www.redbulletin.com
an almost independent monthly magazine / december 2010
The Story Behind the Title
Experience
Print 2.0
How Red Bull Racing’s dream team took on F1’s finest... and won
Danny MacAskill On location with the YouTube superstar
The Jozi Underground These are the beats driving the ultra-cool Mzanzi music scene
Way Down South
Underwater pictures from the coldest seas on earth
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Doing the double
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Cover Illustration: Lee Laughton. Cover Photography: Getty Images. Photography: Thomas Butler, Sutton Images
an almost independent monthly magazine / march 2010
On two consecutive Sundays in November, Red Bull Racing set the sporting world on fire. First, November 7: the team wins the Formula One constructors’ title. Second: seven days later, Sebastian Vettel wins the Formula One drivers’ title and, aged 23 and 135 days, also becomes the youngest man ever to achieve this most hallowed of sporting prizes. Their achievement in sweeping the F1 ‘double’ is remarkable in itself: very few of the dozens of Formula One teams to have competed in the championship since 1950 have won even a single title; taking both in a single, epic year is scaling F1’s Everest. But maybe even more impressive than the titles themselves has been the manner in which Red Bull Racing and its star personnel – Vettel, Mark Webber, team boss Christian Horner and lead design brain Adrian Newey – have gone about their business. From the off in Bahrain last March, the team went on the attack, taking pole position and leading the first race, hurling down a gauntlet to their rivals: catch us if you can, was the message. A total of 19 races on, 15 pole positions and nine wins later, no one managed to, and on a dizzy Abu Dhabi Sunday, a little bit of Formula One history was made. Forgive us, if you will, the focus on Formula One here – it’s not every day, after all, you can call a colleague “F1 world champion” – for there is much else to enjoy in this month’s magazine. We journey to the remote Isle of Skye for an exclusive insight into the next movie project of Mr YouTube: the stunt-cycling supremo Danny MacAskill. Then to Africa, to join the ‘Felabration’ of the work of soul beat maestro Fela Kuti. And then to the far south, to some of the coldest, most treacherous waters on earth, to bring back a photo-reportage that required of photographer Karl Drevlak not only skill with a lens, but a rare gift for putting up with a frozen body. Turn the page, then, and enjoy!
Exclusively with The Independent on the first Tuesday of every month
Print 2.0
en.redbulletin.com/print2.0 This magazine puts you in the hot seat. See inside for details
Chocks away! How the Red Bull Air Race world champ got his wings
Banzai FMX
Full throttle with Japan’s moto pioneer
Board stupid?
Wife, nine kids and a camper van: one man’s surf odyssey
Chariot for a Champion EXCLUSIVE 1! inside F1’s most-Fancied car – by the man who made it EXCLUSIVE 2! bernie eccLestone: “i’d pick vetteL over schUmacher”
We hate to say ”we told you so”, but we did! Back in our March edition we declared, we hope not vaingloriously, that the Red Bull Racing RB6 would prove itself a ‘Chariot for a Champion’ and lo, Sebastian Vettel went and made it so. You read it here first!
Your editorial team
Adrian Newey, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Christian Horner (l-r) relive their magic moments from a truly unforgettable season on page 42
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Contents
welcome to the world of Red Bull Inside your world-beating Red Bulletin this month
Bullevard
16 now and next Updates from the worlds of culture and sport
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19 me and my body Kiteboarding queen Bruna Kajiya on shattered bones and dislocated digits 20 KIT BAG Times have changed in tennis: ash trees and animal guts no longer get a look-in 22 jonathan paarman This legend was the smallest surfer battling big waves, a fact that’s now earned him the right to make surfing’s toughest call 23 hard & fast Here’s just a few of today’s champions… 24 winning formula When it comes to body-rocking bass, there’s speaker science behind the good vibrations
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26 Pop Princess Aura Dione’s many opulent outfits are a daily reality for the Danish musician
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28 MARC MÁRQUEZ The speedy Spaniard may only be 17, but he’s the 125cc MotoGP World Champion 30 lucky numbers Fifty years after The Beatles started getting paid to perform, we see how it all adds up
Action
32 antarctica Two men discover a world of beauty and danger beneath the icy ocean surface 42 RED BULL RACING The double Formula One champions took on the best and won
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54 DANNY MACASKILL Thanks to talent and YouTube, the Scot and his street bike are wowing the world 60 felabration Music producer James Pants in Nigeria for a festival in honour of Fela Kuti 66 rally dakar If the VW Motorsport team can survive the preparation, the race should be a doddle 72 SINGLESPEED WORLD Champs Muppets, clowns and giant birds step into the saddle to do battle 06
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contents
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Photography: Liam Lynch, Gold & Goose/REd Bull Photofiles, Helge Kirchberger/Hangar-7, Kraeling Bildagentur, Getty images/Red Bull photofiles, Graeme Murray, Paul Calver, Karl Drevlak
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More Body & Mind
82 flight of fancy David Coulthard lets his inner spaceman loose 83 Chefs’ Secrets From ingredients to gadgets
84 GET THE GEAR All you need to survive the icy waters of the Antarctic 86 sounds on the rise Borrowing from genres including hip-hop and ragga, new musical sounds are bubbling to the surface in the party city of Jo’burg 88 Hot Spots The hottest sporting action whether it’s on snow, waves, track or pitch. Find it here in our global guide 90 Night Spots When the sun goes down it’s time to party. Here’s our pick of the best club nights, comedy, bands and festivals – the world over 92 nightlife London electro duo in Iceland, alt rockers in Stockholm, a DJ masterclass with A-Trak and where to burn the midnight oil in Sydney
Every Issue 8 Kainrath’s calendar 10 pictures of the month 98 mind’s eye
the red Bulletin Print 2.0 Movies, sounds and animation wherever you see this sign in your Red Bulletin 1
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72 za.redbulletin.com/ print2.0 In your browser window you’ll see the magazine cover. Just click at ‘Start Bull’s Eye’
Switch on your webcam If a webcam activation window opens, just click ‘activate’
Hold your Red Bulletin up to the webcam You’ll see all the multimedia content in this month’s mag – movies, sound and animation
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illustration: dietmar kainrath
K a i n r at h
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photography: Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Photofiles
Print 2.0
za.redbulletin.com/print2.0 Watch the Red Bull X-Fighters as they indulge in some horseplay
PHOTO of the month
Çannakale, Turkey
Horsing Around Q: What is it that spans 3,000 years to link the Trojan horse to freestyle motocross stunts? A: To get the job done, it’s what’s inside that counts. It takes bags of courage and control to leap a motorcycle, never mind doing so in front of the best part of 40,000 people and live TV cameras. There is a reason New Zealander Nick Franklin is leaping over a replica of history’s most famous wooden horse: this Red Bull X-Fighters Jams event took place not far from the site of the ancient city of Troy. The Greeks fought for a decade before Odysseus led a band of spies and soldiers through the city’s gates in the belly of the beast. One would suspect Mr Franklin would take rather less time to overcome the city walls. More videos of spectacular stunts at www.redbullxfighters.com
PHOTO of the month
V i e n n a , Au st r i a
Street Kings In the past five years, street dance, and in particular B-Boying, the competitive form of what used to be called breakdancing, has arrived in the mainstream, after three decades in back alleys and backyards – and it’s gone global. At Red Bull Checkmate, B-Boy crews from Russia, Sweden, Finland, Italy and the UK battled with three home-nation crews in a cross-European tournament, with a twist. (World-leading B-Boys also come from France, South Korea, Brazil and Japan, as well as the USA.) Inspired by the chessboard competition area, the crews could nominate a King and Queen able to retrieve teammates excluded in earlier battles. Given their nation’s chess heritage, it should have been obvious that the Russian crew, Top 9, would come out on top. Watch more of this at www.redbullbcone.com
More photos from the competition: en.redbulletin.com/checkmate 12
Print 2.0
photography: Philipp Schuster/Red Bull Photofiles
za.redbulletin.com/print2.0 Check out Red Bull Checkmate
PHOTO of the month
V e r ac ruz , M e x i co
Top Banana The thing is, if you’re going to keep the nickname ‘Hollywood’, then you really do have to pull off some box-office moves now and then. Mexican kayaker Rafa Ortiz earned his billing when he became the first man in a boat to descend the Big Banana falls on the Alseseca river in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains. Ortiz is one of a select group of kayakers, numbering in single figures, to have made descents of 30m or more; a fall down these falls measures around 42m. As well as lifetime bragging rights to a remarkable stunt, the 23-year-old, who’s a world-class freestyle kayaker (the one where you trick on the spot, not where you race downstream on a course) earned an eye injury that required three stitches for his efforts. Plunge into Rafa’s world at en.redbulletin.com/ortiz
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photography: LUCAS GILMAN
Bullevard Sporting endeavour and cultural ingenuity from around the globe
Breaking New Ground In Dubai, a pioneering street dance competition crowned the Middle East’s best B-Boy
It’s a Date Earlier this year, the Red Bull Illume photography contest uncovered 2010’s best shots of action and endeavour on land, at sea and in the air, including Predrag Vuckovic’s remarkable snap of wingsuit flyer Valery Rozov, above. The pic is just one of a dozen winning Illume images you’ll find in the 2011 Wings For Life calendar, an A2, poster-sized year-planner. The Wings For Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation, as the name suggests, promotes worldwide investigation into serious spinal injury. Proceeds from sales of the calendar, available online, will go to this organisation’s noble cause. Open your wallet and open up your wallspace. Buy one: www.redbullshop.com
In yet another example of the increasing global reach of the B-Boy movement (see also page 12), a Saudi dancer beat breakdancers from across the Middle East to win the Red Bull BreaKing contest in Dubai at the end of October. B-Boy Lazy, real name Abdul Rahman al Hammoud, topped a field of 16 competitors to become the region’s unofficial champion B-Boy. A triumph in itself, but especially so in a kingdom where many kinds of music and dancing are banned. “There are few activities for young men to participate in, and breakdancing was a great way to stay healthy and keep busy,” Lazy told the Khaleej Times newspaper in Dubai. Lazy earned himself a trip to see the Red Bull BC-One in Tokyo, the world’s leading B-Boy competition, of which there’ll be a full report in the next issue of The Red Bulletin. Videos and breaking news at www.redbullbcone.com
Big break: B-Boy Lazy (centre) takes Red Bull BreaKing crown
PICTURES OF THE MONTH
every shot on target Email your pictures with a Red Bull flavour to letters@redbulletin.com. Every one we print wins a pair of adidas Sennheiser PMX 680 Sports headphones. With a Kevlar-reinforced, two-part cable (it can be short when running with a music player on your arm, or extended with a built-in volume control), reflective yellow headband stripe and fully sweat- and water-resistant parts, they’re perfect for sports. Visit: www.sennheiser.co.uk Email: letters@redbulletin.com
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Islamabad Belgian biker Kenny ‘The Magician’ Belaey rails hard during the Trial Bike Tour of Pakistan Yasir NIsar
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Hero Blogs Twitter ye and become immortal
Andy Irons 1978 – 2010
Words: Paul Wilson. Photography: PRedrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Photofiles, Naim Chidiac/Red Bull Photofiles, Getty ImageS, Ari Michelson/Red Bull Photofiles, Justin L’Heureux/Red Bull Photofiles, Alfredo Escobar/Red Bull Photofiles, Garth Milan/Red Bull Photofiles, Manuel Ferrigato
Surf’s Fallen King It says much about the standing of Andy Irons, the three-time world surfing champion who died suddenly on November 2, that his greatest rival, Kelly Slater, emerged from the water after clinching the 2010 title a few days later and, dripping with water, said: “I’d give this title away in a second if Andy could come back.” Slater, winning his 10th world crown, spoke for everyone in surfing. For even though he could be as brash out of the water as he was on it, Irons was one of the world’s great competitive surfers, and his death, at the age of 32, lessens the sport he loved. Irons won his world titles in 2002, 2003 and 2004. This year he returned to the ASP Tour after a 12-month break, and secured his 20th event win at the Billabong Pro at Tahiti in August. At the last stop of the 2010 tour, in Puerto Rico, the competition was postponed for two days out of respect for Irons and his family, and around 200 surfers paddled out to sea together in remembrance. “It was good having the paddle-out, getting everyone together,” said Mick Fanning, two-time Tour champion. “I haven’t just lost a friend, I’ve lost my brother here. It’s hard to take.” Slater added: “Although Andy and I butted heads a lot a few years ago, I have so many good memories of him.” www.aspworldtour.com/andyirons
Kiev Fried, poached or lowered, unbroken, for 15m? The eggs-ellent Red Bull Gravity Challenge Sergey Illin
Grete Eliassen Freestyle skier My house looks pretty dizzy right now too. Almost like a tornado aka me has been running through it every week
New Year Revelation American daredevil Levi LaVallee will see in 2011 with a shot at a new world’s best distance jump on a snowmobile. The 28-year-old’s record attempt is the fourth annual Red Bull New Year No Limits event, following world-record stunts by Robbie Maddison (bike), Rhys Millen (truck) and Travis Pastrana (rally car). LaVallee will break 160kph on his run-up to jump 90m of water at San Diego Bay, during a total jump of about 100m.
Print 2.0
za.redbulletin.com/print2.0 See Levi leap into action
www.redbullnewyearnolimits.com
Tight Finish, Slackline Shaun White Snow-and-skater Backstage at letterman with Michael J Fox!! He was super cool. We talked about canada, the olympics and how in the past I was teen wolf for Halloween!
Sally Fitzgibbons Surfer I think my boards love getting lost... so they can get a ride home in a limo... they rocked up in style again this morning... wish it was me!!
The first-ever slackline world champion is Maurice ‘Momo’ Wiese, a 15-yearold from Frankfurt. His skills on the slackline – a rope, strung up a couple of feet off the ground, pulled just tight enough to be slightly bouncy – meant his was the first name on world sport’s newest trophy. Wiese landed a backflip during his round of balancing tricks and jumps, as did his closest title rival, American Andy Lewis. However, the judges at the IMS Bouldering Festival at Brixen, Italy, chose the young German. www.slackline.com
Rio de Janeiro Keepie-upping the good work at the all-female Red Bull Roda de Bola beach soccer contest Fabio Piva
Balancing act: Slackline champ ‘Momo’ Wiese
Payerne Swiss freestyle motocross genius Mat Rebaud doles out advice to his hometown’s boys Christophe Margot 17
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Between The Headlines
Stay tuned for more revelations at www.herschellegibbs.co.za
The Next Frontier Monde Sitole dreams of conquering the Seven Summits and skiing to both Poles, all before 2013. For an experienced adventurer with big dollars this is a radically ambitious plan, let alone a teenager from the dusty township of Khayelitsha. “What’s missing in many people,” says Sitole, 19, “is that courage to grab hold of their dreams. Seneca, the Roman philosopher said, ‘It is not that things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.’ That’s why I called my expedition Dare2Dream,” he says. Sitole recently conquered Mount Kilimanjaro – the highest peak in Africa – on October 27, under the guidance of multiple Everest man Ronnie Muhl and with the support of Cape Union Mart and Primedia. One down, six to go: “I’ll never forget it as it kick-started everything.” Follow his progress at mondewalks.com
London
The Inside Line How to pull off an aerobatics routine, by SA’s multiple champ Glen Dell Know Your Plane “Ninety per cent of international aerobatics competitors fly borrowed aircraft, because it’s so expensive to transport your own aircraft to the race: it would cost me about R300k to get my plane from here to London. So that means you quickly need to get to grips with your borrowed aircraft’s flying characteristics.” Chill “Each pilot has to get focused before a routine. I like to be by myself, be relaxed, and go through every aspect of my routine, from taxiing down the runway, to landing at the end.” Don’t Keep Too Fit “Before my first world champs, in 1994, I went overboard with training. I’ve since learned that it’s better to maintain a constant
level of fitness without gaining too much muscle, which means there’s more place for blood to go to under heavy Gs. That’s a bad thing. You don’t want blood draining away from your head.” Be The Routine “Visualisation is crucial. I spend many, many hours going through routines. Once you’re above the runway you shouldn’t be thinking too much about a routine, you should just be doing it.” The Rhythm Method “The pilot Peter Besenyei put it well when he said, ‘If you get into rhythm, it’s like music. Everything follows smoothly.’ The first two or three manoeuvres are crucial: nail them, the rest of the routine flows. Get them wrong and you’re playing catch-up all the time.” Go loopy at www.glendellaerobatics.com
The moves are too fast for the cameras Kuta Hundreds of Indonesian surfers entered Red Bull Heli Lierop In a spray of Dutch mud, Marvin Musquin is two at the UK B-Boy Championship finals in Brixton Surf paddle battle.The prize? Being flown to a ‘secret’ break laps away from retaining his World Championship crown Matthew Abiola-Bridgeman Erlynico Deborah JP O’Connell
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Words: Steve Smith, Jazz Kuschke. Photography: Kolesky/Nikon/Lexar, Taro Imahara/Red Bull Photofiles
As one of the most talented and controversial of all South African cricketers, Hershcelle Gibbs has featured almost as often on the front pages of newspapers as the back. His off-the-field antics compete for attention with his worldclass aggressive batting and remarkable fielding, and his autobiography, To The Point, has him in the headlines yet again. “Ja, the book has caused something of a media frenzy,” says Gibbs, “but the papers have sensationalised it by only focusing on the spicy stuff.” Naturally it’s been questioned whether the book will affect his chances of playing for the Proteas again. “Book or no book, my chances of playing for them are slim. The ODI team looks very well settled and are playing great cricket. Sure, I regret the way some people have reacted to the headlines rather than having read the book,” he says, “but I’m proud to have been able to tell my story openly and honestly. ”
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Me And My Body
Bruna Kajiya
How do you use what God gave you to defend a world championship? The reigning queen of kiteboarding feels the need to pull her finger out, ignore her knees and say no to dough
Knee-Jerk Reaction
“Landing on the water feels like hitting concrete because we travel at such high speeds. It’s because of this impact that most riders get problems such as ACL [anterior cruciate ligament] injuries. I’ve had problems in both knees, with ligaments but also the menisci too, the cartilage. Both my menisci are chipped right now. I’ve had operations where they suck out the little bits of shattered bone, but I’m not having that done again yet. It’s very painful to leave it, but taking the time out now would cost me the world title.”
