Surprises At Bahrain GP Practice Session
Adrian Sutil in his Force India posted the quickest time in the Friday practice session.
With limited practice sessions in the run-up to the 2010 Formula One season, the best indicator of form will be the Friday practice sessions.
And what a surprise it was for F1 fans when Adrian Sutil topped the timing sheets after 18 laps on the Bahrain circuit in the morning’s practice session. The Force India driver posted some solid results last year, and he and the team are looking to continue the improvements from 2009.
Sutil’s time of 1:56.583 was just 0.2 of a second quicker than Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, the man all F1 watchers are picking to set the early pace this season.
Robert Kubica in his Renault was third, followed by the second Ferrari driver, Felipe Massa, in fourth spot.
Other hot favourites, the McLaren duo of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, posted the fifth and sixth fastest times respectively, with not much to split the dueling British duo.
And where, you’re probably asking, was Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes? The 40-year-old German posted the 10th fastest time, and he was surprisingly pipped by his teammate Nico Rosberg in eighth.
More results are expected in the second practice session.
IMAGES: Fairway Fashion Goes Loopy
Christina Kim during the first round of the HSBC Women's Champions.
Oh Christina – what were you thinking! Bright colours to disguise the fact that your support underwear is showing. Not a good look…
Udorn Duangdecha during the Maybank Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.
Little-known Udorn Duangdecha was definitely out to make a name for himself at the European Tour’s latest stop. Not sure that outfit will go down well at Royal Cape Golf Club…
Japan's Sakura Yokomine of Japan during the HSBC Women's Chamionship.
Long socks are the cool look on the LPGA Tour this year – but not so sure about them in black. You be the judge!
Rickie Fowler gets out of the bunker during the recent Honda Championship.
Puma’s latest ‘Bright Young Thing’ is American Rickie Fowler, who shows how you can wear pink and still look really funky. Nice one!
Suzann Peterson about to tee off during the HSBC Women's Championship.
The Swedes always look stylish – here’s Suzann Peterson in an all purple ensemble.
Shingo Katayama and his caddie at the Maybank Malaysian Open.
Japan’s Shingo Katayama goes for the fluorescent look – nice!
WIN !!! Supercar Challenge on PS3
Supercar Challenge
Fancy a free PlayStation 3 game? It’s easy enough with Sports Illustrated … just answer the question below correctly and we’ll send you a copy of Supercar Challenge.
Question: Name one of the cars available for selection in Supercar Challenge?
Send your answer, name and contact details to ryan.cooper@touchline.co.za, subject line ‘Supercar Challenge’.
Competition closes Friday, March 12.
SUPERCAR CHALLENGE REVIEW
Driving game enthusiasts fall into two distinct categories – those who pimp their rides and those who don’t. Successful driving sims either hit the mark with fully customisable rides, where it’s not so much about realism as it is about being a wide-boy, or creating razor-sharp realism to awaken our latent internal Michael Schumacher.
Unfortunately, despite a red-hot stable of supercars, including Pagani Zonda, Bugatti Veyron, Koenigsegg, Aston Martin, and Ferrari, System 3 Software’s Supercar Challenge meets neither of the categories above. Undoubtedly it purports to be the latter, but the limited set-up options (as compared to perhaps the overly complicated Gran Turismo or Forza MS) mean that it just comes across as being a pretender to an unobtainable crown.
Track selection is fair, ranging from Italy’s Monza to the infamous Nurburgring, and graphics are competent. Detractors, however, include an AI that is ridiculously unintelligent as compared to GT or Colin McRae Dirt series, and a very poorly scaled difficulty rating, where even the easiest level is too inaccessible.
Driving can also be frustrating – although the lighter cars such as the Ferrari Enzo display nimble handling as expected, and heavyweights like the Bugatti feel like oil tankers in the corners, the delicacy of weight transfer prevalent in GT4 and GT5 Prologue is nonexistent. Added to this, breaking markers and racing line assistance seem dangerously inaccurate in parts.
Race modes include Challenge, Quick Race, Time Trial, Supercar Tournament, and Arcade Competition. There is no overall Race Season mode, so progressing through the game often means racing the same track over to unlock new tracks and challenges. Load times are lethargic, and although there is the usual online play option, where you can race up to 15 other players, you’d go a long way to find that many who could be bothered – they’ll all be saving their skills for GT5’s full launch.
