My karting event experiences

Image courtesy of mickbarrettracing on Instagram

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. It has been a hot minute, I haven't posted on here since October 31st and that was about the story I am working on, and as you can tell with the title, this also loosely concerns it.

So as you know, I'm at university at the moment. I'm doing quite while, got a few firsts and 2:1's in my grades, only recently I found out that I got a first for a module in which I made a four page comic of a segment from my Road To Glory story. This week I went back to start my second term, and I am confident of getting some good grades again for around May time.

Anyway onto the topic at hand. When it came to researching for my novel, the car racing portion, I think I know more than enough about! Where I struggled, was karting. With my main character Alex's career based mostly around Lando Norris' career, I looked into the teams he raced for. At first, I wanted to get in touch with Ricky Flynn Motorsport, the team that took Lando to KF-Junior championships in the WSK Euro Series, CIK-FIA Super Cup and CIK-FIA European championship in 2013 and the following year, the big one, the CIK-FIA KF world championship.

Unfortunately, nothing came of RFM so I looked further back in Lando's career and found a team called Mick Barrett Racing, that Lando raced for in the early part of his karting career. We made contact, and I was invited down to the Paul Fletcher International circuit in Lincolnshire in the middle of November. My mum was the first one to get in touch with Mick and I was informed that he was a very down-to-earth fella, nonetheless having read up on him, I was still rather nervous due to the fact that his team was incredibly successful and were responsible for talents such as not only Lando Norris, but also his fellow 2019 F1 rookies George Russell and Alexander Albon.

At first, there was a miscommunication and we ended up at Mick's house! Which sounds stalkerish, but his team's official address was listed at his home, something I assumed to be a mistake but I later found out that his team's workshop is based at his actual house, which I was very surprised about. Anyway we got to the PFI circuit and it was absolutely incredible.

The PFI circuit was the passion project and brain-child of former karting world championship competitor Paul Fletcher, a very successful karting racer in his day and opened up the circuit in 1994, not long before it became the home of British karting after Rye House (where Lewis Hamilton began his career) sold out and became a primarily corporate event circuit. It got an upgrade in 2011 by incorporating a bridge and flyover extension to bring its length up to 1,382 metres/0.86 miles and becoming the only short kart circuit in the country to achieve an International A grade track licence.

As a result of this, the circuit has become the go-to destination for international championships in the UK, and it has hosted rounds of many European championships and was even the circuit selected to host the CIK-FIA World Championships in 2017. The two categories of karting utilised in this event are the OK-Junior and OK categories (which are descended from the KF-Junior and KF categories I was mentioning earlier), and the event saw the championships both won by Brits!

The OK-Junior championship was sealed by Dexter Patterson who was the 10th Brit to win it and the first Scot. He has also won British karting championships and he'll be I believe racing in Formula 4 this year, having already been competing in the winter-season based UAE F4 and set to have a full season in either German F4, Italian F4 or possibly even both, as is the trend these days.

The OK category title went to someone who unlike Patterson, wasn't a regular on the European scene, Danny Keirle. The only reason he was there was because it just so happened to be in the UK, he turned up as a complete and utter unknown having only been a presence in the UK up until that point, wrapping up championships primarily in the Senior X30 categories since he never had the backing to go prove himself on the European karting scene. I was lucky enough to meet Danny that weekend when I went to the Shenington kart circuit, he was very accommodating and a pleasure to talk to, very helpful guy! He was there coaching some of the kids who were testing there, since again unfortunately the money to move into car racing was never there.

Anyway I've kind of gone off on a tangent, I do apologise, I get like this when flustered which was very apparent to the people who I met! Mick greeted us at PFI and he took us to an on-site workshop where we met a guy named Matt Daniels, who is running a further education program as a part of Boston College. He showed us around his workshop, and told us about his students who were learning how to set up karts and a lot of his graduates had been selected by a lot of teams to be a mechanic for them, and even F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo had his own karting championship which was set up to have all the karts run by the organisers themselves.

The lads in the workshop, I have no idea what they knew of me or why I was there but nonetheless, were all great and they even wheeled out a kart onto the dummy grid for me to sit in whilst everyone took photos of all of us.

I do also want to mention something that you can see in that pic, the cap. Between 2010 and 2012, McLaren's F1 team had both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, with Hamilton winning the F1 championship in 2008 - his second season - then Button winning it for Brawn (now Mercedes) in fairytale fashion before joining Hamilton at McLaren for the 2010 season, and it was a British dream team that went on until Lewis jumped ship to Mercedes and went on to become a now six-time champion. However during that golden-age of the two most recent British champions being at a British team, I could never find a cap with both their names on it.

During Hamilton's proceeding three seasons in F1 before Button joined McLaren, he was partnered up in his rookie season in 2007 with the reigning two-time champion Fernando Alonso, then subsequently with Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen. McLaren to my knowledge never had any issue putting Alonso/Hamilton and Hamilton/Kovalainen on the same cap, but I assumed when I could not find a Hamilton/Button cap that McLaren knew they'd have increased demand for merchandise from Britain and therefore had decided to make people pay for two caps, one saying Lewis and the other saying Jenson.

After 2012 when Hamilton left for Mercedes, I gave up hope on trying to find a Lewis and Jenson branded cap and moved on with my life. Then we were in the Boston College workshop and saw a plethora of racing caps on the wall, and I told Matt that I had always wanted a Hamilton/Button McLaren cap and he went up onto the wall on his ladder, picked a Vodafone (McLaren's title sponsor) cap off and handed it to me, and it actually had both Jenson and Lewis' names on it. I then asked "Where can I get one like this?" and as I held it up, he made the effort to push it back towards me and I realised he was letting me have it! It now hangs with pride in my room and I wear it very frequently.

The reason I wanted to talk about this is because the karting mechanical side goes very underappreciated, I even got to talk to a guy called Joshua Parker, currently the personal mechanic for a driver I met called Zac Meakin. A lot of the MBR drivers have their dads as mechanics, since karting is seen as a bit of a dad and son sport, but Parker was hired by Zac's father after at one point being the personal mechanic for Oli Norris, Lando's brother. (Who I met at Brands Hatch in August, it's quite the funny story, if I haven't already told it, I will when it's relevant)

Matt Daniels made a point to my parents and I that karting is not taken seriously as an industry, which is why his program gets very little appreciation but it really is! I learned so much going to PFI and Shenington, such as the combination of chassis, classes, engines, tyres, it was so damn vast! Just as you park up at PFI, there's a shop branded with Birel, a kart chassis developer. When you walk in, there's all the chassis they develop for a vast array of categories, there's also karting overalls and clothes, helmets, number stickers, spare parts, and it's not just Birel that makes chassis for karting.

You've got Tony Kart, Synergy, Project One Racing, CRG, Gillard, Xenon, Kosmic, Exprit, heck even Fernando Alonso has a kart chassis developing team that made the very kart that Lando Norris took to world championship winning success. You've also got to remember the amount of categories of racing kart you can get, which in the UK include Bambino (for ages 6-8), Cadet (8-13), Juniors (11-16), Seniors (16-) and Gearbox (16-), then there's a huge variety of engines too such as IAME 2-stroke and Honda 4-stroke engines for Cadets, and in the Junior categories you can have such engine brand choices as Rotax, Vortex and Tal-Ko. Don't ask me to give you specifics here, it's so vast and even I have a hard time digesting it all, and that says more than even the most knowledgeable person on the matter.

