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BEYOND THE ORDINARY
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ROLLER FREERIDER
MATT JONES
DISCOVERS THE POWER OF MENTAL MUSCLE
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HOURS, ONE DAY THE WORLD’S LONGEST CYCLE RACE FOO FIGHTER FOREVER Dave Grohl on staying in the game
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CONTRIBUTORS
EDITORIAL
Fred Murray
The Glasgow-based photographer shadowed UK freerider Matt Jones for two tough weeks of forest filming. Murray’s ‘tracer’ shots visualise Jones’ preternatural thought process. “Matt’s ability to flip between funny and focused is astonishing,” he says. “One minute he’s joking, the next doing something so scary and precise anyone else would need time to prepare.” PAGE 6 4
Marcel Anders
As a regular contributor to magazines such as Metal Hammer, Rolling Stone and Classic Rock, the German journalist has interviewed numerous rock icons, including Keith Richards and Lemmy. But talking to Dave Grohl is always something special. In this issue, the Foo Fighters man tells Anders how he keeps his passion for music alive after more than 25 years in the business. PAGE 46
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For all of us, it’s sometimes difficult to discern the correct way forward in a chosen discipline or, indeed, to divine whether there’s an alternative path to follow. Sometimes the only way to break through this inertia is to force yourself out of the comfort zone and head for uncharted territory in a bid to gain inspiration, motivation, or simply to realise the place you left behind is where you ultimately need to be. For cover star Matt Jones, reinvention meant confronting his expectations of himself, overcoming the pain of injury, then examining the true extent of his skills with a revolutionary new approach to freeriding and to filming his ground-breaking tricks. In the case of Alex Gray, embracing discomfort in pursuit of a new challenge meant giving up rugby – his passion since childhood – and joining 2017 NFL Superbowl finalists the Atlanta Falcons. Finally, for Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, the discomfort may have been caused by the physical pain of a broken leg, but the rock kingpin kept the show on the road thanks to a specially constructed throne. A different mechanism for each, but the message is the same: to move forward, sometimes you need to first move sideways. Enjoy the issue.
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FRED MURRAY (COVER)
The discomfort zone
CONTENTS November
FEATURES 32
Robert Marc Lehmann
The cave diver, underwater photographer and marine conservationist talks oxygen mishaps, the perils of pollution, and ‘relaxed’ sharks
46 Dave Grohl
When the Foo Fighters frontman broke his leg onstage, cancelling the tour was not an option – this king of rock just found himself a throne
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M-Sport
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Alex Gray
How former rally driver Malcolm Wilson and his small indie manufacturer team muscled their way into the top tier of the WRC We meet the Rugby Sevens international who swapped scrums for shoulder pads and crossed the pond to join the NFL
64 Matt Jones
Merely visualising tricks doesn’t cut it for the freestyle mountain biker. The Red Bulletin ventures into the forest to see his dreams come to life
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Saving UK nightlife
Across the country, nightclubs and concert venues are pulling down their shutters for good – but there’s a man taking steps to change that
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32 DEEP THINKER
Dive into the world of Robert Marc Lehmann, the German marine photographer and environmentalist who has braved the ocean’s most perilous depths
SHOW MUST GO ON
Foo Fighters lynchpin Dave Grohl attributes his ‘never quit’ ethos to the rough and tumble of his punk-rock past
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BULLEVARD Life And Style Beyond The Ordinary
12 Breaking new ground: actor
Bryan Cranston moves on
14 St Vincent: dangerously good 16 Top filling: the making of an
American classic
18 Cabin pleasure: Costa Rica’s 20 22 24 26 28 30
hotel for high flyers Action photographer Mauricio Ramos, master of dark arts Singer Benjamin Clementine’s long, hard road to success The tape deck gets naked Red Bull Timelaps: how to survive 25 hours in the saddle Biotech prodigy Laura Deming holds the key to eternal youth The go-kart that really goes
GUIDE
Get it. Do it. See it. 82 Highlights on Red Bull TV
this month
84 Dates for your calendar 88 Material gains: timepieces
of substance as well as style
96 Global team
ROBERT MARC LEHMANN, DAVID CLERIHER, JAANUS REE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
98 Pipe dreams: supersize skating
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DUST DEVILS
Britain’s M-Sport team is carving a path through the world of rallying thanks to grit, passion and sheer determination
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ANDREAS LASZLO KONRATH/TRUNK ARCHIVE
It’s wrong to want to give your fellow Hollywood stars a bloody nose, says the Wakefield star
BRYAN CRANSTON “THERE’S ENOUGH ROOM FOR EVERYONE” PAGE 12 THE RED BULLETIN
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Bryan Cranston, 61, plays troubled news anchor Howard Beale in the new stage production of Network
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Bryan Cranston
Friction and confrontation help you grow, says the Breaking Bad icon, but so does not begrudging your fellow actors success
“WE NEED CONFLICT IN OUR LIVES” S
ANDREAS LASZLO KONRATH/TRUNK ARCHIVE
RÜDIGER STURM
till best known for his role as chemistry-teacherturned-drugs-kingpin Walter White in Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston is pursuing new career adventures of his own as 2017 draws to a close. After starring in the sci-fi anthology TV series Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams – now showing on Channel 4 – the 61-year-old will make his UK stage debut this November in a National Theatre production of the media satire Network. Cranston took time off to talk to The Red Bulletin about hard-won life lessons, and why narcissism is the enemy of Hollywood success – and of the US President.