Words: Ruth morgan. photography: Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Photofiles
Digital Determination “Last year I broke my finger the week before the final contest, and I was in contention for the title. My leash got wrapped around my right ring finger and pulled it out. It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. My trainer said, ‘If you see the doctor, he’ll immobilise it, then you can’t compete, so just deal with it.’ The day before the contest, I still couldn’t do anything in the water it hurt so much, but on the day, something stronger came from within me. I wanted it so badly that I took painkillers and just got out there. Every time I did a trick I would be yelling as it hurt so much. But I still won.”
Head On The Sand
“At one of my first pro events, in Tarifa, Spain, when I was 18, a strong onshore wind pulled me onto the beach and I landed on my head. So painful. I was really dizzy, didn’t know which way was up. When I left the hospital I was on my own, wearing a neckbrace and a wetsuit full of sand, in the middle of the city, thinking, what do I do now? But I learned from it: I’m 23 now and I’ve never tried a jump that close to the beach again.”
On e Of Th e Guys
“When I’m not in the wat er, I do cardio training now as in the last few years women’s kiteboarding has changed. We’re getting much higher in the air and faster, closer to the men’s level. Now we have to handle 10 intense heats in quick succession, and have the strength and power necessary for 15 tec hnically tough tricks per heat. I find it very hard to build muscle. If I don’t train for a month I pretty much lose all the work I’ve done, so I train almost 365 day s a year.”
On The Ball
“I do a lot with the exercise ball, on unstable ground to aid my balance skills: I’m now at the stage where . I can stand on it on one leg and jump s work it use beca our, park do I also almost all the muscles in your body, and helps you to be light and agile in the air. I do front flips, backflips, anything you do on the streets, but we do it inside. It’s great because no day is the same. Also, I do short bursts of running and skipping, but on a foam-covered gym floor, to reduce the impact on my knees.”
Doughs and Don’ts “In training I have to eat a lot, but if I don’t have the calories I need I’ll start to burn muscle. Basically, whenever I’m not exercising or kiteboarding, I’m eating. I eat a lot of wholewheat pasta, rice, bread and olive oil, no butter or sugar. But that’s only before important competitions – you need to have a balance. After the competition I’ll relax and eat Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream. When I’m training that’s the thing I really miss. In fact, I’d love some right now.” Get on board with Bruna at www.brunakajiya.com
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Kit evolution
Strings Theory
Few sports have been changed so drastically by advances in equipment as tennis. You still need court and racquet, but the speeds today are a whole new ball game
In the late 1830s, Michael Thonet, a German furniture maker, developed a revolutionary technique for bending wood using hot steam. He made elegant chairs, and if you’ve had coffee in an old European café, chances are you sat on one of Thonet’s No. 14 chairs: he sold 50 million of them 20
between 1859 and 1930. By this time, the business had passed onto his sons, and was making tennis racquets. The Mentor was first produced in 1925, when French favourites René Lacoste, Jean Borotra and Suzanne Lenglen were masters and mistress of all they surveyed. Made of
ash and walnut, bent then glued and bolted together, a Mentor offered only modest comfort to the players. The only grip on the handle came from fine grooves cut into the wood. The thick strings were fashioned from the outer layer of bovine serosa, more commonly known as cow gut.
photography: Kurt Keinrath
Wood That It Were Thonet Mentor, c 1925
It’s The Fed’s! Wilson Six.One Tour BLX, 2010 The year 1983 was one of farewells in racquet technology: Frenchman Yannick Noah was the last man to win a Grand Slam (the French Open) with a wooden racquet and American Jimmy Connors the last man to win one (the US Open) with a metal racquet. Then came the carbon fibre, or ‘graphite’ racquets, and
tennis got faster and harder, and players had to do the same to compete. Roger Federer’s racquet of choice is the Wilson Six.One Tour BLX. Relatively heavy by today’s standards at 339g (some racquets weigh as little as 250g), it’s made from an alloy called (K)arophite Black, Wilson’s own blend of
graphite, carbon fibre, silicon and basalt. Strings made of animals’ innards? Don’t have a cow, man: like all modern racquets, this one has synthetic strings, the tension of which can be finely adjusted to suit weather and court conditions. www.wilson.com
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Surf master: At 56, Paarman still rides waves and knows all the secret surf spots in his area
Complete waterman: With an experimental board (above) and at Seal Point on a longboard
Name Jonathan Paarman Nickname The Iceman
Lives Cape St Francis, Eastern Cape Ship shape Paarman, along with his brothers, builds high-end catamarans under the Nexus label Ear and there As a result of the dreaded ‘surfer’s ear’ bone growth, Paarman has had his ears drilled several times, but, “once you have them drilled, the bone just grows back twice as fast”
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A Life on the Ocean Waves
Johnny Paarman The South African surf legend remembers it all from his decades in the water – not least having to make the toughest call in African surfing Johnny Paarman would stand there on top of The Sentinel, always at first light, in the middle of winter. The weather was only ever bitterly cold. He would be up there, positioned on the rocky outpost of Hout Bay in Cape Town, as the sun rose, staring out to sea, watching the lines as they approached the Dungeons reef, checking out the swell direction, the wind strength and the depth of the tide. Those cold early morning mountain walks came with responsibility: he was there in his capacity as director of Red Bull Big Wave Africa. It was his call to greenlight the event, and if the waves faded during the day he’d have blown it, with everyone in surfing knowing about it. Similarly, to hold back on the call, wait for a better day and watch the waves go ballistic would bring scorn from all concerned. So Paarman would stand there and make his call.
When BWA began, in 1999, it had been more than two decades since Paarman had placed fourth in the 1976 Smirnoff Pro, and fifth in that year’s Duke Kahanamoku Classic in Hawaii, which took him to 15th in the international rankings. That was his highest mark on the world stage, but such was his standing that, 23 years later, he was invited to compete in that inaugural BWA. “In 1999 I wasn’t too focused on surfing, let alone big-wave surfing,” says Paarman, “but I agreed to surf, I wasn’t even thinking about winning. That was up to the younger, more competitive guys.” Over the next few years, Paarman and Gary Linden shared duties on the green light, with Paarman eventually carrying out solitary decisionmaking. “Making the call was one of the hardest things I have done,” says Paarman. One year, he
words: Craig Jarvis. Photography: Shafiq Morton, Brenton Geach, Craig Kolesky
Born September 27, 1954, Cape Town
Words: Ulrich Corazza. Photography: Noosa Triathlon, Yasuyuki Takeo, A. Rossignol/KTM Images, Getty Images.
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made the call to run, and the event ran well, but, on the next day came a bigger, better mystery swell, accompanied by criticism that Paarman had blown it by not having the experience and courage to hold out. It irked him a lot at the time. “You know, I surfed the wave often enough. I know how the wave breaks and I know the weather. It was a calculated decision and we got a winner that year,” he says. The 56-year-old has seen many incredible rides and wipeouts during the 10 BWA events to 2008. Indomitable drops, out-of-the-sky free falls, astonishing barrel rides and courageous rescues. “It really was an incredible event,” says Paarman. “It played a very important part in big-wave surfing on an international level. Many surfers benefited completely from the event. Many people forged careers out of this very event, and many lifelong friendships were made.” Paarman’s memories of big-wave surfing, first in South Africa and later all over the world, are vivid. Born into a surfing family, he was dragged all around the peninsula when he was small, and he often found no other choice than to go surfing. “I wasn’t going to just sit around on the beach when everyone went surfing, so I found myself paddling out no matter what,” he says. Aged 12, he wanted to surf in an event at the Outer Kom, but was refused entry because organisers thought he was too small and the “Red Bull Big waves too big. However, he managed to wangle Wave Africa a slot because of a noplayed a very show, and went on to important part win the event. “I really in big-wave remember winning that event,” he says. “I also surfing. Many remember paddling out people forged at Sunset long before careers out that contest. I see there of this event” is a surf mag claiming some other kid to be the youngest to surf Sunset now. Let them claim it.” These days when Paarman isn’t working on his boats he’s surfing, and when he’s not surfing he’s cycling, spending long hours in the saddle. He knows all the secret surf spots in the area, and knows the weather better than anyone. “We get to surf a lot up at Seal Point,” says Paarman. “The waves might not be that strong and that perfect all the time, but we get to spend loads of time in the water, all year round.” The future of big-wave surfing, says Paarman, is safe in the hands of his successors. “They’re riding big waves: it’s good to see that they’re still riding big waves.” Whether it’s a massive outside bommie or a ridiculous slab or a tow-in at Jaws or a ridiculous paddle at blustery Sunset, Paarman just loves the fact that surfers are getting out there, and getting way out of their comfort zone. “Big waves are big waves, you know,” says Paarman, with his typically uncomplicated way of looking at things. “Riding big waves is lekker.” Discover 10 years of Red Bull BWA at www.redbullbwa.com
hard & fast Top performers and winning ways from around the globe
San Francisco Giants pitchers Brian Wilson, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain address fans at their team’s hometown victory parade following their fairytale victory in baseball’s World Series.
Triathlete Courtney Atkinson tops the list of 2010 Olympic gold faves after winning the Noosa triathlon, on home turf in Queensland, Australia, for the third year running.
Finishing second at the season-clincher in Japan gave Spanish rider Viki Gom ez the BMX flatland (no-obstacle tricks) world title, which he last held in 2007 .
After six months away from the sport with his new baby, French rally biker Cyril Despres immediately returned to winning ways at the punishing Morocco Rally. Next stop: Dakar.
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winning formula
Good Vibration
The thump of the bass in your chest is both the heart of the music and a scientific sensation: here’s the score
From the lab “Your chest vibrates if you’re near the speakers on the dancefloor: that’s air molecules hitting your body and creating vibrations,” says Thomas Schrefl, Professor of Functional Materials at the University of Sheffield. “In contrast to electromagnetic waves, sound waves need a medium to support their propagation. “The molecules of the air oscillate about an equilibrium position. The oscillating membrane of the speaker compresses and expands the air in waves. The distance between the peaks of pressure in the compressed and expanded air is the wavelength, l. Each compression travels with a velocity, c, of 340m/s: the speed of sound. Sound velocity is the wavelength times the frequency, f, which is measured in hertz and gives the number of oscillations per second. “Owing to the alternating compression and expansion, the air molecules move with a timevarying velocity, v. When they hit your body, the moving particles cause an oscillating force on the skin. Pressure is calculated for a given force over a given surface area. The sound pressure is given by p = ρ cv, where ρ is the density of air. “Every object has a certain resonant frequency, and when it’s exposed to sound waves with a frequency close to its resonant frequency, the object will vibrate. At high sound levels – for a sound pressure greater than 0.2N/m² – you feel the compressive vibration of the ribcage. The resonant frequency of the chest is between 30Hz and 80Hz, depending on stature and gender. The ribcage vibrates with the resonant frequency. The acceleration of your body parts caused by the resonance effect is 0.05 times the acceleration due to gravity (g) at a sound pressure of 4.5N/m².” Get some bass in your place at www.nobodybeatsthedrum.com Listen to a new breed of DJs battle at www.redbullthre3style.com
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Words: Professor Thomas schrefl, Ruth Morgan. Photography: Lucas Gilman/Red Bull Photofiles. Illustration: Mandy Fischer
From the stage “Music is a huge part of my life and bass is a huge part of that music,” says Jori Collignon, keyboard player and one third of Dutch electronica outfit Nobody Beats the Drum. “I’m around big speakers a lot of the time, so I know about the emotion low frequencies create. “When you have this huge build-up, up into the high notes, then you get the big release of a heavy bass, you feel it through your feet right up into your stomach. So it’s more than listening, it’s feeling. “You feel your whole body moving, vibrating, and for me it can be almost overwhelming.”
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b u l l e va r d
The crowd is feeling it at the US finals of Red Bull Thre3Style, which requires its tune-spinners to link three genres of music in a 15-minute set. The world final of Red Bull Thre3Style is in Paris on December 9
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The Hangar-7 Interview
Aura Dione In the history of Scandinavian pop, Denmark has lagged behind its neighbours. This young lady might very well change all that
Born January 21, 1985, Copenhagen, Denmark Musical heritage She’s the daughter of a Faroese/French music teacher and a Danish/Spanish artist. Her parents met at the Roskilde Festival Achievements Her debut album, Columbine, made number three in Denmark and her debut single ‘I Will Love You Monday’ topped the charts and went platinum in Germany. Her second single, ‘Song For Sophie’ spent 22 weeks in the German charts Influences Folk, soul, pop, electronica Web www.auradione.com
See more pictures of Aura Dione in concert at Hangar-7, Salzburg, at www.hangar-7.com
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Aura, is that a plate on your head? Yeah, I just nicked it from the kitchen here at Hangar-7. Isn’t it great? It is, and it chimes nicely with your reputation as a fashion-conscious artiste. I change my costume several times a day, as that’s how I express my mood. Plus it’s important to give your fans a visual experience too. It’s ever so slightly Lady Gaga. Maybe. But let me remind you I was around before she was. If you look at my press kits from three years ago, you’ll see pictures of me in equally quirky, opulent outfits. We’ll take your word for it. What’s even more impressive is you were writing your first songs when you were only eight years old. I did. The oldest song on the album is called ‘Little Louie’. I wrote that when I was 10. It’s about a safe place for when your parents are arguing or war is raging. And people who don’t go out because they’re afraid of what other people think of them. That’s really quite insightful for a 10-year-old, isn’t it? You should never underestimate children. They’re just like adults. Or we’re just older children. A bit of both. So, tell us about your childhood... I travelled a lot. My parents set off on a huge trip around the world with me when I was three weeks old. I learnt to walk on a sailing ship, wearing a lifejacket. The lifejacket had a lead and my parents would take me out for a walk on deck like a little dog.
Your parents were hippies and musicians. Was it difficult to rebel with such cool parents? Well, when I was 17, I ran off to Australia, with my guitar, my cowboy boots and €100 in my pocket. I quit school, which my parents were not at all happy about. But it was the right thing to do. Obviously. Otherwise you wouldn’t be making number one records. Can you remember the moment you first heard you’d topped the charts? Yes. I’d just done a concert in Copenhagen, and then suddenly out of the corner of my eye I noticed this little fat guy in the crowd with a huge bottle of champagne. He calls me over, then the bottle slips out of his hands and just misses my head. He shouted, “You’re number one in Germany.” I looked down in shock and realised it was my manager. Is he still your manager? Yes, and apart from on that occasion, he’s made a pretty good job of it. In the video for ‘I Will Love You Monday’, you lead several pairs of your shoes around town, like the Pied Piper. Why is that? In life, we’re always going after things. The perfect job, the perfect love affair, the perfect pair of shoes. I thought it would be funny to have something going after me for once. And not just one pair of shoes: dozens. Your parents met at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark: your mother was a singer; your father was in the audience. What’s been your experience of groupies? Not that good, I have to say, but the crowd’s energy levels seem really high here tonight, so we’ll see what happens.
“My parents set off on a huge trip around the world with me when I was three weeks old. I learnt to walk on a sailing ship”
It’s a gas: Aura Dione’s balloon-ified album, Columbine
Watch the video for new single ‘Something From Nothing’ at myspace. com/auradione
Words: Florian Obkircher. photography: Helene Waldner (1), Helge Kirchberger / Red Bull Hangar-7 (1)
Name Aura Dione
3” 4 COLOR
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He’s the Two-wheel Deal
Marc Marquez
He looks as innocent as the Milky Bar Kid. But on track? Phew, he’s a killer!
Born February 17, 1993, Cervera, Spain Fast learner At three, he rode a mini-crosser, a tiny motorcycle – his father added stabilisers Rossi gonna do next? Márquez is tipped to succeed at Valentino Rossi’s level (nine world titles so far). But there’s one record the Italian will keep: he won 11 of 15 125cc races to become world champ in 1997; Márquez ‘only’ won 10 of 17 for his 2010 title Web www.marcmarquez93.es
Heads up: (above) at the Australian GP at Phillip Island; (below) MotoGP testing in Jerez, Spain
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Penultimate race of the 2010 125cc Moto Grand Prix World Championship, in Portugal. Marc Márquez – 17, stupendous talent, future interplanetary superstar – crashes on the wet track during the pre-race sighting lap. In the pits, his shocked mechanics thought that the World Championship title was at risk. One of them even began to cry. After hasty repairs, he restarted from the back of the grid. By the first bend he had already catapulted himself into fifth place and was third by the end of lap one. On the final lap, ignoring instructions from his manager, who had tried to curb his protégé’s risk-taking with a “P2 OK” from the pits, he went on to record a famous victory, his 10th of the season. A week later he took the 125 title in Valencia. The Spanish fans cheered their new hero long into the night. By braking ever later, tilting ever further and accelerating ever earlier than his rivals, Márquez’s normal mode of attack is all-out, yet he’s reserved off-track. “It’s a privilege that I’m able to race at this level,” he says. “Good results are the trade-off.” At the age of three, Márquez began to lose interest in his battery-powered child’s quad bike; soon he was asking for “a real motorbike” on his Christmas list. “One that runs on petrol and that you can do jumps on.” When he was four, fake ID enabled him to compete against five-year-olds in Enduro competitions. Aged eight, he was racing 50cc bikes, with the handlebar stump adjusted to
allow him to use the throttle and brakes at full stretch on the tank. He secured his first pole position in only his third race and from then on began a stellar career that led to a first professional contract, with KTM, aged just 15. “The 2009 season with KTM was an important learning experience because technically we were a little bit behind the competition, but I always tried to take us forward,” Márquez remembers. This year, racing with Ajo Motorsport on a perfectly set-up Derbi bike, he proved to be unbeatable.“Working with Marc is poetry for us,” says his Finnish team chief Aki Ajo. “He rides as regular as clockwork and during briefings remembers every little detail.” Márquez is noted as a cool customer, happier to work than party.He doesn’t seem to want special attention. As World Champion, he finds it embarrassing when he’s asked to sign autographs. Only on the podium will he allow his emotions free rein. On this stage, his stage, he’ll clench a fist with joy and create as much spray as he’s able to with his favourite energy drink. Being only 17, he doesn’t drink alcohol. “I’ve asked if they could make an especially large can for the podiums,” he says. He needn’t worry. Next year, when he turns 18, with a driving licence and competing in the Moto2 category, he’ll be able to spray champagne, the real stuff, as much as he likes. It’s a taste he’s surely going to get used to.
