Motorsport was plunged into more grief and introspection on Sunday by a second death in a week amid intensified concern for safety standards in all forms of racing around the world.
Just hours before a public memorial service for IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon was due to start in Indianapolis, where the Briton twice won the famous Indy 500 race, Italian MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli died after an horrific crash at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.
The 24-year-old Italian was widely admired as a rising hope and his death, confirmed at the circuit medical centre, came as a deep shock to a sport still reeling from Wheldon's accident.
Motor racing, on two wheels and four, was left facing its greatest safety inquest for a generation.
Simoncelli's fellow Honda rider Dani Pedrosa said: "At times, we forget how dangerous the sport is. These are things that should not happen, but this is sport."
Wheldon, 33, was killed last Sunday in a high-speed 15-car crash during the opening laps of the IndyCar season finale at Las Vegas.
His funeral took place on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Florida where family, friends and neighbours attended an emotional service.
Many gathering in Indianapolis were shocked by the news from Malaysia where Simoncelli lost control on the second lap and was hit by the bikes of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi as he slid on his Honda.
His helmet was knocked off in the incident and the season's penultimate race was stopped immediately with a red flag and then cancelled.
Casey Stoner, who won his second MotoGP title at his home Australian Grand Prix last week, said: "As soon as I saw the footage it just makes you sick inside. Whenever the helmet comes off that's not a good sign."
The loss of his helmet will be the first -- and most important -- area for immediate focus in the investigations that follow Simoncelli's death, the first in premier motorcycle racing since another Honda rider Daijiro Kato was killed at the 2003 Japanese Grand Prix.
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Shoya Tomizawa also died in a similar crash to Simoncelli in Moto2, the class below MotoGP, at last year's San Marino Grand Prix since when motorcycling bosses and riders have been working hard to improve safety.
But even on an open, modern circuit like Sepang, a purpose-built facility designed by German specialist Hermann Tilke and opened in 1999, little can be done to reduce the dangers implicit in high-speed close-proximity racing -- especially when riders, or cars, collide and are hit by others.
Even if the circuit is built to the highest levels of contemporary safety standards, racing itself remains dangerous as participants and spectators are informed when they sign their waiver forms and buy tickets.
Following Wheldon's death, drivers questioned the wisdom of running the IndyCar finale on a very fast, high-banked oval, which had not staged an event in the series for 11 years, with a 34-strong field that included several part-time drivers.
Other observers suggested that overall safety standards in IndyCar racing were 20 years behind those practiced in Formula One, in which a major revision was instigated following the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger in 1994.
Simoncelli's death was the first at Sepang. Circuit chairman Mokhzani Mahathir said: "We had our standard operating procedure ... this is one-of-a-kind freak incident where the helmet came off and I am sure FIM [International Federation of Motorcycling] and MotoGP will be looking into this."
All Italian sports events on Sunday were set to observe a minute's silence in memory of Simoncelli, who was a big fan of soccer club AC Milan.
In their Serie A fixture against Lecce, Milan wore black armbands and recovered a three-goals deficit to win 4-3.
Now motorsport has to recover from a double blow that has asked questions of its ethics and safety standards.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Motorcycling-Simoncelli dies after Sepang crash
Italy's Marco Simoncelli has died after a crash at the Malaysian MotoGP in Sepang, organisers said on Sunday. He was 24.
The race was cancelled after just four minutes when Simoncelli fell and was hit by Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi as he slid across the track on his Honda.
Simoncelli's helmet was knocked off in the incident and the race was immediately red-flagged.
The race was cancelled after just four minutes when Simoncelli fell and was hit by Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi as he slid across the track on his Honda.
Simoncelli's helmet was knocked off in the incident and the race was immediately red-flagged.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Computer chip giant Intel reports record earnings
The Northern California-based chip titan topped $14 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time with net income climbing to an unprecedented $3.5 billion.
"Intel delivered record-setting results again...driven largely by double-digit unit growth in notebook PCs (personal computers)," said Intel chief executive Paul Otellini.
"We also saw continued strength in the data center fueled by the ongoing growth of mobile and cloud computing."
The earnings buoyed confidence in Intel amid an overall slowdown of personal computer sales and bested the expectations of financial analysts.
Intel stock prices rose more than four percent to $24.44 per share in after-hours trading that followed release of the earnings results.
The company said revenue for the year was on track to hit $55 billion, topping last year by 26 percent.
Intel saw gains in sales of chips for business computers and data centers, but a 32 percent year-over-year drop in sales of Atom microprocessors tailored for gadgets in the booming market for smartphones and tablets.
Demand for chips in hot emerging markets such as China and Brazil was offsetting weakening US sales, Otellini said during an earnings conference call.
PlayStation Vita to hit US in February
"PlayStation Vita will redefine traditional boundaries of gaming and blur the lines between entertainment and reality," said Sony Computer Entertainment America chief executive Jack Tretton.
"Its launch will serve as a pivotal point in the history of portable gaming and create a new fan base of PlayStation gamers for generations to come," he continued, announcing the launch date at a Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.
PS Vita handsets will be priced at $245 for models that connect online using wireless Internet hotspots, while versions with 3G mobile telecom connectivity will be priced at $300 each.
Sony previously announced that it will begin selling PS Vita in Japan on December 17 as it looks to mount a fresh challenge to rivals including struggling Nintendo.
Its launch comes as both Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's gaming models are under increasing pressure from products such as powerful smartphones and tablet computers onto which cheap or free games can be quickly downloaded and played.
In Japan, the PlayStation Vita will sell for 24,980 yen ($325) for the Wi-Fi version and 29,980 for the 3G model.
Analysts say Sony has spread the Vita's global release dates in an effort to ensure a sufficient number of games are available in each country to spur hardware sales, after Nintendo's 3DS suffered from a limited catalogue.
Nintendo cut the price of its 3DS game console, which displays three-dimensional graphics without the need for special glasses, by up to 40 percent after only six months due to weak sales.
Sony said it has 100 new titles in the pipeline and promised 26 games will be available for the Vita on its Japan launch.
The successor to the popular PSP (PlayStation Portable) that has sold 71.4 million units globally since its launch in late 2004, the Vita features an array of new functions.
The PS Vita features a five-inch (12.7-centimeter) multi-touch OLED (organic light emitting diode) screen with a pad on the back for "touch, grab, trace, push and pull" finger motions. The handset also has front and rear facing cameras.
Users will be able to use the device to watch videos, listen to music and connect to Internet sites and social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
Its launch comes as Sony looks to increasingly monetize a vast catalogue of film, music and gaming content and give its hardware a competitive edge, analysts said.
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