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the red bulletin: You once attended police academy – the real one, not the movie series. Did it teach you anything useful? bryan cranston: You learn how to read people. You’ve just got to get out there and study them. By constantly observing people, you build up an archive of human behaviour patterns. If I were to lie to you, would you see through me? Yes. And I can tell you’re lying right now. I am? Only joking. You abandoned plans for a police career, though. What prompted that? When I was aged 20 or 21, my brother and I rode our motorbikes across the US. The plan was for me to get lost so that I could find myself. That’s when I realised that I actually loved acting and could be good at it. You really were lost for a while in your youth. Your father abandoned the family when you were 11 and the bank foreclosed on your house. How did that shape your path to success? [It helped that] I went through such hardships as a youngster. Things work the same way when you’re telling stories: you need conflict to move the plot forward. People need conflict in their life so they can learn to appreciate the good times. My father showed me how not to do it. I ended up becoming an actor because he was one, too. But my father wanted to be a star, and that was his problem. You clearly value the spirit of collaboration, too. You gave Woody Harrelson your research material on President Lyndon B Johnson, a role you had played before him. Is there not a selfishness to your craft that states it’s ‘every man for himself’? I hope I’ll never have a T-shirt with that written on it. My fellow actors aren’t competitors as far as I’m concerned. And
I don’t mean that in an arrogant, there’s-no-contest kind of way. We all belong to the same fraternity, if I can put it like that. We’re a big group. There’s room for all of us. If Woody is a success, that doesn’t mean I’m a failure. Which is why I don’t want him to fall flat on his face. It’s bullshit. Only a narcissist could think that – someone like our President. And we have to eradicate that kind of thinking. But everyone’s fighting for the same jobs… I have a philosophy that I still pass on to young actors to this day: when you go for an audition, you’re not there to get a job, even if that’s what it seems like. If you start thinking that way, it’ll be the end of you. Why? Because there are more applicants than there are parts. You have to think of it in another way: you’re here to do a job. Focus on the audition, get through it and then say goodbye. Do you subscribe to that philosophy yourself? I do. I worked that out for myself 25 years ago and it’s saved me. If a fellow actor gets a part that I also went for, I don’t say, “What an asshole.” The part simply wasn’t for me. It’s a bit like me finding your wallet on the street: I can’t get excited about it, because I’ve got to give it back. It doesn’t suddenly belong to me. Facebook: @thebryancranston
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nnie Clark, better known to most as St Vincent, makes music that feels like a tightrope act. Her complexly arranged indie-pop songs teeter between happiness and misery, order and chaos. Despite defying conventional pop templates, Clark enjoyed great success in 2014 with her eponymous fifth album, which she aptly described as a “party record you could play at a funeral”. St Vincent was named Album of the Year by respected publications such as NME and The Guardian, peaked at number 12 in the US Billboard 200 chart, and secured her the 2014 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album. So, how does an artist who rose from underground darling to tabloid fame in just two years – helped in no small part by her year-and-a-half-
St Vincent The indie darling turned Grammy winner explains how to handle expectation, and why you shouldn’t take on a project that doesn’t scare you