On the racing circuit, Márquez’s normal mode of attack is all-out, yet off-track he’s reserved, not seeking attention
Check out Márquez’s year of success and his blog on www.redbull.com
Words: Friedemann Kirn. Photography: Gold & Goose/Red Bull Photofiles, Repsol Media Service/Red Bull Photofiles
Name Marc Márquez
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Lucky Numbers
The Beatles
Half a century ago, on the back streets of Hamburg, a young rock ’n’ roll group from Liverpool called The Beatles were playing their first paid gigs. Within 10 years they’d become, and remain, the most important group of all time
From August 1960, The Beatles played a 48-night residency at the Indra club in Hamburg’s red-light district. The audience was composed mainly of working girls and their punters; the band, then a five-piece, slept in the club, in a back room next to the men’s toilets. John Lennon said, “I might have been born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg.”
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The Beatles released Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in June 1967. The album cover depicts 70 figures from all over the world brought together for an illustrious group picture of “new, free people”, as LSD evangelist and Beatles confidante Timothy Leary had christened them. There was Karl Marx and Marlene Dietrich, Albert Einstein and Oscar Wilde; Jesus and Adolf Hitler were rejected by the record company.
29,375 The opening chord in ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ is one of the best known in pop history. For decades, guitarists have tried to get to the bottom of that off-key, variegated sound. So too did mathematics professor Jason Brown, who examined the chord scientifically and broke it down into 29,375 frequencies. And his conclusion? Producer George Martin must have been playing five keys on the piano at the same time.
The Beatles have set records with their records that are unlikely to be broken. No one else has so many platinum records (41), so many US number-one singles (20) and number-one albums (19). All told, roughly 1.5 billion Beatles records have gone over the counter. Even The King, Elvis Presley, can’t keep up; he’s only sold about a billion.
3,000
When the tune for ‘Yesterday’ came to Paul McCartney in his sleep, he wondered if he’d heard it somewhere before. “For about a month I went round to people in the music business and asked them whether they had ever heard it before. Eventually it became like handing something in to the police. I thought if no one claimed it after a few weeks then I could have it.” Musicians later got in touch to ask if they could create their own versions of the song. With 3,000 recorded versions, ‘Yesterday’ is the most covered song in pop history.
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Paul McCartney has never died, not even once, despite what conspiracy theorists suggest. They claim McCartney perished in a car accident in 1966 and was replaced by a double. Evidence for this comes in the form of the Abbey Road album cover, on which McCartney is said to be part of a funeral procession, not least because he is barefoot. They also claim John Lennon mutters the words, “I buried Paul,” at the end of ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. (The lyric is probably “Cranberry sauce”.) The cover of McCartney’s 1993 live album Paul Is Live is a retort to the cranks.
The Beatles remastered: www.thebeatles.com
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words: florian obkircher. Photography: GAB Archive/Getty Images (1), Getty Images (2), Ullstein Bild/APA picturedesk (1)
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We all want more efficient motoring these days – extra energy from less fuel is good news for everyone. Which is where we got the idea for Red Bull Energy Shots. Our shot is your concentrated energy reserve (but without the carbon dioxide). At only 60ml and with no
need to chill, it’s ideal for the glove compartment. And when your enduring the stop-go of rush hour, endless road works or dozy Sunday drivers, Red Bull Energy Shot is never more than arm’s length away to keep body and mind vitalized. It’s concentrated energy from Red Bull.
the only shot that gives you wings.
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Going South
This trip of a lifetime for underwater lensman Karl Drevlak, aboard the Professor Molchanov, one of two Russian ships that offer diving expeditions to the Antarctic, was fraught with danger, blood-freezing cold and some very hungry carnivorous leopard seals‌
Sunrise over the Lemaire Channel on the journey to Antarctica. Just two hours after this shot, the Professor Molchanov crossed the Antarctic Circle, heading south
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Credit
Photography: Karl Drevlak
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za.redbulletin.com/print2.0 More cool photographs from Karl Drevlak’s Antarctic expedition
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Cold
Thanks to its high salt content, water temperature in the Antarctic can sink below 0°C, without it freezing solid. Dives of longer than 40 minutes are impossible in this sort of cold. The main threat to divers in the Antarctic is from leopard seals. If the 400kg predator appears, your only chance is to try to escape. People like to tell the story of the British female research diver who fell victim to a leopard seal attack. When her corpse came to the surface, the depth gauge showed 86m‌ 34
Karl Drevlak (top left) on the deck of the Professor Molchanov shortly before an icy dive in -2°C water at temperatures of -20°C. The divers encountered 15m-long humpback whales (middle left) and the much smaller but extremely dangerous leopard seals (bottom left). “It’s a total predator. If there’s a leopard seal alarm, you have to get out of the water as soon as possible”
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Life
Mediterranean blazes of colour in extreme conditions: kelp forests that grow several metres high, starfish, anemones, sea slugs and deep-sea crabs all somehow manage to survive in the Antarctic Ocean
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Underwater photographer Karl Drevlak with his equipment which weighed in at almost 50kg; the photographic gear alone weighed around 11kg
Ice
The Antarctic icebergs have developed bizarre and beautiful shapes over thousands of years. The darker shade of blue the iceberg, the older it is
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Excursions on land after the icy dives were welcome. Regardless of how cute they are, touching the penguins is an absolute no-no as they have no resistance to human viruses Bottom right: the Professor Molchanov
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ith two years’ worth of planning, 25 years of diving experience and 70kg of equipment per person, this was no mere holiday jaunt for Karl Drevlak. The experienced underwater photographer from Styria in Austria visited Antarctica under the guidance of the former World Champion of underwater photographers, Werner Thiele, and a dozen other divers on board the Russian expedition vessel, the Professor Molchanov. Only this ship and one other Russian vessel offer diving trips around the South Pole. Drevlak realised he wasn’t aboard a cruise liner on the very first day. “Don’t whistle on my boat!” the Russian captain snarled at him. The diver would discover that it is considered bad luck to whistle aboard a ship. On the penultimate day of the trip, an Antarctic gale – 10.4 on the Beaufort scale – raged for 14 hours and held the ship in ice 40cm thick. “This is your fault,” the captain hissed at him. For safety reasons, the daily dives were limited t o depths of 20-22m, both because of the dangerous leopard seals, which could attack the divers at any moment, and the threat posed by the breathing apparatus icing up, the treacherous underwater currents and the drifting pack ice, which can block the way to the surface in a flash. However none of the divers wanted to overdo the diving anyway. Within five minutes at the most, the -2°C water had already frozen solid the layers of fleece and thermal underwear the divers wore under their dry suits. More stunning pictures at za.redbulletin.com/print2.0
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I love “you boys!�
The most memorable moments of a fantastic Formula One season: as told by members of the Red Bull Racing team Words: Anthony Rowlinson, Werner Jessner
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Photography: Getty Images/red bull photofiles
za.redbulletin.com/print2.0 Join the championship celebrations on the dancefloor
On November 14, at 18.47 local time, in Abu Dhabi, Sebastian Vettel climbs from his RB6 car as 2010 F1 world champion
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If I had to choose one moment of the last season, perhaps I would pick the moment when I knew the RB6 was a fast car. Wind-tunnel testing is one thing, but you can never be sure. Not even pole position at the first race will guarantee you’ll still be competitive at the last race. The ‘development race’ between the teams during the season has become so tough, this might be something people outside Formula One don’t fully realise. So my ‘Magic Moment’ has to be the Brazilian GP, when we fought back after that disastrous Grand Prix in Korea two weeks earlier, where we lost both cars. Brazil showed how strong this team really is – it proved our character and it was very, very special. What makes things even sweeter is the fact that we are a privately owned
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red bull racing is a close-knit bunch of people, which is hard to find – A true team
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team that fought the big guys at an even level, beat them and that I was part of the operation almost from the beginning. When Red Bull bought Jaguar Racing to become Red Bull Racing, Jaguar was the eternal midfielder. Now we are double world champions. There is also some personal pride involved: I had the opportunity to build a little team and set it up for a fight against the likes of Ferrari and McLaren and so on. Once before in my life, with the Leyton House team I had the opportunity to do something similar. That was a very promising operation, but it fell apart because of money problems. To get a second chance, with a young, small team and become world champions tastes so sweet. I’ve come full circle.
A champagne moment in São Paulo for Newey (centre) and team principal Christian Horner (right)
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Red Bull and Formula One A history in pictures 1987 Austrian Gerhard Berger, driving for Ferrari, becomes the first Red Bullsupported athlete
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Not a great year. The Red Bull-backed Arrows with Jos Verstappen and Enrique Bernoldi scored just one point
1995
2001 Start of the long relationship with the Swiss Sauber F1 team. Drivers included Jean Alesi (above), Mika Salo, and Kimi Räikkönen
Photography: Thomas Butler (1), Getty Images (3), Action Images (1), Heinz Zeggl (1)
> Adrian Newey, Chief Technical Officer “How we took on the big boys”
The RB6
The stats prove the RB6 was car of the year: both titles, 15 pole positions and nine wins. Developed from 2009's RB5, its sheer speed was unmatched
Monte Carlo
The 'fantasy' Grand Prix that does glamour like no other. It's also one of the toughest tests for drivers, so a 1-2 finish was as sweet as it gets
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Photography: Thomas Butler (1), Getty Images (4), Sutton Images (1), Action Images (1)
> Mark Webber, driver “Monaco: the driver's dream”
Winning the Monaco Grand Prix was very special for sure. It was my best, most important and sweetest victory of all. So many great drivers have won there, and I joined that list: That’s something I’m very proud of. Everything is special in Monaco, even things like the schedule – with first practice on Thursday, a day off on Friday, then back to normal on Saturday. Obviously the track is like nothing else – the scenery, the fans. It’s a legendary event and every boy in a kart dreams of winning there one day. For me, that dream came true. Walking up to Prince Rainier, being handed the trophy by him, not on a regular podium but on that red carpet so many great drivers have stood on, feeling the atmosphere of the place and having the guys back at the Energy Station waiting to have a party to celebrate the occasion together… So yes that’s my highlight of the year. This win was just one part of winning the constructors’ championship, not the driver’s title for me, but that does no harm to the memory of a special Sunday in May. Monaco 2010 will stay forever. And the Drivers’ Trophy? I’ll get it next year!
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Every racer dreams of one day being able to go up to the royal box as a winner
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Prince Albert of Monaco congratulates an elated Mark Webber after his win in the principality
➜ Red Bull buys Jaguar Racing to become a fully fledged F1 constructor entrant. The RB1 car finishes seventh in the teams’ championship
2004 Support for Jaguar Racing and drivers Mark Webber and Christian Klien. It was the start of something much bigger
2005
RB1
Red Bull brings fresh thinking to F1, such as a team tie-in with the Star Wars episode III premiere and a logo’d bottle for multiple champion Michael Schumacher
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> Helmut Marko, Red Bull Motorsport Special Adviser “We always believed”
There have been so many highlights this year that it’s hard to pick one. But of course the best one was winning the constructors’ title with a 1-2 at Brazil. That was an incredible moment and an amazing achievement for the entire team. I know for Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz it was a dream come true. I think that after achieving commercial success with Red Bull, this F1 title was the next great dream for him. He was almost speechless. The most emotional moment was at Monte Carlo – winning there with a 1-2 is always going to be special and it was such a difficult race: I think three safety cars and always our cars came back controlling the race from the front, whatever the challenge. There were signs of what we might achieve in 2008: Mark was on the front
row twice in qualifying and Sebastian won the Italian Grand Prix for Toro Rosso in the same car. So I believed from then that we could achieve great things. There were difficult moments, too – two this season. Turkey, where our drivers hit each other and Silverstone, where a decision was made [to swap nose wings between the drivers’ cars] that was not communicated properly. That resulted in a lot of emotion and created a big problem and it put a shadow over the weekend after a brilliant win. It was unfortunate because the difference between the wings in terms of performance was absolutely minimal, but a lot of emotion got out. I suppose these are the problems you have when you have two fast drivers and a fast car. I’d call them ‘lucky problems’.
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Victory in the constructors’ championship was a dream come true
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Helmut Marko, Adrian Newey and Christian Horner (left) wear special-edition T-shirts to honour the new champion
Eternal F1 minnow team Minardi becomes Scuderia Toro Rosso and a ‘drivers’ academy’ for rookie talent
First podium for David Coulthard in Monaco
2006 Race hard, party hard. Monaco success prompted a ‘naked’ plunge dive for team boss Christian Horner RB2
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RB3
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> Fabrice Lom, Renault head of track operations “I kept my harbour promise” My magic moment this season… not easy. I would say Monaco. Why? Firstly the result: we had a 1-2-3 finish with Webber, Vettel and Robert Kubica (all driving Renaultpowered cars) and they had qualified 1-2-3. The race was perfect for us and it was a really special moment. And personally, also, Monaco was a special place for us. The Renault team won the Monaco Grand Prix there in 2004 with Jarno Trulli, which was our first ‘modern’ win, so it has always stayed a special place for me. I promised the team then that I would jump in the harbour in celebration, but I never did. This year, though, I finally kept my promise and I jumped off the Energy Station with the two drivers. I could see that they were going to do it and I said “hold on!” and we all went together. We were all wet already from champagne and from jumping into the Energy Station swimming pool, so it didn’t feel so bad. I guess it was about 5-6m and it wasn’t too cold. It was quite nice actually – a really great feeling of freedom and pleasure at finally having kept my promise. I’ve been with Red Bull since the start and it has been fantastic to be part of a growing team. It really feels like we’ve built this with our bare hands. I remember the first firing up of the engine and it was a nightmare, but what we have done together since then is amazing. It’s not like arriving in a company that has already won world championships and this is just another one. We built this one up and I really feel part of something. And working with such a great group of people – guys like Adrian who’s a genius and feeds your brain every day – is amazing. It’s very rewarding.
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Photography: Thomas Butler (2), gepa pictures (2), Getty Images (5), Sutton Images (2), Red Bull brand Lab (1), Mark Webber Archive (1)
The race was perfect and this was a really special moment
Fabrice Lom, Webber and Vettel jump from the roof of the Energy Station to take a bath in Monaco harbour
➜ RB4
2007
Vettel takes maiden win with Toro Rosso at the Italian GP. Mark Webber breaks leg in an off-season bike accident
2008 The RB3 chassis is the first for Red Bull designed by guru Adrian Newey; Vettel becomes a Toro Rosso driver; the Wings For Life livery is raced by Coulthard at Silverstone
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LAST-GASP CHAMPION
Sebastian Vettel led the championship for the first and only time after victory in Abu Dhabi. After 19 gruelling races, he became the sport’s youngest-ever champion
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> Christian Horner, Team Principal “To win again is tougher”
Photography: Thomas Butler (1), Getty Images (2), Sutton Images (2), Red Bull Brand Lab (2)
It’s so hard to pick just one magic moment from a season like that, so I’ll have to choose three: winning the race and the drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi; taking the constructors’ with a 1-2 in Brazil and our 1-2 finish in Monaco. They were all amazing days. There were some dark moments, too – like the Jaegermesiter-Red Bull cocktails the mechanics mixed for me in Abu Dhabi. My head’s still feeling those. But really, the double non-finish in Korea that put Fernando Alonso back in the lead of the drivers’ title was very hard to take when we had dominated the race. Australia was frustrating earlier in the year when a convincing lead slipped away. Now we have to look immediately at defending our title – something that very few teams manage to do, so that has to be our challenge for 2011. We’re determined not to fade, and with the tremendous group of people we have in the team I’m sure that won’t happen.
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Winning the constructors' title with a 1-2 finish in brazil was amazing
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A 1-2 and victory in the constructors’ championship made the podium in Brazil extra-sweet for Vettel and Webber
➜ Red Bull Racing’s first win: a 1-2 in China, Vettel ahead of Webber
2009
RB5
Webber’s first F1 win comes at the German GP. The team has four 1-2 finishes this season
2010 In only its sixth season, Red Bull Racing takes both world titles – and no team orders!
RB6
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> Sebastian Vettel, World Champion “When the world stood still” It’s not hard to guess what my magic moment is, is it? Of course, it’s the moment I knew I was World Champion. During the race I asked my race engineer not to tell me the positions of the other drivers and I could not see their exact position on the trackside video screens. But it was odd because Rocky [Vettel’s race engineer, Guillaume Rocquelin] was very talkative during the last 10 or so laps. That’s quite unusual when you’re leading a race by a comfortable margin and your car is running like clockwork. After the finish line he came up on the intercom and said: “We are looking good…” Then he called the drivers by name who crossed the line: Hamilton… Button… Rosberg… Kubica. I knew now he was supposed to say “Alonso”, but instead he said: “Du bist Weltmeister!” in German. And at that moment the world stood still. Really, I swear: the whole world stood absolutely still for one second. Nothing moved, there was no sound, no heartbeat, nothing. All the emotions, the tears, the joy, it all came afterwards. My magic moment is that second on the cooling-down lap of Abu Dhabi, where the world stood still.
