a beyond the ordinary magazine November 2013
f Guitlion Ed
on two wheels
SEBASTIAN
VETTEL what the f1 star does on his day off
made in dubai most expensive supercar ever
magnus carlsen
smartest guy on earth?
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C O L U M B I A . C O M /O M N I F R E E Z E Z E R O
THE WORLD OF RED BULL
November 48
sebastian vettel
The master of Formula One invited The Red Bulletin along for one of his favourite things: riding some of the world’s rarest motorbikes
Welcome
A packed issue this month, led by a unique insight into Sebastian Vettel. What with all his winning of F1 races and world championships, you might not have realised that he also likes to do fun stuff on his days off. Then, of course, there are the lucky few for whom fun is part of the job. We took a berth on the rock ’n’ roll tour bus with Heaven’s Basement, a young band expanding their horizons and fanbase with each gig and uploaded track. We also spent quality time with one of the smartest men on Earth, the 22-year-old grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, as he prepared for his tilt at the world chess championship this month. His mind and his body are in perfect order (beach volleyball helps). Plus, what it’s like in one of the world’s toughest multisport events and much more. We hope you enjoy the issue. 08
freestyle skier Fanny Smith, page 22
“ To get myself ready before a race, I stand under an icecold shower” the red bulletin
THE WORLD OF RED BULL
at a glance Bullevard 12 18 22 24 26
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PHOTOS OF THE MONTH news Sport and culture on the quick me and my body Fanny Smith kit evolution Mobile phones where’s your head at? Star of The
Hunger Games Jennifer Lawrence 32 winning formula A head for goals 34 lucky numbers Time will tell
Chesca Miles
She trains in secret, but the world’s only model-turnedstunt rider is making a big noise in streetbike freestyle
Features 36 Lykan Hypersport Megacar made in Dubai
42 Magnus Carlsen
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The Norwegian genius battling for the chess world championship
48 Sebastian Vettel
Alpine racing of a very different kind with the Grand Prix legend
Markus Jans (Cover), Thomas Stöckli/Red Bull Content Pool, Julian Broad, markus jans, picturedesk.com, Alexandre Buisse, damien bredberg
60 Damian Foxall
32 to topple a king
Genius chess star Magnus Carlsen has embarrassed Garry Kasparov – now he’s battling for the world championship
Irish sailor with a score to settle
62 Red Bull Elements
Rowing, trail-running, paragliding and mountain-biking: all in a day
forward thinking
Sweden’s star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is known for his textbook heading technique. Here’s the science behind it
70 Heaven’s Basement
Living the dream one gig at a time
78 Chesca Miles
From Vogue to the racetrack
Action
62 braving the Elements
Mud, sweat and no fears: the French multisport race that pushes to the limit on land, on water and in the air the red bulletin
89 tri harder
Courtney Atkinson explains what he needs to tackle ironman triathlons and how you can train like a champion
86 87 88 89 90 92 93 94 96 98
get the gear Snowkiting kit party Cocktails, Parisian-style travel Parabolic flying training Fit for ironman triathlons My City An artist’s Chicago Playlist The Bloody Beetroots gaming Call of Duty Event Wings For Life World Run save the Date Events for your diary time warped Can it be true?
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contributors Who’s on board this issue
The Red Bulletin Gulf Edition, 2308-5851
The Red Bulletin is published by Red Bull Media House GmbH General Manager Wolfgang Winter Publisher Franz Renkin Editors-in-Chief Alexander Macheck, Robert Sperl Editor Paul Wilson Creative Director Erik Turek Art Directors Kasimir Reimann, Miles English Chief Photo Editor Fritz Schuster Production Editor Marion Wildmann Chief Sub-Editor Nancy James Deputy Chief Sub-Editor Joe Curran Assistant Editors Ruth Morgan, Ulrich Corazza, Werner Jessner, Florian Obkircher, Arkadiusz Pia˛tek, Andreas Rottenschlager, Daniel Kudernatsch (App & Managing Editor)
markus jans The German photographer is, it’s fair to say, pretty laid back. Of his shoot with Sebastian Vettel, in which the Formula One champion took five of the rarest and oldest working motorcycles from one of the world’s great collections of rare old bikes for a spin on a high mountain pass in the Austrian Alps, Jans says: “It was a sunny day and everything fell into place. From the weather to the set, from the location to the people.” His pictures say more.
“ With Sebastian Vettel, everything fell into place” Markus Jans
Contributing Editor Stefan Wagner Design Martina de Carvalho-Hutter, Silvia Druml, Kevin Goll, Carita Najewitz, Esther Straganz Photo Editors Susie Forman (Creative Photo Director), Rudi Übelhör (Deputy Photo Director), Eva Kerschbaum Repro Managers Clemens Ragotzky (manager), Karsten Lehmann, Josef Mühlbacher Head of Production Michael Bergmeister Production Wolfgang Stecher (manager), Walter O Sádaba, Christian Graf-Simpson (app) Printed by British Industries, Kuwait; www.britishindustries.net Finance Siegmar Hofstetter, Simone Mihalits Marketing & Country Management Stefan Ebner (manager), Stefan Hötschl, Elisabeth Salcher, Lukas Scharmbacher, Sara Varming Distribution Klaus Pleninger, Peter Schiffer Marketing Design Julia Schweikhardt, Peter Knethl Advertising Enquiries Richard Breiss +96 5 660 700 48, richard@kw.redbull.com
Jane Stockdale Working under unusual or difficult circumstances is a theme of the Scottish photographer’s output. She has travelled to Botswana to document diamond mining and captured London’s G20 demonstrations in April 2009, the latter leading to her first book, I Predict A Riot. For The Red Bulletin, Stockdale went on tour with the rock ’n’ roll band Heaven’s Basement. There are many things in the air on a tour bus, not least testosterone, and to cut the atmosphere, she pulled on the pads and gloves to join the band’s pre-gig boxing training.
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Advertising Placement Sabrina Schneider O∞ce Management Manuela Gesslbauer, Kristina Krizmanic, Anna Schober
ANDREAS ROTTENSCHLAGER The thirsty, peace-loving Assistant Editor of The Red Bulletin spent two days with 22-year-old chess genius Magnus Carlsen at his training camp in Stabbestad near Oslo. Carlsen, who is challenging for the world championship for the first time, in India this month, impressed our man with his beach volleyball prowess. “Carlsen is not a nerd,” says Austrian Rotti, “he’s a competitive sportsman and a media pro, even though he wore sandals to the photoshoot.”
The Red Bulletin is published in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Kuwait, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, UK and USA Website www.redbulletin.com Head office Red Bull Media House GmbH, Oberst-Lepperdinger-Strasse 11-15, A-5071 Wals bei Salzburg, FN 297115i, Landesgericht Salzburg, ATU63611700 Austria office Heinrich-Collin-Strasse 1, A-1140 Vienna, +43 (1) 90221 28800 UK office 155-171 Tooley Street, London SE1 2JP, +44 (0) 20 3117 2100
The Red Bulletin (Gulf region) Boushahri Group W.L.L., Ardiya Industrial Area, Block 2, Section 107, Kuwait, +96 5 660 700 48 Write to us: letters@redbulletin.com
the red bulletin
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Man itowi s h Water s , U SA
berry good At harvest time, cranberry bogs are flooded, the berries float and are picked by machine. On this particular day there was more equipment in the field: a crane for photographer Ryan Taylor; a winch for wakeboarder Ben Horan. The sea of cranberries became a playground. We believe Taylor when he says that he had dreamed for years of making a picture like this. www.ryantaylorvisual.com Photograph: Red Bull Illume/Ryan Taylor
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Pu nta d e Lo b o s , C h i le
Dream Pipe Surfer Cristian Merello looked out at the Pacific Ocean one morning and saw barrels forming on the waves that were 100m long. He called his photographer friend Pablo Jiménez. The two raced to the beach, paddled out to sea against the flow and took this once-in-a-lifetime shot. www.facebook.com/pablojimenezfotografo Photograph: Red Bull Illume/Pablo Jiménez
Wh ite S e a , RU S S IA
jade vision We’ve all been there: you and your girlfriend go whale-watching in the Arctic Circle and you end up taking a picture of her freediving, 6m down in -2°C water, and through the ice above you both, 30cm thick, there’s the most incredible image of the Northern Lights. “It was a truly amazing experience,” says George Karbus. “The light was changing all the time, it was very intense. You want to cry and dance and scream at the same time.” Thankfully, he kept his emotions in check and pressed the shutter button. www.emerald-vision.com Photograph: Red Bull Illume/George Karbus
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Bullevard Sport and culture on the quick
Lilou The Algerian is the only two-time winner of Red Bull BC One. He’s been a professional B-Boy since 1999 and is still at the top of his game.
Mounir Won the 2012 title in Brazil, after which the French star said he still had a few more tricks up his sleeve. Was he bluffing?
REMIX CULTURE Nothing is sacred for the street artist who leaves no pop culture touchstone unturned D*Face loves pop art. The London street artist’s favourite motifs include comic-book blondes, superheroes and pop culture figures. He has remixed works by artists Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, given the Queen a mohican and a pierced nose and shown Marilyn Monroe as a skull with wings. “I distort cult images to jolt people awake,” says the man also known as Dean Stockton. “They should be critical of the consumerism around them.” Now, the first monograph devoted to the artist has been published. It shows his development from a boy with a spray can to sought-after artist whose works now fetch substantial five-figure sums.
Neguin The 2010 champ was a judge at the 2012 finals in his home country. The Capoeira expert will be back competing in South Korea.
The Art Of D*Face: One Man And His Dog is out now: www.laurence king.com
Omar He was the first Red Bull BC One winner back in 2004, since when he has spent time teaching young talents. Can the American win again 10 years on?
phototicker
Have you taken a picture with a Red Bull flavour? Email it to us at: phototicker@redbulletin.com
Watch the Red Bull BC One final live stream on Nov 30: www.redbullbcone.com
Every month we print a selection, with our favourite pic awarded a limited-edition Sigg bottle. Tough, functional and well-suited to sport, it features The Red Bulletin logo.
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Nika Kramer/Red Bull Content Pool (2), Little Shao/Red Bull Content Pool, Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
Men Seoul Four fellows who’ll put South Korea in a spin at the Red Bull BC One world breakdancing championships finals on November 30
EVERY shot ON TARGET San Francisco NBA star Blake Griffin (right) presents Tarron Williams with the trophy at the Red Bull King of the Rock basketball event. Garth Milan the red bulletin
Game, Set, Record The greatest feats in Davis Cup history
Globetrotters: Buraka Som Sistema travel from their hometown of Lisbon to seek inspiration
picturedesk.com, Corbis, Getty Images (2), McKlein/Red Bull Content Pool
The sound seekers What’s the first thing Buraka Som Sistema do when they start working on a new album? Book plane tickets. The electronic band from Portugal know all too well that they won’t just find inspiration as they walk into the rehearsal room. The quintet have been scouring the globe for over six years, on the hunt for new subcultures and local music trends and then blending those stimuli into an explosive, multicultural club sound. “You don’t discover exciting trends in glossy recording studios. You find them in the back-streets,” says BSS member Branko in a new documentary about the band, Off The Beaten Track. The film’s director, João Pedro Moreira, followed the MTV Europe Music Award-winners to Angola, Venezuela, France, India and beyond, filming them in tiny studios in the ghetto and on stage at huge festivals. The film also shows BBS working with young producers and meeting famous fans including M.I.A., Skream and Diplo. www.offthebeatentrackmovie.com
Roy Emerson The Australian won “the ugliest salad bowl in the world” eight times between 1959 and 1967.
Björn Borg The Swedish iceman was unbeaten for 33 Cup singles matches in a row.
John McEnroe In the longest singles match, the US genius took 6h 22m to beat Mats Wilander of Sweden in 1982. Final, Nov 15: www.daviscup.com
Au revoir! At his home rally, nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb brought his incredible world rally career to an end – by upending his car the red bulletin: Rolling over on the last day when you’re just five seconds off the lead. Sad about that? seb Loeb: It is what it is. Sure I felt sorry for the fans. But I realised that I was stopping at a point when I could still keep up with the best. [Loeb competed in four 2013 rallies, winning two.] Next season you’re competing in the world touring car championship. How is your preparation? To be absolutely clear: I want to be competitive on the race track. We’re currently testing the car, the Citroën C-Elysée. My teammate Yvan Muller has 35 years’ experience on the circuit, I’m a newcomer. Yvan is the ideal benchmark for me.
Will you miss rally driving? The thing I will definitely miss is the feeling you get at a gravel rally when you’re flying at 180kph on mountain roads and through forests. I certainly won’t miss the early starts and the long weekends. For a rally, you set out on a Tuesday; racetrack weekends only last from Thursday to Sunday. What is your co-driver, Daniel Elena, doing now? He’s playing pétanque and drinking pastis. Honestly! He’s turning into something of a stereotypical southern Frenchman. And I’m there all alone in the airport, I go to the racetrack alone, to the hotel. I call him a lot more often now than I used to. www.sebastienloeb.com
One more time: Loeb in the Citroën DS3
WE HAVE A WINNER!
Antalya British Enduro rider Jonny Walker fights his way to the top at Red Bull Sea to Sky in Turkey. Lukasz Nazdraczew the red bulletin
Ceva
At Red Bull Under My Wing, talented Italian BMX rookies are put through their paces by their country’s best pro riders. Damiano Levati
Yamanashi
Wakeboarder Shota Tezuka gliding over obstacles on Lake Yamanaka at Red Bull Wake and Capture in Japan. Jason Halayko
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Bullevard
Winners: Travis Pastrana and prizewinner Rob Fox
Race date When action sports legend Travis Pastrana invites you to the track he built in his back garden, it’s guaranteed to be great day. After watching Pastrana compete in a NASCAR round in Delaware, US, having won a prize in a competition run by DC Shoes and Schuh, Rob Fox, 27, from Derby got the nod. “It was crazy,” he says. “Travis invited me to go on a few of his ramps, mess about with a lot of his toys. Then he got me backflipping into a foam pit, which was insane. I’m still tingling with excitement and adrenalin.” www.redbull.com/motorsports
Life of Py: music and more
Electric Feel
Can you beat Gee and Rachel Atherton?