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long relationship with model-turned-actress Cara Delevingne – deal with the increased expectations when working on her next project? We asked the 35-year-old, whose new album, MASSEDUCTION, is out this month… the red bulletin: Your most recent album was a huge success, critically speaking as well as commercially. How does one follow such a smash? st vincent: You just make a better record than the one you did before. That’s easier said than done, isn’t it? Well, you just have to put yourself under pressure. Many would argue that subjecting yourself to too much pressure leads to powerlessness. Have you ever experienced that? It’s strange, you know. I’m an anxious person in a lot of ways, but I wasn’t intimidated or scared about expectation with this record. I just wanted to make a better record. And, frankly, that’s always been my ethos. Just put all your energy in the music, put all your energy in the art, and with any luck the rest will follow. How do you escape the weight of expectation? I try to avoid reading articles about myself. That’s probably healthy – a lot of magazines hail you as some Wonder Woman with musical superpowers… Well, I don’t usually go down the hall of mirrors of the internet, because someone saying, “You’re a queen and a genius” kind of feels about the same to me as someone saying, “You’re an idiot, and this song sucks.” The first comment sounds preferable, though… Yeah, but it’s the same thing: it’s hyperbole, and a comment with no recourse. I don’t care. But when I released New York [her single that came out in June], I had forgotten that feeling of vulnerability. I’d
been so rabbit-holed in the actual making of it that when it finally came out and people were talking about it, I was shocked to feel so vulnerable. That song is about your split from Cara Delevingne, isn’t it? Yeah. But I really do think art is always about high stakes, personally. And I didn’t want to do anything that didn’t make me scared. I just think that if you’re not afraid of it, it’s not worth doing. That reminds me of a quote from former Talking Heads mastermind David Byrne: “I found music to be the therapy of choice.” You recorded a stunning album together in 2012. Are you still in touch? Absolutely. We have dinner together. We hang out a lot. He changed my life for ever. I love him so much. What can one learn from an icon such as Byrne? If anyone comes up to David to compliment him, he just sort of laughs. It’s really sweet, the way he handles the acclaim so gracefully and always channels it back into his work. He’s constantly generating. St Vincent’s new album, MASSEDUCTION, is out on October 13; ilovestvincent.com
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NEDDA AFSARI
MARCEL ANDERS
Sound and vision: last year, St Vincent co-directed the horror anthology film XX
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N The Reuben
Reputedly invented for one of Charlie Chaplin’s co-stars, this classic sandwich continues to wow audiences
BROADWAY PREMIERE HOW TO MAKE THE REUBEN INGREDIENTS Two slices of rye bread; salted butter; corned beef; sauerkraut, drained; tangy cheese (eg, Emmental), sliced.
o cultural history of food would be complete without the sandwich. This staple was popularised in the 18th century by English aristocrat John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich, who famously, during a game of cribbage, requested salted beef between two pieces of bread – a meal he could eat while continuing to play. Montagu’s snack has undergone numerous changes since then. Over the years, lettuce, sliced cucumber, sardines, mayonnaise, mustard, chicken breast and cheese have all made an appearance – or even played a starring role – in an Italian tramezzino or a French grilled croque. There is now even a mathematical formula for the perfect sandwich,
which includes constants such as temperature, the variety of bacon to use, and the time you should take to garnish the bread. Just as numerous as the ingredients are the foundation myths. Take the famous Reuben sandwich: corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing between two slices of grilled rye bread. As one tale would have it, this American classic was invented in the 1920s by Reuben Kulakofsky, a grocer in Omaha, Nebraska, who wanted a snack that wouldn’t distract him from his poker game. A nicer story is that of Annette Seelos – an actress working with Charlie Chaplin, and the girlfriend of boxerturned-actor Al Kaufman – who was starving after a show in 1914. The boss of Reuben’s Restaurant and Delicatessen on Broadway rustled her up a sandwich, and a food legend was born. The premiere is said to have featured turkey and coleslaw, which isn’t a problem for the Reuben; there are even fish varieties with walleye in Ohio and seabass in Florida. seriouseats.com
Russian dressing: 150g mayonnaise; 1tbsp chilli sauce; 2tbsp sour cream; 2tbsp each parsley, onion and gherkins, all chopped; ½tsp each lemon juice, grated horseradish and Worcestershire sauce.