My point is, it's an insult to think it's all just child's play with karting. The world of karting has so much to offer and there's so many chances to make money in this world, it is a serious industry that involves a lot of people. Motorsport whether it is karts, cars, bikes, it's all one big machine with so many cogs in it, you'd have to go to a karting event of that scale just appreciate and realise how vast it really is!

Shortly after visiting the Boston College workshop, Mick took me to see a man named Paul Barnicoat who helps run the circuit, and his son Ben is a racing driver. Ben is the 2014 Northern European Formula Renault champion but has also won many British and European karting championships, but above all else is the driver with the most wins of the blue ribbon British karting event, the Kartmasters Grand Prix which is held every August at PFI. He now races these days for Carlin in the European and Asian Le Mans Series, as well as the odd GT race for McLaren, all as a result of his involvement with an organisation called Racing Steps Foundation.

I had gotten in touch with one of the founders of RSF and he promised to send me a book containing the entire history of the organisation, which never happened however Paul had a few gathering dust in his house and promised by the time we went back down in two weeks to watch the finale of the Trent Valley Kart Club Autumn Trophy, he'd have it for us. Well he didn't break his promise and I have it in my home and it has been incredibly helpful, since it's very much relevant for my Road to Glory book.

The day after going to PFI, I drove down to Shenington and Mick had called up on our behalf to talk to Sonja Game, the Shenington Kart Club competition secretary. We turned up and there was a test day going on, and she handed me a load of leaflets and books which were incredibly beneficial when it came to distinguishing one class from another. We then went looking around to meet as many people as possible.

One of the people we met was called Ben, specifically Ben Cheeseman, whose name may not sound familiar to a lot of you but he's the guy responsible for the cars behind many drivers who rose through the ranks at Carlin including Lando Norris. I knew of him because he used to appear in Lando's Twitch streams, he was rather funny and would often be the one whose misfortune was laughed at, all in good fun and he took it like a champ! He was great to talk to, gave me some great insight into what it's like working for Carlin, travelling to all these countries, living life as a mechanic. He follows me on Instagram now and will no doubt see this, so hope to see you soon, Cheeseman!

A man named Les was helping us meet people and he got the attention of a kid testing that day, Jack Ferguson. Jack - like me - is on the autistic spectrum but he also was born with a hole in his heart and had issues with his joints, so he's been through the thick of it to say the least. We got talking (well, Jack isn't much of one to talk but I got some words out of him), heard his story from his dad too and I think we all became good friends. Jack is damn fast too, apparently he won an indoor karting championship which was why he earned a chance to test with the Jade Racing Team, the team that Danny Keirle was coaching for and how I met him like I was mentioning earlier.

Two weeks later was when we went back to PFI and spent the weekend with Mick Barrett's team, and I met Tom Gamble who was helping them out. Tom was the 2017 Ginetta Junior champion, raced British F3 the following year and fought off the likes of 2016 British F4 and 2018 Formula Renault champion Max Fewtrell, 2017 British F4 champion Jamie Caroline and 2018 British F4 champion Kiern Jewiss to win the last McLaren Autosport BRDC award. Gamble earned a chance to drive a 2013-spec McLaren F1 car just a few weeks prior to meeting him, Mick had attended the prize-winning test at Silverstone and he said it was an experience like no other.

When we did go back to PFI, it had been my birthday during the week and Mick had gotten me a present. He had gotten the Racing Steps Foundation book from Paul Barnicoat in his van, but he also reached in and presented a McLaren cap saying Happy Birthday and signed by both their F1 drivers, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, Jr.! Holy crap that was insane, I couldn't believe how lucky I truly was to get that. According to Mick, he's friendly with someone at McLaren who had asked him for some tyres and he agreed on the condition of getting a signed cap for me by both their drivers.

We were allowed into Mick's team tent across the two days and got talking to a driver named Zak Meakin (who I mentioned earlier), he let me know about the life as a racing driver and about a particular karting driver who was incredibly socially inept. I also learned from Zak and Mick that there is multiple karting championships in the UK, with Super One being the one I thought was the only championship but there was also the MSA/Motorsport UK British Kart Championships (formerly Formula Kart Stars) and also the British Open Championship.

When I was at Shenington, I learned about the crippling costs of entry level Cadet karting and to race on a national level it'll cost about five times as much than the equivalent step up to Junior level karting. The guy who told me has a son racing in Cadet level, but he said he wasn't going to waste his money racing karts on a national level whether that be Super One, MSA, Open or this other championship that Zak told me was the premier British karting series, Little Green Man.

This new information steered me into the direction of how I plan on my main character getting to race in national level Cadets. All drivers who intend to race on a national level need to get a novice licence by competing for a year in club level championships, which means you compete at one circuit for the space of a year.

PFI's representative club is called Trent Valley Kart Club, and they host all their events on the first Sunday of every month. I attended the finale of the Autumn Cup on December 1st, it began back in September and consisted of four rounds all on the first Sundays of every month. Then at the beginning of this month, the Winter Cup which runs until the first Sunday of April, before the main season begins starting in May and ending with the blue ribbon event, the MSA/Motorsport UK Kartmasters Grand Prix in August. There are many other kart clubs across Britain, and every driver that has gone through the ranks had to start somewhere.

I'll be honest, I was nervous as fuck being there and we (including my parents) were just loitering, probably getting in people's way. I really struggled to approach people, even inside the Mick Barrett Racing camp, but thankfully Zac's mechanic Josh as well as a driver called Cole Kilner and his dad too, I feel friendly enough with them all now that I won't need to be so cautious. I'm like this everywhere of course.

This year, I am planning on attending a lot of motorsport events such as perhaps the Rotax Max Challenge European Trophy event at PFI and the British Grand Prix, but certainly Formula E in London where I'm meeting a beloved long-time friend, as well as the Kartmasters Grand Prix at PFI and also the Croft BTCC event. I have met a lot of great people over the years, and awkwardly blabbed away at them, such as at Croft last year when I met Carlin's boss Trevor Carlin himself as well as his two F4 drivers Joe Turney and eventual champion Zane Maloney.

I get all anxious meeting all these people because they're all part of this machine that I want to accurately portray and I do look up to a lot of them. The world is still so vast, there's still a lot of unknowns but I am thankful. I'm grateful to so many people, especially for Mick Barrett and Matt Daniels, I'm looking forward to going back to PFI for the Kartmasters if not the Rotax Max Challenge event.

If you ever want to attend an event at PFI, I'm linking their website which will take you straight to their race calendar and then you can search for other relevant information on the site: http://tvkc.co.uk/beta/racecalendar/

Thank you for reading and huge thank you again to Mick Barrett and his family for being so accommodating, also thanks for the hats both you and Matt! Not only did I get a McLaren Jenson/Lewis cap and one personally signed by McLaren's two current drivers, but I also got a Mick Barrett Racing beanie and another guy there got me a yellow Dunlop cap too! I take my hats off to everyone, and then I'm immediately putting them back on so I don't drop any of them!

Thank you to drivers such as Cole Kilner (who I forgot to mention won the Autumn Series championship in Senior X30 category) as well as Zac Meakin, his mechanic Josh Parker, Cole's dad too. Not forgetting also the people at Shenington, such as the Jade Kart team and their driver Danny Keirle, also Jack Ferguson and his dad, the guy there called Les who was helping us, Sonja Game too! I know I sound like I'm accepting an award which is hasty considering I haven't got anywhere near publishing what I'm planning on doing, and I'm going to miss someone inevitably, so I'll stop it here.

But if any of you have contributed even slightly, you know who you are and know I am very grateful. I've very much benefitted a huge amount from being invited down by Mick, it'll help a huge tonne when I get to doing the karting portion of my story!