Get personal With three world championships and three overall world cup titles between them, Gee and Rachel Atherton are the yardstick for downhill mountain bike excellence. Thanks to a new app, bikers everywhere can now see how their own skills measure up against the sibling champions. Riders can see route times and even what they had for breakfast, break down all sorts of stats and find new ways to be better on the bike. www.personalbest.redbull.co.uk
Colombo Brazilian B-Boy Pelezinho teaches moves at Red Bull BC One All Stars in Sri Lanka. Red Velvet
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Taipei
Little voice “I got my performing name from my surname [she is Jade Pybus, 25]. My granny insists it’s RomanyItalian, but I think she’s just romanticising. I sang from a very young age. My mum always said that I was singing songs before I learnt to speak in sentences.” The sound of music “Bittersweet is a good word to describe my sound. There are lots of harmonies and it’s quite soulful, but there’s a definite electronic influence, too. There’s a poppy edge that offsets the moodiness and darkness.” Natural calling “I don’t know how green my fingers
At the Red Bull Soapbox Race in Taiwan, The Silver Surfer and his kart get by with a little help from gravity. Victor Fraile
are, but I just love flowers. My house is always full of them. I’ve often compared making music to flower arranging – the way you choose to place things, finding bits of unexpected colour and balancing different textures.” Immaculate conception “Songs just happen; in the shower, when I’m driving or cycling. It’s weird: the words and melody arrive together, they form themselves. Zane Lowe played my last single on Radio 1, which was a strange experience, but also great to hear the finished thing broadcast.” Watch and listen to Py now: www.redbull studios.com/introducing
Moscow Russian skater Yuri Renov at Vorobyovy Gory Metro station for Red Bull Skate Underground. Dmitry Krayuhin
the red bulletin
Hannah Bailey/Neon Stash, Alice Peperell
Py is a soulful singer/songwriter who finds inspiration for her electronic tunes in showers and flowers
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Bullevard
The Swiss ski cross world champion, 21, ‘colds up’ before races, which she often wins even before they’ve begun
1 COLD START
“To get my body active for a race, I stand under an icecold shower the day before for several minutes. It puts me completely in the zone, right from the start, to immediately fly down a piste at 90kph or jump 5m into the air.”
2 THIGHS HAVE IT
“In ski cross [a downhill race with freestyle elements], when you’re not jumping, you’re looking for speed, so it really helps to have strong thigh muscles. In the weight room, I’ll do half-squats with a 150kg barbell on my shoulders.”
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pain no barrier
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“Falls are a part of ski cross; so are injuries. My list includes torn ligaments, dislocated hip, both meniscus ripped. Little aches and pains don’t stop me. At the World Championships in 2011, I dislocated my thumb, got a splint for it, then in the next World Cup race I was second.”
return journey
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“In late 2011, I took a bad fall at another World Cup event and tore a cruciate ligament. After the operation there was rehab, pain, difficult muscle building and only one thought: ‘I will come back.’ In 2012/13 I won the World Championship and the overall World Cup title.”
www.fanny-smith.com
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the red bulletin
arek piatek
fanny smith
think to win
“Winning races absolutely is all in the mind. I believe in mental training and positive thought patterns. When I’m at the starting gate, I imagine myself being the first to get to the finish line. The clearer you can visualise the moment, the more likely it is to come true.”
Lukas Maeder
me and my body
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FIESTA • B-MAX • FOCUS • C-MAX
Bullevard
kit evolution
cell mates
casing
At 33cm long and weighing in at a kilo, the very first mobile phone was just a little bit clunky, earning it nicknames such as ‘brick’, ‘shoe’ and ‘ringing bone’.
Thirty years of evolution in mobile telephony has taken us from the ringing bone to the smartphone
Display
An LED display not far removed from the kind used in calculators of the 1970s. Two lines of characters could show both a name and a number.
1983 Motorola Dynatac 8000x On April 3 1973, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper called a rival engineer at AT&T’s Bell Labs. Joel Engel took the call on a landline; Cooper was in the street in Manhattan, making the world’s first portable cell phone call. Ten years later, Cooper’s idea went to market as the DynaTAC 8000X, selling more than 330,000 units, despite a 20-minute battery life. “That didn’t matter at the time,” Cooper said, “as you couldn’t hold it up for any longer as it was so heavy.”
Function
Martin Cooper with a prototype Motorola DynaTAC 8000X used for the first mobile phone call www.motorola.com
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the red bulletin
Arek Piatek
Speak, Listen, Dial and the ability to store up to 30 telephone numbers and the names of the people they belonged to. That’s your lot.
casing
Fully waterproof (weighs 169g, is 14.4cm long, 8.5mm thick), will survive a dip in the bath unscathed. It can even be used to film underwater at depths of up to 1.5m.
Display
A 13cm HD display makes the best of pics and clips. The camera on the back gives you 20.7 megapixel photos and videos at 1.080p resolution: just like an HD TV.
2013 Sony Xperia Z1
reuters, rafal meszka
Two years after Sony Ericsson became just Sony again, following a decade of marriage with Ericsson (Sony bought 100 per cent of its former partner in 2011), the Xperia Z1 has all the tools to take on Samsung and HTC in the battle of the Android smartphones. It was known during its development by the codename Honami, which means ‘sail’. That might be due to its super-slim form, or because it goes like the wind thanks to superhigh-performance innards.
Function
Music, games and camera functions at the top end of what smartphones offer going into 2014, and also Info-Eye: capture an image of something (city sights, wine labels) to get instant data. the red bulletin
Sony president and CEO Kazuo Hirai presents the Xperia Z1 in Berlin in September 2013 www.sony.com
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Bullevard
Where’s Your Head At
Jennifer Lawrence Oscar’s current Best Actress is the headline star of Hollywood’s hottest fantasy franchise – and she’s only 23. Here’s how she did it
Act One
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 15, 1990. Acting eased her teen anxiety, so she chose it as a career. Her parents said OK, but only after graduating high school. So she did that two years early. “I was like, ‘Thanks for raising me, but I’m going to take it from here.’”
Follow Up and Up
After Hunger Games 2, comes a second turn with Silver Linings co-star Bradley Cooper in American Hustle. Next year she’s blue and scaly again as Mystique in X-Men: Days Of Future Past and alongside Cooper again – thus completing a Bradrilogy – in drama Serena.
She’s So Skinning!
In 2010 drama Winter’s Bone, Lawrence’s character skins a squirrel, with good reason: dinner for her and her siblings. No creatures were harmed, as they say, but she said the critter was real. She earned a rebuke from PETA; for her fine work in the film, a first Best Actress Oscar nod.
It was 2012 when it all blew up. First, The Hunger Games, which made US$700 million at the global box office. (Sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is out worldwide on November 20.) She followed this with critical acclaim, and an Oscar, as a dance fan in Silver Linings Playbook.
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Grace From Fall
As she collected her Oscar, J-Law stumbled. Hollywood gasped, but she opened her speech with: “You guys are standing up because you feel bad that I fell, and that’s really embarrassing, but thank you.” She does that a lot: wit, honesty and smart talk pepper her interviews.
paul wilson
Silver, Dollars
Ryan Inzana
Tweet Nothings
Unusual among both 23-yearold women and celebrities, Lawrence isn’t on Twitter. She said it seemed more like a punishment than an amusement. Also saving their bon mots form for actual conversation are Angelina Jolie, Kristen Stewart and Will Smith.
www.thehungergamesexplorer.com the red bulletin
Bullevard
HArd & FAST
Kwes love: a musician much in demand
Stephanie Sian Smith, Hugo Silva/Red Bull Content Pool, Lukas Pilz/Red Bull Content Pool, International Tornado Class Association / Florian Obkircher dietmar kainrath Martina Barnet, OeWK/Elias Holzknecht
Pop on the loose Meet musician-producer Kwes: Kanye West is in his fan club, which might be headquartered at his nan’s house Thinking back over the last three years, Kwes is still in disbelief. The 26-year-old Londoner, aka Kwesi Sey, toured the States with Bobby Womack and hit the studio with Damon Albarn. He released two acclaimed solo EPs and reworked Puccini’s operas with an orchestra. He produced music for artists such as Eliza Doolittle and Solange Knowles and got sampled by Kanye West. But that was only warm-up for the main event: a debut album which contains off-kilter pop tunes and psychedelic lullabies. the red bulletin: What is it like to be sampled by Kanye West? kwes: It is mad. It happened just after I played [US TV talk show] Late Night With Jimmy Fallon with Bobby Womack. I had just come back from the studios when I got an email from my friend DJ Mano, who works with Kanye. He told me how much they both loved my song lgoyh, and that they wanted to sample it for a track on Pusha T’s new album. You call your musical style ‘free pop’. What does that mean? I make pop music, but I try to be free with it as well. Keeping things as open as possible and working the music around the song and the lyrics. Sometimes I’d just record the sounds around me with my iPhone, and a song would come from that. What does your album’s title, ilp, stand for? It isn’t really a word. It could stand for part 1 LP, as in my first album. It’s also the last part of my grandparents’ post code, 1LP. They were a massive inspiration on this record. You dedicated a track, 36, to your grandparents. Yes. My granddad isn’t too well. He was diagnosed with dementia last year. His short-term memory is gone pretty much, so I was inspired to write a song that reminded them of each other. I think they are happy with it, but my nan wants me to write more dance songs because she wants to dance more.
Top performers and winning ways from around the globe Hawaiian surfer Carissa Moore secured her second ASP Women’s World Tour title with victory at the Cascais Girls Pro at Guincho Beach in Portugal.
Canadian rider Steve Smith held off a strong challenge from Gee Atherton to claim his first overall MTB downhill World Cup victory at the final race of the season in Austria.
A convincing victory in Ibiza, meant Greek sailors Kostas Trigonis (left) and Iordanis Paschalidis retained their Tornado world champion title.
Jain Kim of Korea beat Mina Markovic of Slovenia (left) and Japan’s Momoka Oda to win the third stage of climbing’s Lead World Cup at Puurs in Belgium.
ilp is out now: www.kwes.info the red bulletin
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dietmar kainrath
Bullevard
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the red bulletin
FATE DOESN’T ASK. IT COuLD ALSO bE mE. Or yOu. David Coulthard.
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Bullevard
winning formula
FIGURES FOR HEAD
PAYLOAD: 10 CHAMPIONSHIPS Ibrahimovic has scored a goal every other game in close to 650 appearances for club and country: a topclass yet unspectacular return. But he has won 10 league titles in the last 12 seasons with six different clubs in four countries. The Swedish centre-forward, 1.95m tall and weighing 95kg, is a winner. www.ibrahimoviczlatan.com
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Getty Images
LOAD: 2100 NEWTONS “The ball sails over from the left corner into the penalty area. Zlatan Ibrahimovic steps up and heads the ball into the top right corner – GOAL! As we analyse this action,” says Dr Martin Apolin, a sports scientist and physics lecturer at the University of Vienna, “we will see the direction in which the header will have to travel and the load which might arise (see Fig. 1). The ball is deflected at a right angle and the magnitude of velocity is the same before and after: 20m/s (72kph). “In what direction must the change in velocity, Δv, occur for a successful goal? The following must apply: v¹ + Δv = v² and thus Δv = v² – v¹. This can be expressed graphically with vectors: you turn the vector v¹ (Fig. 2a) around and put it at the top of v² (Fig. 2b). Thus Δv now reaches from the start of v² to the end of –v¹, meaning the change is 45° towards the top left. “The force with which Ibrahimovic heads the ball must point in exactly the same direction. Newton’s Second Law states that force equals mass times acceleration: F = ma. The acceleration, a, is, in turn, change in velocity over time: Δv/Δt. “Therefore F = mΔv/Δt and thus F ~ Δv. This means that the change in velocity is always proportionate to the force with which it is triggered. And because both scenarios involve vectors, the force must be directed below 45° towards the top left (Fig. 3). But here intuition conflicts with theory: if you follow your instincts, you would guess that the force impact must be aimed directly at the goal. But then the ball would fly past the goal, to the right. “How great is the change in velocity in absolute terms? Because Δv corresponds to the diagonal of a square, it equals 20m/s√ 2 = 28.28m/s. Remarkably, the change in velocity is greater than the velocities themselves. “And how great is the load which now impacts on the player’s head? To calculate this, we need the time of contact. This depends on the firmness of the ball and its velocity. In extreme cases, it can amount to just 6/1000s. The acceleration of the ball then equals a = Δv/Δt ≈ 4700m/s². Because the ball has a mass of around 0.45kg, according to the law F = ma this results in a force of about 2100N. So, for those six thousandths of a second, it’s like the weight force of a mass of about 210kg is impacted.”
Mandy Fischer
The science behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s textbook heading technique
‘Ici, copain, sur ma tête!’: Zlatan Ibrahimovic currently heads the ball for French champions Paris Saint-Germain
Bullevard
lucky numbers
time will tell
It doesn’t matter if you’re at the bottom of the ocean or 14 billion years in the future: ‘What time is it?’ is a question that will need to be answered. And here’s how…
High time: Abraj Al Bait Towers
JaegerLeCoultre Calibre 101
-18
10,916 The first waterproof watch was the 1926 Rolex Oyster. A Rolex Submariner withstood the toughest underwater test on January 23, 1960. It descended 10,916m to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, attached to the outside of the US Navy bathyscaphe Trieste. James Bond wears a Submariner in Ian Fleming’s novels and the first nine Bond films.
Eight-figures diamond Chopard
201
Time is money. A Rolex Daytona costs as much as a mid-range car; a Greubel Forsey Double Tourbillon 30° Vision as much as a house. You could buy an entire street with a new car in each driveway for the price of a one-off watch by Swiss manufacturer Chopard, encrusted with 201 carats of diamonds. It will set you back about US$25 million.
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Small-scale awesomeness: the Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 101 watch mechanism is 14mm long, 4.8mm wide, 3.4mm thick and weighs barely a gram. This Swiss masterpiece was first manufactured in 1929, and still holds the record as the world’s smallest watch mechanism. And just like 84 years ago, each one (about 50 are made each year) is assembled by hand.
Omega’s Speedmaster watch fulfilled NASA’s requirements: function at temperatures ranging from -18 to 93°C, shock-resistant, resistant to negative and positive pressure. On July 21, 1969, it became the first watch on the moon while on Buzz Aldrin’s wrist. Neil Armstrong had left his watch The most precise clock ever in the lunar capsule as a substitute for the broken on-board clock.