TEAM GAME The drivers get the glory, but as you can see in this shot from the final race of the year, it’s the team behind them that create the winning magic
Ahead of the rest. Vettel’s race engineer chose the Abu Dhabi race to remind him of his first win by writing Monza on his balaclava
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Nothing moved, There was no sound, no heartbeat, nothing. All the emotions, the tears, the joy, it all came afterwards
See all the victory celebrations at za.redbulletin.com/print2.0
Photography: Thomas Butler (1), getty images (2)
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The new Giant of Skye If you haven’t seen Danny MacAskill, you don’t do YouTube. The viral video of the Scot’s masterful reinterpretation of the streets of Edinburgh changed his life. Next up? Scotland Words: Andreas Tzortzis Photography: Paul Calver
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za.redbulletin.com/print2.0 See MacAskill in action
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Worth the wait: A rare glimpse of sunshine on Raasay, where MacAskill goes airborne from the former foundations of an iron mine and World War I prisoner camp
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y the time he was in his late 20s, Angus MacAskill stood 2.36m tall and weighed over 178kg. His waist measured 2m, his hands were the size of frying pans and stories of his feats of strength had extended beyond the small colony of Scottish immigrants in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where he lived. A gentle giant with curly black hair and friendly, deep-set blue eyes, Angus was around to take over when a horse fell ill and a field needed ploughing or a barn needed raising. In 1849, a savvy American talent agent brought him on tour of lower Canada and the United States. He drew awestruck crowds wherever he went, earning a fine living to help support his parents and siblings back home. When robbers boarded his train heading out west, Angus scattered the outlaws by rising to his full height. He once bought a round of drinks for an entire bar, and then stepped over to a 64kg barrel of whiskey, knocked the bung out and raised it in a toast. He returned home in the mid-1850s, bought a grist mill and built a shop (with 2.7m-high door frames), and was a beloved member of the local community until he took ill in August 1863. He was moved back to his parents’ house, his childhood bed lengthened, but didn’t last a week before dying in his sleep on August 8, 1863, at the age of 38. In April 2009, 146 years later, a young man by the name of Daniel MacAskill, native of the Isle of Skye and a descendant of the Scottish giant, settled onto a couch with his flatmate Dave Sowerby and two friends in his Edinburgh apartment. They hit play on a remote control and watched a film of 5 minutes 38 seconds, which Sowerby had made, showing MacAskill on a trials bike in Edinburgh doing incredible tricks off fences, down stairs, off sloped brick walkways, and a tree. There were several nods of appreciation, some sarcastic comments, then the group switched channels to watch Family Guy. Someone from MacAskill’s sponsors, Inspired Bicycles, uploaded the video later that night onto YouTube. By the following morning, the BBC was on the phone, asking about the 56
video. Then, the newspapers were on the phone. Then a South Korean circus, asking if he’d like to join them. MacAskill checked the YouTube hits as they climbed over the 100,000 mark, then to over half a million… then over a million. A flair for spectacle, it seems, courses through the MacAskill bloodline. What began as a small project to show friends and hopefully get some responses from the biking community, turned into a viral sensation. At last count, MacAskill’s video has logged more than 21 million views. That’s a ridiculous amount for Susan Boyle, never mind a bike mechanic from the Isle of Skye. Now who’s the giant? “It’s absolutely horrendous. If you walk into a shopping centre, you’ll hear the whispers,” says Nash Masson, MacAskill’s long-time riding partner and one of the guys on the couch that night. “You’ll get 80-year-olds coming up and saying ‘My granddaughter showed me your video.’” Hero creation in the digital age is a quantifiable endeavour. Make a video, put it on YouTube, and 100,000 hits will get you respect. Half a million might get you signed. More than a million and you’re in life-changing territory. Sponsors started arriving with contracts by autumn 2009. MacAskill gave up his job at an Edinburgh bike shop, and shelved his career plan of becoming the mechanic of a downhill bike-racing team. In the past year, he’s travelled to Portugal, where he filmed a commercial for Volkswagen; to California for a photo shoot and, in September, to New York, to work as the stunt cyclist in a forthcoming movie. A ratty passport in the cluttered bedroom of his childhood home in tiny Dunvegan
Tree-hugging star Since uploading it in April 2009, MacAskill’s YouTube video, made with flatmate and filmmaker Dave Sowerby over four months of cold winter in Edinburgh, has been viewed more than 21 million times. The pièce de résistance? MacAskill’s fluid backflip off a tree.
is filled with additional stamps – from customs in Abu Dhabi, and the Far East. There might have been more had MacAskill not broken his collarbone last autumn. Three times in half a year, in fact. The same one, by the way, and it looks a bit like a gnarled root underneath his moon-white skin. And while he was laid up, he tried to make sense of what his life had become. “I don’t know how to explain it,” he says. “I’ve said it so many times, but we literally didn’t expect it… It’s weird. I don’t feel like… I feel like I’m the same person I was when I worked at the bike shop. But every month…” The rest got lost in the din of the Misty Isle hotel bar, down the street from his childhood home in Dunvegan. It was late August and MacAskill was home to work on his new project. It’s a new video; a two-wheeled love poem, if you will, to Scotland and, in particular, to his beloved Isle of Skye. Since midsummer, MacAskill and Sowerby have been crisscrossing the lochs and highlands of Scotland in a used camper van carrying a pair of brand-new sub-woofers and crash mats on the roof. They’ve stopped to shoot on windswept beaches, massive dams, industrial ruins and the odd castle. But essential to the new film, according to MacAskill, is the depiction of the isle on which he grew up. A landscape that changes majestically between rough-hewn crags and the verdant bracken around the isle’s lochs, Skye has been inviting to only the hardiest and most single-minded of souls in the past few centuries. The home of powerful clans and the occasional magical fairy in its long history, nowadays it’s British retirees and the island’s native sons and daughters, working in tourism or various odd jobs, who populate Skye. “I’ve put pressure on myself to make this place look like I want it to, and ride it the way I think it should be ridden,” he says. “I want to represent how I feel about where I’m from. I want people from here to look at it and say, ‘That’s cool!’” The cyclist’s childhood friends, a boisterous group of electricians, mechanics and off-shore oil rig workers – most, it seems, named Kenny – gathered at the increasingly rare sight of MacAskill at home. In the past week, they helped him dig and stack peat for ramps and cut down bracken in locations around Skye. Several had been out earlier, watching him ride around in the drizzle of the skinny isle of Raasay, between Skye and the
More than a million hits on YouTube and you’re in lifechanging territory. MacAskill has 21 million
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mainland. MacAskill had planned a big day that involved jumping his bike and whipping 360s down a set of six massive concrete blocks, the remnants of a former iron mine and World War I prisoner camp. The weather, as it often does in this area of the world, didn’t play along. And so, a few hours later, his compact and sinewy 1.7m frame was perched on the edge of a bar stool at the Misty Isle, the less salubrious of the two dives Dunvegan was stuck with or had earned, depending on your perspective. Glasses were passed around and the group toasted: “To Collarbones!” Considering that his thirst for highrisk adventure began at a very young
age, it seems like MacAskill got off easily with nothing more than a series of broken collarbones and a broken wrist or two. Small for his age, MacAskill was the most fearless of his group of friends growing up in Dunvegan. His father, Peter, a local personality from whom Danny has inherited a sharp nose, a stubborn focus and a penchant for mischief, obliged when his son asked him to help string fishing nets across the base of the trees in the family’s backyard. From a height of 3-6m, and sometimes more, MacAskill and friends would leap from the tree tops and somersault into the nets. There was also something called boulder-rolling,
Did you see that? Granted, 21 million is hard to top. But here are five videos we think should get a bit more attention
Guillaume nery http://bit.ly/algpU0 BASE-jumps into a black hole underwater. And then climbs back out.
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DAN OSMAN http://bit.ly/9ssijd
ASHER BRADSHAW http://bit.ly/atrzf7
Free climbs up 120-plus metres of California cliff. In 4 minutes 25 seconds.
The six-year-old doing grown-up things on a skateboard down in Venice Beach.
MIKE PARSONS http://bit.ly/KxIOG
fred syversen http://bit.ly/asU1Tb
Recovers from a devastating wipeout the wave before to surf a 12m-plus monster at Jaws.
Drops 107m off a snowy cliff on skis. And in doing so, sets a world record (unintentionally).
which kind of explains itself and seems just as ridiculous and dangerous. Once, MacAskill and an accomplice decided to “do a little DIY” as he recalls, jig-sawing a doorway into a wall in one of their friends’ homes, knocking down the sink that they found (with surprise) on the other side, and burying it underneath the floorboards before anyone noticed. “Skye was an awesome place to grow up in, but you had to make your own fun,” he remembers. Mostly, that was to be found on his bike. Peter and Anne MacAskill didn’t recall exactly when they gave Danny his first bike, but they remembered without a doubt how quickly he took to it. So did the townsfolk. “He was a nutter,” says Willie Allan, who was having a fag outside of the Dunvegan Hotel as MacAskill filmed a part on the kerbs of the car park. “He was fearless.” From the age of four to before he left Skye for Aviemore in his late teens, there wasn’t a kerb, rail, wall or skip that MacAskill hadn’t pounded with his tyres – or limbs. “He was very popular as a child in the village,” says Peter MacAskill. “The majority of people loved him, aside from the people whose newly painted walls he rode along.” Well, them, and the local constable, whose office was located conveniently down the road from the MacAskill home for his frequent visits there. When Danny was 13, the exasperated PC finally confiscated his bike for the summer, after he caught MacAskill doing a wheelie along the pavement. “In a small village,” Peter MacAskill offers, “the police don’t have much to do.” But he carried on in the same vein. His small, wiry body and love for throwing himself from trees had given him flexibility, spatial awareness and a certain fearlessness. Without a group of like-minded riders to follow and only two bike videos in his collection, MacAskill developed a singular style, marrying the balance and technique of the trials scene with the speed and vision for trick combinations of the BMX crowd. His skill at both was on full display in the video: riding with power as he jumped from one sloped wall to another and balancing precariously (and falling a few times) as he crossed the top of a narrow wrought-iron fence. “I missed out on having a scene,” recalls MacAskill. “But at the same time, it’s meant that I’m able to ride the way I do.” What
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Growing up on Skye involved a lot of “DIY”. YouTube stardom doesn’t change all that much
The roadshow stops wherever there’s a ledge to jump off Dunvegan car park: He’d have been arrested for this as a boy
“I’ve put pressure on myself to make this place look like I want it to, and to ride it the way I think it should be ridden” wasn’t apparent in the finished product, is the hours that go into making a film look that smooth. One of the final shooting locations in Dunvegan was the town bakery, a small thatched cottage with a ramp up to the front door that MacAskill had been riding on or around since he was a kindergartner. The plan was to get a fast run-up to a small grassy knoll, from which he hoped to get enough air to tap the tyres of his bike 1.5m up on the whitewashed bakery wall – and inches above the window – before landing again. Sowerby set up his camera close to the side of the two-lane road that bisected Dunvegan, moving it every time a car neared. Inside
the bakery, Janice MacLellan finished up for the day as the sun began its slow descent. MacAskill was outside, placing a board over the window. “Danny!” yelled a woman from across the street. “Janice says don’t go on the roof!” “I don’t really care, as long as he doesn’t go through the window,” says MacLellan. Like everyone in Dunvegan, the baker has known the YouTube sensation since he was a small child. “He’s done this forever,” she says. “The amount of time he’s put into it, he deserves it.” A dozen or so locals, including several children, gather in the car park as MacAskill takes a few run-ups,
measuring his speed and eyeballing the angle of the jump. “For me, it’s the same kind of sense you’d have, if you were trying to walk along the street and you had to jump over a manhole cover,” he says. “I look at something, I know what I can do and straight away I can kind of visualise what I’d like to do.” Of course, visualising it is not even close to actually pulling it off. On his first dozen or so attempts, MacAskill struggles with his speed, braking slightly before launching off the knoll. He barely clears 0.6m. “My commitment issues,” Danny says to himself. His mother, who is standing nearby overhears and shoots back: “Don’t talk about it. Just do it.” Next to her, Peter MacAskill wears a bemused expression. The sun has been unseasonably generous on this day, but as it begins to bathe the green hills and blue-ish inlet west of Dunvegan in light for the final time, it becomes clear that it isn’t going to be MacAskill’s day. “I’m going to give it one more try,” he says. He looks around at the crowd uneasily and tries to ignore it all, the way he did back when it was just him and a bike and a pair of headphones for company. From way deep in the car park, MacAskill races out and zips past the onlookers, across the two-lane road, hits the jump and plants both tyres firmly on the board covering the window. A cheer goes up from the crowd. The 20th jump is his first successful one. But he’ll need a few more tries before getting it perfect – Danny MacAskill-perfect. With the sun all but gone, the crew wraps up and drives back down the road, pulling into the small gravel car park in the MacAskill’s front yard. Facing the street is a small thatched cottage, the home of the Giant MacAskill museum, opened by Peter in 1989. An eerielooking life-size replica of Angus MacAskill stands in a corner next to a massive chair on which visitors can sit for photographs. Laid carefully across a replica of Angus MacAskill’s huge bed are socks the size of suit trousers. Very little has changed since MacAskill opened the museum to his famous ancestor more than two decades ago. Aside from the front door, that is, where a poster of Angus’ descendant doing a jump in front of some trees now hangs. Time will tell which MacAskill will be the more famous. MacAskill’s new film, Way Back Home, is out next month. View teasers at za.redbulletin.com/print2.0 Watch the clip that made him famous at en.redbulletin.com/macaskill
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Like father, like son. Seun Kuti stands at the microphne at the Fela Kuti tribute concert and celebrates Afrobeat‘s raw energy
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It’s a Felabration Music producer and intrepid correspondent James Singleton, akaJames Pants, gives in to dodgy touts and navigates kamikaze traffic in Lagos on his way to witnessing the world’s greatest drummer team up with a Detroit DJ legend Photography: Liam Lynch
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Tony Allen played with Fela Kuti‘s band for two decades and helped define Afrobeat with his complex rhythms. Nowadays, he shares the stage with people like former Blur, and current Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn or Charlotte Gainsbourg
Theo Parrish reinvented house music 15 years ago in Detroit. Here, he provides low-end frequencies on keyboards during Tony Allen‘s performance at the festival
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The small market stands and umbrellas offer respite from the heat in the Ikeja district
Buildings adorned with graffiti warning off potential thieves are quite common
The preferred mode of transportation for Lagos: Motorcycles define the rhythm of the Nigerian capital‘s streets and serve as taxis for those late for that meeting
A practice session in the hotel‘s abandoned water park. Not the best acoustics for Tony Allen and Theo Parrish to run through their set list before the festival
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rom the moment I stepped off the plane, I must have stuck out like a fish on land. A sea of eyes followed my every move with amusement and distrust. On the street, car horns blared, people shouted, and mopeds darted around like diesel-spewing moths. A grinning man in flowing white garb approached me. It appears I seemed ripe for the taking. He didn’t introduce himself, but shaking my hand, he suggested I follow. I had my reservations, but at this point I had no idea what I was doing, where I was going, or whom I was supposed to meet. Screw it. I went along. Wading through an ocean of people, I found myself passed off to a pair of former Nigerian professional wrestlers. They introduced themselves as Machiavelli and Cosmos. Machiavelli wore a Tupac shirt littered with plastic gemstones. Cosmos chose the more conservative route and dressed in a bright-blue tennis shirt. Differences aside, these men most definitely meant business. At this point, I had two options. The first was probably the saner – to flee. The second was to trust in the goodness of humanity and climb into a dilapidated Mazda passenger van with these men. I chose the latter. Thus began my week-long Nigerian adventure. Before I dig into the trenches though, I need to give an explanation of the raison d’être. I was sent on a special mission from 63
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Red Bull Music Academy to help facilitate a concert collaboration featuring the legendary Nigerian afrobeat drummer, Tony Allen, and Detroit house-maestro, Theo Parrish. The concert was part of the annual Felabration festival, which commemorates the legacy left by afrobeat originator, political singer, and musical icon, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who died in 1997. Afrobeat is a homegrown local music style that combines traditional West African rhythms with the energy and intensity of American funk music. Fela is basically the Nigerian counterpart to James Brown, but bigger. Allen happened to be Fela’s premier drummer throughout the ’70s, playing on hundreds of songs. He is credited with inventing the highly syncopated drum patterns that give the afrobeat genre its forward-thrusting sound. Allen has been described by a multitude of musicians, such as Brian Eno, as the greatest drummer who has ever lived – no small words. With him was Theo Parrish, Detroit musical legend who composes and produces records on his own label and DJ’s all over the world. He continues to be one of the true innovators of the Detroit techno and house scene.