Alright. That'll be all from me. If you liked what you had to read here, feel free to drop your email address at the side if you're on desktop or follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat if you want to see more of what this pleb has to say.

So until we meet again,
Luca.

Road To Glory - Why I want to write this

Hello all, it's been a hot minute since I last wrote an entry for you all. I've just started my second year of university, relishing the challenges and hoping to come out of it with a degree that'll help me get a good job. Whilst I'm there, I'm using all my experiences to help develop something that a lot of you who do know me personally will already know quite well, since I've probably said a detail or two about it to you, so this is mainly for the ones who don't already know.

I can't remember what my initial prompt was when thinking about it, but not that long ago it really clicked. As you guys are undoubtedly well aware (incase you're not, I'll bring you up to speed), I'm a racing enthusiast. Cars, bikes, of many kinds are the thing I have in my life that makes me smile and get pumped, and this year I've been to Oulton Park for the British GT, my local circuit Croft for the British Touring Cars and finally Brands Hatch for the DTM and W Series. I live for it, I don't go out on a weekend and get wasted (not shaming anyone who does of course), this is the thing I do and it's probably the quickest way to my heart, not that anyone is in much of a hurry to get there.

It started in 2008 when Lewis Hamilton won the F1 world championship, solidified in 2009 when Jenson Button had that fairytale championship victory with the Brawn team and it only broadened from there. I started to learn about MotoGP, then the categories beneath F1 such as at the time, GP2, GP3, F3 etc. I was fascinated to see these drivers in the feeder series trying to prove themselves, and then it all culminated in a movie called Rush.

A big budget Hollywood movie about the titanic battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda for the 1976 Formula One world championship, and I remember watching it for the bajillionth time and I ran into people from my school who invited me to watch it. That feeling, sitting there with people who were interested in the story, in something that I felt a huge disconnect from others as a result of, and it felt liberating. Prior to the movie being made, I was embarrassed to say "I like motorsport" but thanks to Chris Hemsworth, Ron Howard and all the many other people who played a part in telling this story for a wider audience, I no longer feel shame to admit it.

As time went by, I started to delve deeper into the inner workings of motor racing and how these people get started. It's easy to look at F1 and just assume that you have the Lewis Hamilton's, the Sebastian Vettel's and Max Verstappen's turning steering wheels, winning races and championships, earning eight-figure sums every year, driving hypercars in Monaco dividing their time between their yachts, private jets and mansions, but the truth is far more complex than that.

Behind every driver is a sizeable team, full of a vast array of people. Behind the life of every driver, is an unconventional upbringing full of sacrifice and hard choices, Lewis Hamilton for example lived on a council estate sleeping on his sofa whilst his dad worked multiple jobs. Behind every success story, is a whole bunch of drivers who never had opportunities come their way. So whilst I can't exactly say when my head got into the top gear, but I just remember a huge influx of ideas coming into my head and that's when I was truly set on my Road To Glory.

I decided I want to accurately represent the mountains a young kid would have to climb in order to forge a career as a racing driver, so I gained contacts in the form of racing drivers like Olli Caldwell (3rd in Italian F4 2018), Ricky Collard (Runner-up in both British F4 and British F3, now races for Aston Martin in the GT World Challenge) and a few others too. I have also forged contacts with racing teams such as Carlin, reached out to driver management groups, other racing organisations, plus a karting circuit.

Speaking of a karting circuit, there is one that sits between my home town and the town I go to university in. I went there to talk to the owner and he even got the attention of one Rob Smedley, a Middlesbrough born guy himself who worked in F1 for many years with teams such as Jordan, Ferrari and Williams. You lot will probably know him for his many iconic messages to Felipe Massa during their time at Ferrari, such as "Felipe baby, stay cool!". Unfortunately I haven't heard from Rob since he messaged my mum saying he'd love to hear about what I have planned, hopefully soon.

Anyway I haven't actually spoken about it yet, so here goes nothing!

In August 2006, six-year old Alex is begrudgingly attending the Teesside 24 hour karting race where his uncle is racing representing a charity for current and former armed forces soldiers. Alex lost his dad whilst he served in armed combat, and hasn't been the same since finding out, and his mum is struggling to help Alex who has a form of high functioning autism.

As the race starts, Alex becomes overwhelmed by the sudden sound of the engines and has a partial meltdown and the watchful onlookers glare at Alex seemingly throwing a fit and his mum on the verge of tears trying to help him calm down. She starts looking around in her bag for a red Hot Wheels-esque car model that always helps Alex calm down, but she can't find it which is when a man who just caught wind of what was happening rushes into a nearby café and grabs something and rushes back.

He hands it to Alex and it's a scale model of a Ferrari F1 car, with a little figurine standing next to it in a red helmet, and Alex looks at it and immediately is fascinated by it. With a little encouragement, Alex is guided by the man and his mum to the café, blissfully unaware of the snide comments and glares he and his mum are receiving from the ignoramuses all around them. They make it into the café and Alex's mum thanks the man, and they get into a conversation whilst Alex still studies with fascination the scale model F1 car, and he figures out it's a model of Ferrari F2004, and the figurine is his and his dad's favourite F1 driver, Marcel Zetsch, five-time consecutive champion for Ferrari between 2000 and 2004.

Eventually the man starts talking to Alex after his mum has to go out to find Alex's uncle, we find out the man's name is Rick and he speaks in a bellowing Scottish accent. He's a driving instructor for the circuit as well as a mechanic in a garage not too far from the track, and he's been living a rather unremarkable but content existence but there's something alluding to more from him. Rick remarks that Alex must certainly like the model as he's been studying it constantly, to which Alex tells him that Marcel Zetsch is his favourite driver as he always likes seeing the red car win.

Rick then tells him, "Marcel Zetsch once drove one of those" and pointing outside at the karts driving around to which Alex takes his eye off the model for the first time since seeing it. Walks over to the window with the model still in hand and sees two karts flying through a fast chicane at the top of the circuit then the one behind throws one up the inside of the other performing a very aggressive maneuver to get past. Alex then places the model of the F1 car and the Marcel Zetsch figure down on the table and begins looking at it as if the car is going round the track, and looks at the figure with its arms pointing up in the air and remembers back to the time when Zetsch won his fifth championship.

He remembers his dad being there in the room with him watching the TV, telling Alex why Zetsch is his favourite driver and how he planned to go to the British Grand Prix in 2005 to go watch him race for the first time. Something his dad never got to do, and Alex for the first time addresses his dad's death for the first time, telling Rick to which he expresses his remorse and begins to see a kindred spirit in this young lad. They get to talking about racing and how children even younger than Alex are racing, and Alex begins to think about driving a kart himself.

Starting to listen in on a quietened and muffled kart race going on outside, Alex begins to hear the throttle application and engine notes pitching and focuses on it. Then when his mum opens the door and he hears the full force of the engines, he doesn't flinch at all and his mum is very surprised to see this, and Alex begins asking about how he can become a racing driver himself. The story goes from there, and we see Alex learning about how to drive a kart until he's eventually good enough and old enough to compete at

This story is not just about racing, it's about a broken young boy who finds something he's good at and dedicates himself to, balancing it out with school, learning to hold the weight of responsibility at such an early age and finding the people he needed in his life to share his success with. You see this boy become a man, from the age of six he grows, he comes of age in this highly competitive and cut-throat world of motorsport where success isn't always rewarded. He sees the social divide between the established status quo and himself, a working class boy from a small Northern Eastern English town, and doesn't let the deterring of many of his fellow racers put him down, because he has all the right people supporting him, from his mum Victoria, to his mechanic, engineer, driver coach and father figure Rick, and the friends he makes along the way such as Leonie 'Leo' Taylor, Jonas Schiffer and Nathanael Bauer, the latter of whom he has an intense rivalry with and has a major connection to him.

