The end of first semester

Everything comes to an end. That includes, of course, semesters at university. This has mostly been a week of festivities, so I only had a class this morning. From next week onwards, I'll be (almost) completely free. I will, then, have time to think about Christmas presents and everything related to that day. Already booked my New Year's Eve in the mountains, just like two years ago. There's quite a bit of interest, this year, so I'm sure there'll be many other people, most of whom I already know! Not bad.
Just read the news. My dear and favourite driver, Ramona Karlsson, has just announced her pregnancy!  And of course, I couldn't help but wish her all the best! Hope the baby is going to be even just half as beautiful as his/her mother!
Strangely, though, she hadn't appeared in that dream I had last week...
Other than that, I wish you all a nice and pleasant weekend!

A new week begins

Today is the last Monday in November. A new week begins. Today is going to be a pretty normal day: university right now, then lunch, a little rest, training for an hour, dinner, family time, sleep, and repeat. Still waiting for videos from the Nismo Festival to be uploaded. Speaking of racing, yesterday marked the end of the World Rallycross championship season, with Robin Larsson winning in Argentina, and Petter Solberg being declared world champion for the second time; the title was to be decided in this race, as Timmy Hansen of Sweden was a definite contender, but he still got a honourable second place as well as the Teams' Championship title. Unlike in F1, where Lewis Hamilton's domination became clear a few races back (and, in case you were wondering, he is NOT my favourite driver).
That said, I wish you all a pleasant week! Stay tuned for more contents coming in the next days!
I'm closing this post with a picture of the sky, last night at sunset. I loved those colours.

A happy weekend

Okay, it might seem like a pretty average weekend, but it isn't.
I am pleased because last Friday, after my usual training, followed by a good dinner, I spent most of my evening on Skype, talking to my dear friend Katie from England! We first met last spring in Salzburg, during the Erasmus, and we have quickly become friends! It's always nice to hear from each other. She is a languages student, and since one of the three languages she studies is Italian...she often asks me for help, and being helpful to a good friend is a thing that makes me really, really happy! We've spent more than two hours talking, which means...we had so much to say!
She also recommended me, as I am on a diet, to have a treat day every week: mine was yesterday in the evening. I treated myself to some mixed fried fish with baked potatoes (delicious! but I'm not going to have another one for at least ten days...), and an amazing, three-layer chocolate cake! I'm staying low-fat for today. I promise.
Other nice things? Well, if I were in Japan, I could have been to the Nismo Festival at Fuji Speedway. I'm not, so...I must be thankful to the people who invented live streaming. And social networking sites. And hope that, someday, I'll be there. Probably.

Calm after the storm

Yes, really! Calm after the storm. Winter has been in the air for quite a few days, but last night...It showed up! There has been a big rainstorm, a couple of months after the last one, with strong winds too. And, up on the hills, it even snowed! Nothing to be worried about, but here, the first snow usually falls in mid-December! This afternoon I treated myself to a 100 or so kilometres drive in the countryside, going up the hills to see that snow. The roads were fairly clear, but in some spots, which aren't exposed to sunlight, the tarmac was wet and slippery, as the snow on it didn't melt properly. Result? If it was a bend, and it usually was, the car started to slip and slide. And, well, I'm not a skilled rally driver, so I was a bit frightened, and slowed down. But no crashes!!! :D
Speaking of rallying, today also marks the 20th anniversary of an important championship win: to be specific, on this day in 1995, legendary Scottish driver Colin McRae was declared, for the first and only time, World Champion. Whereas his story is well known, and his premature death in 2007 saddened a huge number of fans all over the world, I must say that my interest in rallying is in some way linked to him; precisely, around the age of ten, I started playing with a video game, belonging to an extremely successful series that carried his name. I therefore thought it was right to pay him a tribute on this day. Which I did, by means of this Instagram post.

Great racing news!