13.8
Connery’s Bond: Rolex Submariner
This August, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology near Washington DC in the US, 10,000 atoms of ytterbium (one of the 17 rare earth elements, which despite their name aren’t so hard to find) were cooled to -273°C to make the world’s most accurate clock. In 13.8 billion years’ time, it shouldn’t be more than a second out.
the red bulletin
ulrich corazza
The world’s highest clock is on the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower, which comprises part of the world’s third-tallest building, the 601m-tall Abraj Al Bait Towers in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Each of its four clock faces has a diameter of more than 43m – the world’s largest – and 2m LED lights. The minute hands are 22m long and weigh 7.5 tonnes.
3.4
Buzz Aldrin and his Omega Speedmaster
Omega, getty images, Reuters, Nasa, Jaeger Le-Coultre, chopard, Burrus/NIST, picturedesk.com, rolex (2)
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What makes a man shape his life to realise a childhood dream and build the world’s most expensive car? From a base in Dubai, Ralph Debbas tells The Red Bulletin how and why he did it Words: Noel Ebdon Photography: Daryl Visscher
A Drive To Succeed 36
W-Motors
The W Motors Lykan Hypersport: the car’s exterior was designed by Ralph Debbas, (facing page) to be wolf-like: claws on the bonnet, ears on the upper sides and black panels to make it look as if it’s leaping
S
itting behind his desk with his back to an uncluttered view of the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Ralph Debbas is clearly at ease with talking to people about his life, and especially his beloved W Motors. At first glance, there is no evidence that Debbas jumped feet-first into the world of luxury car production. There is not a car or car part on show in his office, which is tastefully designed in a modern, clean style. The man himself mirrors that aesthetic, and is neatly groomed, dressed in a well-fitting suit and bearing a friendly, welcoming smile. Nothing happens to or around Ralph Debbas by accident. He is to life-planning what Usain Bolt is to running quite quickly. He’s probably one of the most calculated and strategic people you are ever likely to meet. Quite why he isn’t running a country somewhere is anyone’s guess. Politics’ loss is the auto world’s gain, because Debbas, aged 28, not only followed through on his dream to build his own car, he also created the world’s first Arabian car, the Lykan, which, at US$3.4 million, is also the world’s most expensive car. 38
“About 10 years ago, I decided I wanted to design and build my own car, so I sat down and figured out how could I achieve this,” says Debbas, matter-of-factly. “I had a passion for design, cars and business, so the best way to combine it was to do something to do with cars. But I didn’t know how to do it, so I said, ‘Let’s start with graphic design.’” In 2005, Debbas enrolled on a graphic design course in Beirut, Lebanon, his native country. (Like many Lebanese, he was born away from home, in his case in Cyprus.) In 2006, he headed to the UK, to do a four-year Masters in automotive design at Coventry University, the degree recognised by the car industry as the best of its kind in that country, and perhaps the best in the world. “In my first year there, I started drawing up a business plan for W Motors,” says Debbas. “I also started to travel a lot, and to meet the partners we are working with today.” After graduating in 2010, he returned to Lebanon, launched the company and began working on getting all the pieces of a complex puzzle into place: how to build a supercar. In July 2012, at an event in Beirut, Debbas showed a 3D image of the car for the first time – and announced that customers and the press would be able to see the first car in just six months. “No one believed it,” says Debbas. “The good thing about it was that we had the credibility of the international partners that were with us. People were thinking that if the biggest names are saying OK then it might be true.”
Ralph Debbas is to life-planning what Usain Bolt is to running quite quickly
The Lykan At US$3.4 million, the Lykan is the world’s most expensive production car. It has a mid-mounted 3.7-litre flat-six engine producing 750bhp, which should give it a top speed of about 385kph. The name comes from the Greek king Lycaon, who was turned into a wolf by Zeus. The shortened version, lycan, has become a popular term for a werewolf. The dash has a ‘flying hologram’, which was developed at the University of Tokyo. It gives the driver a 3D image of the car, which floats in mid-air. The image can then be used to control certain functions.
2.8
seconds 0-100kph W Motors considers the Lykan as a hypercar, one step up from a supercar
3,400,000 US dollars A price tag making the Lykan the world’s most expensive car
750 7 bhp From just six cylinders
cars Only seven Lykans will be built
Above: the Lykan features a huge back vent to cool the midmounted, twin-turbo boxer engine Right: perhaps the most wolf-like part of the design is the headlights. They contain titanium plates mounted with 220 diamonds in each unit. When the lights are turned on, the eyes of the Lykan appear to glow. Buyers can also choose from rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc, to create their own wolf character
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the red bulletin
Fast-forward to January 2013 and Debbas’ team appeared at the Doha motor show in Qatar with the first prototype, fully homologated and fully road legal. For many people, that would have been the time to sit back and take a long time bringing the road car to fruition, but that simply didn’t fit into Debbas’ strict timeline. “We also announced that by the end of 2013, customers would be able to not only see the finished item, but drive it and take it home. From a sketch to a prototype to a real production car in just 18 months.” All this information is delivered in a matter-of-fact way that suggests Debbas is supremely confident that everything he has planned will continue to happen on time and to his tight quality specifications. He’s also well aware that history is littered with failed supercar businesses that simply ran out of money or customers (or both) and never put rubber to tarmac. But in his methodical, planned approach he studied all these companies and knows where they went wrong. If he’s secretly worried, he’s very good at hiding it. You don’t want to play this man at poker. “I don’t like the easy way. A lot of people say, ‘Are you sure, what if you don’t make it like the others?’ I accept that. I know the risks. It’s a very big risk financially and it’s a hard industry to make it in.”
D
espite his confidence, both the media and the big automotive players won’t be convinced until they see both a production ready car and units rolling out the door. “The Bugatti Veyron took nearly five years to develop, had to overcome almost insurmountable technical problems and, despite each one costing about US$2 million, is a lossmaker,” says Shahzad Sheikh, editor-inchief of Motoring Middle East magazine. “That said, companies like Koenigsegg and Pagani are producing extraordinary machines with a fraction of the resources. Nothing is impossible, so it would be wrong to dismiss W Motors too easily.” Debbas alone first financed W Motors; a partner and a private equity bank recently joined him. The company has 18 potential orders for only seven cars, despite no one having had a test drive. It seems W Motors is doing something right in what is a very tough market with very knowledgeable customers. Launching a car with no major the red bulletin
“ I don’t like the easy way of doing things. i know the risks of making this car. it’s a very big risk” manufacturer to lean on certainly falls into the ‘risky’ category. But then the thinking behind the company came from an unusual source. The W in W Motors stands for Wolf, a creature Debbas is inspired by, and sort of named after. “I am fascinated by this animal as it has many things to admire,” he says. “The beauty, the power, the leadership. All these things coming together. It’s also been my nickname since I was a child, so I wanted to give it back. Growing up in Cyprus, the other kids couldn’t say Ralph, so it became wowlf and eventually wolf.
It kind of stuck. Also, a few years ago I discovered that in German, ‘Ralph’ means the wolf leader. I didn’t know that. This was a pure coincidence, but it gave me more signs to follow that.” So why did a wolf-inspired, Cyprusborn, Lebanese car nut decide to centre W Motors in the megatropolis of Dubai? “We wanted to be somewhere accessible to everyone and, visibilitywise, Dubai has a better image. I’m Lebanese, but unfortunately Lebanon is not the right place to be today. Dubai is more international. It fits the brand. We need to be here. We have a lot of key customers here.” It’s hard to imagine that Debbas has a social life or time to spend with his fiancée, but, when pushed, he admits to an interest outside of the car industry. “I love the sea. I love to sail. I lived on a boat for six years and I used to go every weekend in Cyprus. I had lessons about three years ago and its so relaxing. There’s no noise, you can just think. It’s really beautiful. “Apart from that, I sleep,” he says, laughing. “At the weekends I relax as I travel a lot for my work.” Debbas sometimes catches two or three planes a day in the pursuit of his dream. All the partners for the project are in different countries and he has to be on top of them all, especially as the build enters the final stages. For most people the thought of ‘what’s next’ would be far too much to bear, but Debbas of course already has a plan in place, and of course it all centres on W Motors. For stage two, the company will launch a supersport car, followed by a GT car for a potential stab at the legendary Le Mans. After that, the plan is to launch the first automotive design school in the Middle East. “We don’t have a single one in the region. I had the chance to travel to study, but some people cannot afford it. The passion is there. Arabs love cars and they love design, so why not?” The desire to help others follow in his footsteps is a result of Debbas’ own all-encompassing passion. “I never considered anything else. I always wanted to do this. This was a dream. All dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them. This is what Walt Disney said. It’s easy to dream. All of us are dreamers but the hardest part is to take the decision to do it. I’ll have other dreams, but for now, let me do this one.” www.wmotors.ae
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to TOPPLE a king He has embarrassed Garry Kasparov, modelled with Liv Tyler, loves a lie-in and couldn’t care less about computers. Magnus Carlsen is the genius battling for the chess world championship Words: Andreas Rottenschlager Photography: Markus Jans
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I
t is 9.30 on a summer’s morning in Stabbestad, Norway, and Magnus Carlsen is asleep. If you want to speak to the world’s best chess player, you’re too early. “Magnus will only be up in an hour,” explains his manager, Espen Agdestein, a man in his late 40s with the shoulders of a bodyguard. Agdestein is sitting, keeping watch, in the lobby of the Kragero Resort Hotel, a two-hour drive south-west of Oslo. Through the glass doors you can see the first golf buggies of the day heading off to the golf course and the spa is gradually filling up with guests. Meanwhile, one floor up, Carlsen turns over in his bed again and snuggles deeper into his duvet. It is early August and the man who heads the world chess rankings is preparing for his first world championships. Carlsen is 22 years old, with a broad chin and hard facial features, and is seen as the greatest talent of his generation. His Elo rating of 2,872, a value based on performance in chess competition, named for the Hungarian physics professor who devised the system of calculating it, is the highest ever recorded. His influence
Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen: a photographic memory and a marathonrunner’s stamina
stretches beyond chess; in April, Time magazine voted the Norwegian one of the world’s 100 most influential people. On November 7, Carlsen begins his battle for the title of World Champion against India’s Viswanathan Anand, on his opponent’s turf. Anand, a friendly looking man in spectacles and an expert in opening theory, has been world champion five times, including three defences since 2007. Carlsen hopes to knock the 43-year-old off his throne and his gameplan is taking shape in the Kragero Resort Hotel. Today his preparation starts with breakfast at 10.30am. Carlsen spoons down his muesli, but still appears sleepy. He has heavy bags under his eyes. At 11am, he disappears into a windowless room on the first floor, for chess practice. His thinking room is hardly any bigger than a broom cupboard. It houses a table, four chairs and a bare flipchart. Two Russian chess grandmasters are helping Carlsen devise a strategy for beating Anand. The trio’s main task is to work out how Carlsen, who always catches fire between the middle and the end of a game, can crack opening specialist Anand. The identity of Carlsen’s seconds must remain secret. “Not telling you,” says manager Agdestein. Once Carlsen has racked his brains in the thinking room for two hours, he heads to the gym to pump weights for an hour, without any specific training plan. He says that as a chess player he needs the stamina of a marathon runner. Agdestein adds, “If you’re not fit, you get tired. If you’re tired you make mistakes.” At 3pm, Carlsen takes some time out for an interview. The world’s best chess player is wearing shorts, Jesus sandals and a very, very green jumper. He sits bolt upright and stares straight at his interviewer.
tournament in Reykjavik. Carlsen looked like a primary school kid, in his grey hoodie with a bottle of orange juice in one hand. Kasparov showed up half an hour late. He said a quick hello and then propped his elbows up on the table. Carlsen made considered moves. Kasparov buried his head in his hands. While the Russian paused for thought, Carlsen sauntered over to the next table to watch his neighbours’ game. In the end, Carlsen wrested a draw from Kasparov. “Teenager humiliates chess god,” went the newspaper headlines. Kasparov left the room without congratulating anyone. Carlsen celebrated at McDonald’s with his parents. Five years later, in 2009, Carlsen’s father, Henrik, hired Kasparov to be his son’s coach. The Russian made his database available to Carlsen and advised him by telephone during important tournaments. They stopped working together a year later. Kasparov complained of the wunderkind’s lax discipline, while Carlsen spoke of “differences of opinion”. One such difference was Carlsen avoiding computers whenever possible. In an age of computer-assisted analyses, this was not feasible. “What did you learn from Kasparov?” “He could see patterns in the way his opponents moved. Even with eccentric players like Vassily Ivanchuk [2002 world championship runner-up from Ukraine]
“I memorise positions on the board and store them like a camera” or Alexander Morozevich [Russian who was fourth at the 2005 worlds]. I noticed in that sense he was better than all the other grandmasters.” “Was Kasparov hard to fathom at the board?” “No. He’d shake his head every time he made a mistake.” “What do those shakes of the head mean?” “I don’t think they mean anything at all. Chess players are notoriously paranoid. Those sorts of gestures are over-interpreted.” Carlsen says he could reproduce the key moves from the 2,500 games he’s played in tournaments from memory. Videos show him playing 10 opponents at the same time, even while he’s got his back to them. He has his eye on 320 chessmen, without being able to see a single one of them.