Throughout his journey, you'll see all corners of the world of motorsport and I'm accepting of this challenge because I love this world so much. It has brought me joy in the forms of my favourite drivers winning championships, it has brought me sadness with many of these warriors dying doing what they love, and they are all heroes, not because what they do is selfless in any way, but because we could learn a thing or two from these people choosing in the face of potential death, still pursue what they love. I want to accurately depict what all these drivers go through, the good and the bad, the struggles and the triumphs, pursuing this dream of theirs because they want to be racers. They're on their own road to glory, I'm on mine, you better damn well be on yours otherwise what good is your existence if you don't choose to give it meaning?

Thank you all for reading. Hopefully I'll have my books out soon, for all of you to enjoy. Alex Harrison's Road To Glory, it will be known to you all.

Why Pride exists

Image courtesy of www.brighton-pride.org

Hello, you. My name is Luca but you can call me Luca. I just want to preface this by saying, I'm not part of the LGBT community but over the years, I've come to learn more about it and why it's necessary. As I grew up, I didn't know why people in the LGBT community had to come out, because I just saw them as any other people but having seen how the world is, I can safely say now that I know why.

This month is Pride month, and as ever, the bigots are out in force. As you've come to expect, and it's never any less disappointing to see them ever present, and it's the whole reason why Pride exists. This is what I didn't understand whilst growing up, the very reason why Pride exists is because of the pushback from these pieces of shit, who tell them that their existence is immoral.

Recently, there have been movies made on two homosexual icons, Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody and Elton John in Rocketman. Both films feature moments of kissing, sex scenes, but obviously between two men, and that is apparently too much for some people of this world. That if one of the two people in those scenes just so happened to be born with a vagina, then it would be okay.

In countries like China and Russia, a lot of both of these movies were heavily edited by national distributors due to "scenes containing homosexual propaganda". It's pathetic and I don't want anyone attempting to justify it by claiming that "we have to respect people's culture", when nobody in the right mind would defend any country's slavery and concentration camps. Okay I know it's a world of difference between not wanting to show scenes of a homosexual nature and literally hurting people, but it's born out of the same thing within these backward countries. Control.

So what's this hatred of homosexuality born out of? Well a lot of evangelicals in America claim it's because of "What is said in the Bible", but honestly as much as they claim to be holding a moral high ground with what is being said in the Bible, I seem to remember there also being a passage about stoning an adulterer and well, if the Evangelicals really wanted to hammer home the claim of homosexuality is a sin, they'll have to stone their beloved president.

With all this in mind, I recently heard about efforts being made to put together a straight version of Pride, which just has me rolling my eyes because having seen what LGBT people go through. Pride was never born out of a need to celebrate being gay, but out of their right to exist without persecution or ostracisation. LGBT people have to live looking over their shoulder incase someone sees them daring to love someone who is the same sex, who dare to have a brain that does not align with their body and thus are transitioning, who dare to want to live and be who they are.

I'm not saying straight people have it so easy in life but they don't have to hide that aspect of themselves since it's seen as the societal norm. We aren't living in fear of being assaulted by a bigot, or being rejected by our families for that reason, it's such a deep-rooted element of our society to see being LGBT as alien, and I don't see how.

Recently, an episode of Arthur was cut from Alabama networks because Arthur's male teacher was marrying another man, and this was apparently seen as obscenities and not appropriate for young audiences. Knowing Alabama, they probably replaced the man with the teacher's sister. SWEET HOME ALABAMA!!

But in all seriousness, I did recognise this only the other day. In a children's TV show, seeing a couple who just so happens to be two men or two women is equal to that of seeing an explicit sexual act being performed. That baffles me because, again like earlier with the Bohemian and Rocketman edited down versions, you could take one of the characters out, replace it with someone of the opposite sex and it would be fine.

It feels rather insulting to have your sexuality be seen as equal to that of literal intercourse as being "inappropriate for a young audience", when it's just two men or two women on screen not doing anything sexual. I think it's important for children to know there's nothing wrong with two consenting adults loving each other regardless of if they're a man or a woman, or two men, or two women.

This notion that homosexuality is a heinous act is kind of pathetic, and it's amazing to find people who see homosexuality as meaning automatically they're also pedophiles. Which brings me on to something I saw go down on Twitter, when the Catholic church released a statement condemning Pride and the LGBT community, advising everyone to steer clear of any Pride celebrations to prevent the children from getting hurt. When the Catholic church themselves are notorious for countless cases of Priests molesting kids, so a bit hypocritical on their part.

Even something as simple as having a couple who just so happens to be two men being seen in the background of an advert for a bank is enough to get people to think "It's being shoved down our throats" or "Political correctness gone mad", when really it's just showing that no matter who you are, you're accepted.

What really set me off is seeing how petulant some people have been in my main space on social media, motorsport. Recently, a scheme was launched called Racing Pride aimed at spearheading a campaign for LGBT inclusivity, and one of its ambassadors is W Series racer Sarah Moore (who is LGBT herself if you had not already guessed). However I found the ever present morons who seemed to miss the point or just outright shit on the idea.

One of the comments I saw made a point that I would have tried to calmly explain to them about if it weren't for the attitude they demonstrated. But regardless, they claimed it was divisive to put these people on a pedestal and talk about them just because of who they identify as and not because of outright ability.

This person has a slight point in the fact that motorsport doesn't take into account your gender, your skin colour, your religion, even if you're disabled, as long as you're good in a car, it shouldn't matter and they are right, it shouldn't. But there's nothing wrong with showing people of the world that none of it should matter, by - ironically, I am aware - pointing it out. There shouldn't be barriers anywhere in any walk of life just because of who you are.

Former Le Mans racer Danny Watts came out in 2017 as gay after retiring from motorsport. He claimed he couldn't be out whilst racing in all the countries he did since there were many bigoted places such as the Middle East and China, and remained in the closet. He always felt if who he was ever got revealed, his life would be ruined and he could be prosecuted.

It is still legal in many countries to either try to put an LGBT person through conversion therapy, or to kill them. This is why Pride exists, because it is not and will never be wrong of you to just be who you are.

I wish I could end this article off with some crumb of comfort towards anyone going through their own plight. I would say it gets better but I wouldn't know, just all I will say is all the best to those who live in a country that isn't accepting of the LGBT community, hope you are able to overcome your situation.

To anyone out there still infuriated by the existence of all this Pride stuff, and claiming to be on the receiving end of berating from those within the community, all I can say is that you're seeing an extreme end of the spectrum and all they should ask of you is to treat you like a person and they'll treat you with the same respect.

We are all children of this world, and whilst it's being ripped apart, what's wrong with trying to keep some of it together? It's not a crime to be who you are.

Thank you to all reading. If you liked what you see, either follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or put your email address in the 'Follow By Email' option in the top right of your desktop screen. Hope to see you back here soon, except if you're a bigot. You all can fuck right off.

Until we meet again,

Luca.

W Series - A good platform?

Image courtesy of Twitter: @WSeriesRacing

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. Yesterday, I was watching the first round of the W Series on Channel 4, and I was very happy with how the race went. Spoilers ahead for anyone looking to watch the race, I am going to talk about the series as a concept as well as the race and the season ahead.