Yes, even in this weekend of bloodshed and violence there is space for some good news.
More specifically, I am talking about the Japanese Grand Touring car championship, now called Super GT, as this year, for the fourth time, Italian racing driver Ronnie Quintarelli has been crowned champion, together with his teammate, Tsugio Matsuda of Japan. Both drivers shared a factory-backed Nissan GT-R, competing in the series' GT500 class. With four championship wins (2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015), all of which obtained at the wheel of a Nissan GT-R, Quintarelli has now become the most successful foreign driver to ever compete in the Super GT, formerly known as JGTC. I would like, then, to congratulate with him, and wish him all the best luck for all the years to come. As well as I wish I could ever have a chance to meet him!
There is, however, a problem. If you live in Italy, you will never see these news on any sports newspaper. They are all too busy covering that nasty shit called football! An Italian driver who wins in Japan is, in my opinion, a lot more deserving of coverage than a stupid twat of a footballer moving from one team to another for the sake of money! But here we are. The average Italian bloke thinks it's so interesting to watch 22 others chasing a ball for one and a half hour...
Sometimes they might show a modicum of interest in Formula One, but only if Ferrari scores any points, and also in motorcycling, especially when their idol (that one with number 46, I know his name but won't name him because he is extremely far from my idea of a good sportsman) has a clash with someone else, they must defend him, even if he is clearly, and undeniably, wrong. But a true Italian excellence in international motorsports? No thanks, and he even drives a Japanese car! (Needless to say, this last sentence is not my thought, I just want you to see how stupid people can be!)
Yes, of course we do have magazines which specialise in motorsports, and they luckily provide good coverage of these stories. But, as I said some time ago on this blog, who is interested in racing anymore? We are not many, but we are still passionate. And every time I meet another racing enthusiast, I realise we are actually a lot more than I was expecting.

Sad news from the world of motorsports

No, I am not going to write a post about the infamous Rossi-Marquez clash during last Sunday's race in Malaysia, for the simple fact that I really have no interest in motorcycling and everything related to it.

DARREN COX LEAVES NISSAN
The first thing I would like to talk about brings us to Nissan's global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. Darren Cox, head of Nissan Motor Corporation's global Marketing and motorsports operations, has resigned after having worked there for eighteen years. Cox is the man behind the company's most recent racing efforts: global relaunch of the Nismo (Nissan Motorsports) brand; the ZEOD RC racing car that took part in the 2014 Le Mans 24 hours as a Garage 56 project; this year's World Endurance Championship LMP1-class entry; development of the GT3-spec version of the Nissan GT-R; and, last but not least, the GT Academy.
It must be said, to be objective, that their efforts in the WEC haven't exactly paid off: the GT-R LM Nismo only entered one race in the whole season, and of the three cars that took part, only one managed to cross the finish line.
Coming to the GT Academy, though, we can truly talk about a hugely successful initiative, that would turn gamers into professional racing drivers; as this is my blog, I would like to admit that I tried myself entering such competition, without getting astonishing results, which I wasn't expecting either; this is not a matter of low self-esteem, but rather of being aware of my own limits. This is not stopping me, though, from trying harder as soon as the next edition starts.
It must be said that, in a world where top-level competition has become so expensive that no one but extremely wealthy people can afford to race, this can be seen as a great opportunity to enter a high-level, factory-backed racing team, without requiring to pay such enormous fees as in, say, Formula One.
Darren Cox, to sum up, has made Nismo great. And all of us enthusiasts can only be grateful to him. And hope for a successor as good as him.

NO MORE WORLD RALLYCROSS IN ITALY?
In 2014, the FIA launched the first ever World Rallycross championship. The season also included a race at Franciacorta International Circuit near Brescia, the first race of such kind to be held in my country in at least 25 years. It proved rather successful, even though rallycross isn't exactly popular, here in Italy. I had watched a few races on TV before that, and the short, action-packed races immediately caught my interest! After seeing them live for the first time, I realised how amazing it is to see those 600bhp, four-wheel-drive hatchbacks battling sideways on half-dirt, half-tarmac tracks and decided, if there will ever be another championship round here next year, I'll be happily there! So...It happened. This year, though, for a variety of reasons, but mostly for the foggy, cold, rainy weather, it had been much less successful with the audience. But, as I had noticed a few years ago, if sideways action is what you want, then rain is one of the best allies you can possibly have. And so it was.
The problem, though, is that the 2016 WorldRX season calendar has been released a couple of days ago. And next year, there's going to be no World RX of Italy. It's been replaced by a new race in Riga, the capital city of Latvia, surely because the sport is a lot more popular up there, than it is here. Understandable, for sure. But it's making me sad. Because, if I ever wanted to meet my favourite drivers again, the nearest race is in Hockenheim. Which is in Baden-Württemberg. Which is in Germany. Anyway, if anybody ever offered me to attend the Norwegian or Swedish rounds of the championship...I simply wouldn't say no! :)
You might wonder: who are your favourite drivers? Here they are:

Andreas Bakkerud, from Norway;
Johan Kristoffersson, from Sweden;
Also from Sweden, my very favourite one, even though she hasn't had yet all the luck she deserves; the stunningly beautiful Ramona Karlsson. I've met her last year, was looking forward to meeting her again this year, but she hasn't raced due to health problems. Would be nice if I could meet her again. Lycka till! ♥