Sir, - Sean Kilfeather's Fifth Column (The Irish Times, November 1st) links Formula One motor racing with speed on our roads. I note that he claims not to understand and indeed doubts the "apparent" popularity of F1, attributing it to a "very powerful lobby" in the sports media. I fully accept from what he wrote in his piece that he does not understand F1; but, having had a lifelong involvement with motor sport and its coverage, I would love to know where his "very powerful lobby" was down all the years when one searched the media for any motor sport coverage.
Current motor sport coverage is a direct result of the worldwide upsurge of interest in F1. As a small example, I think one can take it that when one sees the likes of Britain's ITV spending £12 million to secure F1 coverage, it is not doing so on account of a "very powerful media lobby", but rather because it makes sound commercial sense.
Sean Kilfeather questions the use of the term "sport" to describe motor sport, apparently because of Eddie Irvine's action in giving up a possible first grand prix win in favour of his team-mate, Michael Schumacher, at the recent Japanese Grand Prix. I really don't understand why he has a problem with this and find his horse-racing analogy misleading.
With regard to Michael Schumacher's recent actions, I fully agree that such unsportsmanlike behaviour is unacceptable and expect it to be dealt with harshly by the governing body, the FIA, in Paris next Tuesday. Such tactics have no place in motor sport and serve only to diminish the reputation of Michael Schumacher and of motor sport itself.
Grand prix racing is a truly cosmopolitan sport and despite Mr Kilfeather's comments about Irish participation, I think it's fair to say that Jordan Grand Prix is just about as Irish a team as one is likely to get. Its location in Britain - like the vast majority of F1 teams - is a reflection of that country's pre-eminence as the world centre of motor-racing. Mr Kilfeather may be interested to learn that even that most nationalistic of F1 teams, Ferrari, carried out its chassis development, design and construction in Britain for many years until very recently.
Yes, motor racing is dangerous - indeed, an element of danger remains one of the attractions of the sport. But leaving aside erroneous comparisons with fatalities among soccer spectators, you have a statistically higher chance of dying on a golf course from a golf ball impact than you have of dying as a motor sport participant.
In the final paragraphs of his column, Mr Kilfeather seeks to link F1 with speeding on our roads and the increase in road deaths. I have watched with concern the recent, sometimes hysterical moves to brand speeding as socially unacceptable and in the same bracket as drink driving. I believe that simply to blame speed as the major cause of the unacceptable carnage on our roads is a gross over-simplification. The underlying cause of our road deaths is a lack of driver skills, ranging from a fundamental understanding of the forces involved in propelling a vehicle along a narrow strip of road to the common sense required to wear a seat-belt or even to drive with an active safety attitude.
Having participated in Irish motor sport for 20 years, I can attest that the result of an exposure to motor sport is the opposite to Sean Kilfeather's contention. One has a much better understanding of the forces involved in driving and a heightened realisation of just how unsafe our roads are. Until we tackle the core inadequacies of our attitudes to driving, and the resultant low level of skills, no amount of knee-jerk reactionary measures are going to reduce the dreadful road toll. In the meantime, Sean Kilfeather's column serves only to muddy the water both on the road and on the race track. - Yours, etc.,
Bob Montgomery, Garristown, Co Meath.