Ronan to take the podium at the ITCC

Fergal Ronan, a talented member of the Irish Touring car championships discussed how his love of go karts and motocross led to his passion for cars and his competitive edge. “I have been involved in motorsports in one way or another all my life really, I first started competitively racing go karts at the age of 8”

The Irish Touring Car Championship is Ireland’s newest and most exciting race series. With capacity grids of 30 cars already witnessed in its inaugural 2010 season, the ITCC has been a huge success for Irish motorsport and is set for even bigger things in 2011 with four races per day and over 40 cars competing.
The series has not only attracted a host of newcomers to the sport but also some of the sports’ most respected saloon car racers and champions, with more joining every round.
“Recently I started racing in the ITCC, it’s been running since 2009 and I took part competitively last year and we came forth overall in the season, which was a pretty good outcome for our first year.”

Ronan discussed his excitement for the new sport and told of how he heard about the ITCC through online forums. “It just sounded like a good race series from the word go”.
The ITCC has a range of cars that compete including the Tuning Factory’s teams driver, Barry Rabbit, racing their Honda CRX.

Fergal has been competing in the ITCC in a Citroen Saxo VTS, a car in which he has a lot of confidence, “it’s fairly heavily modified from your average Saxo, its running about a 160bph, there’s a lot of preparation that goes into getting a car ready for racing, it has to meet strict regulations, safety regulations”

The sport has come a long way since its set up in 2009 and has since gained a lot of attention in the press, for the ITCC itself, along with its drivers. Ronan believes that this year will be the toughest year yet, “Well there’s a lot of new drivers this year, the grid is nearly 50 cars, so there is a lot of new competitors and last years competitors have done a lot with their cars, so its going to be a lot harder this year”.

But Ronan has no plans to quit his fight for a podium finish against the likes of top racers Barry Rabbit and last years ITCC winner, Martin Tracy “Our car has come along way and I would think I have bettered my own driving skills from last year, obviously I would like to improve on last years place, but if I can aim to get on the podium, I would be more than happy”.

Rooney Story getting pretty old

Wayne Rooney really milked that hat trick against Westham to provide Manchester United with a 3-2 lead last week.

I recently went on YouTube and tried to watch Wayne Rooney’s last goal against Westham to complete his hat trick, which was then followed by him swearing into the camera.

It appears, however, that the FA Premier League is now claiming copyright and blocking the videos.

A bit late there I think, considering millions of people seen it live in action and it played out in the press for days after.


It was an impossible story to get away from, I haven't heard this much hype about a match in a long time and it wasn't even about the match.


 It was all about how Wayne Rooney would be punished for saying a curse word.


The footballer was later forced to publicly apologize. ‘I want to apologize for any offence that may have been caused by my goal celebration, especially to any parents or children that were watching,’ said Rooney.


‘Emotions were running high and my heat-of-the-moment reaction was inappropriate. It was not aimed at anyone in particular.’


To make this story even more exciting is that for some strange reason, the Police Superintendent of Wolverhamton, Mark Payne, decided to publicly slam on his blog Rooney and his oh so terrible crime of swearing on the pitch.

“I have seen a thousand Rooney's, and I am sure most police officers will have. The same aggressive stance, the bulging eyes, the foul mouthed rant, fists clenched, surrounded by his mates, all cheering him on. I have seen this on Friday and Saturday nights, as young men (and more often young ladies) engage in a ‘good night out.”

Now, am I the only one that thinks that this is all very extreme? First of all, I would be right in believing that a superintendent has much better things to be worrying about then blogging about Wayne Rooney cursing on the pitch and to be fair everyone has there moments of madness.

Rooney was completely wrong in cursing, especially due to the fact that a lot of young children look up to him as a role model, but he now has to pay for his 2 second public outburst with a £250,000 fine and a ban from an FA cup semi final.

What was even more shocking to come from this story was an actual real live public outburst from Sir Alex Ferguson following his disgust at the blog entries published by Payne.

“This is not the first time we have seen a player swear on the pitch, so why is this time any different. There is an issue in the modern world of a need to be noticed. There is a wee guy, sitting down there in the Midlands, probably never been recognized in his life, managed to elevate himself to whatever it is in the police force.

"Have you ever seen Wolverhampton on a Saturday night? Do police ever arrest anyone for swearing on a Saturday night? Deary me. That is a good one.”