I. Genius
“Magnus, what subject were you worst at in school?” “Science. I quickly lost interest.” “And what were you best at?” “Foreign languages. The essays I used to write still make me laugh now.” Carlsen grins. You can barely hear any accent in his English. “What’s more important for a chess player: creativity or a good memory?” “Creativity is definitely the thing that’s most underrated. Garry Kasparov had a brilliant memory, but that alone wasn’t the determining factor in his success.” Speaking of Kasparov, Carlsen was 13 the first time he sat across from the Russian former world champion, at a rapid chess 44
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World Championship challenger Carlsen during beach volleyball training in Norway: “It’s a great sport for chess-players”
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“ Do you still have Liv Tyler’s number?” “No.” “Why not?” “ because I’m constantly losing my mobile phone” “How does your memory technique work?” “I memorise positions on the board.” “Do you invent faces for the pieces to memorise them better?” “No, I store them like a camera.” Carlsen seems bored all of a sudden. Is he thinking about chess? Are there chess pieces parading through his brain? How does he clear his head? Chess history is not short of geniuses who have lost their minds. Towards the end of his life, Wilhelm Steinitz, a former world champion from Vienna, believed he could move pieces using electric currents in his body. American Bobby Fischer had his dental fillings removed because he feared the KGB might have hidden microwave transmitters in them. “It’s difficult to get chess out of my head,” Carlsen explains, “but you can still have a good life while thinking a lot about chess.” When he needs a break, he watches Curb Your Enthusiasm or plays a round of golf. According to The New York Times, in 2012 Carlsen earned US$1.2 million from chess and endorsement deals. When it comes to media profiles, Carlsen has long since outdone Kasparov. The press can’t get enough of him. 46
II. Pop star
“Do you still have Liv Tyler’s phone number?” “No.” “Why not?” “I only have a few numbers because I’m constantly losing my mobile.” Carlsen and the Hollywood actress modelled for the Dutch fashion label G-Star in 2010. Star photographer Anton Corbijn took the pictures for the advertising campaign. They show a dark-looking Carlsen who could easily play a debt collector in The Sopranos, or an angry Matt Damon in the early stages of his career. Carlsen gave Tyler chess lessons. Pictures on Facebook show him playing investor Warren Buffett and nu-metal rapper Fred Durst. (“Buffett was harder to beat.”) Chess promoter Andrew Paulson says Carlsen counters the stereotype of “old, cranky Russians whose names all start with K”. Paulson hopes to make chess attractive to a TV audience. When, in 2012, he suggested broadcasting the players’ heart rates on screen, most professionals were against it, but Carlsen liked the idea: “I’d like to know my heart rate myself.”
For the world championship, Carlsen will travel with a personal doctor and a cook to Chennai, on the Bay of Bengal, to play world champion Anand in the banqueting hall of the Hyatt Hotel. He will try to topple the king. The match is scheduled for 12 games. The man who has 6.5 points or more first wins. There will be a tie-break in the case of a draw. It will be interesting to know how fast Carlsen’s heart is beating.
III. Warrior
“Do you practise your poker face?” “No. Playing tournaments teaches you to stay relaxed.” “Anand says he analyses his opponent’s breathing to find out how they’re feeling at any given time.” “I know exactly how Anand is feeling. I can read him well now.” Carlsen says there are no longer the psychological tricks of the kind Bobby Fischer came up with in his 1972 world championship battle against the Soviet Union’s Boris Spassky, for instance, like sneaking into Spassky’s room at night, or having his own chair flown to the match in Iceland. That said, Carlsen’s Facebook and Twitter posts can read like lessons in subtle warfare. Chess connoisseurs agree that Carlsen’s physical fitness will be telling against Anand. Carlsen feeds the muscleman image however he can. There are photographs of him on Twitter showing him jet-skiing, playing basketball or posing shirtless on a diving board. One Facebook video shows him destroying the French blitz chess champion Laurent Fressinet in a game which lasts two minutes and 28 seconds. Carlsen heckles his opponents on their moves: “Too weak! Too slow!” His manager Agdestein adds that, of course, these are all signals to Anand. Carlsen is of the view that you should play quickly and confidently to put your opponent under pressure. At 4pm, the chess genius says goodbye and is chauffeured by golf buggy to the hotel’s beach volleyball court. The sport is part of his training. “Ideal for chess players,” according to Carlsen. At this match, on the Kragero fjord, he’s the only player to take off his T-shirt. He smashes with his strong right hand. In the second set, he returns a ball into the opponents’ half with a bicycle kick. Two TV camera teams and three photographers swarm around the shirtless Carlsen like bees. Maybe one of the photos will appear on Facebook. FIDE 2013 chess world championship, November 7-28, Chennai, India: www.fide.com
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THE INSIDE STORY
OF RED BULL STRATOS
W AT C H T H E D O C U M E N T A R Y E X C L U S I V E LY O N rdio.com/redbullstratos
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ANNIVERSARY
two wheels Sebastian Vettel, the best Formula One driver of his generation, has a lifelong passion for historic vehicles. It’s a love of engineering, beauty, form and freedom. On a recent day off, he rode some of the rarest old bikes in the world. The Red Bulletin joined him
words: Werner Jessner  photography: Markus Jans Styling: Klaus Stockhausen
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“The step from four wheels to two is incredibly difficult. The other way around is easier. The hard thing is coming up with that extra bit to push you over the edge�
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O
n the Furkajoch alpine pass in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg, a young man dressed in a stylish leather jacket, jeans and silver helmet is doing circuits on a motorcycle. There are several bike lovers present, but only a few can identify the ride, even after looking at its marque. It’s a Scott Flying Squirrel, made in 1938. The rider is much more easily identified: Sebastian Vettel, three-time Formula One world champion, closing in on a fourth, and lover of historic vehicles. “Once I learnt to ride a bicycle my father bought Mini Vespas for my sister and I,” says Vettel. “When I took my first ride in the garden it was freezing cold, and I shivered so much that I fell over the handlebars.” That minor accident couldn’t still his passion for motorbikes. Vettel’s childhood heroes were Formula One drivers – he was seven years old when Michael Schumacher celebrated winning his first world championship title, so the search for a role model was fairly straightforward – but he also watched Mick Doohan on TV in the mid 1990s, winning five consecutive world championships in the 500cc bike class now known as MotoGP. “Although 52
with Doohan, even as a child I knew he was a bit nuts. Since then I’ve got to know him, and he’s really one of a kind, and a legend on a bike.” Vettel had a healthy, normal childhood, and the most obvious means to freedom came on two wheels: “You could ride into town, to the outdoor pool, meet up with friends. The bicycle was the first means of transportation which gave me independence.” As a teenager, Vettel raced go-karts, and a moped licence was the logical next step. A racing driver travelling to school on a pushbike? No way. Naturally, the moped underwent certain mechanical modifications to increase its speed, “fairly aimless tinkering”, laughs Vettel. In any case, he was born too late – 1987 – for the true golden age of moped tuneups. It was his father’s generation that pushed the parameters of that particular mode of transport. “At 16, I invested all of my confirmation money in my first motorcycle, a Cagiva Mito,” says Vettel. “It was quite something. From the front it looked like a Ducati. It was a bit embarrassing taking it to school. Compared to my schoolmates’ scooters, the Mito was by some distance the hottest ride in the school car park.” The Cagiva was a rudimentary machine with a two-stroke motor, just like his go-kart, which could nonetheless manage high speeds and gave off a trademark odour. “My love for the twostroke motor definitely dates from the go-kart days. The sounds and smells of it are real childhood memories for me. And the revs! I was always a two-stroke fan, even though I only drive four-stroke in cars. It’s a shame that the two-stroke is just about extinct now.” The Mito was rarely parked out front of the school because Vettel was otherwise engaged with storming his way through different junior racing series. Not long after he (miraculously) passed his final exams, he made his debut in Formula One aged 19. However, at home the talk of motorbikes never let up. His grandfather had rhapsodised about his NSU Max and his BMW R 51/3 and Vettel now has the same BMW that Grandpa once rode. It’s not ready for riding yet. “To be honest,” says its new owner. “It has
“You really need feel and practice to push a motorbike to its limits“
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“Tourist Trophy or Route 66? The Trophy. In any case, Route 66 no longer exists in its original form”
Motorcycle men: vintage bike collector Fritz Ehn and Sebastian Vettel
“I bought my first motorbikes when I was 16. I never really got torn up. I tended to tip over while stationary�
to be completely rebuilt.” He wants to do it with his own hands, but doesn’t have the time right now. Also in his fleet is another restoration job, in the form of an old Vespa, as well as a modern scooter for everyday riding (“unbeatable in town”), a KTM 690 Duke for fun on the bends and a BMW S 1000 RR for serious sports riding. When you have the motor skills of a Formula One world champion, you can jump on any old thing and cut a dash. “I think the red bulletin
I quickly get accustomed to speed and motion sequences. I get the upper hand, but because I don’t have the experience it gets dangerous from that point on.” He respects his limitations. “I’m not one for running tyres right down to the edge.” It’s the quieter moments of harmony that Vettel treasures when he’s riding a motorcycle. They can put him in the right, philosophical frame of mind. “Motorcycle riding gives you a sense of freedom which you don’t get in a car. Your senses take on a different significance. You have no radio, but you don’t need it either. You smell the surroundings and take more notice of them than in a convertible. You can stop wherever you want, get off, even in town. That’s where the motorcycle is really unbeatable. You’re not strapped into the vehicle like you are in a car. I think it’s a shame that the motorcycle doesn’t have the same status for young people that it once had.” What has changed? “Perhaps the fathers of today are happy that they survived their wild years on the motorbike, and they forbid their kids from riding. I hope things change, because riding a motorcycle is so wonderful and enriching.” Vettel’s way of life revs up his longing for his two-wheeled getaways. If your everyday mobility is plane-taxiracetrack-taxi-plane, you want to feel the wind in your hair every now and then, to tackle an alpine pass and feel centrifugal forces at work on your grin.
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oday is one of those days. Fritz Ehn, known to motorcycle cognoscenti as Professor Friedrich Ehn, has brought five 1930s treasures from his motorbike museum in Sigmundsherberg, near the Austrian town of Horn. There’s a Brough Superior, equivalent to a Rolls Royce in its day, currently worth a six-figure euro sum. A Norton International, which conquered racetracks around the world. A Scott Flying Squirrel, with its watercooled two-stroke, two-cylinder engine; its out-of-the-ordinary mechanics and aesthetics make it Vettel’s favourite. Then there’s an Ariel and a Rudge, two masterpieces of English engineering. In no time at all, Ehn and Vettel are deep in shoptalk, “from an old timer to a young whippersnapper”, as Ehn says, with a smile. Vettel, who has a soft spot for scrap metal at the best of times, marvels that the old girls in chrome and black are in riding condition, even with more than 80 years on the clock. “Whether it’s four wheels or two: you have to consider when, and under what conditions, something was built. There was a lot more handiwork then. Naturally, there is far more precision in our F1 cars. Even the most gifted mechanic back then couldn’t work in the realm of thousandths of millimetres. I think it’s great that despite all that, 57
“It always feels like you’re about to graze the road, but in all honesty my knee has never touched asphalt” Production: Christopher Schönefeld/Made in Germany Set design: Dagmar Murkudis Grooming: Berry Erwanto. Motorbikes: Fritz Ehn
they came up with something so beautiful and technically outstanding.” Fulfilment in life requires contrasts. If you eat at the finest restaurants every day, it will do you a world of good to pull a jacket potato out of the campfire every now and then. Kickstarts and fresh oil lubrication with a bike, instead of F1’s telemetry and KERS. On this fine autumn day, it’s the Norton and the Scott that particularly grab Vettel’s attention. “The Norton is a racing machine, you feel it as soon as you get on. Everything screams, step on it, step on it, step on it! It wants you to go faster. I felt a bit more comfortable on the Scott. It was just more relaxed for riding around and enjoying the countryside.” Discussion turns to more philosophical matters, as so often happens among bikers. “For looks, I find the racing motorcycles very appealing,” says Vettel. “You can simply put it in front of you and admire it, like you would a picture on a wall. Then there are the really beautiful naked bikes, where you see more of the mechanics. That’s what I find so interesting about old bikes: you really get a feel for how it works and how it was built. You can visualise the process much better. With cars that’s become much more abstract, but with motorcycles you have the illusion that you could repair it yourself at any time – or at least you’d know where to start. I find it interesting to see how it functions, how propulsion comes about.” To see Vettel handling the old machines is to witness a true technical sensitivity that goes beyond mere ability. Here is someone who lives for the technology, understands it and communicates with it. The old bikes in Fritz Ehn’s museum need to be handled with sensitivity. A bit of pre-ignition here, milk the gas a bit there, don’t let this one idle. Then there’s the reversed circuitry, the tricky cork clutch or brakes that are merely for show. But Ehn, who can be quite stern when he wants to be, never gets the impression that the young whippersnapper from the four-wheeled world would mishandle his wares. Quite the contrary. “Vettel, he’s one of us,” he says, as the German disappears on the other side of the mountain pass. It might just be the greatest compliment you’ll get from someone leaning into his seventh decade in the saddle. If you happen to see a young man with a broad grin on a motorbike – old or new, large or small, but definitely a fine-looking ride – give him a friendly wave. It could well be Sebastian Vettel. www.infiniti-redbullracing.com
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Damian Foxall
Revenge On The High Seas
The Irish sailor has a score to settle with one of the world’s great ocean races Words: Declan Quigley Photography: Antoine Doyen
On the subject of his latest epic ocean challenge event, this month’s Transat Jacques Vabre from France to Brazil, Ireland’s leading off-shore sailor has one thing to say: “This time it’s personal.” A world-renowned seafarer with over 350,000 nautical miles logged, Damian Foxall is back to take on the classic race that almost killed him eight years ago. The rugged Kerryman admits that he has unfinished business with the event. Heading into his third outing in the race – from Le Havre in France to Italjaí in Brazil – Foxall and co-skipper Sidney Gavignet are counted among the favourites for top honours in their Oman Sail MOD70 trimaran and for Foxall, in particular, there is extra motivation as they complete the laborious preparations at the team base in Lorient. In 2003, Foxall finished third in his first Transat Jacques Vabre. In 2005’s race, Foxall and then co-skipper Frenchman Armel le Cléac’h were vying for the lead when a freak wave hit Fonica, their 60ft multi-hull yacht, in the Atlantic and an epic battle for glory quickly became a desperate fight for survival after capsizing. “It was a really good project and just a bit of bad luck and over we went,” Foxall says, the anguish still evident eight years on. “Well, it was bad luck and bad weather. Quite a few boats broke up and capsized in similar situations, and we were one of those, but I still feel that we were kind of robbed.” Trapped under the boat and oblivious to a dislocated shoulder, Foxall managed to scramble back to the surface, thanks in no small part to a life-saving lungful 60
of air he managed to snatch while he was under the netting between the hulls. Cléac’h was thrown clear and swam back in time to help Foxall onto the upturned Foncia, from where they raised the alarm. By the time they were airlifted to safety along with other stricken crews, Foxall’s shoulder was the source of agonising pain, and the relief of survival was already mixed with regret for the missed opportunity at victory. “No one else is responsible for it but us, but it was one of those things where we really felt we didn’t deserve that and I still feel that way today. So you could
“I’ve got a pretty big axe to grind when it comes to the Jacques Vabre this year” say I’ve got a pretty big axe to grind when it comes to the Jacques Vabre race this year. This is personal.” The Transat Jacques Vabre is a 7,000km, three-week epic for crews of two that replicates a historic coffee trading route from Europe to South America. This year, the biennial event celebrates its 20th anniversary. Foxall’s experience in the race, along with his status in the world of multi-hull sailing, made him an obvious choice for the ambitious Oman Sail team. Aged 44, he has completed seven of the nine round-the-world races he has started and has 18 transatlantic assaults
under his belt. His greatest success came in 2008, when he partnered Frenchman Jean-Pierre Dick to victory in the 2008 Barcelona Round the World race, a three-month slog on board the Open 60 craft, Paprec-Virbac 2. Foxall has won two of his last three round the world events, most recently as watch captain on Groupama in the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race. He also crewed the Cheyenne catamaran, which the late Steve Fossett steered to a then world record circumnavigation of the globe in early 2004. Foxall, who’s from Derrynane, County Kerry, now lives in Brittany in France. He’s had a long season of full-crew events on the Oman Sail MOD70 trimaran and has been diligently preparing for his rendezvous with the Transat Jacques Vabre alongside Sidney Gavignet, with whom, he says, he shares complementary skills. “Sidney and myself did a doublehanded transatlantic race a long time ago and we’ve had fairly parallel careers in many ways,” he says. “We’ve done a lot of sailing with and against each other.” Foxall believes he is now in the prime of his sailing life, the impetuosity of youth having been supplanted by the altogether stronger currency of hard experience. “As you get older you get a bit smarter and just as fast. In sailing, experience is a good thing. What’s important is to maintain the desire to win. There are much older guys than me in the sport. I think as long as you’re motivated, and as long as you can still maintain enough fitness not to get injured, you’re OK.” www.transat-jacques-vabre.com the red bulletin
Wild Side Foxall works for the Canadian Wildlife Federation, spreading a message of conservation, a subject close to his heart having grown up in a self-sufficient environment in rural Ireland. Allez Les Verts When in Canada he plays for the local Gaelic football team, which is made up mostly of QuĂŠbĂŠcois and Bretons, rather than Irish ex-pats.