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he pair met several years ago when the four-week international music workshop, the Red Bull Music Academy, brought them together in Toronto. They kept in touch, and recorded several songs together at the Red Bull Studio in London earlier this year. The aforementioned concert was to feature both musicians performing their collaborative work. So there it is. And where was I? Still in the van. We sailed through the nighttime city chaos. Or more correctly, sputtered. You can’t move more than 2m before some kamikaze comes weaving through on a moped. People crossed the street in a constant stream holding chickens, selling household wares, and carrying immense amounts of random detritus on their heads. Cosmos, behind the wheel, seemed unfazed. Nigerians are some of the most skilled drivers on the planet. If the end of the world occurs in my lifetime, I’m hiring a Nigerian to drive me through the carcass of the scorched earth. We rolled into a gated, fortress-like structure some considerable time later. I was told that this was the hotel. Thank God I was indeed safely in the hands of the appropriate company. The hotel
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The legendary New Africa Shrine is sold out: all are present to pay homage to the grand master of Afrobeat. Tony Allen‘s performance was his first live one in Nigeria in 30 years
Backstage at the New Africa Shrine, dancers rehearse their routine ahead of the concert
Musicians, dancers, entertainers: everyone’s welcome on the performance stage
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“Incense, smoke and sweat bathed the air. The red walls were sticky with resin. A muscular dancing dwarf appeared…”
James Singleton, 27, alias James Pants lives in Spokane, Washington. The multi-instrumentalist with albums on Stones Throw Records does double duty as a globe-trotting journalist when required. Even if that double duty can sometimes be exhausting
resembled one of those cookie-cutter chains, but one difference reminded me I was not in Kansas – a perimeter patrolled by heavily-armed guards. Wild-eyed with excitement for the adventures in store, I turned off the lights in a vain attempt to rest. Some soft buzzing sounds brushed past my ear. Mosquitos. Thank heavens I was covered head-to-toe with a lather of DEET and filled with a concoction of nauseating anti-malarial medication. The next few days brought a string of rehearsals featuring Allen on drums, Parrish on keys, and a local cast of about a dozen or so percussionists, horn, guitarists and a Parisian bass player. The band was stacked. The rehearsals were held in a defunct waterpark in the grounds of the aptly-named, ‘Aquatic Hotel’. Giant dragonflies darted by while onlookers peeked out of apartment windows at the raucous afro-funk sound on the ground floor. The band rolled through a handful of Tony’s compositions, as well as a few by Fela himself. Seun Kuti, son of the legend, showed up to rehearse a few songs on saxophone. Soaking in the Nigerian sun, eating yucca-root samosas and listening to the joyous afrobeat was my preferred pastime. I really couldn’t complain. Feeling a hint of Puritan guilt caused by the comforts, however, I decided I needed a break one afternoon, and ventured to the beach with Machiavelli, crawling through colourful terrain filled with bright pink shanties, shiny green motorcycles, and vendors hawking purple taro root. We passed flooded deltas, where young boys fished, and houses sat on stilts. When the car came to a halt, street merchants would knock on the car windows offering everything from pencils to the latest R. Kelly bootleg. After a short stop and a belly full of chilli-spiced croaker fish, we arrived at the beach. I breathed in the salty Atlantic air. Not the most beautiful beach I’ve
ever seen, but shells lay abundant on the sand and the water was warm. Thursday night brought the big event. The concert was to take place at the New Africa Shrine, the legendary venue where Fela often performed in the ’70s and ’80s. For decades this has been the spot in Lagos for concerts. Mobs lined the street outside to get in. The building was a hive of activity. The concert security bustled around carrying golf clubs, bats and wooden boards for protection. As a cavalcade of opening acts primed the crowd, which provided a constant stream of shouting, whistling and applause. Incense, smoke and sweat bathed the air. The red walls were sticky with some kind of resin. An incredibly muscular, dancing dwarf appeared throughout the night. All the conditions were met to have a good party. On stage, throngs of colourfully costumed dancers gyrated to the music. The dancing often seemed to contain elements of a storyline, things like husbands coming home from work and being beaten by their wives. This was all to great applause by the females. Around 3am, Allen and the band took to the stage. They burned through songs off his recent Secret Agent album, as well as the songs Allen and Parrish cooked up together in London. The horns sounded fierce. And, for being a septuagenarian, Allen sounded fierce as well. Seun Kuti joined the band on saxophone and vocals in the final moments for several classically boisterous Fela compositions. Throughout the hour-long performance, an intensely energetic reverence filled the auditorium. This was the first time Allen had performed Fela Kuti’s songs in Lagos in 30 years. Cameras shot off like fireworks; several elderly women wept; a success story, through and through. It was well into the 5am hour when the band packed up. The security guards put their clubs and bats in a pile and opened beers. Machiavelli signalled that he was ready to return me to the fortress. Driving back to the hotel, I reflected on the vibrancy of the Nigerian culture. Here, in Africa’s most populous country, where extreme wealth and poverty sidle up next to each other, sincerely beautiful music continues to be created. The complex rhythms Tony Allen pioneered seemed to mimic the sights, sounds, and smells within the African city. And this is the beautiful cacophony that is Lagos. “Whatever it is or whatever it becomes – crazy or not, it is my home” – Tony Allen, Seun Kuti and Theo Parrish can be found on www.redbullmusicacademy.com
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“ First you’ve got to beat the Dakar” As the Volkswagen Motorsport team prepared for the defence of its Paris-Dakar title in the Sahara, The Red Bulletin joined them Words: Werner Jessner
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The Dakar isn’t quite F1. This is the garage in Morocco. By the doors is Eduard Weidl, the technical director and father of the Race Touareg
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Peru Bolivia
Arica Iquique
Brazil
Calama
Antofagasta Copiapó Chilecito
San Salvador de Jujuy San Miguel de Tucumán Córdoba Victoria
San Juan
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BUENOS AIRES
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Dakar takes place in South America for the third time in 2011. The start and finish line of the endurance classic is, as before, Buenos Aires. The victors will be crowned after 14 day-long stages featuring sporting as well as natural highlights. Among them, the Atacama Desert and the crossing of the Andes
photography: Ferdi Kräling Motorsport-Bild
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ris Nissen, Volkswagen’s Director of Motorsport, has a problem. Giniel de Villiers and Mark Miller have been hounding their Race Touaregs through the Moroccan desert 800km a day, every day for two weeks, sometimes on unimaginably bad tracks, but they’re still using the original driveshafts. “They’ve already lasted for over 7,000km, but they only need to last for 1,500 to 2,000km as they’re changed every other day anyway.” So what’s the problem? “It means they could be lighter. On the other hand, such a stable car obviously has its advantages. It means the car isn’t pushed to the limit under normal circumstances. So when you really have to go for it during the race, the chances are the car will come through unscathed.” Welcome to hell. Or as close as you can get. It’s 46ºC and there’s not a puff of wind. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, as yesterday’s breeze turned into a fully fledged sandstorm within half an hour, which did a pretty good job of getting rid of the mix of mud and straw the garage was plastered with. Three geckos hide under a dustbin to shelter from the sun. But the people wearing dark-blue T-shirts aren’t here to enjoy Morocco’s flora and fauna, nor to enjoy the spectacular desert landscape. And you’d be hard-pushed to imagine anything more off-season than early August on the edge of the Sahara. Any illusion of tourism is shattered. Fossil collectors never venture to the east of Morocco at this time of year. Which is only a good thing as far as the Volkswagen Motorsport people are concerned, as it means they can simulate all the stresses and strains of the Dakar Rally in close to real 67
A quick look into the cockpit gives some idea of just how complicated the co-driver’s job is
The new Touareg More speed, more power
ENGINE A 2.5-litre dual turbocharged diesel engine and five-speed sequential transmission. A restrictor plate reduces power to 310bhp. The torque is impressive at 700 Nm. BODYWORK Aerodynamically and thermally improved, though otherwise close to the mass-produced model. The downside is the angle of driving slope is marginally worse. EASY TO SERVICE and durable: those have always been the Touareg’s strengths. Higher gearing and a more powerful engine should also now make it the quickest car in this year’s field.
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photography: Ferdi Kräling Motorsport-Bild (3), getty images (1)
FRAME The Race Touareg 3’s core is an aeronautic steel multi-tubular frame. Particularly impressive is the performance of the two ZF-Sachs dampers on each wheel. In the rear: spare wheels, sand ladders, parts.
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circumstances without being disturbed. It won’t be anywhere near as bad as this in the Atacama Desert in January. The Long Run was once a stage on the Paris-Dakar Rally. It’s not particularly difficult from a navigational point of view, but it does have tortuous stony roads, rutted tracks, an untold number of sudden treacherous waves and a dune field to deal with too. The speed that Mark Miller – who came third in this year’s Dakar – manages to achieve here is incredible. “This is a double caution,” he croaks into the radio, “but what the hell.” Before his co-driver even sees it, the shade on the horizon is a pot-hole half a metre deep, Mark has decided to ignore it – no laughing matter at speeds of 176kph – and carries on talking about racing bikes. For any normal car, this pot-hole wouldn’t just have been a “double caution”. It would have been the end. The car gives a bit of a jerk, the engine gets louder for a second as all four wheels are off the ground, and then the blue VW thunders on as if nothing had happened. Have we just used the whole range of spring? Mark puts us at ease. We have, but he’s happy that the dampers are so well calibrated that they can deal with the very progressive ‘bottoming out’. That’s something to be very proud of. The VW Race Touareg, the winner of the last two Dakar rallies (in 2009 with Giniel de Villiers and 2010 with Carlos Sainz behind the wheel), is a racing car at the top of its game. When the BMW X3s from Sven Quandt’s X-Raid team briefly displayed some speed last year, Volkswagen Motorsport was already working out how to improve the Touareg back home in Hanover. Which meant a greater top speed (this year it can reach 195kph, like the BMW, rather than the 180kph it posted last year) and minimised power loss at altitude (now the five-cylinder diesel engine only loses 15 to 20 per cent of its power at 2,700m above sea-level as opposed to 30 per cent last year). The reason for that is the power units having a better air supply (there are now two air inlets on the roof). Meanwhile the sales department wanted the car to be more similar to the mass-produced model, which has led to new lights and the front end of the car becoming 5mm longer. “OK, so the angle of driving slope might not be as good as it was [meaning the new car can’t attack as steep a slope as its predecessor without damage], but the drivers come back from the dune stages with the front end of the car all
squashed anyway,” Eduard Weidl, the technical mastermind behind the Race Touareg, explains with a wry smile.
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he Austrian, who had already come up with rallying and touring cars for Audi and Super Touring racing cars for Opel, has created his masterpiece with the Race Touareg. The 1,800kg car has a multi-tubular frame made of 126m of aeronautic steel and a five-cylinder, twin-turbo diesel engine at its core. It’s 100 per cent prototype: “There’s nothing really left of the original Touareg,” Weidl muses, “although obviously we use a lot of parts from different firms. The VW logo comes from a design study of a bus, the cooler comes from a Porsche Boxster, the air-conditioning compressor comes from a VW Lupo.” Hang on a second. Air conditioning? “Air conditioning really helps in the desert,” says Timo Gottschalk, the co-driver to Nasser Al-Attiyah, who finished second behind Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz last year. “It brings the temperature inside the car down by 15 degrees. It’s very pleasant when you bear in mind the temperatures in the desert, the large windscreen and how hot your legs get from the engine and it helps you maintain your concentration. But it’s not at all uncommon for you to lift your feet off the ground in the car, as the heat that creeps up through your shoes is unbearable.” The co-driver’s job, chiefly as navigator, is just as tough mentally as the driver’s. Reading the road-map, keeping their bearings, constantly adjusting the tripmaster because a straight line on the GPS is, of course, never a straight line in the sand, finding the checkpoints and being even more precise than they used to be (from 2011, you have to get within 400m of them rather than 3km as things were before), keep an eye on the competition and make lightning-quick decisions, every one of which might cost more time than the driver can make up for, even if he takes excessive risks. The boys in the proverbial hot seat are the unsung heroes of the Dakar. You’re wasting your time if you haven’t got a strong personality. Oh, and by the way, the co-driver’s got to be able to tinker with the car too, because when things go wrong, they’ve got to be fixed. Carlos Sainz’s codriver Lucas Cruz is considered the best mechanic among the navigators. Timo Gottschalk has a degree in mechanical
kris nissen Team Director, VW Dakar Project What are your expectations for 2011? After last year’s victories, everyone expects us to repeat the success. We do too. But BMW have improved, and if it wasn’t for his technical difficulties, Robby Gordon could have secured a podium finish last year. We’re the favourites but we know it won’t be easy. The course is going to be tougher than last year too. But a tough course should suit the Race Touareg, shouldn’t it? Yes, I’d say so. Our car is very well engineered and it’s quick. This year’s Race Touareg is definitely the best we’ve ever had. Is the team the best it’s ever been too? We’ve had the best team since 2008 now. If we’re even better this year, it’ll be because we remain very constant and know how to win. Four of the five best crews are sitting in our cars. The only one who isn’t in one of ours is Peterhansel. Will any win do? Absolutely. First you’ve got to beat the Dakar itself, and only then the competition.
markus preuth Team Doctor, VW Dakar Project What happens when someone at VW gets injured? The organisers provide 30 doctors for first aid and transport. I take over at the hospital and decide whether further steps need to be taken for a more complete diagnosis and organise the injured party’s transport home. And people are always happy to see a familiar face. What are the most common problems you face? Colds, sore throats, hoarseness, diarrhoea or little injuries people pick up working on the car. I probably see all 100 team members at some point during the rally. What and how much do the drivers drink? Depending on the stage, between 2 and 5 litres of an electrolyte drink designed by the University Hospital in Bad Nauheim to meet the stresses and strains of motorsport. We use CamelBaks [portable drink pouches] attached to the back of the seats. What happens at the camp? By the time they come in, the chef will have made them pasta to fill them up with carbs. We don’t have any diet sheets. The guys are professional enough as it is. The only rule is that this is no time for experiments. While the driver is being briefed, the co-driver gets a massage and vice versa.
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Why it’s the ‘Toughest Race on Earth’
Sand man: Giniel De Villiers has mastered the Atacama desert, but that won’t make the 2011 Dakar any easier
The Red Bulletin: It’s hot. Giniel De Villiers: Oh yes. But you do get used to it a little. You get extreme temperatures here: 50ºC in the shade and 60ºC out on the dunes. We do have an air conditioner in the car which helps a lot and brings the temperature down by 15º inside. It’s still hot though, but manageable. So what is it about the Dakar that gives it the reputation for being the toughest race on earth? It’s the length. It’s more than double the stage kilometres of any other rally. You have to concentrate for so much longer. And the longer it gets, the more difficult it is to concentrate, of course. Navigation is key. And this year it will be a lot more difficult. As always there are certain GPS points we have to go through, but this year they’ve tightened the radius from 3km to 400m. So you can imagine that if there’s no road to get to that point, it’s quite difficult. It’ll be fun though. And you can’t recce the stage either, can you? Not at all. You can’t physically go out and drive the route beforehand. That’s instant exclusion.
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What about using Google Earth? You can, yes. When they’re plotting the daily route, co-drivers such as Dirk von Zitzewitz do look at Google Earth maps, as well as some other maps. They also get a road book the night before the day’s stage and then spend most of the night going through it with maps. Despite all this we’re still basically driving blind. You’ve driven both versions of the Dakar – in Africa and in South America. Which is tougher? They are two completely different races. I probably like the South American edition of the race more – the atmosphere is unbelievable. There are almost a million people at the start of the race to support the drivers. That said, the South America Dakar stages are a little bit harder. High altitude is a big factor that makes it tougher for the car and the drivers. The highest point we cross is 2,700m above sea level and the air is pretty thin out there. As far as the terrain is concerned, I would say it’s much the same as in Africa. Perhaps the dunes are a bit bigger in South America, but sometimes bigger dunes are easier to drive over. It’s
less up and down and it’s easier to get stuck in smaller dunes. Besides all the testing we’re doing here, I’m guessing you need to be in good shape yourself. Physical preparation is crucial. At home I do a lot of mountain biking – four or five times a week – and gym three times a week. The cars are pretty physical to drive and to drive one for 400 or 500km you need to be in top condition. If you’re not, you lose concentration. And then you lose the race. You and your teammates have dominated the Dakar over the past three years. There’s got to be a level of rivalry among you? There is competition within the team and that’s healthy. Last year there were some words between Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al-Attiyah in the heat of battle, but that’s normal. Afterwards they were talking to each other again. We all get along in a very good way. The main aim for the team is to win races. There is no such thing as number one, two, three or four in the team. Of course, the guys in our team are all very quick so it’s natural that it will be a big fight between all of us. Are there any dark horses you’ve identified outside Team VW RaceTouareg? Sure. There’s also Stephane Peterhansel who’s driving the BMW X3. He’s very experienced. I also hear Marcus Grönholm, the former world rally champion, could be in one of the other BMWs. I think he will be quick on the fast road stages, but otherwise I don’t think he’ll be a contender. It’s rare that someone wins this race straight away. Look at Carlos. He raced for a few years before he was able to win it. In your first year there is so much you have to learn. You have to be in a superior car and you need a lot of luck.
photography: getty images (1), Ferdi Kräling Motorsport-Bild (1)
The 2009 Dakar champion, Giniel De Villiers, takes time out from intensive testing in the Moroccan desert to explain what makes this legendary car- (and man-) breaker so hard
Twice over the Andes and once across the Atacama Desert: this year’s Dakar will have it all again. Start date: January 1, 2011
engineering, as does Ralph Pitchford who sits by Mark Miller’s side. The fourth man in the group, Dirk von Zitzewitz, had been riding a motorbike on the Dakar for years, and having never had a co-driver, he knows what they can bring to a team.
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ut even for experts such as these, practice makes perfect. Before the cars are loaded onto ships, the crews are summoned to Hanover for a week to learn everything there is to know about their Touaregs. Mechanics heat the cars up good and proper to make conditions as close as possible to what they’re likely to face, then they’re given tasks to do, such as change the steering. And all against the clock, of course. At least they always have a spare steering set-up as well as full-floating axles, suspension arms and other parts at risk of breaking. Whichever of the VW Dakar squads is running last is the one that has to carry the cargo of spares. It’s not particularly popular, as you can imagine. But it’s necessary because, as Kris Nissen explains: “To finish first, first you have to finish,” using one of
the favourites from his arsenal of motorsport expressions. “The stiffest competition is always the Dakar itself,” he adds – though you’d be hard-pushed to think so from the air. The Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma being piloted by Captain Basbousi, who, with his moustache, wiry figure and grey overalls, looks exactly as you’d expect a Moroccan helicopter pilot to look, tracks Giniel de Villiers from above. Although the service crew back at base in Erfoud always know where the car is, thanks to GPS, the helicopter with the team doctor is still sent out just in case. From above, the desert looks so beautiful, so majestic, so eternal. A flock of dromedaries appears. Giniel passes within 20m of them. None of the animals bats an eyelid. That’s the calm of the desert for you. The Race Touareg finally ends up in the dune belt. Rather than taking the shortest line, Giniel constantly makes little turns – left, right, left. “It’s like surfing,” he explains. “You’ve got to be able to read the terrain like a surfer reads the waves. You always try to drive on the crest of the dunes. You never want to go down into them.” But what might look easy or logical from up in the air can look hopeless from where the co-driver
is sitting. It’s all a matter of perspective. Giniel can see a mountain on the horizon and that becomes his point of reference. That’s where he’s got to get to. From then on it’s dry surfing, comparable to travelling through deep snow, which you need years to get used to. The evenings back at the garage in Erfoud start pretty loud. First the helicopter comes back and then the blue car appears 20 minutes later. It’s remarkably quiet for a car of its calibre. From the way it looks you’d expect it to make a lot more noise. The team of mechanics leap onto the blue monster, wash it, pull off the wheels and fire up the laptop to analyse the performance. It’s a routine of quick movements. Precise. Off-pat. The race mechanics are just as competitive as the drivers whose cars they’re looking after. Barely an hour later, the fuss has died down, although the dampers have been changed as a matter of course and a couple of new components have been installed for testing purposes. Try as they might, they couldn’t find anything else to do. And there’s a good chance things won’t be all that different on the Dakar itself. The Dakar Rally, January 1-16, 2011, Argentina and Chile: www.dakar.com
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Mountain bike
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Dress to impress: Women’s race winner Heather Logie (below) chose police uniform, while DJ Birtch (left) wore very little
The Singlespeed World Championships is more of a social event than a sporting one with both professional cyclists and weekend warriors out to have as much fun as possible on two wheels Words: Robert Tighe Photography: Graeme Murray 73
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“It’s kind of a joke of a race but it means a lot at the same time,” says ‘Rad’ Ross Schnell, the runner-up at the 2010 Singlespeed World Championships in Rotorua, New Zealand. “This is the soul of mountain biking. The guy who wins is the fastest dude but we’re all out here having fun.” If The Dude from The Big Lebowski had been into mountain biking instead of tenpin bowling he would have been a participant in the 2010 SSWC. Consider this philosophical tidbit from Heather Irmiger on the bad start that ruined any chance she had of defending her title: “I was just going with whatever the universe wanted,” she says at the finish with a perma-smile on her dial. “I just went out there and did my thing.” Irmiger, like Schnell, is a professional mountain bike rider from the US, a country that has embraced the singlespeed subculture. Singlespeed refers to the bikes, which are stripped back to basics with one gear and limited or no suspension. It is considered a pure form of cycling with the focus on riding rather than fiddling about with gears. The first world championship for singlespeeders was held in California in 1995. The W.H.I.R.L.E.D. (Wasted Hairy Insanely Retro League of Enlightened Degenerates) Championships attracted more than 250 riders. Since then the event has grown every year and is open to anyone with a single-gear bike and a sense of humour. The laidback vibe of the event attracts cyclists who don’t take themselves or their sport too seriously, as well as professionals like Irmiger and Schnell looking to kick back and relax after a long hard season. “I think every racer started the sport for something like this, this kind of friendship and camaraderie,” says Irmiger who is pimped out in a retro gold pinstripe sailor suit she found on a strippers’ website. “You think racing in circles every Saturday (at professional events) is the most important thing in the world but there are all these people out there doing crazy, fun things. We’re all hooligans at heart and it’s so good to get back in touch with that.” The hooligans have gathered in the marquee the night before the race to watch teams from Ireland, South Africa, Italy and Canada compete in a table quiz with a difference – think clothes pegs on faces and mousetraps on fingers. The prize: a place in the final eliminator to decide who will host next year’s 74
“The event attracts cyclists who don’t take themselves too seriously” Animal magic: One competitor tries to get a little extra horsepower
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Competitive attitudes: Some riders clowned around while others acted like Muppets
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SSWC. Ireland and South Africa survive the silliness before Dean Watson, the race director, takes to the stage to deliver the pre-race briefing. “There are some formalities to take care of because we’re combining cycling and alcohol,” says Watson, dressed as Papa Smurf (costumes aren’t compulsory at the SSWC but anyone wearing standard cycling gear risks being laughed at). “Firstly, there will be two beer shortcuts on the 40km course, but remember we do want you to drink responsibly or at least I need to tell you to drink responsibly. What you do after that, I don’t give a damn,” says Watson. “Secondly, if you’re riding really, really fast, but don’t want a tattoo, don’t win the race. The winner will be tattooed at the finish line, so decide before you start if you want a tattoo or not.” For the record, the riders who went under the (tattoo) gun after two 20km laps up and down the trails of Rotorua’s Whakarewarewa Forest – try saying that, never mind riding it, after a couple of beers – were local favourite Garth Weinberg and Heather Logie from Australia. But the SSWC is as much, if not more, about the party than the podium. Take ‘Disco’ Damian Auton, a sixfoot-something bike café owner from Melbourne who turns up at the start on Saturday morning wearing a disco ball helmet and a striking silver one-piece disco suit sort of thing. “I dreamed this costume up one night listening to some old ’80s songs,” he explains before breaking into the chorus of The Pina Colada Song (which was actually released in 1979 but went to number one in 1980. If you’re too young to remember it, check it out on YouTube. It’s a classic). That ‘Disco Damo’ manages to stand out in a crowd of almost 900 riders from 30 different countries, a crowd that includes guys wearing diapers and girls sporting mutton-chop sideburns, says something about his outfit. Others dressed to impress include Marilyn Monroe,
“The SSWC is as much about the party as the podium” 76
Looks amazing Although it’s not obligatory to dress up, most competitors put on a good show. Here are just some of this year’s most impressive outfits, including those of DJ Auton (in glitterball helmet) and Billy ‘Spaceman’ Bleichner (below); Heather Irmiger (stripes and shades); DJ Birtch (G-string and braces); ‘Rad’ Ross Schnell (bottom right with facial hair); and Geoff Huber (Superman)
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“The race starts when the riders finally finish admiring their get-up” The Mark of a Winner
Well done: Women’s runner-up Nic Leary congratulates Heather Logie at the finish
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“Weinberg, you legend!” shouted one admirer as the victor made his way to the cabin just a few metres from the finish line where the tattooist awaited his arrival. Just minutes after he skidded across the finish line and fell off his bike to embrace his wife Rachel and two daughters, Melissa and Hannah, Garth Weinberg (right) pulled off his shirt and pointed to a spot on his chest where he wanted to be branded. “It will be the last time I’ll probably ever win something like this so I decided a few weeks ago it was going over my heart.” Heather Logie (left), the winner of the women’s race wasn’t quite so keen when she crossed the finish line and was asked if she was prepared to accept the tattoo. However, despite some second thoughts she bravely bared her back for a permanent reminder of the Singlespeed World Championships 2010.
