EXCLUSIVE TACH COVERAGE
Pain in Spain!
European Bureau Chief
05/23/97
"Excuse me," said I, "this rental car will be all right will it not?""Of course," said the rather surprised lady at the AVIS counter in Barcelona, "our cars are fine. Why do you ask?"
"Well, you see last year we had a brand new Renault which broke down in the middle of Barcelona's busiest street and we would hate to have a repetition."
"No chance," she said, "this car is a brand new Opel Astra.. with only 10 miles on the clock!"
Terrific, we thought, a good reliable car from Avis at last. Right? WRONG! My colleague was driving and the car seemed to be doing impersonations of a Cossack folk dance ensemble. The one where they jump up and down and occasionally goes sideways. Very funny I am sure on a stage, not quite so funny in the middle of a highway with huge Spanish trucks overtaking on both sides and hooting frantically.
"Maybe it's me," said my colleague, "you should try it as well." There was nothing wrong with him, there was something seriously wrong with the brand new Opel. It obviously was not checked at the factory, known in the motor industry as pre delivery inspection and it most definitely was not checked by the Avis people who claim to care. Well, maybe next time they will care to put things right before they hand over the keys. Even the screen washed bottle was empty and the windscreen was filthy. As for the car, well, of course the Avis man did not believe us, suggesting that we did not know how to drive. We gave him the key and asked him to go for a spin. After stalling three times he finally did his own Cossack dance and came back without a word. He got out, rushed off and came back with the key for another car.. so much for Avis Espana...pathetic is the word that comes to mind.
As far as the Spanish Grand Prix was concerned things got going right on schedule at 11 a.m. on Friday. There was last minute change in the line-up, at Team Sauber Gianni Morbidelli took over from Nicola Larini. The reason - too many negative comments about the team in the ever eager Italian sporting press.
The race, on Sunday will be the 27th Spanish Grand Prix counting towards the World Championship but the 42nd in all. The first was held way back in 1913 and was won by Carlos de Salamanca in a Rolls-Royce! The races have moved from one end of Spain to the other -Pedralbes, Jarama, Jerez , Montjiuch and since 1991 Montmelo-Catalunya near Barcelona . The Montjiuch track on the hills above Barcelona was far and away the most beautiful of them all, unfortunately there was a fatal accident involving five spectators which meant the end of racing there.
The Circuit de Catalunya is 4728 kilometres long and the race will be held over 65 laps. As regular readers will know Formula One is a very strictly controlled affair run with an iron fist by Bernie Ecclestone. Unless, yes, there are exceptions to every rule the King happens to drop in .Not any old King, but King Carlos of Spain. Jackie Stewart, well-known friend of Queens and Kings was on hand to introduce him to the teams and after a few minutes normal service was restored. The training was actually a pretty boring affair with Jean Alesi coming out on top. Villeneuve was second fastest but there is lots more to come tomorrow when the timed, final qualifying session starts at 1 p.m. local time. Imola 's hero Frentzen was only 12th today which in tennis parlance means that he was tanking . He will definitely be amongst the front runners when it matters.
Young Ralf Schumacher was once again very quick, sooner or later he will out-qualify his famous brother.
Maybe even tomorrow!