Red Bull Elements is a four-part multisport relay of rowing, trailrunning, paragliding and mountain-biking. The rowers have to carry their boats for about 1km to tag the trail runners
braving the
elements A b ea u t i fu l sett i n g for a b rutal race : a p u ni shi n g re l ay of row i n g , ru n n i n g ( u p a m o u nta i n), p a rag l i d i n g and off-road cycl i ng attra cts wo rl d - l ea d i n g at h l etes to a p i ctu resq ue Fre n ch mounta i n l a ke. Th e R e d B u l l et in k ept pace w it h t h e lead ers words : Étienne Bonamy 62
dom daher/red bull content pool
A wild boar is swimming toward the foot of a cliff. Further out on Lake Annecy, fishing boats bob. The boar and the fishermen are the only things disturbing the especially calm waters and the sun is no longer hiding behind Mount Tournette. It’s a Saturday morning in September, still summer here in eastern Alpine France, south of Lake Geneva and north of Mont Blanc. The kind of picture-postcard scene to be soundtracked by nearby church bells and very little else. But when the time comes today, whirring helicopter blades, the report of a starter’s pistol and the sound of 55 rowers propelling their sculls away from a pontoon at the village of Talloires signify the start of a uniquely challenging multisport event. The scullers will race on a looped course marked by buoys, then get out of the water back in Talloires and run, with their boats on their backs, through the village streets and to the foot of Mount Tournette. Here they will tag the second members of their four-man teams, the trail-runners. At the summit, paragliders will undertake the third leg of the race, flying down to mountainbikers who race up and downhill to the finish back in Talloires. The winners of this race, Red Bull Elements, usually come home in about five hours; the team in last place take nine hours. Among the 220 participants in this year’s race are some the world’s leading top trail-runners, paragliders, mountainbikers and rowers. “We’re not looking for individual success here,” says Christophe Bassons, on the mountain bike for the Mag Aviron Champion System team. A former participant in the Tour de France, he knows all about pushing himself to the limit. The Frenchman rode for the Festina and Française 64
Clockwise from above: cyclist Friedrich Dähler helps the Swiss Bulls team to 11th place; Guillaume Chatain takes off towards Lake Annecy (his team Salomon Bulls miss out on the podium); Julien Bahain, bronzemedallist at the Beijing Olympics, clear of the field out on the lake
the red bulletin
Stef Cande/Red bull content pool, dom daher/Red bull content pool, Alexandre Buisse/Red bull content pool
the red bulletin
Ups, No Downs, Of Trail-Running On the m ounta in le g of Re d B ull E le m e nts 2 0 13, K ilia n J ornet p ut in the outsta n d i n g ind iv id ua l p e rforman ce of the ra ce, p uttin g his tea m into w inn i n g p os ition. U nlike his riva ls, we ca ug ht up w ith him …
the red bulletin: What
are you looking for when you compete in this race? kilian jornet: For a shared experience with friends, and fun. You meet people from sports you don’t know about, which arouses your curiosity. Because it’s a relay, you’re racing for others too. In a group setting, excitement is multiplied. You won last year and came fifth this time... In 2012, I set off after the rowing in seventh. This year I was down in 31st, which is another thing that makes the race so exciting. Once you start, you give your all for the team [he overtook 28 runners on the trail run]. It’s not like a regular race where you pace yourself against your rivals. Here you’ve got to be quick and think of the next leg of the relay, so that you
can hand over the baton with your team in the best possible position. In 2012, you set the race record for the trail-run leg: 1h 19m 59s. Why did it prove harder in 2013? This year the ground was more slippery. Especially in the highest sections, up in the mountains where I’m at my best. I love technical courses. With your Summits Of My Life project, you mapped out a four-year plan to post fastest climbs of the world’s highest peaks. What’s left? After Elbrus in Russia, I’m planning to climb Mount McKinley in America next spring and then go to Argentina for Aconcagua in the winter, then Everest the year after. But I don’t really have an exact timetable. The mountains decide.
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des Jeux teams and now, aged 39, also runs marathons. “When I was a professional cyclist, I used to enjoy pushing myself more for the team than for the sake of winning myself.” His team-mate Julien Bahain, who won bronze for France in the quad sculls at the Beijing Olympics, has a list of achievements as long as his boat. “You haven’t got a lane here,” he says, of the challenge facing him on Lake Annecy. “There are more than 50 of us. It’s a fight right from the off. You’ve got to get out in front.” He stays true to his word, urging his boat forward with
every stroke. He had promised to go hell for leather for the first 2km of the 11.7km course to try to get ahead. It worked, but then there was only one way to stay ahead: hell for leather, still. Close behind in his wake, Bahain can see Dutchman Mitchel Steenman and Switzerland’s Simon Niepmann, both of whom won medals at the last World Championships in South Korea. These heavyweights are battling it out up front; further back, the competitors are rowing. “Given the competition, you don’t try to ride too hard,” says Marc Fonta, a club rower from Marignane in the red bulletin
domdaher/Red bull content pool, damien rosso/Red bull content pool
“ I t’s o ne of the tough est c o urs es I k now. I gave myse l f qui te a f right on mo re tha n one occ as i o n when I slip p eD”
the south of France. With the muscles in his arms on fire, he is struggling out on the lake as Bahain docks. Fonta, like Bahain and all the oarsmen, still has 1,200m to run through the streets of Talloires before he can hand over the baton to his team’s trail-runner. That’s 1,200m with an 8m-long scull weighing 10kg on your back. “It’s something we never do. You never train to run with your boat,” says Bahain, who had conjured up a protective layer of sponge for his carry and heads a caravan of exhausted men and women through the winding walkways, trying not to damage the valuable boats, to an inflatable arch that marks the start of the race’s second leg.
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he trail-runners, having been given word of the rower’s progress, have been on edge for several minutes. Julien Bahain launches his teammate Cédric Fleureton towards the Tournette summit. One of France’s best trailrunners, Alexis Sevennec heads off in fifth place for Team Scott. A few strides on past the spectators, and the trail-runners chat breathlessly on the stony ascent that disappears into the forest up above Talloires. It’s the beginning of a herculean climb of 11km in distance, and 2,351m in altitude.
Above: trail-runners approach the changeover with the paragliders on Mount Tournette. Right: Team Ravanel trail-runner Sacha Devillaz after completing the run in 1h 40m
the red bulletin
Kilian Jornet waits patiently in the waiting area. He should not be here still. The Spanish endurance racer, a former world champion of both ski mountaineering and mountain running, has seen more than half his rivals set off up the mountain. By the time Jérémy Pouge arrives bearing his boat, Team Altitude Font-Romeu are down in 31st place. The favourites to win Red Bull Elements in 2013 are wearing bibs numbered ‘1’ because they won last year’s race. Pouge had foundered, coming home in a time of 1h 1m 46s. If he had clocked his 2012 time of 54m 49s, that would have meant Jornet setting off almost seven minutes earlier. When trail comes out of the forest, near the Chalet de l’Aulp restaurant, the incline is almost vertical and Jornet is in his element. He has overtaken 15 of his rivals on the forest track, but there are as many again still ahead of him. Some slow down as they take on the Tournette, their hearts in their mouths. Jornet speeds up, and it is only the slippery ground just beneath the summit which stops him overtaking the two competitors that finish ahead of him. He still has to climb ladders embedded in the rock face before reaching the handover area. Cédric Fleureton (lh 25m 23s, the third fastest trail-run of the day) held on to the lead and the Mag Aviron team are the first to see their paraglider, Frenchman Hervé Franchino, on his way. Alexis Sevennec has nibbled away at Fleureton’s three-minute lead and
Dizzying Heig hts H ow do yo u make a ra ce of fo ur spo r ts on l a n d and water a n d i n the air ? The creation of Red Bull Elements was inspired by Red Bull Dolomitenmann, a four-leg relay race of trail-running, paragliding, kayaking and mountain biking in the Austrian Alps, which this year celebrated its 26th birthday. “It became clear that Talloires was an ideal location for the event,” says Ludovic Valentin, Red Bull Elements’ co-ordinator. For its first outing in 2011, the race was held in May. “We thought that would be better weather-wise because of the longer days,” says Valentin. But that time of the year comes in the middle of the season for participants in all four race disciplines. The following year, the race was moved post-season, to midSeptember. Online applications are invited via the Red Bull Elements website. Teams can take shape remotely, via online forums and social media. In some cases, members of a team meet for the first time when they travel to Lake Annecy in the days before the race.
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the red bulletin
Cyclist Antoine Bouqueret completed the mountain-bike leg without a saddle; his team still managed to finish seventh overall. Above right: Michel Lanne of the Salomon Bulls team on his way to posting the sixthfastest trail run
the red bulletin
alexandre buisse/red bull content pool
Credit:
“B o d i es and b i kes s how t h e scars o f a helli s h o r d e al . W i t h eac h new arri val co m es anot he r sto ry. So meo n e w h o s l i p p e d, fe l l , b ro ke so m et hi ng” at the halfway stage such that Team Scott are now in second place. “I was a bit sick beforehand,” says Sevennec. “Actually, I came to check out the ascent last week. I love this terrain.” Now he can sit back and enjoy the view. In the paragliding leg, the flyers must make three take-offs and landings, with two of the take-off areas positioned on the mountain, with about eight minutes of flying time in between. The hardest part is the smooth transition between landing and relaunching. At this stage of the race, it could be the difference between winning and losing. The final landing is on a platform 10m x 12m moored in the harbour at Talloires. Some paragliders end up in the lake. Those who don’t gather up their paraglider
and jog for a few metres along a jetty – you can’t run carrying 2kg of canvas and all the harnesses in your arms – to the mountain-bikers and the last leg of the race. Alexis Chenevier (Scott), Fabien Canal (Innov8-Cyclexperts) and Gregory Doucende (Altitude Font-Romeu) are wheel-to-wheel as they set off. Chenevier was the fastest cyclist at Red Bull Elements in 2012, but his team finished fourth overall. Time can count for little on a course as demanding as this one: 23.5km of ascent and descent, and a change in altitude of about 1,800m. There are the roots, rocks and mud to deal with on ground that breaks loose underfoot. “It’s one of the toughest courses I know,” says Chenevier. “I gave myself quite a fright on more than one occasion when I slipped on the way down.” Chenevier crosses the finish line shortly after 2pm, to post an overall time for Team Scott of 5h 3m 29s. Who cares if that’s 10 minutes slower than Altitude Font-Romeu’s time last year? Team Scott have come in 1m 45s ahead of Innov8-Cyclexperts in second, with Christophe Bassons bringing Mag Aviron home in third. Bodies and bikes show the scars of a hellish ordeal. With each new arrival comes another story. Someone who slipped, fell, broke something. Bassons has a gash several centimetres long on his arm. Some riders limp. Others have flat tyres, broken gears. Antoine Bouqueret, a long way from his home in Normandy, finishes in seventh place on the verge of tears and without a saddle, it having broken during a fall. When he started the cycling leg, he and Team Asics were in with a chance of a podium finish. “It’s tough going up against the guys on a course like this,” says Fanny Bourdon, the cyclist for Funny Girls, the only team comprising four women, who come home in 35th. Her teammate, Laurie Genovese, agrees. The highestplaced woman at the 2013 paragliding world cup has strapping around two very sprained fingers: “I did it on the mountain at the changeover.” Four minutes less than four hours after Alexis Chenevier completed his day’s work, Jessy Wastiaux, crosses the finish line. His Jean-Jambeletronc team post a time of 9h 0m 19s, but the numbers don’t matter. All that matters now is having got to the end – and looking forward to coming back next year to do it all again. www.redbullelements.com
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TOULOUSE, MADRID, BARCELONA: THREE CONCERTS I N 4 8 hours . PA R F O R T H E C O U R S E T H E S E D AY S F O R B O O M I N G B R I T I S H B A N D H e av e n ’ s B a s e m e n t. T H I S I S T H E I R F U L L- D I S C L O S U R E T O U R D I A R Y w ords : F lorian ob k ircher photography : J ane S toc k dale
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roc k ’n’ rroad oa d
Four-star rock (from left): Aaron Buchanan (vocals), Chris Rivers (drums), Sid Glover (guitar) and Rob Ellershaw (bass) backstage after the show
eaven’s Basement have been around for five years and only made three records: two EPs and an album. So you may not have heard of them. They prefer to be heard live on stage and have played hundreds of gigs across the world. They want to be on the road rather than recording songs. This is what happened when The Red Bulletin joined them.