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albeit with very hairy legs, and Animal from The Muppets. One poor unfortunate struggles in the sunshine under the weight of a full-camouflage ghillie suit while the crew from Bike Vegas, one of the many local businesses to support the event, come dressed as beer cans. “It puts the fun back in cycling,” says the appropriately named Dave Joy, owner of Bike Vegas. “There are some serious racers here, but look at all these idiots. I mean there are kids around,” continues Joy, pointing to a man in a black G-string with the words ‘Happy Pain ‘written in magic marker across his buttocks. DJ Birtch is the guy in the G-string. This is his ninth SSWC and he’s concerned about the direction the event is taking. “Some people have started taking it too seriously. People should be at the bar until at least one o’clock on the night before the race,” he says. ‘How was your night?’ “It’s still going. I got some sleep but I’d have been better if I stayed awake all night.” “Tell me about your costume.” “I’m dressed as myself, on any given day,” he says with a giveaway grin. “This is what I wear walking around the streets of Tucson, Arizona.” “What is Happy Pain?” “I’m feeling Happy Pain right now and I sure hope the Happy Pain stays for the rest of the day and doesn’t turn into regular pain.” “Will you take the beer shortcuts?” “Hell, yeah! I might take the beer and still ride the regular course.” “Are you in it to win it?” “Heck, I’m winning right now,” says Birtch as he heads for the start. When the riders have finished admiring each other’s costumes, the race finally starts at the respectable time of 10.30-ish. Garth Weinberg and the defending champion Ross Schnell steal a march on the rest of the field at the first beer shortcut and the title is ultimately decided at the final beer pit-stop. Despite a super-fast chug by Schnell, he can’t make up a 10-second deficit on Weinberg. “I don’t think I needed more ink on my body anyway,” says Schnell, “and it’s awesome that Garth won on home territory. The crowd was going nuts in the trees. People were yelling at me, ‘Good job, but slow down.’” Schnell did slow down after leading Weinberg for the first half of the race, but it was the beer and not the friendly banter from the crowd that did him in. “I took the first beer shortcut, but I was a little loopy at the end of the first lap. Then I started cramping so I opted
out of the second beer shortcut. I knew if I had another beer I’d be standing on the side of the trail. But there’s water in beer so I don’t know what I was thinking. It would have numbed the pain.” Weinberg also struggled with the local brew in his belly, but after a cleansing chunder at the top of one climb, the 38-year-old ‘rode his arse off’ to hang on for the biggest win of his career. “I went through a really bad patch at the top of one climb. I started throwing up and couldn’t breathe and I was just trying not to choke on my own vomit,” says Weinberg as the tattooist prepped his chest for the unique trophy. Heather Logie, an adventure racer from Australia, won the woman’s race, wearing a revealing policewoman’s outfit complete with fishnet stockings. Ireland beat South Africa in the horizontal bungee eliminator to win the hosting rights for next year’s event, while Disco Damo crossed the finish line after spending most of his race in the beer tent with New Zealand professional road cyclist Julian Dean. “I took a dive in the drink and my race was over,” he says, taking a slug from a bottle of beer. “But the disco ball survived the crash?” “Yeah man.” “Are you looking forward to the party later?” “I’m looking forward to the afterparty. Last year in Durango, Colorado, the after-afterparty was pretty cool. Those Durango boys… they know how to party,” says Disco Damo, introducing a friend who goes by the name of Spaceman. “Those Durango boys?” says Spaceman, picking up where Disco Damo left off. “Holy shit!” “We were hot tubbing…” Auton reminds him. “Hell, they raised the bar so high, I didn’t even hit my head on it,” deadpans Spaceman, “which made me wonder why it hurt so bad.” “How did you go?’ I ask Spaceman, steering the conversation away from hot tubs and back to the race. “Well, I went.” “Did you finish the two laps?” “There were two?” says Spaceman with a smile. “I’ll do the other one tomorrow.” What a pack of jokers. And it’s still only two in the afternoon. It’s gonna be a long night… For more pics and video footage from this year’s Singlespeed World Championships visit www.sswc10nz.com.
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BEYOND THE ORDINARY THE RED BULLETIN
More Body&Mind The how, when and where of this month’s issue
photography: Stefanie Jason
82 experience weightlessness 83 a top chef’s secrets 84 get the gear 86 The Underground Music scene in Jozi 88 listings 92 nightlife 98 Mind’s eye
Mini movements and new scenes are on the rise in Jozi. For an introduction to the latest cool sounds turn to page 86
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Weight to go! Ever fancied floating like a spaceman? Well you can – as long as your pockets are deep enough
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According to David Coulthard, former Red Bull Racing Formula One driver, it was one of the strangest experiences of his life: “It was almost like my stomach and internal organs became weightless and then I could feel my stomach pushing itself up into my chest, before my big fat arse left the ground.” Now this is a man who for many years was used to subjecting his frame to extreme braking and acceleration forces, to hurling body and car around corners as fast as he could, while a heavy helmet strained at his neck and shoulders, loaded up with lateral G-forces. Yet nothing he encountered in F1 came close to the (space) oddity of the most peculiar physical stimulation he has ever experienced. So
what sensation might it be that could prompt Coulthard to notice his internal organs were being rearranged? He’s talking of the time, a few years back, when he was taken on a so-called ‘zero-G parabolic flight’, that allowed him to experience the feeling of weightlessness that until recently had been the preserve only of astronauts and a few military pilots. At the behest of a sponsor, Coulthard travelled to Star City, in Russia – home to cosmonauts and astronauts since the former Cold War superpower developed interplanetary ambition – where he was loaded, along with an F1 car, onto a Russian Tupolev transporter plane. After take off, the plane climbed to a safe height of around 7,300m, from
Photography: Action Images (1), Steve Boxall/Zero-G (2)
We have lift off: David Coulthard (above) experiences the strange sensation of weightlessness on a parabolic flight
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photography: Stef Candé/Red Bull Hangar-7
“You feel new sensations, like your organs developing a mind of their own” which point pilot and co-pilot put it through a series of extreme climb-anddive manoeuvres to describe a parabolic arc. They climbed rapidly to 10,670ft, then ‘pushed’ the plane over the top of the arc, into a dive. As it crested the rise, everything on board the plane became weightless for up to 30 seconds – which condition prevailed until the pilots drew the plane out of its dive and allowed the free-floating racer in the hold to return safely to the aircraft floor. Coulthard admits he was lucky to enjoy a very special kind of joyride for free. But unlike F1 race thrills, which are impossible to purchase at any price, commercial parabolic flights are within reach of most credit card limits. A number of commercial operators in the USA and Russia, such as The Zero G Corporation, organise zero-G trips for around R33,420, during which passengers will experience weightlessness between 12 and 15 times. Zero-G veteran Coulthard recommends it as a once-in-a-lifetime thrill: “Weightlessness is a very strange experience and I’m not sure I would want to be in that condition for any amount of time,” he says, “but certainly to experience it on a parabolic flight was great and I’d recommend it to anyone. “I didn’t really know what to expect,” he continues. “You have to concentrate and you feel new – and not entirely welcome – sensations, like your organs developing a mind of their own.” Coulthard reckons the most perturbing aspect of the zero-G experience is that of being unable to correct or change posture – in the way all animals do continually without conscious effort – once weightlessness is achieved. “You don’t float Buddha-like into the sky once you lift off,” he says. “If you’re leaning to the left or right you keep going in that direction and there’s nothing you can do to stop yourself. There’s nothing to work against and nothing to hold on to. “And if you try to do a ‘Superman’ and fly from one end of the aircraft to the other, unless your launch is perfect you’ll go straight into the top of the fuselage or into the sides, and you won’t be able to do a thing about it. ” Don’t say we didn’t warn you… Take the weight off your feet with The Zero G Corporation at www.gozerog.com
Colagreco and his team like to experiment at Mirazur. You expect fruits de mer on the Côte d’Azur, but not necessarily sea urchin
A Question of Taste: A Top Chef’s Secrets
An Italian Curry We quiz Mauro Colagreco, the Italian-Argentinian who fuses the food of his dual nationalities at Mirazur, in Menton on the French Riviera What’s the one ingredient you can’t do without? “Different types of oil,” says Colagreco, who was named the Chef of the Year in 2009 by restaurant guide Gault Millau, the same year his Michelinstarred Mirazur restaurant was voted as one of the world’s top 50. “I’ve even created dishes with a special oily surface, like an olive oil ice cream or squid cooked in oil. At the moment, I like using Ligurian olive oil the most. It has a slight taste of artichoke, but it’s also mild and doesn’t tamper with the overall taste of the dish.”
What food couldn’t you stand when you were younger? “As I’m of Italian origin, spicy food was never really my thing,” Colagreco admits. “Plus, the food is pretty mild where I grew up.” It was only when he began travelling that the Argentinian-born chef warmed to hot food. “I’ve tried mole in Mexico and curry in India. Now I make my own curries and enjoy working with more intense cuisine.” What’s the most important item of equipment in your kitchen? “A good knife, of course. It’s the basis of all good cooking,” says Colagreco, who is as particular about the origin of his blades as he is of his ingredients. “The knife must be Japanese. They’re the king of knives.” Mauro Colagreco (“Mirazur”, Menton) is the guest chef at the Ikarus Restaurant in Hangar-7 for December 2010: www.hangar-7.com
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Keep Uncool Diving in water that reaches -2°C hurts even if you are wearing a neoprene dry suit 7mm thick. The diving regulator is fitted with an anti-icing mechanism, but does still sometimes freeze up.
Smart Suit The diver can inflate his dry suit, in the same way as he regulates air in the buoyancy compensator jacket (see right), so that at lower depths, where the suit’s buoyancy and thermal protection decrease, he won’t get so cold or suffer from ‘suit squeeze’.
Layer Upon Layer Diving in the Antarctic without wearing the maximum amount of thermal insulation under your dry suit would be life threatening. Something warm, with 300g/m2 of insulation, is the order of the day.
Light In The Dark Taking pictures in the freezing depths requires serious kit, and the underwater housings and flashguns made by Seacam are seen as the RollsRoyces of their sector. Also pictured: a Nikon D200 camera, lens and three macro- and wide-angle dome-ports.
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You Will Get Cold Feet The question is whether they’ll just be unpleasantly cold or dangerously cold. If you want to plump for merely the unpleasant option – and you should – then you wear three layers under your flippers: thermal socks first, then neoprene sock liners, topped by the boots, which are part of the dry suit.
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Diving Below Zero 1
To conquer the Antarctic undersea, Karl Drevlak (see also page 32) requires a boatload of advanced diving equipment. Flask of hot coffee not pictured
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1. Diving computer The underwater data centre is linked by radio to a transmitter attached to the scuba tank. The computer displays vital info: depth, time, elapsed time, temperature and, perhaps most crucially, amount of air remaining. 2. Camera with housing All the controls on this camera can be operated even when a diver is wearing gloves thick enough to protect his hands from freezing in sub-zero temperatures, thanks to the Seacam housing.
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3. Lead pouches and weights Used increasingly rarely, pouches and their corresponding weights are attached to the diver’s jacket to counteract its buoyancy.
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4. Diving knife Not a weapon to be used in self-defence against aggressive underwater creatures: Drevlak, in common with almost all other divers, advises timely and unquestioning escape in an encounter with something unfriendly (and possibly hungry). Instead, a blade is required to cut through fishing lines and other tangling obstacles.
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Photography: Philipp Horak
5. Scuba tank This 15-litre steel cylinder contains compressed air, and has two separate air outlets at the top. The double outlet set-up is especially necessary in sub-zero Antarctic waters: trouble starts if your one-and-only air supply freezes over. 6. Buoyancy compensator jacket Inflated when worn on the surface, the diver lets air out of the ‘BC’ on his descent, until he achieves his required depth. Then, on the return journey, the BC is inflated. It also has a backplate to support the heavy cylinders. Find out about Antarctic diving trips in 2011 at www.responsibletravel.com
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Underground on the Rise Mini movements and scenes are on the rise in Jozi, defying convention and mashing up genres. Here are three you should be looking out for… The city of gold has been defined both by how diligently its denizens work by day as by how hard they party at night. It’s been 16 long years since liberation and Johannesburg is going through a cultural growth spurt, germinating any number of fresh underground scenes and minimovements that are pushing genres from house to hip-hop, kwaito, ragga and a whole bunch of eclectic sounds and styles that defy those definitions. Without doubt, creative, urban Jo’burg is on the rise. Here’s an introduction to the sounds and people making it all happen.
African Storm Ragga Nites The Admiral and JahSeed have been ruling Thursday nights in Jozi since 1996. The flavour is strictly reggae, ragga and dancehall – Jamaican style, Jozi context. Over the years they’ve moved with the ebb and flow of the city from Yeoville’s Tandoor to Newtown’s Horror Cafe, Carfax and now finally coming to rest at Bassline in Henry Nxumalo Street.
“It was in Soweto back in the mid ’90s,” explains Andy. “JahSeed turned up and we ended up becoming friends. Then he said, let’s start DJing together. At first I was a bit sceptical, but then we played our first gig at the Tandoor and I couldn’t believe the wave that followed.” And it’s a wave that hasn’t diminished in size, either. “There’s no illusion,” says Andy, emphatically. “People have liked reggae since the struggle days. It’s hard to find a South African who doesn’t like Bob Marley and Burning Spear… and now dancehall is rising. YFM helped to push the music with us when we started and now it’s got a momentum all its own. On a weekly basis we’ll have anything between 300 and 700 people come through. When Jamaican ragga and dancehall superstar Sizzla came through it was a full house. An additional 3,500 people couldn’t get 86
Dancers at African Storm Sound System (above); Sizzla (below) gets a warm welcome
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1 African Storm Ragga Nites 2 Pop Bottles 3 Thesis Social Jam
in. There’s no predicting how many people are going to come on any given Thursday, but when they do come through, it’s a big party. And it’s all about one love. There’s a feeling, a consciousness, that keeps the evening at a high level of enjoyment and a chilled-out vibe.”
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Thesis Social Jam
Thesis Social Jam (above) has become a magnet for new music and new acts; the overspill (right) hangs out outside the venue
Words: Andy Davis. Photography: Stefanie Jason(2), Mpumelelo Macu (2), JR onyangunga (3)
Pop Bottles Uptown, in the posh Northern Suburbs, Pop Bottles is a nightlife brand built entirely around hip-hop and tends to bring out the kids with swagger. Back in 2008 “pop bottles” was hip-hop speak for a celebration, kind of like a declaration to get down. Local hip-hop DJ Dimples booked out Crazy 88 in Norwood. On a Sunday night to celebrate his birthday, he threw an open party and called it Pop Bottles. The name stuck and quickly grew into a hot South African party brand, famous for attracting an ostentatious and flamboyant urban crowd. At a Pop Bottles gig you’ll find the impeccably dressed sipping on mini bottles of Moët… with a straw. That’s just how they roll.
