn't F1 been carbon neutral since 1997?
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araque 5:16PM (6/06/2007)
It does not seem to me correct that all the fault has the F1 because they investigate to improve our cars.
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John B 5:28PM (6/06/2007)
That's what too much haggis does to one's brain.
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Rob 5:19PM (6/06/2007)
I'm pretty sure AUTO RACING furthers the development of many new technologies, which then trickle down into the regular passenger cars that all of us purchase. Without racing, I'm pretty sure we'd have pretty slow, ill handling, unsafe cars. Racing is a good thing, especially when it helps new technologies become mature enough for mass production.
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paul34 5:54PM (6/06/2007)
Exactly - just look at the Audi R10 and how it's turned so many people's previous views of diesel right over on its head.
Besides, does this author really want to go "there" with "wasteful" activities? There are plenty of other "wasteful" things we do which I'm sure *someone* could derail. Motorsports have upsides in places outside motorsports...
How about golf? A man taking a long time to hit a small ball into a tiny hole - and acres of land cleared out for that sole purpose? Sure, we could decry such a terrible waste!
However, let's think about this. How much money has golf helped raise for worthy causes? How many kids these day play golf now instead of doing whatever other detrimental activity they'd be doing?
I'm no golf fan, but I'm not stupid enough to insult someone else's passion.
One thing most of us learn while growing up in this modern world is that most things in the world have two sides, and indeed oftentimes more. I see this individual still has yet to *grow up*.
the end.
Vinny 5:23PM (6/06/2007)
Where can I go to see how many trees his company destroys in a year to publish his crap!
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Jro 5:30PM (6/06/2007)
Autoblog ripping on another publication for typos?!?!?! "Hello. This is Pot. I was calling to tell Kettle that he is black!"
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RR 5:50PM (6/06/2007)
If anything that makes less than 3.5 mpg is banned, then buses will be gone and how would you get to work Mr. Porteous? There are far worse sources of pollution that hurt the planet and I do not think that motorsports or cars in general is the biggest one. Coal factories come to mind.
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2006-06/2006-06-28-voa36.cfm?CFID=144188538&CFTOKEN=28448904
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Mulad 6:46PM (6/06/2007)
Don't bring buses into this unless you want to talk mpg in per-passenger terms.
RR 1:39AM (6/07/2007)
The writer of the article says he wants to ban cars that produce 3.5 mpg. His statement is ilogical since by doing so, he would be getting rid of buses and other types of mass transit. I believe that regulations and sactions to polluting factories would have a better outcome than trying to get rid of motorsports.
robz4 5:51PM (6/06/2007)
Hey people ..lets send this a*hole a nice email telling him what we all think of his BS. Man and to think that William Wallace (Braveheart )was also Scottish and died fighting for his people's freedom. Shame.
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johdaxx 6:05PM (6/06/2007)
Maybe it was that recent visit from Top Gear that got him all steamed...
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nissanfreak87 9:35PM (6/06/2007)
what an idiot, ban motorsport? how about soccer, I'm sure tons of people die every year from related riots.
and how about people driving to games? I guess everyone should walk everywhere too, this guy gets a big thumbs down
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idunno55 6:19PM (6/06/2007)
"The most wasteful, harmful, pointless leisure pursuit on the planet" in my humble opinion is Golf if we're discussing sports. Something I'm sure dear to the Scot.
In fact, I don't have the figures, but I'm willing to bet the lawnmowers needed to get the golf course in pristine shape for tours pollute much much more than a sports car in a race.
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Rocket Punch 6:27PM (6/06/2007)
ha ha ha! If there is a charity that help people like him, please let me know.
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