DAY 1, TOULOUSE The narrow street outside the La Dynamo club is blocked. Drivers blow their horns and flash their lights to try and get teenagers dressed in black out of the way. But they are not for moving. Instead, they redo the make-up which has run in the heavy rain and paint huge hearts on cardboard signs. As one they sing along to the songs whirring out of their mobile phones. This could be the premiere of a new Twilight film, but the teenagers are singing along to songs by Black Veil Brides. Wherever there’s an appearance by the American emo band – in particular with 22-year-old lead singer Andy Biersack, who looks like a young Marilyn Manson – a mini-bout of Beatlemania is unleashed. Not an easy act for Heaven’s Basement to share a stage with. The young British band’s debut album of last year, Filthy Empire, earned critical acclaim, while they have supported the likes of Bon Jovi, Deftones and Papa Roach. Live shows are what Heaven’s Basement consider the very essence of rock ’n’ roll and the reason they get out of bed in the morning. “We play every gig as if it was our first – with total passion and devotion,” says 72
the red bulletin
“ICE LOLLIES. THERE’S NOTHING BETTER FOR A HANGOVER” the red bulletin
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drummer Chris Rivers, “If you want to break your guitar, then smash the living daylights out of it. If you want to dive into the crowd, hurl yourself right in. The stage is no place for half-heartedness.” Heaven’s Basement have been on Black Veil Brides’ European adventure since yesterday, and they are very aware, after just the one gig in Paris, that they are playing someone else’s sell-out tour. Every time they go out on stage, Heaven’s Basement have to earn the crowd’s appreciation. “We’re not just being the dutiful warm-up band for Black Veil Brides,” says singer Aaron Buchanan. “We want to challenge the guys and give the concerts our all.” Buchanan is speaking backstage before tonight’s gig in Toulouse. The other members of the band – guitarist Sid Glover, bassist Rob Ellershaw and drummer Rivers – are doing warm-up exercises in the background. “One, two, three, four! Oh, wasn’t that cute!” Ellershaw says, encouragingly, to Rivers, who is letting rip into the boxing pads Ellershaw is holding up. “You’re on the bus for long periods at a time when you’re on tour and you rarely have the time and place to work out,” says the lanky, sweaty Rivers. Anyone who sees this, and then watches the show later, might wonder if the band really needs a warm-up. “How the f––k are you doing, Toulouse?” is Buchanan’s opening gambit to an exultant audience. The hi-hat begins – and boom! The quartet go from 0 to 100 in five seconds. Glover kneels, his long hair in front of his face, like his idol, Slash, and throttles the living daylights out of his instrument. Rivers lashes into the cymbals. During the last song, Buchanan
“ i f you want to break your guitar, then smash the living daylights out of it”
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dives from the stage into the crowd and glides around the venue on a sea of fans’ hands. Glover balances his guitar in one hand; Rivers chucks his drumsticks into the crowd. They take a bow. There is riotous applause. They leave the stage. The gig has been a hit. The success becomes all the more apparent after the concert, when the band come face-to-face with their audience. The merchandise stand is mobbed, with the band posing for photos every few seconds. CDs and posters are signed until every fan who wants one has an autograph. Backstage, Black Veil Brides are waiting with a bottle of whisky. Their plan is to go to a nearby strip club. All four members of Heaven’s Basement look at their manager with hopeful expressions on their faces. He gives a decisive shake of the head. “Guys, the tour bus leaves at 11pm sharp. I don’t want to hear any more about it!” The band do as they are told and settle in for a nighttime drive to Madrid with FIFA on the PlayStation and a couple of bedtime beers.
DAY 2, MADRID The Heaven’s Basement bus is divided into three sections. Up front is the party zone, where alcohol and computer games are stored. At the back is the movie lounge, with a large TV. The berths are in between: narrow bunk beds which give you a clue as to what eternal rest in the coffin must feel like. The smell of alcohol the morning after is hazardous. By about 11, the whole band are good to go, shortly before the bus parks in an underground car park. There is great surprise when the band leave this dreary place to find themselves in a sunny, white marble square in front of the Royal Palace of Madrid. Their first self-help move is to put on sunglasses and knock back painkillers. They find a café and Glover orders an ice lolly. “It’s bloody hot, I’ve got a dry throat and there’s nothing better for a hangover,” says the guitarist. “Grazie,” he says politely to the waitress, earning the derision of his bandmates. “You can get
“I DON’T MISS MY OWN BED. AT HOME I MISS EATING AN OMELETTE IN A SPANISH CAFÉ” 76
your languages mixed up after months on the road.” Unpleasant news arrives after breakfast. They’re going to have to drag their equipment to the concert venue, which is a 15-minute walk away, because there’s nowhere closer to the concert hall to park the huge bus. Drums are hauled onto shoulders. Amps the size of a grown man are loaded onto trolleys. The tourists in downtown Madrid can’t help but stare at four guys in leather jackets and ripped jeans wheezing past them. “It’s great being in a band, isn’t it?” Ellershaw suggests, with a smirk on his face and sweat on his brow. At the venue, as the band are doing their soundcheck, they learn that Black Veil Brides’ nighttime excursion didn’t go well. The taxi driver took the band to a brothel rather than a strip club. Once they realised their mistake – the ladies asking them for €2,000 at the entrance was clue enough – they went back to the hotel with their tails between their legs. Heaven’s Basement can only laugh. Buchanan finds a water pistol in the shower backstage and uses it to open the gig. He walks on stage and fires jets of water into the crowd, a stunt which immediately wins over the audience. The crowd go completely berserk when the band play their stand-out single I Am Electric. Whenever Buchanan comes close to the edge of the stage, women scream and hold out their arms to him. the red bulletin
“ I NEVER WEAR UNDERWEAR WHEN WE PLAY LIVE. THERE’S NO POINT. it’D BE SOAKED IN SWEAT STRAIGHT AWAY” There is collective head-banging all the way back to the fifth row. “I’ve never experienced anything like that before,” says Glover, backstage and still dizzy after the show. “That might have been our best gig ever.” Rivers, meanwhile, is on the band’s Facebook page. The first comments on the concert are already online and there are questions to be answered. The band recently posted: “Our sound engineer [has] agreed to get a tattoo of a chicken wing wearing a cowboy hat if we get 1000 likes on this post.” The proof of the band’s popularity is now adorned on his arm, which he shows off with a proud grin.
DAY 3, BARCELONA It is nine in the morning. While everyone else on the bus is asleep, Buchanan is sitting at a table in a smart dressing gown, playing chess on his iPad. Unlike the rest of the band members, he doesn’t drink and normally heads to bed soon after a gig, to protect his voice. To some extent, it feels like he’s living a parallel life on tour. Reality hits home when his bandmates strike up deafening covers of Oasis songs at four in the morning. But the contrast between his
abstinence and Glover’s rocker-in-chief stunts is important for the band’s chemistry. “Up on stage,” Buchanan says, “this tension results in pure energy.” An hour later, Rivers peers dozily out of his bunk and asks what the shower situation is. The bus parks up in another dreary car park, this one in an industrial part of Barcelona full of trucks, abandoned mobile homes and faceless prefabs. There should be a shower five minutes away, the bus driver tells him. While Rivers rummages around in his sports bag for one last clean pair of underpants, the others head off for breakfast. Glover orders a tortilla in a tapas bar and is clearly enjoying the sun. “This is exactly why I love life on the road so much,” he says. “I don’t miss my own bed. The exact opposite, in fact. When I’m back home in England, I miss sitting in a Spanish café and having an omelette for breakfast.” Glover listens to music on the way to the concert, at La Sala City Hall in the city centre: AC/DC on full blast through his headphones. “AC/DC gets me into the concert mood. You’re electrified after a few songs: ‘Yeah, let’s do it!’” There’s a photoshoot on the agenda just before the gig. With their filthy grins and rock ’n’ roll gestures, Heaven’s Basement can pose like the best of them. When Rivers raises a set of devil’s horns up towards the sky, his Union Jack boxer shorts peek out over the belt of his jeans. “Are you going to be wearing those at tonight’s show?” asks Glover. “I never wear underwear when we play live,” Rivers answers, with a smirk. “There’s no point. It’d be soaked in sweat straight away.” On the way to the stage later, Glover tells the story of the gladiators in ancient Rome who allegedly soaked cloths with their sweat and gave them to women of a certain age as an aphrodisiac. This would probably be a money-spinner for the band, too. By the third song, Glover and Rivers have already dispensed with their T-shirts. It is hot, unbelievably hot, but the heat only seems to spur the band on even more. Rivers lashes into his drums so hard that he breaks a lever on the snare drum. Luckily, this happens just before a quiet section in the song, and what happens next is reminiscent of a tyre change in Formula One. It must only be 20 seconds to the chorus when the roadie runs in with a new drum. A screw is loosened and the replacement snare is fixed into position. The chorus is getting closer, the guitars louder. One, two, three… and the snare is in place. The gig is saved. The band laugh about the near miss after the concert. Rivers says, “That was really close. If we’d taken another three seconds, I would have missed my cue.” Their manager, Alex Macleod, then waves from the sidelines. They’ve got to head off especially early today. The tour bus has to be in Zurich tomorrow, which means 800km to cover overnight. After that, the band will have their first – and only – free day of this tour. So what have they got planned? Hanging out by Lake Zurich? “Probably not. Maybe we’ll do an extra gig,” says Glover, as he climbs onto the bus and Heaven’s Basement tour tirelessly on. November tour dates: www.heavensbasement.com
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CHESCA MILES has no limits S h e t r a i n s i n s ec r e t, b u t t h e w o r l d ’s o n ly m o d e l-t u r n e d -st u n t r i d e r i s m a k i n g a b i g n o i s e i n st r e e t b i k e f r e e st y l e , o u t s h i n i n g b ot h m e n a n d w o m e n t h a n ks to i n n at e ta l e n t a n d p u t t i n g i n t h e h a r d ya r d s Words: Ruth Morgan Photography: Julian Broad
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Riding high: Chesca Miles spends up to eight hours a day in secret locations practising her moves on a specially modified bike
suitable practice space is at a premium. What started as bikers trying to outdo one another on the streets has matured into a recognised sport, but without space to practice legally, it remains underground. It’s also highly technical, requiring perfect precision in balancing the throttle and brakes to control a bike that will brutally punish the slightest error. “Stunt riding defies all the laws of motorbiking, but I love that,” says Miles. “It’s my rebellious side coming out. The adrenalin rush you get with every new trick is amazing.” Since Miles discovered a rare piece of deserted ground 18 months ago, she’s been here at least four days a week, sometimes for eight hours at a time, learning to manoeuvre her specially modified 2012 Honda CBR600FAB in new ways. “At first it was really intimidating,” she says. “I was the only girl with all these stunt riders, and I was on a little pit bike. When I moved up to the 600cc size I ride now, it was even more terrifying. I tried a wheelie and
froze, the engine still running. Eventually I made myself do it.” Miles’s resilience has made her one of the few female pro riders in the UK, and one of only a handful worldwide. “Most girls don’t want that risk,” she says. “I wish there were more. Of course I have bad days, but generally I’m prepared for breaks and bruises. Guys telling me I’m not good enough just makes me work harder.” Despite her obvious talent, Miles isn’t a typical petrolhead. Her CV is the stereotype of girly. She trained as a beautician, then took up modelling, appearing in magazine shoots and ad campaigns. She’s a keen singer and music producer, and has a small studio at the home she shares with her grandparents in Surrey. She’s also a dancer who practises
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Drew Tommons (1).CHESCA WEARS: Black bodysuit by Lucas Hugh; Denim shorts by IRO (www.iro.fr/en); boots by Kurt Geiger(www.kurtgeiger.com); belt: stylist’s own
ven at a remote, disused Essex car park, Chesca Miles attracts admirers. Three teenage boys have abandoned their game of street cricket. A passing biker in full leathers sits on the sidelines. They’re watching Miles expertly manoeuvre a motorbike into positions it was never designed to get into. Blue smoke and the screech of tyres fill the air as she adds fresh black arcs to the grey rubber lines she’s built up on the tarmac over months of practice sessions. She slows, then with a quick rev of the engine, pulls the front wheel up until the bike is vertical, perfectly balanced on a small patch of its back wheel, 200kg of metal tamed. The top of her head is just above the front of the 600cc bike as she stands with one foot on the back of the seat conventionally reserved for pillion passengers. She then returns the front wheel to the ground, the force pushing her forward into her seat, and without a pause she’s off again, burning up to the top of the car park. “Most people like what I do,” says the 23-year-old, in a Home Counties accent. “I’ve also had loads of guys say, ‘You should be in the kitchen, love, not on a bike.’ But they’re just the ones that are jealous that I’m better at riding than them.” It’s almost three years since Miles fell in love with the male-dominated world of streetbike freestyle, a type of stunt riding that’s part sport, part art form and similar to BMX flatland, but instead of a bicycle, the tricks are executed on a heavy motorbike. Though the scene is growing, it’s still niche in the UK, not least because
“it’s my rebellious side coming out. the adrenalin rush you get with every new trick is amazing”
“of course i have bad days. but guys telling me I’m not good enough just makes me work harder”
Drew Tommons (1). CHESCA WEARS: Black leather jacket by Lewis Leathers (www.lewisleathers.com);Crop top by Lucas Hugh (www.lucashugh.com). Stylist: Crystal McClory, Assisted by Harriet Flynn; Hair: Ayo Laguda using 3 More Inches Haircare; Make-up: Elias Hove @ Jedroot using Mac cosmetics
ballet, jazz and hip-hop. Yet she spends most of her time on her bike, locked into a more brutal choreography. “My mum would rather I stuck to something more feminine,” she says. “Modelling gets my adrenalin going because you’re on a shiny floor in impossibly high heels. But I wish the days away: I know where my love lies.” From a distance it would be easy to dismiss Miles as a gimmick, a pretty girl playing at being a biker. Doubters would be silenced after seeing her in action. Miles may be a diminutive size eight, but as she sits on the moving bike in a ‘high chair’ position, her legs over the handlebars, her toned muscles jump to attention as she casually tightens the Velcro strap on a shinpad. She switches position and begins drifting, the practice of purposefully losing grip while keeping control, turning the bike in tight circles. “It’s full throttle and balance, nothing else,” she says. “Drifting takes a lot of practice but it’s my favourite.” In less than three years, Miles has become one of the best drifters in the world, and the only female. “There are so few riders doing street stunting, it’s hard for people to understand how difficult it is,” says British ex-pro biker Steve Keys, who has seen Miles progress. “The control Chesca manages to keep is amazing. People go on about MotoGP riders drifting, but it’s far easier to do at high speed. At slower speeds, the bike’s trying to throw you off. When we were at Silverstone for the MotoGP, riders were asking her how she does what she does. I think Chesca’s dancing helps with the balance and flexibility that requires, and gives her her own style. Streetbike freestyle is like a dance on two wheels.” Miles has demonstrated her skills at events like the British Superbikes final, appeared in a music video for band Spiritualized and won parts in films Rush and Fast & Furious 6 (although a broken ankle after a fall during practice meant she had to pull out of the latter). Success has brought fans; over 31,000 on Facebook. “I have to keep my practice location under wraps,” she says. “It would get overcrowded with riders. I’ve also had fans turning up for autographs. Some have tracked down this place from a glimpse of road in one picture. It’s mad.” Miles’s success is the result of a love affair with bikes that started years before she could legally ride one. Aged six, she sat glued to the television, shunning cartoons in favour of MotoGP races. She picked out future world champion Valentino Rossi as a favourite, wore the red bulletin
“i have to keep my practice location under wraps. it would get overcrowded with riders” a Rossi T-shirt and filled sketchbooks with drawings of him in action. “My family knew I was a tomboy,” she says. “I was into BMXs, skating, drum kits, go karts, but mostly bikes.” Miles’s father, Richard, having been begged for a Bugatti rather than a Barbie, wasn’t surprised by her decision to become a stuntrider. “Chesca’s never let the status quo stop her,” he says. “She’d beat the boys at go-karting, then they’d be shocked when she took off her helmet and let her hair down. She’s always chosen what she wants, then gone and got it. She’s never asked for help.” Judging by her diary, Miles has lost none of her determination. There’s no clubbing or shopping. Daily practice and two-hour gym sessions every other evening, performances and dance lessons fill her free time. But that didn’t stop Miles accepting a new biking challenge. After meeting Steve Keys in a MotoGP pit lane earlier this year, Miles became the third member of an unlikely trio, comprised of Keys and fellow bike lover Danny John-Jules, of Red Dwarf fame, to take on the gruelling task of riding to and climbing five mountains in five European countries in five days. “I knew
Chesca would be tough enough for it” says Keys. “After 1,400 miles of riding with her, I realised she was something special.” Keys has taken Miles to various tracks to test out her potential. At Kinsham, a West Midlands circuit used by former Supersport world champion Chaz Davies and former MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner, she had a chance to measure herself against the greats. “We knew those guys recorded laps of around 45 seconds,” says Keys. “In one afternoon Chesca got down below 50 seconds. I didn’t think she’d get anywhere near that and I’ve been in racing a long time. I’d say she’s a better rider than me. There’s no reason she couldn’t be racing in the Moto3 World Championship by 2017.” It’s a prospect Miles relishes. “Originally I wanted to race,” she says. “It’s different to stunting, which is very precise and quite slow. On track, I jumped on a bike and just went for it. I’d love to compete in MotoGP. After breaking into stunt riding, racing against guys doesn’t faze me. I think one will help the other.” As the Essex light fades, Miles cuts the engine and takes off her helmet. Her hair is damp with sweat after hours of riding. She has to drive 60 miles back home tonight, work out, then tomorrow is the first of two consecutive days of track testing. “I just want to train hard,” she says. “Having long-term goals for riding feels like putting a finish line on it. I don’t feel there’s a limit to where I can go with this.” With the excitement of her six-year-old self intact, Miles pulls on her helmet, gets back on her bike and returns to practice. www.chescamiles.com
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Sebastian Vettel for Pepe Jeans London
View finder: make your own music videos MUSIC, page 92
Where to go and what to do
ac t i o n ! T r a v e l / G e a r / T r a i n i n g / N i g h t l i f e / M U S I C / p a r t i e s / c i t i e s / c l u b s / E v e n ts
Tri, tri and tri again To compete in an Ironman triathlon requires muscles of steel. This is how you get them
Mark Watson/Red Bull Content Pool
training, page 89
Work this way: triathlete Courtney Atkinson
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Action!