“We attract a young, affluent market,” says Dimples. “They’re trendsetters, 18-30year-olds looking for something different.” And what’s bringing them in? “All sorts of hip-hop,” smiles Dimples, “from laid-back to old skool to the more upbeat party stuff. We’ve gone from the club to making Pop Bottles a national event, hitting Cape Town and Durban and soon we’re going to PE and Bloem.” Each event tends to pull about a thousand people and the tickets, at a R100 bucks a pop, tend to sell out long before the gig. “Yeah,” says Dimples. “We’re trying to keep it exclusive.”
It’s Moët and bubble baths for the young, affluent Pop Bottles crowd
Across town in Soweto, a new school is emerging – bringing together some of the more eclectic elements of Mzansi hip-hop culture. Since August 2008, the heartbeat has pulsed in an area called Mofolo, from a little free-standing shop called the Thesis Concept Store, selling local music, art and clothing, all with a distinctive homegrown hip-hop flavour.
“We wanted to get creative, black youth together in one place,” says Thesis founder, Wireless G, known as Galebowe Mahlatsi to his mom. G reckons the idea behind the Thesis Social Jam Sessions was to attract a creative collective in Mofolo. The first Sunday of each month, the Thesis Social Jam Sessions attract roughly 300 people from around Jozi. They gather in the barricaded yard outside the shop, and like most kasi jols, the overflow spills into the street. The music tends towards the experimental; blending nu jazz with lounge and hiphop MCs toasting over the soundscape. On top of that they provide space for poetry, comedy, performance art and dancing – all in a relaxed, supportive and free-flowing creative environment. “The area is typified by spazas,” G explains. “Corner shops, run-down bottle stores. Thesis Concept Store wanted to change that. The Social Jam Sessions expand that creative process and bring in other elements. Thesis brings DJs together with live musicians, gives space to poets, comedians, visual and performance artists. We’ve had Babu from Cape Town. We have an incredible nu jazz ensemble called The Layders playing here regularly. We’ve had Dirty Paraffin, Take Away, P.O from Kwani Experience, Kenzhero, Kid Fonque and the Stone Band… It’s moving and people are coming from all over Jozi to be a part of it.” 87
more body & mind Orlando Magic v Boston Celtics 25.12.10
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Magic host their former star centre, Shaquille O’Neal, now with the Boston Celtics, who knocked them out of the playoffs last year. Amway Center, Orlando, USA
This month’s round-up of the best sporting events around the globe
FIS Snowboard World Cup 07 - 08.12.10
Red Bull Light House to Leighton 11.12.10
This season’s snowboardcross World Cup finally gets underway a little later than anticipated in Lech, after the cancellation of events in Argentina’s Chapelco. Last season was all about Maelle Ricker (CAN) and Pierre Vaultier (FRA) who, with the exception of one event each, waved from every podium in the competition. Lech am Alberg, Austria
Western Australia’s breezes and rolling swells have made it a favourite with kitesurfers around the world, and a fitting place to host the country’s longest-ever kitesurf race. Contenders battle it out over 20km, from the former prison of Rottnest Island to Leighton Beach, fighting to be first. Rottnest Island, Australia
photography: Getty Images/NBAE, Kolesky/Nikon/Red Bull Photofiles (2), Ray Demski/Red Bull Photofiles
IBU Biathlon World Cup 10 - 12.12.2010 The sport that unites skiing and shooting gears up for another season of action. Last year there were Norwegian victories courtesy of Ole Einar Bjöndalen and Emil Hegle Svendsen, while in the women’s competition, Anna Carin Oloffson-Zidek and Helena Jonsson stepped onto the podium for Sweden. Hochfilzen, Austria
FIS Ski Jumping World Cup 10 - 12.12.10 Last year the competition on the Certak hill – the gentlest slope to feature on the World Cup calendar – had to be cancelled due to lack of snow. All eyes are now on the Harrachov skies… Harrachov, Czech Republic
SA Gravity Racing Series 10 - 12.12.10 The eighth Hot Heels Africa downhill skateboarding and street luge contest is also the final of the IGSA World Cup Series, where defending downhill champion Mischo Erban hopes to retain his crown. Kogelberg, Cape Town, South Africa
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Red Bull Salzburg v SK Sturm Graz 11.12.10 This match is the 19th Bundesliga round and the last before the winter break. Red Bull Arena, Salzburg, Austria
Red Bull Big Drop 11.12.10 More than 50 longboard skaters race down a steep Andean road in a 10-minute, heart-thumping ride full of natural obstacles and hairpin curves. Lo Barnechea, Santiago, Chile
FC Salzburg v Lech Poznan 16.12.10 The sixth and final game for the Austrian champions in what has been a tough Europa League group stage. In Poland, Salzburg were defeated 2-0 and now hope a game on home soil may change their luck. Red Bull Arena, Salzburg, Austria
FIS Snowboard World Cup 16 - 18.12.10 There are six competitions on the programme in the Colorado ski resort. Men and women take to the slopes for parallel giant slalom, snowboardcross and snowboardcross team events. Telluride, USA
ASP World Tour 08 - 20.12.10 Mick Fanning and Jordy Smith join Kelly Slater, who’s just picked up his 10th world title. Banzai Pipeline, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
more body & mind FIS Ski Jumping World Cup 02 - 03.01.11 Last season, 22,000 people saw Gregor Schlierenzauer triumph on his home hill, an emotional win he’ll be working to repeat. Innsbruck, Austria
FIS Ski World Cup Ladies 16 - 19.12.10
FIS World Cup Cross Country 31.12.10 - 01.01.11
During this season’s first speed weekend on European snow, the ladies compete in downhill, super-G and super combined. Last year in the super-G it was first and second for the Swiss, while Lindsey Vonn claimed third for the USA. Val d’Isére, France
The fifth Tour de Ski kicks off at the first of five venues to host the competition tour. Last season, Petter Northug (NOR) had to settle for second place on the podium, but this year hopes to take a step up. Oberhof, Germany
FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup 18 - 19.12.10 The FIS Ski Cross World Cup brings two days of competition for men and women to the Italian slopes. San Candidio, Italy
Red Bull Hüttenrallye 21 - 22.12.10 More than 200 skicross amateurs have the chance to qualify for the finals, where they compete against 24 professionals including Daron Rahlves and Tomas Kraus. St Anton, Austria
EC Red Bull Salzburg v EC KAC 26.12.10 Red Bull hosts Klagenfurt, Austrian ice hockey’s most decorated team, in a regularseason clash. Ice Arena, Salzburg, Austria
FIS Ski World Cup Men 27 - 29.12.10 There’s no Christmas break for the men competing in this downhill race on the demanding, steep and winding Pista Stelvio. Bormio, Italy
FIS Ski Jumping World Cup 28 - 29.12.10 The traditional Four Hills Tournament returns for its 59th year. In 2009, Austrian Andreas Kofler won on the Schattenberg ski jump and subsequently took the overall victory. Oberstdorf, Germany
Ghetto Jam 19.12.10 Buddy Chellan joins South Africa’s biking best to compete on the beachfront in the country’s largest annual BMX contest. Durban, South Africa
Dakar Rally 01 - 16.01.11 For the third year in a row, the legendary Dakar Rally takes place in South America. Last month the Dakar reconnaissance team criss-crossed the Atacama on a final test-trip of one of the most testing and exhilarating routes in motorsport. Frenchman Cyril Despres took victory in the bike class last time around, while Spaniard Carlos Sainz won on four wheels in his VW Race Touareg 3 and Russian Vladimir Chagin with Team Kamaz took the truck class. Argentina and Chile
FIS Ski World Cup 02.01.11 Leaving the mountains behind, the world’s best skiers head into the city as men and women compete for World Cup points in parallel slalom inside the Munich Olympic Park. Munich, Germany
New Orleans Saints v Tampa Bay Buccaneers 02.01.2011 A high-octane offense led by Drew Brees and Reggie Bush helped the Saints win the team’s first Super Bowl last year. How will they do this time? Superdome, New Orleans, USA
Anglo-Scottish Cup 02 – 03.01.11 The Scottish Ski Club and the British Ski Academy join forces to test the next generation of talent in slalom and giant slalom, with skiers aged 10-14. Les Houches, France
Biathlon World Team Challenge 30.12.10
TTR World Snowboard Tour 02 - 08.01.11
Biathlon moves away from its traditional tracks to a football arena, enabling 50,000 fans to watch as the mixed relay team competition plays out. Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
By raising the bar high in the halfpipe and slopestyle competitions at Jakobshorn, the O’Neill Evolution 2010 has earned TTR’s 6-Star highest difficulty category. Davos, Switzerland
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Weezer 17.12.10 For 20 years, Weezer have shown that humour and indie rock live happily together. So it’s appropriate their new album is called Hurley, after the joker from TV series Lost. Roseland Ballroom, New York, USA
night spots Come rain, shine, snow or sun, the party starts right here
Public Enemy 07.12.10
ZoukOut 2010 11.12.10
Despite being a long way from their NYC home, when Chuck D or Flavor Flav launch into one of their tracks, an audience of thousands raps along with them. What else would you expect from one of the biggest hip-hop acts on the planet? The Assembly, Cape Town, South Africa
With soaring temperatures and 26,000 people dancing on a Singapore beach, ZoukOut is the biggest dance music festival in South-East Asia, with premier-league DJs including David Guetta, Booka Shade, Dubfire, Lindstrøm and Jazzy Jeff in attendance. Siloso Beach, Sentosa, Singapore
Photography: Imago, Naim Chidiac/Red Bull Photofiles, Mr. Mass./Red Bull Photofiles, Mauritius Images
Recontres Trans Musicales de Rennes 08 – 12.12.10 Since 1979, this event has given new artists and fresh sounds a platform and, true to form, this year the line-up includes household names alongside rising stars: M.I.A, Janelle Monáe and A-Trak share a stage with French Fried, Mama Rosin and Concrete Knives. Parc Expo, Rennes, France
D25 10.12.10 Techno was born in Detroit 25 years ago. One of its creators was Juan Atkins, alias Model 500, whose single ‘No UFOs’ breathed hot funk into cold electronic music. His successors Carl Craig, Theo Parrish and Moodymann honour that moment and their home city with this tour. Brown Alley, Melbourne, Australia
Craze 10.12.10 “When I was a kid, my mother asked me what I wanted to do with all these record players. I said that I wanted to be the best DJ in the world,” Craze recalls. Three DMC World DJ Championship titles later, the US scratch-master has made his dream come true. Loft Club, Lausanne, Switzerland
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Modeselektor 11.12.10 These two Berlin boys bring bass that will rattle your whole body with their mix of techno and dubstep. And fans will be glad to hear there’s no change with their latest offering, Modeselektion Vol. 01#1/12. The Warehouse Project, Manchester, England
Matthew Dear 14.12.10 Audion, Jabberjaw, False – Matthew Dear has a lot of pseudonyms, which change depending on the musical field this electronic musician from Texas wants to plough. Here he uses his real name so he can vent his passion for melancholy techno-pop. Trouw, Amsterdam, Holland
Numbers Label Night 17.12.10 The hottest dance label of the year isn’t to be found in the hip cities of London or New York. No, Numbers, or rather label-owner Jackmaster, lives in Glasgow where, to the alien ear, the local accent is as cool and unusual as the garage beats and frenetic grime sounds that the youngster produces. Sub Club, Glasgow, Scotland
Red Bull BC One All Stars on Tour 10 – 13.12.10 Alongside fellow B-Boy Roxrite, Lilou heads to Columbia to teach young breakdancers how to defy gravity. Bogotá, Colombia
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Red Bull Thre3Style Finals 09.12.10 Three styles of music in 15 minutes: that’s the challenge facing the young DJs in this turntable test. The winners will meet the world’s best to do battle again at the world finals. Paris, France
DâM-FunK 17.12.10
Rhythm and Vines 29 – 31.12.10
He’s known as the Californian ambassador of boogie funk, and his Funkmosphere parties in Los Angeles are the stuff of legend. And his current album – Toeachizown – lives up to the reputation, as it’s bristling with a cool mix of modern soul and electro-funk. One Eyed Jacks, New Orleans, USA
On a festival wish list, there aren’t many boxes this annual shindig would leave unticked. It’s set in a vineyard, between Gisborne’s rolling hills and picturesque beaches. There are waterslides. And fireworks. Oh, and one of the best line-ups of any New Year’s celebrations anywhere – N*E*R*D, Carl Cox, Chromeo, Tinie Tempah, Miami Horror and Dick Johnson are among those providing music for 2011’s first dawn. Gisborne, New Zealand
Red Bull Music Academy PRESENTS THE HIT IT & QUIT IT REVUE END OF YEAR SHOWDOWN 17 – 18.12.10 The outspoken beat king and Red Bull Music Academy lecturer joins forces with DJ Day and lands in New Zealand to fill the floors with blends of techno and house, starting at Galatos before moving on to Garden Club. Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand
Mother City Queer Project 18.12.10 There’s always been one simple rule when it comes to South Africa’s biggest gay festival: no costume, no entry. Now gearing up for its 16th edition, this is no exception. As ever there’s a theme that’s open to interpretation (The Toolbox Project), live music, DJs, bars and a lot of people looking for the mother of all parties. De Waterkant, Cape Town, South Africa
Soulwaxmas 23.12.10 The alternative electro-rockers from Belgium are donning guitars rather than festive white beards and they’ll be raving around the Christmas tree for some seasonal fun. Grande Halle De La Villette, Paris, France
Civil Twilight 29.12.10 Aphex Twin & Friends 11.12.10 This British electronic musician’s name is legendary. And here he’s venturing out to join in Club Razzmatazz’s 10th birthday celebrations. Barcelona, Spain
The power trio return home from the US after blazing a trail that has won them fans around the world and seen them contribute to soundtracks of prime-time TV shows, including One Tree Hill and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The Assembly, Cape Town, South Africa
Phat 11 Festival 29.12.10 – 02.01.11 This is a music festival-cumadventure holiday: you’re in the middle of the rain forest, the closest town is two hours away and there’s no petrol station. But thankfully there is electricity, so electronic acts such as Camo & Krooked, Electric Wire Hustle and dubstep pioneer Loefah can still pump their hefty bass from the sound system. Inangahua Rain Forest, West Coast, New Zealand
La De Da 31.12.10 Some of New Zealand’s finest gather under the stars on the year’s biggest party night. Hollie Smith, Katchafire and Mt Eden Dubstep lead revellers into the New Year in style. Alana Estate, Martinborough, New Zealand
Highlife 31.12.10 Those lucky enough to get a ticket to this boutique event get whisked, via a bespoke nightclub-ferry, to the party island of Waiheke, for a night of music and entertainment in stunning surroundings, featuring Belgium’s Junior Jack & Kid Crème. Stonyridge Vineyard, Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Warm NYE 31.12.10 Some people might want to welcome in the New Year with a waltz, but others prefer some good old disco. And Londoners will be given just that by four top DJs – Âme, Move D, Mark E and Gerd Janson – bringing the perfect start to 2011. CAMP, London, England
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Mount Kimbie Reykjavik
Green Room
Return to the Blue Lagoon Hordes of Vikings, walls of sound, Caesar salad and dining in betting cafes. Florian Obkircher watched British ambient dubstep newcomers Mount Kimbie do Iceland Airwaves 92
It’s drizzling, the sky is grey and a cold wind is blowing down the narrow alleyways. October in Reykjavik. “And it could be a lot worse,” a female passer-by volunteers. “We often have snowstorms at this time of year.” The Icelanders are well prepared. Most are wearing hoods and heavy coats and have scarves wrapped around their faces. Bar one. He’s standing in front of the Plaza Hotel in a thin jacket and trainers and dragging on a cigarette. “I love it here,” Kai Campos reveals. “We played in Los Angeles recently. It was boiling hot. It was a nightmare.” The 24-year-old Brit forms one half of Mount Kimbie, a duo that’s grabbed the
Photography: Hörður Ellert Ólafsson
Kai Campos (left) and Dominic Maker touch down in Iceland for the Airwaves festival
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Mixing it up: Maker and Campos work the decks with focus on stage, the performance more about the tunes than the men playing them. “We’re not really attention whores,” admits Maker
imagination as few other electronic acts have this year. Dubstep devotees, indie kids, techno aficionados and music magazines like FACT and Pitchfork are all of one mind when it comes to Crooks & Lovers, their debut album. Their sound manages to be both experimental and popular. Gentle ambient moments meet juddering hip-hop loops, whooshing field recordings cover wobble base, sweet, spherical sounds get lost in an echo. Music to sleepwalk to. Music that suits Iceland perfectly. “Because our sound creates plenty of space. Like the landscape here,” says Dominic Maker, Campos’ partner in crime. “I was overwhelmed yesterday as we drove from the airport into the city. The flat rock faces, the clouds, the intense colours. It’s a really dramatic place. It looked as if a horde of Vikings could appear on the horizon at any minute.” But Mount Kimbie haven’t yet had a chance to explore beyond Reykjavik. And this weekend there will be no need to. That’s because this weekend the Icelandic capital is playing host to 290 concerts and 252 bands in about 40 venues. The Iceland Airwaves festival turns Reykjavik into the international crucible for aspiring musicians for five days. Bands like Bloc Party, The Rapture and Hot Chip all played in small bars or record shops here long before they could fill thousand-seater venues. You might meet Modeselektor on an afternoon stroll around the city centre, American chillwave newcomer Toro Y Moi
bathing in the Blue Lagoon – a natural openair swimming pool in a fantasy landscape somewhere between Star Wars and Lord of the Rings – and dozens of other musicians making the pilgrimage from one venue to another with their guitars strung around their necks. Rolling Stone magazine hit the nail on the head. “Iceland Airwaves is the hippest weekend on the festival calendar.” Last night, the Mount Kimbie boys went to British band Silver Columns’ concert and then supported ex-band member James Blake at the decks for his deejaying gig. They wanted to try Icelandic cuisine beforehand, but ended up with Caesar salad. “We must have ended up in the worst restaurant on the island,” says Maker. “It was a betting café. Because all the other restaurants close by were full. So there were more TV screens than customers.” “How you guys doing? All right? We’re Mount Kimbie. And this is a pretty old song,” Maker says a little later to welcome the crowd in a busy venue called NASA. They
Working the electronic sound boxes
Sound bites: Maker mixes analog with digital drum sounds at NASA, their festival venue