Twitter craze catching celebrities out

Twitter has become the newest craze in today’s media obsessed society. Its short word count makes it easy to update frequently, but also easier to express yourself quicker to the entire social networking world.

Perhaps that’s ok for your average Joe, but a complete PR crisis for any well known sports personality, especially when in a lot of cases their short 140 words turns into a disgraceful rant that appears on the front of every newspaper the next morning.

Celebrities were one of the first to join the obsession and you will now find it very easy to find any sports star that’s life interests you on twitter.

Twitter has become a PR nightmare for any agent as sports stars are inclined to give information to the press, feelings, emotions and thoughts without even speaking to them directly because they tweet without thinking.

This is of course great for journalists, but yet again not so great for the celebrities after they realize what a mess they have made by ranting on their twitter accounts.

Journalists no longer have to beg for a quote after a game, they can simply go on twitter later that evening and see Wayne Rooney ranting about the recent match they lost or Steven Gerard talking down his competitors.

Celebrities are now giving an ‘inside’ experience of the game, before and after. Football players are ‘twitpicking’ photos, whether its capturing players running onto the football field, at training, or showing celebrities sitting courtside at the NBA, the goal is to give fans greater access and supplement what they're getting from the broadcast, other media and various apps.

Some teams are really embracing twitter and using it to there advantage. Wayne Rooney gained good media attention in his first 24 hours after joining the site as he expressed his admiration for team-mate Javier Hernandez, and also for his Chelsea rival, Fernando Torres.

Twitter also allows fans to converse with sports fans and for a lot of celebrities this is not always a good thing.

For the likes of Manchester United midfielder Darren Gibson, it has been the complete opposite, when he was forced to close down his account only just 2 hours after setting it up.

Gibson received so much abuse, presumably from Red Devils supporters, with tweeters questioning his importance to the team.

“You are an abysmal excuse for a footballer. You’re a one trick pony – a s*** one at that. What Fergie sees in you I don’t know,"

Whether it is a good or bad for celebrities, it will certainly always stay entertaining if they continue to tweet and give their fans an inside view into there ever exciting lives.

Is the sports world ready to change?

Who would have thought in this day and age that sports would be still stuck in the past? Women’s sports, sexuality and there are still even traces of racism to be seen in some sports such as the likes of cricket. 

Yesterday I attended a track day in Mondello Park. I noticed a girl driving an EG civic about to head onto to track and I automatically said out loud "There's a girl driving".

Now that I think about it, why was there even a need to say that? Because woman, as much as we protest our right as equals, will never truly be considered as equals compared to men, in the world of sports.

The response I got from the 5 young men standing beside me was laughter.


The Germans find a way to stage
successful women's sports.

They joked about her ability to drive on the track and in so many words claimed before even seeing her drive that she would be slow and unable to do well in comparison to some of the other drivers, who were all male and quite possibly more inexperienced.

I personally have never picked up a news paper and noticed a story about women in sport on the front cover or even a headline indicating a story in the back.

But if I'm honest, I have never really been interested in looking for a story in regards to women’s sports because in today’s society we are trained to relate the majority of sports back to men.

You hear about girls who would love to be WAGS or date rugby players because they are seen to be macho and of course because they are in the spot light.

But being in the spot light has clearly caused problems for many pro footballers as their lives are played out on the front of every tabloid paper and gossip magazine.

I for one, love to pick up Heat magazine every week and read about how Wayne Rooney doesn't seem to be able to stop sleeping with prostitutes or how Peter Crouch cheated on his pregnant girlfriend at a fellow footballers stag. It's a guilty pleasure but most girls are the same.

Peter Crouch with girlfriend Abby

This might be the reason why out of 2000 pro footballers we have not seen one come out as being a homosexual and I am sure I am not the only one in thinking that football fans can be quite brutal on the players.

For example most will remember when David Beckham got a red card in England’s match against Argentina during the 1998 World Cup, in which England went on to lose the game in a penalty shoot out. Many fans as well as journalists blamed Beckham, who in turn received death threats for this. 

A bit harsh right? But one would be curious as to whether some fans would react similarly to a football player who was gay.

I personally think that a football player would not be as easily accepted as the likes of Steven Davis, the England wicket-keeper who announced he was gay this week.