get the gear
Light switch: there’s no need to stop and swap lenses in changing light, as these adjust to sun or shade on their own. Plus they enhance contrast and a polarised filter cuts 99.9 per cent of sun glare. www.zealoptics.com
Riding close to the wind Snowkiting the world champ thanks his progressive kit when he makes a podium
Snowkiting champion Remi Meum enjoys innovation
Remi Meum was a talented snowboarder and kitesurfer when he discovered snowkiting aged 15. The new sport allowed him to take his kite from the lake and onto the slopes, where he harnessed serious wind power, ditched the ski lift and discovered new places – at speeds of up to 100kph. Now 28, he has pioneered ground-breaking tricks, won his home championship in Norway five times and the World Snowkite Championship, too. His kit, including these Bluetoothenabled goggles, has evolved with his skills. “There has been a lot of innovation over the years,” he says. “It’s made the sport safer and more comfortable. Kit definitely makes a big difference to performance.” vimeo.com/remimeum
Pushing Meum forward
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Cabrinha Empire Snowboard “Designed for snowkiters, it has almost no sidecuts to enhance control when you’re riding on your edge.”
“This helmet has saved me on more than one occasion. It’s comfortable and light.”
“Airlines have low golf kit fees, so this looks like a golf bag, but holds two boards, a harness and three kites.”
www.cabrinhakites.com
www.sweetprotection.com
www.cabrinhakites.com
Sweet Protection Trooper helmet
Cabrinha Golf Bag
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ruth morgan
Snow Pro
Now see this A built-in viewfinder gives stats on speed, distance temperature and jumps, while a GPS function shows maps and tracks locations.
Action!
party
mix tricks Julien Defrance’s three golden cocktail rules
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“Forget about trying to set up a proper cocktail bar at home. Instead, concentrate on one or two core drinks, and make them really well.”
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Julien Defrance is France’s cocktail king
The inside tip: cocktails at L’Upper Crémerie
Sip city
Fabien Breuil (5), SHUTTERSTOCK
Florian Obkircher
PARIS Cocktails are an American invention, but they are synonymous with Parisian nightlife. One of the world’s best drink-fixers explains why What makes a good cocktail? It’s quite simple: the customer shouldn’t be able to taste the alcohol or recognise the individual ingredients. “A proper Cosmopolitan doesn’t taste of vodka, triple sec or cranberry juice. It tastes like a Cosmopolitan,” says Julien Defrance. The 34-year-old is France’s cocktail king. He makes drinks for the most prestigious bars in the world, and his cocktail consultancy Likidostyle recently opened a new branch in Hong Kong. Despite his globetrotting, Defrance still believes that Paris is the mixed drink metropolis par excellence. The cocktail may have been invented in the USA during Prohibition, but France is in a field of its own when it comes to the variety and tradition of its spirits. “A sip of Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao is like biting into a piece of fresh orange,” says Defrance, before recommending the best cocktail bars in his home city (right). Likidostyle www.likidostyle.com
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Le tour A journey round Paris’s best cocktails
Pershing Hall
If you want to drink underneath a hanging garden – and who doesn’t – the only place you can do so is this bar, which adheres to the code of Parisian high society. 49 rue Pierre Charron 75008
Le Secret The Bistrologiste
Not so much of a secret these days, but anyone who wants to drink a perfect cocktail classic at least once in their life should head for this fantastic drinkery.
“The better the ingredients, the better the cocktail. Good fruit juice and high-end champagne come at a price, but this is not the place to cut corners. You will taste the difference.”
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“There are numerous ways of breaking up ice for cocktails. The best, in my opinion, is to wrap the ice in a tea towel and hit it with a hammer.”
16 avenue de Friedland 75008
L’upper Crémerie
A newcomer to the Parisian bar scene, on an otherwise fairly uptight street. An eclectic cocktail menu and an ever-so-slightly psychedelic atmosphere. 71 avenue Marceau 75016
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Action!
Travel
And anoth er thing Staying Las Vegas
Race Not done with the Gs? Get into a 600hp Indy-style racer and break the 200mph mark at the Motor Speedway. www.xperience days.com
There goes gravity
Fly guys: passengers enjoy bouncing weightlessly around the plane
Z ero G Never made it as an astronaut? Can’t wait for Virgin Galactic? Experience the weightlessness of space travel in inner space
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www.montecarlo.com
Advice from the inside Pic the right cam “If you’re taking a camera, a GoPro or one with a chest mount is perfect,” says Rapoza. “It’s hands-free and gives an awesome point of view. Just set it and forget it while you have the time of your life.”
Galactic travel
“There are other experiences incorporated into the trip,” says
Zero Gravity Corporation’s Michelle Peters. “G-Force One also flies a parabola that gives passengers the experience of Martian gravity – one third your weight – and two lunar gravity parabolas, one sixth your weight.”
Refuel Take al fresco dining to new heights and eat about 15 storeys up. Seatbelts and racing seats ensure you don’t come back down until after dessert. www.dinnerin theskylv.com
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Avenfoto/Bryan Rapoza (2), Getty Images (2), shutterstock, reuters
The phrase ‘like nothing else on Earth’ is bandied around, but in the case of a zero-gravity flight, it’s a solid claim. Taking a parabolic plane flight is the only way to experience weightlessness without being part of a space mission. It provides a rush that’s out of this world. “Your heart races as you start to float up, it’s like nothing I’ve ever known,” says US photographer Bryan Rapoza, who has taken three parabolic flights from Las Vegas. “It’s like floating underwater but being able to breathe.” Rapoza was in a Boeing 727 aircraft, named G-Force One, which flies in a series of parabolas, an arc-shaped flight path. At an altitude of 24,000ft, the plane accelerates at an angle of 45 degrees, pulling 1.8G, and making passengers feel double their normal weight. Then, at around 32,000ft, the plane’s nose comes down and it levels off at the top of the arc. The centrifugal force exerted on the plane cancels out the gravitational pull, and everything inside experiences weightlessness for around 25-30 seconds, before the plane dips to complete the arc. “Each parabola Prices start from lasts around a minute and they US$4,950 + tax. repeat it 15 times per flight, so Flights are you get about seven minutes available from at zero G,” says Rapoza. “It was four US locations, my childhood dream, and the including Las reality was better than I could Vegas, Nevada www.gozerog.com have imagined in a thousand ways.”
Revise Any gambler wanting to impress at the tables can take advantage of the expert craps and poker tuition on offer at the Monte Carlo casino.
Action!
workout
Guts and gadgets Triathlon One world-class competitor uses the oldest and newest tricks in the book when he’s preparing for race day
Courtney Atkinson: the Australian triathlete takes part in nine-hour ironman events
Damien Bredberg (2), shimano
Heri Irawan
After last year’s London Olympics, Courtney Atkinson retired from Olympic distance triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run) to focus on the ironman distance (3.8km, 180km, 42.2km). “You still push yourself to the limit,” says the 34-year-old Australian, of his training since making the switch. “But with ironman, it’s not about how fast you go, it’s how long you can maintain your intensity.” Atkinson’s home, on Australia’s Gold Coast, backs on to Lake Hugh Muntz, so he has a daily swim with the swans. When he bikes or runs, he listens to his body. “I’ve got all the gadgets, but I use them more as analytical tools,” he says. “If your breathing is laboured, you shouldn’t need a heart rate monitor to tell you you’re pushing too hard. Knowing how to pace yourself is so important in a race.”
D ay-to - d ay d ata The knowledge of power
Atkinson uses a Stages Power Meter in bike training. Heart rate monitors show how much effort you are putting in. Power meters show what you are getting from that effort. “Yes I use science,” he says, “but it’s important to know what you are capable of by feel. If you listen to your body, you’ll know you’re training at the right intensity.”
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Nature nurture: the woods and lakes around Atkinson’s home are perfect for training
S ta b i l i s e r s f o r g r o w n - u p s “For me, it’s all about glutes, glutes, glutes,” says Atkinson. “Everything is based around having a strong core and glutes. If you’ve got that sorted, everything becomes easier.”
1
Hands on hips, bend one leg and raise the other. Hold for 10 seconds; do five on each leg.
Superman style: one arm and opposite leg out. Hold for 10 secs, switch sides, do five on each.
Both arms out, elbows bent, raise one leg. Hold for 10 seconds, do five on each leg.
2
Get on a Swiss ball as above. Hold your glutes tight for 30 seconds. Repeat 10-15 times.
Raise leg for 30 seconds; switch. Do 10-15 with each. The less high you raise, the harder it gets.
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city Guide
Wicker Park
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big draw the windy city is the go-to place for the artists of america
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“Video games and beer: what’s not to like?” CHICAGO Hebru Brantley may count Jay-z among his clients, but the star of the windy city’s art scene keeps things real with retro gaming and relaxed eating in his hometown hang-outs A steady diet of Saturday morning cartoons, comic books and the graffiti culture of the embattled streets of Chicago’s South Side set Hebru Brantley on a path to artistic recognition. Now his music-inspired pieces are regularly snapped up for big bucks by elite art collectors – one, for a reported US$25,000, by Jay-Z. Brantley grew up in the Windy City’s historic Bronzeville neighbourhood, but his work has brought him to the boho-chic of Wicker Park. The north-west district was first settled by European brewery owners in the 1870s, but these days it’s an ever-gentrifying mix of families, college kids and creative types. For Brantley, 32, the diverse area is one of the best places to go out, both day and night. 90
Top five My Chicago favourites
1 The Violet Hour 1520 North Damen Avenue
www.choose chicago.com
3 Saint Alfred 1531 North Milwaukee Avenue
“In most sneaker shops, there are these young kids who are little elitist sneaker snobs. St Al’s is chill and it’s got a barber shop vibe. You go in there and talk.”
“I take my girl there. It’s very low-key with really good drinks, and you can hear each other talk. They have rules, like no mobile phones, but it’s like when you step inside someone’s house – when they tell you to take your shoes off, you do it.”
4 Filter Coffee Shop 1373 North Milwaukee Avenue
2 Rodan 1530 North Milwaukee Avenue
5 Emporium Arcade Bar 1366 North Milwaukee Avenue
“They play really obscure films on the back wall with the sound turned down, and they have a pretty good selection of food. I only eat fish and vegetables, and their Vietnamese Bao [sandwiches] are my favourite.”