are one of nine bands who’ll be performing here tonight. Hercules and Love Affair will also be playing. For 30 minutes. No more. But whereas the other artists forge ahead with things, Mount Kimbie take their time. They build their tracks up unhurriedly and make very considered use of their limited range of instruments: a snare drum, a guitar and two bar-tables covered in electronic sound-boxes. The floating intro to their hit ‘Maybe’ is supported by an ethereal, almost Icelandic synthesiser melody. Maker lets the beats in gradually. He programs them in real time and concentrates as he does so. Not exactly the most rock ’n’ roll of stage presences. Eyes down, lowered heads nodding along to the music. “We’re not really attention whores,” Maker admits later. Which doesn’t matter, because lots of the crowd have their eyes closed anyway. Mount Kimbie is as much about feeling as it is listening. After the concert, fellow Londoner Blake comes and knocks on their door backstage and asks them if they fancy helping him out at the decks again at 3am that morning. Maker raises his left eyebrow, thinks about it and says yes. Even if their flight to Glasgow is pretty early in the morning. “Which means we probably won’t make it to the Blue Lagoon,” Campos says. But never mind. It probably won’t be their last trip to Iceland. The Return to the Blue Lagoon can only be a matter of time. Aktuellesalbum: Album:Crooks „Crooks & Lovers” (Hotflush); Current & Lovers (Hotflush Mount Kimbies zum Recordings); forLive-Show tour dates andNachhören: videos go to www.myspace.com/mountkimbie redbullmusicacademyradio.com/shows/2374/
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A-TRAK LOndon Arts & Crafts
Grand Vinyl Right now one of the world’s most sought-after remixers and DJs, Montreal’s A-Trak tells Tom Hall who he plays for and what works on a packed dancefloor – and what definitely doesn’t When Alain Macklovitch, better known as A-Trak, was just 15, he won the Technics/ DMC World Championship. That’s kind of like winning gold at the DJ Olympics before you’re even old enough to enter a nightclub. The Montreal-born turntablist has been in heavy demand ever since from the likes of Kanye West, while also helming his own record label Fool’s Gold. Last month, he helped judge the London leg of Red Bull Thre3style, which challenges competitors 94
to keep dancefloors packed during genreswitching, 15-minute sets. With the international final this month in Paris, we caught up with A-Trak so he could explain the science behind an über-successful DJ set. Does switching genres work, or should you try to stick with one throughout a set? It’s a question of being clever. If you’re mixing records and their tempo is close enough, then you can mix whatever you
want. But obviously some stuff sounds good and some stuff doesn’t. It’s kind of like weaving together a story. You want something that takes the audience somewhere and surprises them. What records have surprised you recently? I was playing a gig in Brighton, in England, and I felt like the crowd might let me throw a curveball. So I remember dropping the Romantics’ ‘Talking In Your Sleep’, it’s an old ’80s rock song. I had no idea what it was gonna do, but I felt like playing it and people were like “Woah!” and loved it. If a situation like that backfires do you have a trick to get you out of the hole? I think it’s important to know how to react. I don’t want to sound cheesy, but I think the DJ philosophy kind of applies to life too. It’s like everybody’s going to fall, but you’ve got to know how to recover. The remix I did for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Heads Will Roll’ last year starts with these big, loud chord stabs and as soon as those hit it’s like a fire ignites. Same thing happens with ‘Babylon’ by Congorock. It’s always good to have that emergency parachute. As someone who is no stranger to taking prizes, is winning the prize in a competition like Red Bull Thre3style more important than pleasing the crowd? I think it really depends on the DJs. Some really play for crowd reaction and there’s things you can do for an easy cheer. But other DJs are more about originality and pulling off difficult feats and that could be more satisfying on the night. I’m a little bit more of the latter kind. As much as I do appreciate a good crowd reaction and have a concern for it, I think what’s even more of a priority for me is to do the unexpected and play songs that I’m currently championing. When I DJ, I come with an agenda that’s stylistic, in that I scratch a lot and still mix like a hip-hop DJ regardless of what’s playing. But also I’ll try and play a few songs that maybe only I have, maybe it’s something off my record label or maybe it’s a remix I just finished. Carrying a message is probably the biggest priority to me, but the objective is to be able to do it in a way that the crowd is into. You mentioned telling a story with records earlier. Is 15 minutes enough time to be able to tell that story? I think a lot of times DJs are forced to cut a few corners and really distil what it is they’re about quickly. But that’s the challenge: they’re having to work with limited time and resources, but ultimately you can always tell a great DJ. You should see that in a matter of minutes. Single ‘Ray Ban Vision’ (Fool’s Gold). Red Bull Thre3Style International Final, December 9. For details go to www.redbull.com
Photography: Keith Davis Young credit
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The Ivy sydney
Please use the dressing room before entering the pool
World’s Best Clubs
The Vegas of Oz
Photography: Wolfgang Stecher
Sydney’s Ivy is a cleverly designed pleasure palace more akin to Las Vegas. A packet of Tylenol to anyone who makes it from the pool to all the bars, restaurants and lounges, in a single night A young man by the name of Justin Hemmes came from a prosperous Sydney home. He didn’t have a care in the world and loved to party. So it probably wasn’t much of a surprise that he ended up working in nightlife too. And because he didn’t want people to think that he was just some rich kid, he worked as a washer-upper, barman and accountant. And all the while Hemmes dreamed of creating his own nocturnal empire. So he employed a couple of cool architects and had several properties within four high-rise complexes in downtown Sydney designed according to their plans. And thus was born The Ivy. Since it opened in 2007, the Woods Bagot-designed venue has won one award after another. Far more than simply a nightclub, The Ivy is a collection of restaurants, bars with a number of cocktail lounges, dancefloors – and even a pool club – ranging over several floors. Hemmes knows how to make his guests happy and he does it well, providing
the right atmosphere for the perfect night out. A night out that begins before sundown. In changing rooms decked out with disco balls, early guests can change from suits to swimsuits and relax with a cocktail by the open-air pool, or in one of the bars under the palm trees. If you get hungry, there are restaurants on the other floors. Seven of them, ranging from Italian, New York steakhouse, Indian or Thai to sushi. And from there the guests can go to one of four bars or straight to the dancefloors. If you’d rather have more privacy and have a bit of cash to spare, you can hire one of the two penthouses on the upper floors. You know, to be above it all. The list of resident DJs at The Ivy is long; New Year will be rung in by House icons Basement Jaxx and Bob Sinclar with a Pacha Party. There will be 6,500 guests but, as so often in this party wonderland, a lot more who wish they could attend. The Ivy, 320-330 George Street, Sydney, NSW 2000: www.merivale.com
Get down on the main dancefloor or chill out in The Den: the choice at The Ivy is huge. A veritable playground for night owls
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On the Record
Electricity Mando Diao Unplugged Stockholm Forget candlelight and soft acoustics, Mando Diao’s ‘unplugged’ gig involved Juliette Lewis and an on-stage campfire. Florian Obkircher met the Swedish rockers after the album’s release MTV Unplugged hosts mature bands taking time off from amplified rock ’n’ roll to perform their songs on acoustic guitars by gentle candlelight. But Mando Diao weren’t really keen on sticking to the script. Though the Swedish rockers left the distorter pedals at home for their session at the Berliner Union Film Studios in September, they packed in a theatrical backdrop and guest appearances from Ray Davies of The Kinks and Juliette Lewis. We caught up with keyboarder Mats Björke, drummer Samuel Giers and guitarist Gustaf Nóren following the album’s release last month. Guys, did you watch the MTV European Music Awards yesterday? Mats Björke: I watched for five minutes and soon realised that it wasn’t for me. That means you must have caught the moment when Justin Bieber was being given the award for best male artist? MB: No, but it was a girl version of Justin Bieber. It wasn’t much better. And there I was thinking you’d be interested in the show. You were nominated for ‘Swedish Act of the Year’ at last year’s awards. Samuel Giers: We didn’t go then either. We were touring at the time. It normally goes something like this: the MTV people tell you if you’ve won. And then you go. Having said that, MTV have now knighted you in another way: you were invited to do an unplugged session. How do you approach that kind of project? SG: We didn’t just want to put up a chandelier, light some candles and sit and sing. That’s why we had rooms made. A backdrop. As if it was a theatre play. Gustaf Nóren: The backdrop reflected our career. We almost built a house, with different rooms. The attic represents our past because everything ends up there eventually. Band memorabilia like old guitars, a reel-to-reel tape-deck and live recordings. The garage, by contrast, 96
Fall guys: Gustaf Norén, Samuel Giers, Björn Dixgård and Mats Björke in autumnal Stockholm
represents Mando Diao’s energy. That’s where we practised, that’s where we wrote our earliest hits, like ‘Sheepdog’. And the hotel lobby… Well, we spend most of our time in hotels nowadays. Speaking of ‘Sheepdog’... You’ve released a total of five albums. How did you choose the songs for this special occasion? GN: At first I thought we’d just play the regular Mando Diao setlist acoustically. But then MTV told us we’d have to fill two and a half hours. SG: It would have been boring if we’d just played our hits. So we went digging around among our old stuff and found some B-sides that we rarely perform live. GN: It was a Best Of Mando Diao. Well, maybe not from the record company’s point of view. But that’s how we saw it.
A song called ‘No More Tears’ made it onto the live album. I’d never heard it before. GN: It’s not that new. A good friend from Germany asked us why we didn’t perform the song ‘I Want Your Love’. And we replied that we didn’t have such a song. He then showed us a YouTube video. It was a song of ours that we’d recorded as a demo seven years earlier but had never released. Somehow it found its way onto the internet. We’d forgotten all about it, but the 100,000 views convinced us. So we wrote new lyrics and made a fresh recording. Our fans effectively voted the song onto the album. MTV Unplugged normally means the artists shifting down a gear. Your energetic stage show broke with that tradition... GN: We wanted it to be a bit more like Bob Dylan’s legendary Budokan concert. We
Photography: thomas Karlsson (2), MATT WIGNALL (2)
The ‘Unplugged’ session (top), Berlin in September; followed by the record release party in Stockholm club Berns, October
didn’t understand the term ‘unplugged’ to mean switched off; we wanted to come up with a good live album. So why not just a good live album then, rather than an MTV Unplugged session? GN: As far as I’m concerned, ‘unplugged’ means unaffected. Pure. Like Dylan at Budokan. With pianos, acoustic guitars, flutes and the like. So for us, the challenge was more like Mando Diao but different. SG: Plus a lot of our songs have that energy regardless of whether you distort them or play them on an acoustic guitar. It would have been odd to play them sitting down. What also stood out, besides the wonderful backdrop, were your odd little jackets. SG: They were traditional Swedish costumes. GN: We went round a huge folklore centre and picked the coolest things we could find,
which the people there didn’t like at all. I wanted to combine a jacket from the north of the country with a hat from the south. The guy we were hiring the stuff from looked at me aghast. “You can’t do that. It’s not allowed! You could be locked up for that!” So we just hired a number of outfits and then stealthily mixed them up before the concert. SG: They’ll probably never let us hire clothes from them again. One of your guests was Ray Davies, from The Kinks. You performed their song ‘Victoria’ together. Who picked the song? GN: We listened to all the old Kinks records and looked for the song that sounded most like Mando Diao. And ‘Victoria’ felt right straight away. What’s more, while we were choosing, a friend came into the room and asked, “Hey, is that one of your new songs?”
Juliette Lewis also sang a song with you. Wearing warpaint around a campfire. SG: Gustav said, “Yeah, I want the stage to be on fire when I sing with Juliette Lewis.” GN: At first the Union Film Studio people told us we couldn’t do it. But two days later they found a solution. I thought of a ritual, of an exorcism. And Juliette wore the warpaint. It was perfect. Which is your favourite MTV Unplugged recording? And please don’t say Nirvana. GN: The Oasis session. The songs Liam doesn’t sing on. And that Bob Dylan ain’t bad either. Yeah, yeah, I know. The guy’s not as bad as everyone says he is... GN: Exactly. You’ve just got to listen more carefully. Then he’s not so bad. Mando Diao: MTV Unplugged – Above and Beyond (Universal Music) is released as a double CD and DVD
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ne of the better moments of my career was when I managed to con a non-sporty person into reading a column on rugby simply by referencing one of the great satirists. Reaching into the Discworld of Terry Pratchett to describe the travails and rebirth of the Lions, a once-proud rugby team, I happened upon Rincewind, the anti-hero, the worst wizard ever and a man for whom great things happened, despite him wanting nothing to do with them. I didn’t mean to lure the unsuspecting young lady into the column, but perhaps I should have put a warning on top of it: “Warning, may contain sport.” The first three paragraphs contained no sport at all and by the time said young lady got to the words “the Lions”, it was already too late. She had to carry on. She finished the piece and sent me a message on Twitter to say she had been conned. I call it writing, entertainment. The column, headlined ‘From a Scream to A Dream’ ran thus: “My favourite line from my collection of Terry Pratchett novels – all of which rumble with intent and restlessness on the shelves in my office in much the same way as do the magic books in the library at Unseen University – is from The Last Continent: ‘Rincewind awoke with a scream – to get it over with.’ “Rincewind is a wizard so hapless, on his pointed hat he has his profession spelled as ‘Wizzard’. The only spell he ever got inside his head landed up there without permission and he dare not speak it in case it blew up the planet. Rincewind spent his life running from, and yet into, a series of adventures he is in no way prepared for or able to handle. And yet, through luck and with the universe smiling kindly on him, he stumbles through, becomes a hero of sorts. “The Lions have been a lot like Rincewind for the best part of the 21st century. On Saturday mornings, Lions fans awoke with a scream – just to get it over with.”’ Perhaps “con” is the wrong word. I used Pratchett to “invite” her in. I use
Mind’s Eye
It’s a Kinda Magic Wizards and magic are the best way to describe the troubles of the Lions, says Kevin McCallum Pratchett the way Hunter S Thompson used Hemingway, when the Gonzo father used to bang out tracts of his books on his typewriter to learn the rhythm of the writing of the man. It’s the small twists of life lessons learned through phrase, the clever turning of the meaning of a word in on itself, then unwrapping it so it comes out a lot brighter and funnier on the other side. Pratchett once described Rincewind as a man, who in times of strife, was not one to be found wanting – indeed, he didn’t intend to be found at all. I adore Pratchett for how he drops in life truths and lessons in his stories without being preachy or with the peachy, moral thread that tends to run through American sitcoms. In a way, Pratchett’s Discworld series is like Seinfeld in its attention to character detail, and continuity of the characters and their development. The writers of Seinfeld had a mantra of “no hugging, no learning” and there were few happy endings. If there were, the
happy endings would come at the expense of the core characters. Pratchett’s books have happy endings that are both new beginnings and a continuation. They are books you want to hug, characters you identify with. In his latest, I Shall Wear Midnight, the tale of Tiffany Aching, the young witch from the Chalk, is continued. She’s four books old, is Tiffany Aching, and in those she has learned that witching is more about hard work than the tricks of magic; true witching comes from being able to see through the surface. Witches have First Sight, “which means they can see what is really there”; they also have Second Thoughts, which is “thinking about what you are thinking”. Tiffany Aching also has Third and Fourth Thoughts, which means that she sometimes walks into doors with the weight of all the thinking. The older witching pair of Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg have been guiding Tiffany along the way, and some time in the near future I’m going to have to get them into a sports column of sorts. Perhaps there should be a WeatherwaxOgg book on sports coaching. Don’t run before you can walk for the Lions, for instance, or as Granny would say: “Progress just means bad things happen faster.” Perhaps next season, if the Lions have a good run in the Super 15 or the Currie Cup, I may turn to Pratchett and Granny again. Sport, like witching, takes more hard work than flashes of magic, but the flashes of magic can make the hard work, well, work. Perhaps I’ll be able to lure a young lady into a sports column again, and then end with the wisdom of Granny Weatherwax: “Listen, happy endings is fine if they turn out happy. But you can’t make ’em for other people. Like the only way you could make a happy marriage is by cuttin’ their heads off as soon as they say ‘I do’, yes? You can’t make happiness...” Kevin McCallum is an award-winning sports journalist and acclaimed columnist for the Independent newspaper group
South Africa, ISSN 2079-4282: The Red Bulletin is published by Red Bulletin GMBH Editor-In-Chief Robert Sperl Editorial Office Anthony Rowlinson (Executive Editor), Stefan Wagner Associate Editor Paul Wilson Contributing Editor Andreas Tzortzis Chief Sub-editor Nancy James Production Editor Marion Wildmann Photo Editors Susie Forman (Chief), Fritz Schuster Deputy Photo Editors Markus Kucera, Valerie Rosenburg, Catherine Shaw Design Erik Turek (Art Director), Miles English, Judit Fortelny, Markus Kietreiber, Esther Straganz Staff Writers Werner Jessner, Uschi Korda, Ruth Morgan Contributors Andy Davis, Karl Drevlak, Tom Hall, Craig Jarvis, Friedemann Kirn, Jazz Kuschke, Scott Murray, Florian Obkircher, Kevin McCallum, Olivia Rosen, Thomas Schrefl, James Singleton, Caroline Stammers (production), Robert Tighe Production Managers Michael Bergmeister, Wolfgang Stecher, Walter Omar Sádaba Repro Managers Christian Graf-Simpson, Clemens Ragotzky Augmented Reality Christoph Rietner, Martin Herz, www.imagination.at General Managers Alexander Koppel, Rudolf Theierl International Project Management Bernd Fisa Finance Siegmar Hofstetter. Editor, South Africa Steve Smith. The Red Bulletin is published simultaneously in Austria, the UK, Germany, Ireland, Kuwait, Poland, South Africa and New Zealand. Website www.redbulletin.com. Head office: Red Bulletin GmbH, Am Brunnen 1, A-5330 Fuschl am See, FN 287869m, ATU63087028. UK office: 155-171 Tooley Street, London SE1 2JP, +44 (0)20 3117 2100. Austrian office: Heinrich-Collin-Strasse 1, A-1140 Vienna, +43 (1) 90221 28800. Printed by CTP Printers, Duminy Street, Parow-East, Cape Town 8000. For all advertising enquiries, contact Anthony Fenton-Wells, +27 (0)82 464 6376, or email anthony@tfwcc.net Write to us: email letters@redbulletin.com
The next issue of the Red Bulletin is out on January 4
Illustration: Albert Exergian
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