When the series was announced, I was really disappointed. I still feel somewhat that way but less so, but I found the idea to be very pandering and backward, as a driver who just so happens to be a woman but also an abysmal driver at that, named Carmen Jordá. There are so many things I could rant about regarding Jordá but just take my word for it, she's comedic levels of terrible yet somehow has a platform in motorsport. She said that women can't compete with men, yet there are countless examples in racing where this isn't the case.

I felt that pandering to Jordá's view of segregation was a huge smack in the face for all women in motorsport, because there are many examples that showcase the fact that motorsport is one of the few sports where women and men can race together equally. I feared that Jordá's influence meant that she would get picked for the series despite the fact they were insisting they were picking the most capable drivers. Thankfully she wasn't picked so yeah.. big win for integrity there! Imagine that you say only women can race against women and being deemed not good enough by the people organising a series which did just that.

The series was started up with the intention for hand picking the eighteen greatest drivers who were women, having them compete in the new Tatuus F3 car across six races supporting the DTM. Unlike most major motorsport championships where multiple teams run a few cars, the W Series organisers work in collaboration with Hitech GP to run every single entry, and actually rotate the chassis around so one driver doesn't always have what may be the better car.

After an initial application list of over 60 drivers, evaluations began with drivers being measured on a number of factors such as racecraft, fitness, media training, data analysis and sponsorship pitches, before a series of knockout races deciding those who would become the W Series' main drivers. I will say something I find amazing about the W Series, none of the drivers have had to pay a dime to compete, which you never find in any racing series since you mostly always need a budget. Alice Powell hasn't competed in racing for years due to lack of budget so that's a good thing, and the winner of the championship earns a cash prize of half a million pounds to go towards whatever they may try and compete in for the future.

So fast forward to yesterday, I was really happy with how the race went. There were a few crashes, and eventual race winner Jamie Chadwick did have to recover after she went off on the first lap. Chadwick got back the lead from Sarah Moore after a safety car was brought out for an incident where Canadian driver Megan Gilkes suffered brake failure and collided with Finland's Emma Kimiläinen.

But that in and of itself is something I'm finding really troubling about the existence of this series and women in motorsport as a whole.

Last year at the Macau Grand Prix, a driver called Sophia Flörsch had a monumental accident in which she lost control as a result of a miscommunication from the car ahead of her, and was launched over a kerb into a photographer stand. There is footage of the accident which, well let's just say I normally have a good stomach for seeing these sorts of incidents but I couldn't watch that beyond the first time.

Flörsch had to have surgery for a spinal fracture which was an operation that lasted 17 hours but thankfully survived, and is now racing in the new Formula 3 Regional European championship. However, I genuinely saw some people saying "Well if she was a man, that wouldn't have happened".

This is despicable! It's like, because women are such an under-represented group in motorsport, their actions are over-analysed so much to the point that the inevitable error or terrible driver who just so happens to be a woman will be the centre of attention and the reason for this is simply because they are a woman.

This is why Carmen Jordá is such an awful figure to represent women in motorsport, being as slow as she is yet being able to buy her way into becoming a Lotus/Renault development driver, and then somehow ending up as FIA representative for women in motorsport. It sends a dangerous message to the world of motorsport that the notion of women being incapable is actually backed by highly known fact.

When in truth, you see someone as highly successful as Jamie Chadwick who was the GT4 class champion in British GT in 2015 aged just 16 at the start of the season. She also became the first woman to win a British F3 race at Brands Hatch last year, and then at the start of this year she won the Middle Eastern and Indian based MRF Challenge, a single seater series which keep European based drivers occupied during the colder months. She may not have a career like her fellow Ginetta graduate Lando Norris but you can't say that isn't a career that doesn't reflect her quality as a driver.

Then you have Alice Powell, a Formula Renault champion in the UK and Asia as well as a GP3 points scorer, and Sarah Moore who won the Ginetta Juniors championship in 2009, Beitske Visser who was a part of the Red Bull junior programme and won a few races in what we know now as German F4. Even Marta García who finished third in the race earlier today to Chadwick and Powell, she didn't have a good start to her single seater career but pulled off some incredible overtakes to seal her place on the podium in a car that is a step up from the entry level formulae she competed in. You clearly can have drivers of quality but these old conservative mindsets are refusing to acknowledge it.

Round about the time of Jamie Chadwick taking that historical first win in British F3 last August, a BBC article came out about it linked on Twitter and a response I saw was "Wow, it took a woman that long to win in British F3? And they're always going on about how they deserve equal pay", to which I berated that cunt. Then during the televised broadcast for the Formula E Hong Kong ePrix, Jamie was one of the guest pundits in the studio and I innocently said on Twitter "Could we see Jamie in Formula E soon?", to which I get the response from some old man, "Wow you have no idea what you're on about" followed by an obnoxious laughing crying emoji and they blocked me before I could reply.

This is just utterly pathetic and close minded, and I've become accustomed to this. Which is why I feel the W Series may do more harm than good, because yes we do want some young girls to turn on the TV and see some potential idols racing at the forefront but it's also showing some admittedly under par drivers perhaps. Since there probably aren't anywhere near enough drivers of quality to fill the grid, the gaps between first and last could be a lot bigger than other equivalent championships.

I hate mainly that this attitude really only applies to women. If you have someone as bad as Carmen Jordá in a race and she's doing as bad as she typically would do, it's because she's a woman. But if you have someone as bad as this Indian guy in Formula 2 at the moment called Maheever Raghunathan who is so many levels of awful, these same people aren't so quick to say anything about his gender. But even when it's a woman winning like Ana Carrasco, who won the World Supersport 300 motorcycle championship, I saw someone say "Should someone who never got better than 10th after winning two races be the champion?", my answer to that is yes because in that season, nobody else won two races and couldn't overhaul her points lead.

The segregation of women in this W Series is something I really don't like and having already said many examples of women winning championships that men compete alongside them in, the idea that this series is meant only for women and therefore due to the lower quantity of higher quality women drivers at this level in motorsport, it does put the idea in the head that some of these drivers are only able to "compete alongside other women" like in other sports.

But whilst I still think that the money that went into this series would be better spent funding the careers of a few select women who are the most unmistakably highest quality, the W Series is meant to act as a platform to help publicise the women in this position and the prize fund for the champion is to help them fund their career for the following season and thus the drivers without a budget such as Powell can appeal for sponsors.

The W Series isn't intending to be the final step for all women in motorsport to compete, it is a stepping stone where the drivers who are of quality can indeed showcase that they deserve to step up to perhaps FIA Formula 3 and beyond. So whilst I still disagree with the notion that this series needs to exist at all, at least it's giving these women a platform to appeal for sponsorship and potentially compete alongside their male counterparts.

Recent comments from Helmut Marko really pissed me off. Most comments by him piss me off, as he's a senile old man with no spine and has the job of funding the careers of Red Bull affiliated juniors such as the ever promising (sarcasm) Dan Ticktum, or Dan Tantrum as I like to call him since he likes throwing hissie fits and crash people off on purpose. Anyway that's neither here nor there.

Marko said recently that racing is not in women's nature, to that I say get fucked. Because of this, I'm hoping something in particular happens.

Red Bull are affiliated with Aston Martin, who have just taken over the organisation of the Autosport BRDC (British Racing Driver's Club) award from McLaren. This award is given to a young British driver at the end of every year after testing themselves against other young Brits in a variety of race cars, and such winners include David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Dario Franchitti, Anthony Davidson, Paul di Resta and current F1 drivers such as George Russell and McLaren's own Lando Norris.