“Dude, it’s got retro video games all over the place! Video games and beer... what’s not to like? I play NBA Jam a lot and I’m a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan – I spend a lot of time playing that here.”
“It’s a very large space. Lately, it’s been my office. I might sketch there and sometimes I take meetings there. I sketch anything and go through three to four sketchbooks a year.”
Lacuna Artist Lofts Brantley and several other top artists have studio space here; the building hosts a monthly schedule of openings and shows. www.lacuna2150.com
Museum of Mexican Art One of the art scene’s hidden gems offers both contemporary and historical art and artefacts. www.nationalmuseum ofmexicanart.org
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Andreas Tzortzis
Artist Hebru Brantley finds inspiration in Chicago’s Wicker Park
A slow meander around the neighbourhood reveals a public tapestry of murals.
Kristie Kahns, The Violet Hour, Kayla M Smith, Rodan, Emporiu
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ONE WHOLE EXTRA HOUR WITH THE LADS !
Playtime Than Drivetime! More Like
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music
Twerk it Bob Cornelius Rifo prefers the synthesizer to the electric guitar and wears a black comic-book-hero mask at his gigs. The music he produces as The Bloody Beetroots is punk for the new millennium. It’s energetic, you can dance to it and it’s heavier than most rock songs. In 2009, the 35-year-old Italian scored his first hit with the track Warp 1.9. He now has over a million fans on Facebook and spends time in the recording studio with Tommy Lee and Paul McCartney. Yes, you read that right: the former Beatle recorded his first ever electronic track for The Bloody Beetroots’ second album Hide, out now. Rifo tells us here what music inspires him, besides The Beatles.
Playlist FROM THE BEATLES TO BACH: electric rocker the bloody beetroots REVEALS THE ALBUMS THAT MEAN the most
1 Wendy Carlos
www.thebloodybeetrootsofficial.com
2 Refused
3 The Beatles
“I came across the album in a quirky record store in Venice. It blew my mind. Wendy Carlos, better known for the score she composed for A Clockwork Orange, interprets the music of Johann Sebastian Bach on a Moog synthesizer. Pretty bonkers, but ingenious. It inspired me to come up with an electronic rearrangement of Bach’s Ave Maria.”
“This album’s raw energy is infectious and it’s not unlike my debut album. When I met Refused’s singer Dennis Lyxzén, we worked out why that’s the case. Refused do with guitars what I do with synthesizers. Another thing that Dennis and I have in common is that we’re both big fans of the Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta.”
“When I was a child, I picked this album out of my parents’ record collection because of the funny album cover. In no time I learned to sing all the words to songs such as Here Comes The Sun. It was a huge honour for me to work in the studio with Paul McCartney, but I didn’t say that to him at the time. You have to meet as equals in the studio.”
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Switched-On Bach
The Clash The Clash
“I have ‘1977’ tattooed on my chest, because it’s the year I was born and because that was the year that The Clash’s debut album launched punk. I discovered the album thanks to my uncle. He was a drummer and he plied me with punk. I couldn’t get over the energy the music had. I’m still fascinated by it to this day.”
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The Shape of Punk to Come
Herbie Hancock Future Shock
“I was a breakdancer in 1997. A track we’d dance to was Rockit from the Future Shock album. The song sounds as fresh today as it did then, and as it must have done in 1983 when it came out. It marks the start of electronic music. I wanted to work with Hancock, but he was too busy; I’ll stick with it and hope to make that dream come true.”
Abbey Road
g ng kiin rk er Tw Twe 1 ‘Twerk’ entered the Oxford English Dictionary in August. They define it as: to dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.
2 Southern rapper DJ Jubilee was the first to use the term back in 1993. He chants “Twerk, Baby!” in his song Do The Jubilee All.
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s pec ial fo c u s music video maker’s must-have
SONY HDR-MV1 The musician’s camcorder: with professional stereo microphones and a sensor which can still produce a low-noise video image in a dark club. And every wannabe promo director can now upload a music video straight onto YouTube via WiFi. www.sony.com
An hour of hip-shaking would burn at least 500 calories, making twerking more effective than cycling and jogging.
4 Twerking has its roots in the Ivory Coast, where a similar dancing style known as mapouka was banned from TV for being too lewd.
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florian obkircher
Dance to the Beet
ENRICO CAPUTO, Reuters
Purple reign: Bob Cornelius Rifo is The Bloody Beetroots
You’ve tried to do it for five seconds, but what do you really know about Miley Cyrus’s favourite mode of expression?
Action!
games
Ghosts blockbuster: will the new Call Of Duty be gaming’s biggest money-maker?
APP GAM ES Score, war and more on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch
RPG The Silent Age Right man in the wrong place with a handheld time machine. Snappy, atmospheric adventure.
Mind-bend 868-Hack Hard but utterly compelling puzzle, with ’80s retro styling, in which you fight a computer system. Tina Palacios: on Call Of Duty duty
Sweet release C All of Duty What’s it like waiting for a new game to be released if you’ve made it? The launch of a blockbuster video game is now a global media event. In September, Grand Theft Auto V had first-day sales of over US$800 million, the largest total ever. The previous four big moneyspinners were all Call Of Duty games; a new one, Call Of Duty: Ghosts, is out this month. Fun
for fans, the countdown to launch is tough on games-makers. “Out shopping or at restaurants, people notice our shirts and ask us questions,” says Tina Palacios, of Ghosts developer Infinity Ward. “It’s hard to keep it secret. My parents asked me and I couldn’t tell them much other than what we’ve already revealed.” The day after the biggest day is no holiday, either. “A lot of us stay behind to make sure that the game is running properly. But it’s an exciting time, and launch day can’t come fast enough.” www.callofduty.com/ghosts
Ghosts is also out late November for Xbox One and PS4 (see below)
out soon
Gran designs
Katrin Auch
SIXTH TIME FOR TURISMO It is 16 years (!) since Gran Turismo redefined what a driving game could and should be. Now, Gran Turismo 6 raises the realism bar, with all-new tracks (from Australia and the UK) and motors. Out December 6. www.gran-turismo.com
the red bulletin
Battle Samurai Siege Command ninja and samurai armies against your friends’ forces in real time. Addictive.
Football
Rise of the machines Xbox One v PlayStation 4
To enter gaming’s next phase the choice is stark: Xbox or PlayStation. The former’s connect Kinect sensor promises much, the latter has a beefier graphics processor. We say: get both!
Score! world Goals Bulge the net of recent history, recreating moves, assists and strikes of note from international footy.
www.xbox.com, www.playstation.com
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Action!
event
canada USA Mexico
Run the Earth
Register at: www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com
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up to 39 tracks 33 countries 1 Start time
Where are the races?
From sea-view runs to asphalt roads and natural terrain. As the race day nears, the Wings for Life World Run website will have extensive course details and local weather reports.
andreas rottenschlager
On Sunday May 4, 2014, at 10.00 UTC – morning in London, middle of the night in Los Angeles, almost bedtime in Auckland – the starter’s pistol will fire for the Wings for Life World Run, an endurance race with a difference. After 30 minutes, ‘catcher cars’ will set off to hunt down the stragglers, gradually increasing their speed as they do so. When a car catches a runner, he or she is out of the race. The winner is the last person running – the one person in the world who has run the farthest. Regardless of who’s the first one out or the last one standing, everyone helps. All money raised through race entry fees will go to the Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation. Former F1 racing driver David Coulthard will be taking part. “I’ve never been much of a runner,” he says, “but I’ll definitely take part in the Wings for Life World Run. We should all run to help those who can’t.”
peru brazil Chile argentina
Who
will be doing it?
Everyone from amateur athletes to Olympic champions. You have to be 18 or over to take part.
the red bulletin
sportcom.com.au
W ings For Life World Run In May next year, in 33 countries, the world’s first truly global running race. Everyone starts at the same time, but there’s only one winner – and it could be you
Songs for winners MARK WEBBER’S RUNNING PLAYLIST
Global Start May 4, 2014, 10.00 UTC
Portugal spain france Ireland England norway sweden netherlands germany switzerland italy poland slovakia slovenia austria croatia south africa UkrainE Romania georgia
1
Foo Fighters Everlong
Turkey India Taiwan south korea
“Rock is perfect music to run to. The song gets faster the longer it goes on. That tempo transfers to your legs.”
2
australia new zealand
How
How What is it judged?
is it all for?
After 30 minutes, catcher cars begin the pursuit and reel in the pack from the rear. Once the catcher car catches you, you’re out of the race. The last one running wins.
Each runner’s distance is recorded at the point when caught by the car. Compare online with all runners in every Wings for Life World Run: “Who in the world went farther than I did?”
All money raised through entry fees will go towards research projects across the globe aimed at finding a cure for spinal cord injury. Entry information at:
does it work?
the red bulletin
The 37-year-old Australian F1 driver is an ambassador for the Wings for Life Foundation.
www.wingsforlife.com
Red Hot Chili Peppers Can’t Stop “Slightly slower than the Foo Fighters. I listen to this song so that I can keep my concentration when I’m running.”
3
The Prodigy FIRESTARTER “It just gives you an extra burst of energy. It’s perfect for the last part of the run, when you want to find that little bit more.”
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Action!
save the date
don’t miss ink these dates in your diary
17
november
On Track Liverpool welcomes athletes with serious stamina for the SuperEnduro Grand Prix Race Day. Whether on a motorbike or bicycle, contenders will be tested by a bespoke indoor track. echoarena.com
25 november
on screen
November 14-17
Rough rides
Famous for icy, gravelly forest tracks, the Wales Rally GB is one of the most challenging stops on the WRC calendar, and a fitting season finale. With rally royalty Sébastien Loeb having retired, another French Séb has dominated the 2013 season. Sébastien Ogier will be hoping to earn his first Welsh win, but it won’t be easy: the race’s opening challenge is on the unforgiving terrain of Snowdonia at night. redbullmotorsport.com November 27-December 1 November 9
Street dance
from November 5
Kriss is it A new four-part online series showcases Scottish BMX ace Kriss Kyle riding with his biking heroes. New episodes released weekly. redbull.co.uk/krisskyle
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Over 2,500 people are expected at the south coast’s biggest street gathering. The Block Party takes over seven venues in Bournemouth and fills them with some of the best established and upand-coming electronic acts, including Bristol duo My Nu Leng (right). oldfirestation.co.uk
City limits The Freeze Festival will recreate the Alpine experience on Clapham Common, despite south London’s lack of mountains and snow. Expect themed bars for that après ski feeling, a cinema to transport viewers to icier locations, and live music from the likes of French house producer Madeon (above). There are also international ski and snowboard rail competitions, with UK boarding pro Jamie Nicholls leading the home charge. freezefestival.com
If you think all foreign films are serious, difficult or depressing, head to the Subtitle European Film Festival in Kilkenny to have your mind changed with string of subbed movies that will amaze and delight. subtitlefest.com
26 november
on fire Travis Pastrana’s team of daredevil athletes entertain UK crowds by riding almost anything with wheels, from scooters to skateboards, bikes to blades, in ways that parents everywhere will disapprove of. nitrocircuslive.com
the red bulletin
Getty Images (2), Quique Garcia/Red Bull Content Pool, mn2s
Aiming for the top: can Ogier be the prince of Wales this year?
P RO M OT I O N
MUST-HAVES! 1
2
1 COLUMBIA MEN’S MIDWEIGHT TIGHTS WITH FLY A stretch compression Columbia Midweight Tight built for dynamic activity in the cold — features include an Omni-Wick gusset and waistband to keep you dry and comfortable, an easy-access zip fly, and Omni-Heat thermal reflective lining for bonus lightweight warmth. An antimicrobial treatment protects these tights from bacterial growth and they also feature four-way stretch and ergonomic seaming for comfort. RRP: €55. Member’s Price: €52.25
2 COLUMBIA MEN’S ALASKAN II DOWN HOODED JACKET This 700 fill Columbia Alaskan II Down Jacket is designed to keep you warm in the most brutal winter weather conditions. Omni-Heat thermal reflective lining amps up the natural heatkeeping power of down to lock in warmth, and just in case it works a little too well, underarm venting helps you dump heat in a hurry. This jacket also has Omni-Shield advanced repellency to keep you dry. RRP: €240. Member’s Price: €228
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4
3 COLUMBIA MEN’S BUGABOOT PLUS II OMNI-HEAT A true workhorse for cold winter weather activities, the waterproof, seam-sealed and insulated Columbia Bugaboot Plus is fortified with new hardware, including bombproof eyelets for secure lacing. The reflective lining traps body heat to amplify the warming power of 200g of Omni-Heat insulation. When terrain becomes truly treacherous and unpredictable, the dual-compound, high-traction rubber keeps you safe and stable. RRP: €130. Member’s Price: €123.50 4 SHERPA MEN’S NAMCHE ZIP TEE The Sherpa Namche Zip Tee straddles the territory between a really light base layer and a sweater. The Polartec Classic Micro fabric is supremely soft and fleecy, and its performance is renowned – it has a great warmth-to-weight ratio, is breathable, quick-to-dry and durable – making it the perfect midweight layering piece for all your adventures. RRP: €60. Member’s Price: €57
5
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5 adidas MEN’S NDOSPHERE JACKET Designed to keep you warm, the adidas Ndosphere stretch PrimaLoft jacket provides all-over comfort even when wet. Outdoorspecific FORMOTION mirrors your movement for great fit on the trail, while Cocona fabric technology on the lining improves moisture management. This jacket also features a fitted, adjustable hood, an adjustable waist hem, elasticated sleeve endings and two hand warmer pockets. RRP: €175. Member’s Price: €166.25 6 BARTS OSCAR BEANIE Look stylish this winter in the Barts Oscar Beanie. Featuring a peaked visor and ‘Barts’ tag on the front, this knit hat has an acrylic rib cable knit and a warm fleece lining. One size fits all. RRP: €25
All items available from 53 Degrees North in Blanchardstown, Carrickmines, Cork and online. www.53degreesnorth.ie
time warped
Morning get-up
getty images
Just another breakfast for the Japanese Senior Gymnastic Display Team
the next issue of the red bulletin is out on december 14 98
the red bulletin
03.10.13 14:11 13:11 21.10.13
ATHLETE: RALPH BACKSTROM | CAPTURED BY: RALPH BACKSTROM
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