RATINGS
Graphics ***
Sound ***
Gameplay **
Overall ***
Play The Sports Illustrated Quiz – And Win
Fancy yourself as a bit of a sports boffin? Are you a bit of a know-it-all around the braai when discussing the weekend’s action? Then take the new Sports Illustrated quiz and see how clever you really are.
It’s another round of our weekly quiz, so make sure you get your answers in to put yourself in line for the monthly prize.
Don’t feel left out, you also have a chance to win.
There is a new quiz will be posted every Monday morning, with the answers of the previous week’s quiz revealed then as well.
Your scores will be shown on a weekly leaderboard, and will also show up on the monthly table – with the top dog walking away with the prize.
So have a go … and no Googling now!
CLICK HERE to try the Sports Illustrated Quiz.
Sports Illustrated Quiz VI ANSWERS
1. What sport is pictured here?
Skeleton
2. What colour jersey does the race leader of the Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy) wear?
Pink
3. Prior to Sachin Tendulkar’s record score of 200 in an ODI, which two players held the record for the highest ODI tally of 194?
Saeed Anwar and Charles Coventry
4. Which Grand Prix circuit features these corners – Eau Rouge, Bus-stop Chicane and Blanchimont?
Spa-Francorchamps
5. Who holds the record for the most conversions in a Super Rugby match?
Andrew Mehrtens
6. How many shots under par is an albatross in golf?
3
7. Where will the 2011 UEFA Champions League final be played?
Wembley Stadium
8. Which two teams hold the record for the most consecutive wins in international T20 matches?
South Africa and Pakistan
9. Which famous trophy is pictured here?
US Open (tennis)
10. Who holds the record for the fastest serve in tennis?
Andy Roddick
11. In what sport would you see an ‘Ollie’ and a ‘McTwist’?
Skateboarding
12. In which country did the sport of curling originate?
Scotland
13. Which Australian rugby player recently retired from international competition?
George Smith
14. Who is the most recent amateur golfer to have won a professional event on the European Tour?
Shane Lowry
15. At which sports ground will you find this weathervane?
Lord’s
16. How many teams will compete in the 2010 FIFA World Cup?
32
17. For which F1 team will Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen be driving this year?
Lotus
18. Which IPL team plays their matches in Jaipur?
Rajasthan Royals
19. Who is the coach of the Crusaders Super 14 team?
Todd Blackadder
20. How many World Cup teams will use Cape Town as their base during the tournament?
0
Chinese Children Must Get Fit – For War
China must urgently address the physical fitness of the nation’s youth or run the risk of raising a generation incapable of fighting the Japanese in a future war, the head of the country’s top sports university said on Thursday.
The government must immediately invest some of its new wealth in ensuring that children take regular exercise, Beijing Sports University president Yang Hua told the sports group of the largely ceremonial advisory body to China’s annual parliament.
“It is time for the Chinese nation to improve the physical fitness of our next generation,” said Yang. “If we miss the next three to five years a whole generation will be next to useless.
“If there was another war against Japan, would the younger Chinese be able to fight the Japanese one-on-one?
“The government has enough money for banquets and for luxurious office buildings, do they not have money for children’s physical education?” he added.
Japan invaded and occupied much of China between 1931 and 1945. Rancour over Japanese wartime atrocities has subsided as a diplomatic flashpoint, but it continues to shape Chinese public attitudes towards Japan and its people.
The fitness of China’s young dominated the opening session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference’s sports group, a normally sedate gathering turned into a media circus this year by the presence of hurdler Liu Xiang.
The former Olympic and world champion 110 metre hurdler, unconventionally dressed in jeans with his shirt tails hanging out, was making his first appearance as one of the 22 members of the committee.
“A healthy body is the foundation of everything,” he said.
“I hope I can be an example to attract more attention to athletics, and encourage our children to be stronger and stronger.”
The emphasis on academic education in China — Chinese teenagers preparing for the university entrance exams often study for more than 12 hours a day — has been blamed for the lack of exercise undertaken by young.
A year after China’s elite athletes succeeded in topping the medals table with a cascade of gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, August 8 was declared “National Fitness Day”.
“A survey has shown that Chinese teenagers are behind their Japanese peers in almost every indicator it measured,” Jiang Xiaoyu, a senior member of the organising committee for the Beijing Games, told the meeting.
“The physical fitness of the young is a matter of strengthening our country and our Chinese race.”
With thanks to timeslive.co.za
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