The winner receives a cash prize and a drive in a McLaren F1 car, but now with the departure of McLaren, Red Bull are now taking their place as the provider of the F1 car that the winner gets to test. So with Jamie Chadwick's ties to Aston Martin (being a factory GT driver), I'm hoping she gets onto the list of Aston Martin Autosport BRDC award contenders and I think she would be in a position to win. Perhaps she would face strong opposition from such drivers as Max Fewtrell, Kiern Jewiss, Olli Caldwell and undoubtedly many other potential nominees.

Olli, I know you're my mate and you're probably reading this but I just want Helmut Marko to know that his comments would be followed up by Jamie Chadwick being handed a test drive in a Red Bull F1 car. That would put the PHATTEST smile on my face, seeing that prick have to see one of his cars being driven by a woman.

Overall, I can see the benefits of the W Series and I am now contemplating going to the season finale at Brands Hatch in August. I am rooting for Jamie Chadwick to win, but will also be cheering on drivers such as Alice Powell, Marta García, Beitske Visser, Vicky Piria, Sarah Moore and Miki Koyama who charged from near the back of the grid to finish 7th and was on the pace of the top five. I hope all of them can find stable race drives in the future no matter what that may be in.

I hope Powell and/or Moore can get the funds to compete in the British Touring Car Championship since I believe having a woman in the series which is highly televised on ITV4 could potentially be a dream for sponsors in the UK. After today, Marta García really impressed me with her racecraft and pulling off almost Ricciardo-esque overtakes and has made up for her underwhelming first year in single seaters.

But most of all, whilst Jamie Chadwick already has a stable motorsport career with Aston Martin factory drives in the VLN series at the Nürburgring in Germany and also is a part of the Fernando Alonso Esports roster, I think she's our best shot at the moment of having a woman potentially succeed in top level motorsport. Whether she does or not, I don't know.

However, if the W Series can do anything, it's having a little girl see Jamie Chadwick, Alice Powell and Marta García stand on that podium yesterday and ignite a spark in her eye, and make them want to achieve what they see on that TV. Isn't that how it all begins?

In the series of books I aim to write about a racing driver, a young boy named Alex Harrison, I will have a few young girls compete also alongside him, namely the character of Leonié 'Leo' Taylor. She will face the typical BS that most girls in motorsport are faced with, the obstacles and pompous attitudes that come with being a girl in mostly a rich boy's sport. I hope that Leo as a character will in turn inspire women to compete in racing, perhaps.

There are many other drivers competing in karting and cars that I have my eye on, such examples include Ella Stevens who won the BirelART UK Cadet karting championship in 2017 and the LGM Privateer karting class in 2018. Then there's Abi Pulling who has back-to-back championships in the Super One National Junior TKM series in 2017 and 2018 (having finished runner-up in 2016), Emily Linscott who won the BKMC junior karting title in 2016 (after only starting racing at the start of that year) and finally Juju Noda, who has been breaking lap records in F4 and F3 machinery in her local Japan and she's barely old enough to race them, yet she's going quicker than those who are actually able to race them!

So whilst the W Series is well intentioned, it could do more harm than good but at the moment, it's tackling a very important issue. Women in motorsport can and will succeed, and soon we will look back on these days and be glad this is behind us, as women and men will race on equal terms and can be just as competitive.

The opportunities don't always come the way of women and this is at the very least, a good place to start laying the foundations for the future.

If you want to follow the W Series, it's broadcast on Channel 4. The first round was yesterday at Hockenheim so you could probably find it on catchup, and as for the rest of the season, it goes as follows: Zolder, Belgium on May 18th. Misano, Italy on June 8th. Norisring, Germany on July 6th. Assen, Netherlands on July 20th. Then the final round at Brands Hatch, Britain on August 11th.

Hope you enjoyed what I had to say today. Yeah I know, the opinion of a man about a women's racing championship, why do we need another opinion of someone like me? Well I'm glad you made it this far at least.

If you liked what you see and want to see more from me, follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat and consider adding yourself to my mailing list, by going to the side on your desktop and dropping your email into the 'Follow By Email' option. Hope to have you all back here soon for some more blabs of mine!

So until we meet again,

Luca.

Igor Fraga and the power of Esports

Image courtesy of www.gran-turismo.com

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. Meet Igor Fraga, he's a 20-year old Brazilian racing driver, he was Brazilian F3 Academy Class champion in 2017, runner-up in Mexican F4 and finished fourth in U.S. F2000 last year. He's a bloody good driver, but you've read the title and yes, video games and virtual racing have played a huge part in his career.

The first I ever heard of Igor Fraga was when he participated in the inaugural F1 Esports, where he qualified for the final and went to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in order to compete. Unfortunately, he didn't do that well but it showed the crossover was becoming ever closer, as Fraga only ever got involved with the event as a result of having to learn the Mexican Grand Prix track for an upcoming F4 race. Little did he suspect I reckon, where that would lead for him.

Fraga would go on to compete in the FIA Certified Online world championships, which took place on the new Gran Turismo Sport game. Having qualified, Fraga would start turning some heads as he came out on top in the Americas final thus becoming Americas regional champion, and be allowed to compete in the world finals in Monaco last November.

Firstly, he was paired up with his European and Asia-Pacific counterparts Mikail Hizal of Germany and Ryoto Kokubun of Japan as they had all signed in-game with Nissan and thus were Nissan's drivers in the manufacturers final, which didn't go their way unfortunately. But when it came to the nation's final, the individuals championship, Fraga was a man on a mission.

Having won the first race in road cars, he'd come close to winning race two which took place in GT3-style racing cars but would make a mess of it near the end and lost a few places. He had even more of a disaster in the third race which took place in Le Mans style prototype cars, making major errors and thus finishing 11th which meant he would be starting there for the final race.

All hope seemed lost for the Brazilian, but they were now using one of Fraga's favourite cars, the Red Bull X2014 Standard around the full Le Mans Sarthe circuit, and a race I saw and immediately beforehand called it even with as hopeless as it seemed for young Igor. He put in the drive of a lifetime and was in a championship winning position even before overtaking his team mate from the day before and now championship rival Mikail Hizal.

Fraga was taking certain corners at speeds on the least grippiest tyres faster than those on the best tyres, he was defying the virtual physics of Gran Turismo, and yes before you berate me for continuing to deprive you of the answer, yes he did win the race and thus became FIA Certified Online Gran Turismo world champion! Igor Fraga couldn't possibly do better than that could he? Oh yes he can.

Literally a couple of months after wrapping up the Gran Turismo championship, Fraga went on to compete in the McLaren Shadow project final. A test which put a bunch of aspiring Esports racers through their paces, demonstrating physical and psychological evaluation and then also proving their worth on a vast variety of different racing games in order to win a place on McLaren's Esports team.

This included driving IndyCar 2018 on iRacing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the McLaren P1 GTR on Forza Motorsport at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, hotlapping on a mobile tablet at Hockenheim in a McLaren 720S on Real Racing 3, again using the 720S but on Project CARS 2 at Circuit of the Americas equipped with a virtual reality headset, rFactor 2 in 720S GT3 cars around Silverstone and the grand final would be the final three again on rFactor 2 in the 720S GT3 cars around Sebring.

Throughout the final's races, all of Fraga's competitors proved where their strengths laid with some being great at some games and some just not being able to adapt to others, yet Igor continued to finish there or there abouts on every game and rarely was ever outside the top three, incredible consistency. He went into the final race at Sebring the outright favourite and guess what? He didn't disappoint, and won the event with incredible ease and earned a place on McLaren's Esports team.