Steven Davis

Football fans as well as players can be quite critical at times, but maybe Davis's courage to come out will make other people in sport realise that they can too. But sadly, I do not see that time for football players anytime soon.

I think football still has awhile to go compared to other sports such a rugby, as rugby legend and former captain of Wales, Gareth Thomas came out and in return gained respect and love for his honesty.

Racism is clearly not an issue in a lot of sports these days, especially football, as most of the players are from abroad. But there are some examples, such as cricket, which is sometimes dubbed as 'the white man's game'.

Hopefully these issues will change in time, as society has begun to embrace this notion of everyone being equal and have clearly become more accepting of people in today’s society. Maybe in the world of sports they will do the same.

Bahrain no longer hosting Formula 1 opening round

Bahrain's Crown Prince- HRH Prince Salman bin Hamsf Al-Khalifa has recently announced that the Kingdom of Bahrain would no longer be hosting the opening round of the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship due to take place from March 11th to 13th.

The decision has been put down to the countries political situation as they focus on "overcoming tragedy" and "healing divisions" in the aftermath of the civil unrest that occurred in the country.




Bahrain International Circuit

  The country has suffered recently after seven people were killed and hundreds injured in an attempt to stop protesters demanding more say in the Gulf Arab Kingdom.

When addressing the situation, Prince Salman said "At the present time the county's entire attention is focused on building a new national dialogue for Bahrain.

"After the events of the past week, our nation's priority is on overcoming tragedy, healing divisions and rediscovering the fabric that draws this country together, reminding the world of the very best that Bahrain is capable of as a nation once again united.

"I hope that F1 and our friends around the world will understand our decision at this difficult time".


CEO of F1, Bernie Eccelestone



President and CEO of Formula One Management, Bernie Ecclestone was understanding about the county's decision to withdraw stating "It is sad that Bahrain has had to withdraw from the race, we wish the whole nation well as they begin to heal their country".

While Australia will now host the opening race 2 weeks later,it is still unknown to fans whether a decision has been made in regards to the new date and rescheduling of the race that was due to take place in Bahrain.



DS3 WRC shattering Citreon's dreams for 2011 Win?

World rally champion Sebastien Loeb has insisted that there is more to see from the brand new Citreon DS3 WRC.

Confidence in the car was questioned after the Citreon rally team failed to place a podium finish for the first time in three years last week in Sweden.

Although Loeb's team-mate, Sebastien Ogier placed fourth with Petter Solberg following in fifth giving them a combined nine fastest stage times out of a possible 22.

“I feel happy to finish because this was a very long and difficult rally. I’m also satisfied with the performance of our car even though our rally was not so good.” stated Loeb, winner of seven rally championships for Citreon.

Unveiled in Janurary, the new DS3 follows, Loebs previous rally car the C4, aswell as the Xsara.

Sebastien Loeb has confessed that the car will be a new challenge for him. "The DS3's shorter so it's more agile in the corners, but it's also twitchier in the faster sections."

Loeb believes that the DS3 will require a lot more work behind the steering wheel compared to his reliable C4, which saw him through many wins at the world rally championships.

Ogier and Loeb do see the potential of the DS3 WRC however, following the event-closing Power Stage, where they gained the first and second fastest times in which bonus points were awarded to the quickest three drivers.

Citroen Racing chief Olivier Quesnel believes that the reason for Citreon's performance in Sweden was down to the specific surfaces which they were required to race on. "Let’s wait for the first stages on gravel to have a better idea of each one’s potential.”

Citroen have not failed to finish without a placing a podium finish since the Sweden rally in 2008, when the podium was dominated by Ford focus drivers, Jari-Matti, Mikko Hirvone and Gigi Galli.  

Citreon,Peugeot and Toyota do the entertaining in Paris

Last weekend I travelled to Paris to do to the typical tourist routine. The eiffel tower, the magnificant Mona Lisa at the Louvre and oh yeah, lots of car spotting and car museums. I just thought I would share some of the great pictures from my trip.

The car show rooms in Paris were amazing with a selection of old cars combined with the new, aswell as showing many previews of these electric powered cars we all dread.

Citreon

The prius showing its electric and petrol engines at the toyota museum

Citreon rally car

My overly enthusiastic boyfriend posing with Sebasbien Loeb



Toyota



Citroen

An old Fiat 500. Classic

Citreon rally car.

Toyota



Standard DS3