Now what does this prove in terms of the power of Esports exactly? Well I'll tell you. Before Esports came along, Fraga didn't have a hope in hell in finding a budget or sponsors to race in Europe, but as a direct result of his success on Gran Turismo and earning his place on the McLaren Shadow team, it was announced a couple of days ago that Igor Fraga would be racing in a single seater series in Europe.

Image courtesy of www.formulascout.com

Fraga is racing for DR Formula by RP Motorsport in the inaugural Formula Regional European championship (horrendous name I know, essentially it's the new European F3). As you can see his car is decorated with Gran Turismo and McLaren Shadow branding.

The crossover between real world and virtual driving is closing ever more. We've seen drivers start out on video games, such as GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough, we have also had events where real world drivers cross over into virtual driving such as the Las Vegas eRace where Formula E drivers raced sim racers which saw now McLaren Esports driver Bono Huis fend off the advances of then Formula E racer Felix Rosenqvist.

McLaren are no strangers to the whole Esports scene, having held another competition in 2017 called World's Fastest Gamer which saw drivers being tested in a similar way to the Shadow Project and the winner was kitchen sales manager Rudy van Buren, who became their official simulator test and development driver. Having won karting championships in his local Netherlands but having to give it up since he couldn't string together a budget and sponsorship to continue his career.

The incredible Race of Champions event opened up its doors for gamers to potentially race real drivers in 2018 with its eRace of Champions with the winner joining WFG winner van Buren in driving real cars against established racing champions. Rudy van Buren even managed to beat McLaren's current driver Lando Norris in one of the heats.

He was joined by now McLaren Esports driver Enzo Bonito, who would go on to compete also a year later and beat established racing champions such as 2012 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, and 2016-17 FIA Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi.

Going back to seeing real world drivers taking virtual racing seriously, Lando Norris and Red Bull F1 driver Max Verstappen have been competing in a few one off endurance races on platforms such as iRacing and rFactor, even being co-drivers in the iRacing Bathurst 12 hours. Although that race was rather ill-fated, the exposure that resulted from their presence made people start to take notice.

We even are starting to see drivers sign themselves to Esports racing teams, such as Norris and Verstappen being affiliated with Team Redline, and Fernando Alonso forming his own Esports team and signing eWTCC champion Alexander Dornieden, McLaren Shadow project finalists Xiang Gao and Ebrahim Al Mubarak and even a real world driver, British GT4 and MRF Challenge champion Jamie Chadwick.

Now every racing championship it seems is adopting their own official Esports championships, and it's no surprise to see why. With how expensive motorsport is becoming, now is the time for Esports to be recognised as a legitimate means for drivers to keep sharp and hone their craft, because with the exception of the heavy physical and G-Force elements of the real world driving, the skills required for real world driving are pretty much there for the virtual racing.

Obviously it differs with every game, I can't imagine the next F1 champion or 24 hours of Le Mans winner will begin their career as a result of being amazing on Mario Kart but I suppose you all have to start somewhere!

But jokes aside, this is what Igor Fraga has proved. Esports can provide you a major platform in car racing, since the skills required are the same, and buying a nice TV, steering wheel, frame and chair is going to be considerably less expensive than a season in a karting championship with all the tools and equipment needed, now is the time for Esports to be taken seriously in a motorsport and car racing context.

Virtual racing could potentially become a new grassroots of motorsport, for drivers looking to appeal for sponsorship. Igor Fraga has proved through his success as Gran Turismo world champion and the winner of the McLaren Shadow project final that it's possible that you can use video gaming and virtual driving as a means to get into real life car racing.

One day, we will have a world champion in F1 and an overall winner at the Le Mans 24 hours who will have had their career happen as a result of planting their ass on a sofa and playing a video game. Car racing is the only sport I reckon where the virtual version works as well as the real version. I can't say that about football, because you aren't moving your legs in order to kick the ball and pass it, you're controlling the other players.

I unfortunately cannot say the same thing about motorcycle racing either, since that involves a way lot more direct body movement and when I saw the MotoGP Esports, the players were using controllers and were literally throwing their bikes into corners because they wouldn't have to worry about what the laws of physics would do to their bodies and thus were going multiple seconds faster than the real world riders could manage.

Car racing in real life and in the virtual world, are very close to each other and because of the lesser amount of expenses involved, it's becoming a serious option for drivers to consider a real world driving career.

Hope you all enjoyed my article. If you did and want to stick around for more articles, either follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or if you're on desktop, go to the 'Follow By Email' option on the right hand of screen and put your email in there, which will then mean that all blog posts I publish will be sent straight to your inbox.

So until we meet again,

L.

The Prototype - book review

Image courtesy of www.amazon.com

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. So a few months ago, I saw an article on GTPlanet about an upcoming release, a novel called 'The Prototype' which had the seal of approval from the creator of the Gran Turismo driving games Kazunori Yamauchi himself, so immediately I was intrigued. So I did some research, and found some information about the author, Sam Mitani.

The first Asian-American writer at 'Road & Track' - one of the big three American automotive publications - and having led a charge of Asian-American representation within the automotive journalism industry, he's now turned his attention to fiction. He's very much incorporated his 20 years of experience into this debut novel, and I am here to tell you all about it because it's absolutely brilliant.

So what's The Prototype about? The main character is an Asian-American automotive journalist and gamer named Stockton Clay, who isn't well respected by his co-workers and is a tad down on his luck. He then receives a formal request directly from Tetsuro Kanda, the head of the world leading automotive manufacturer Kamita Motors, to attend an announcement about the future of Kamita Motors, which includes the launch of a secret prototype supercar.

However unbeknownst to Stockton, once he arrives at the location of the big Kamita Motors reveal, an attempt is made on his life and he is caught in the middle of the conflict between the CIA and a mad Russian scientist who is on the verge of upsetting the balance of world power. As Stockton fights for his survival, he discovers unknown things about his life, including his true identity.

Alright so if you've got the book, you'll know I essentially copied the summary of the plot on the back of the book but you have to admit, it really gets you invested, doesn't it? Well I can happily report that the story doesn't disappoint.

One thing I will say about The Prototype is, not trying to say it's predictable or formulaic because it isn't, but something of this sort of story and nature being so attached to a lot of elements I can identify with as a automotive and motorsport enthusiast, it really appeals to me. Just to deviate for a moment, back in 2013 when I saw the movie Rush, seeing the story I knew so well being shown in a way that made it appealing to anyone who wasn't necessarily into motorsport, I appreciated that so much. The Prototype evoked those same feelings that Rush did, with my automotive and motorsport wired mind being able to share it with someone who isn't necessarily into any of that stuff. It opens a door for that sort of thing to be possible, and I have to commend Mitani for that.

Something that Mitani does which I love is how deep he goes into describing very minor details, he definitely takes his experience from being an automotive journalist and pours it into this. He's describing the kind of leather a seat has in a helicopter, or he's having the character remember very specific things about whatever model of vehicle he's in that it would have a spare luggage compartment in a stated area in the model.

Also when he is describing the cars themselves and how they behave, even when the car is a Kamita and therefore completely and utterly fictional, you can really set it apart from another car. They aren't just transportation boxes, Mitani really writes about these cars in a very individual manner, you can really imagine yourself driving a little K-car, or a mildly quick sportscar or even the unimaginably powerful prototype.

He's the same when it comes to environment and location, whether that be describing locations of buildings in Tokyo or even the surrounding area of either Fuji Speedway overlooked by Mount Fuji or the endless sea of horrific looking paint at Paul Ricard, with an airport right next to it.

These little details could come across as annoying to the average reader, but in truth it adds so much more to the story, it really immerses you in the world. Not only that, during the Kamita announcement - no spoilers, go read the book - I was pretty damn happy with what I was reading! It offers a peak further into the world that Mitani has built, and I kind of wished we could see more of what he teased us with there. I hate being so cryptic about it, I do apologise but I just don't want to spoil the surprise, even if overall that element isn't a huge part of the story.

As for the story itself, Mitani knows exactly how to write intrigue and action, normally action in written descriptive form is very weak and whilst it tries to pull you in, normally it falls flat. Mitani on the other hand, he never fails to keep you reading, even in the calmer parts of the novel, it never has inconsistent flow and you're not trying to wade through these slower parts in preparation for the next big action scene. The way Mitani writes it, the story lends itself incredibly well to visual media, like a graphic novel or on the screen, more on that later.

Now I mentioned how Rush really impacted me and that The Prototype did so as well in a very similar manner. I bring this up because something I've already mentioned about The Prototype, is that it takes a lot of elements of thrillers and allows the audience who are that of a thriller loving disposition, but allows the story to ring familiar with those who love motor vehicles and thus it bridges a gap between those two audiences.

The reason I mention this is because the story also contains some twists, quite farfetched ones that maybe you'll read and be like "Really?", and that isn't me trying to criticise it. Being someone who doesn't get to identify and enjoy a lot of media to do with cars and motorsport, having something which does retain a lot of familiar elements within the genre but allows me to also read about it as a motoring enthusiast, it's something I really appreciate. Maybe your average thriller loving avid reader would be tired of the oversaturated elements within these novels, maybe they'll call it formulaic, but I as someone who doesn't get to read a lot of stories like this, it felt great to feel legitimised, exactly like when I sat in the auditorium for the first time in late 2013 to watch Rush.

I hope I put that last paragraph well. The last thing I want to do is call this book predictable or formulaic, because it really isn't. It's familiar, and assuring, it's not out of place among a plethora of other renowned thriller novels.

So overall, I absolutely loved The Prototype, and I appreciate Sam Mitani. He follows me on Twitter now and we have exchanged words before, I think he likes having a very vocal supporter and I assure everyone, he's very down to earth and is just honoured to be in the position that he is in.

Right I want to talk momentarily about something I touched briefly upon, and this is how Sam started following me in the first place, I mentioned that this novel would work well on a screen, and in the case I am about to talk about, a movie.

Now I know I've had this sort of belief about a novel being made into a movie before whether that be the Megan series by Mary Hooper, or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. But as naïve as I may sound, I'm absolutely positive about the possibilities with this one even if I acknowledge the potential hurdles. So I tried unsuccessfully to get the attention of beloved actor Ken Jeong - who appeared recently in a movie called Crazy Rich Asians - on Twitter with as much as I could say in 280 characters about The Prototype.

I mention Crazy Rich Asians there because I know how important that movie is. With Sam Mitani being Asian-American and the characters in this story being mostly either of Eastern descent or directly from Far East Asia, a movie about these characters would require some Asian talent both in front and behind the camera. Unfortunately, there is a stigma or some hesitation from big Hollywood studios to steer clear of stories made about characters who are minorities, and even taking Asian derived stories and completely whitewashing them. But as we are thankfully approaching a future now where representation will certainly become the norm, The Prototype has come along at the right time for a movie to be made about it and it be an attractive option for studios.

Crazy Rich Asians was adapted from a 2013 novel of the same name by an author named Kevin Kwan and it was greeted to glowing reception, so the movie rights were picked up by Warner Bros after a heated battle with Netflix in 2016. The movie was directed by Jon M. Chu, whose work that went before was never really that of a glowing filmography but the reception was incredible, both critically and financially, with it making $238.5M on a $30M production budget. This success has guaranteed that the two follow-ups to Crazy Rich Asians - 2015's China Rich Girlfriend and 2017's Rich People's Problems - are also being adapted for the big screen.

With Crazy Rich Asians paving the way for Asian representation in media, a movie based on The Prototype and the themes that it possesses can open more doors for this to become the norm, with the themes of The Prototype being more thriller-based (a genre which typically gets more butts on the seats in the movie auditorium), studios may be more inclined to put the money behind this.

I even have Henry Golding from Crazy Rich Asians in mind to portray Stockton Clay, his career is on the up and he's well on his way to potentially becoming a solidified star of movies, and a movie like The Prototype could be well what he needs to kickstart that career leap into movement. I know I have people in mind for the other characters, like Tao Okamoto of 'The Wolverine' fame as the character Maki Takano, and Ken Watanabe as Tetsuro Kanda, and many more in mind but for the life of me, I wish I could remember the names of the characters but I do remember visioning people like Donnie Yen and Joel Kinnaman in the some specific roles. That last one being for the Russian agent because of how intimidating he was in Child 44.

The faith I have in this story is unbreakable and I am fully confident that this will make a great and successful movie, I don't know what detailing it here will do for the cause but I just need to say it. I had a brief talk at one point with Mitani a few months ago telling him about something, that being if he could have Kazunori Yamauchi - since he's quite friendly with him - recreate the very car that is featured within the story, in Gran Turismo. If a movie was indeed ever made, maybe as a part of the marketing, Polyphony could indeed recreate the Kamita prototype in either the current Gran Turismo title or a future installment depending on when the movie is green-lit and which GT game is out by then.

Anyway I know this is called a book review and I have just rambled nonsensically about all that but if you know me by now, this is what you have come to expect of me. But I do hope nonetheless that you enjoyed what I had to say and that you feel inclined to pick up a copy of The Prototype. If you want to do so, here's a link that will undoubtedly help you with that. - https://www.amazon.com/Prototype-Should-Existed-Depends-Survival/dp/1641369760

As for Sam himself, he's rather active on Twitter so go follow him @SamMitani and stay tuned to what he has planned next, he tells me he's already hard at work on his next project though for obvious reasons, I know about as much as you regarding what it's about. Even though I tried to suggest to him that he be the one to write a novel about a GT Academy winner, whether he does or not, who knows? I am confident that he will be writing about something to do with cars, and well, that's all the assurance I need.

Alright! That'll be all from me, thank you ever so much for reading. If you like what you see here and want to see more, either drop your email into the 'Follow By Email' option in the top right if you're on desktop, or follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or even both! You can do whatever, it's a free country, maybe, to an extent. Hope to see you all back here soon.

Until we meet again.
Luca.

Hello again

It has been a while, I can explain. So I started university around the time of my last blog post and that has been taking up the majority of time away from leisurely activities like watching racing, playing games and other things here and there. I cannot promise that I'll be posting regularly on here, I'm struggling to think of a lot of things to write, I do tend to be able to think of something in the moment.

With that being said, I did have plans to write in recent weeks but my laptop decided to break and I only just got this new one, it's one of those ones which can rotate and become a tablet and I am very happy with it. So hopefully if I have something I feel the need to write about, I'll be able to now.

As far as things I am doing now, I've been investing myself into university work of course, building my Road To Glory lore up very heavily and communicating with a lot of people via email who are involved in motorsport. Really there's not a lot to be said here but those who for some reason do follow me on here were wondering, an explanation I felt was needed or at least an update.

If you're wondering since my last post was directing over to something I wrote on Reddit, I'm fairly active on there so feel free to get active on there if you want to talk to me for whatever reason. Thank you for reading.

L.