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ROBERT SPERL
METHOD Butter the rye bread on both sides, then grill. Place the corned beef in a hot frying pan, cover with the cheese, then heat until cheese is melted. Layer one of the slices of bread with Russian dressing, then the corned beef with cheese, then sauerkraut, and top with the second slice. Cut into triangles and serve warm. THE RED BULLETIN
go with the flow in the Southern Alps of Austria
Austria’s sunny south • Petzen.Trail: IMBA Trail of the year 2014 • Longest Flow Trail in Europe (11,5 k) • 1100 meters of altitude
cycling.carinthia.at
BULLEVARD
This converted Boeing 727 in the Costa Rican rainforest offers a Robinson Crusoe experience in business-class style
HIGH LIVING WITH THE JUNGLE JET SET
Cool inside, if not out. The interior and furniture are made from Indonesian teak
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passenger jet in a rainforest sounds like the premise of a disaster movie, but this red Boeing 727, perched atop a 15m-high pedestal among the treetops, is the oddest luxury suite in Central America. The jet plane offers its occupants a spectacular view across the heavenly bay of the Manuel Antonio National Park on the south-west coast of Costa Rica. Originally a commercial jet for South African Airways and Colombian airline Avianca, the 40m-long plane – built in 1965 – sat rotting away at San José Airport until American
A microwave, but no airborne radar. The kitchen looks out onto the jungle THE RED BULLETIN
COSTA VERDE
Hotel Costa Verde
hotelier and architect Allan Templeton salvaged it in 2000. Templeton, who lives in Costa Rica, transported the Boeing to the jungle in five parts. In order to move it, 40,000 metal rivets had to be removed and replaced, but once the relocation was complete, he converted the plane into a luxury suite alongside his Costa Verde hotel complex. Guests reach the outdoor terrace above the plane’s wing via a stone staircase. Inside the fuselage, the floor between the hold and the upper deck has been lowered to create space for two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. There is also a living room with a kitchen, and the whole thing is decked out in teak. Depending on the season, one night’s stay in the 727 fuselage suite costs $260 to $750 (£190 to £550). And for anyone who doesn’t have that kind of spare change lying around, there’s still an opportunity to taste the high life. Next door, Templeton has transformed another decommissioned plane – a 1954 Fairchild C-123 – into a hotel restaurant and bar. costaverde.com
FLORIAN OBKIRCHER
From the aeroplane graveyard to the jungle: the 727 fuselage suite at Hotel Costa Verde
WINNING. WITH. TECHNOLOGY.
+
GREG CALLAGHAN WINS IRELAND EWS 2016 AND TWEEDLOVE INTERNATIONAL 2016
RIDING A CUBE STEREO 140 29’ER
Well-heeled: wakeboarder Larisa Morales tackles a cenote in Yucutรกn
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Underworld Project
Action-sports photographer Mauricio Ramos on the challenges of shooting in Mexico’s cenotes
MAURICIO RAMOS/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
MARCO PAYÁN
WAKING IN THE DARK
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or more than two decades, Mauricio Ramos has captured high-speed action in near-impossible conditions. But when the photographer accompanied Mexico’s top wakeboarder, Larisa Morales, to a series of pitch-black cenotes in the Yucután Peninsula, his abilities were pushed to the limit. The underground wells were so dark, Ramos was unable to see his hands in front of his face, let alone his subject. “It was hard for him to push the button for the flash at the right time to release the flash, because he had no idea where I was,” says Morales. The wakeboarder herself had to navigate crazily restrictive environments, some so small she couldn’t even use ramps to take off and land. “Larisa had to find clean lines between roots or rock formations, limiting our ability to take the action to the next level,” says Ramos. But take it to the next level they did. Pulled by a winch rather than by a boat, Morales had to wakeboard the same spot repeatedly so that Ramos could find the best angles and set up his camera and flashes accordingly, taking up to four hours for each shot. And then there were deadlier obstacles, such as a crocodile Morales spotted in one of the cenotes moments before shooting. “That’s not easy for your mind to deal with,” admits Ramos, “but it was a fantastic project in the end.” For more on Ramos’ Proyecto Inframundo (Underworld Project), go to redbull.com 21
CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES
ANDREW SWANN
Clementine won the 2015 Mercury Prize for his debut album, At Least For Now
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ondon-born Benjamin Clementine left behind a life of bullying and torment in his teens by moving to France. There, he spent years plying his trade and fighting for survival as a street musician, sleeping in kitchens, hostels and wherever else would accept him. Now, the 28-yearold singer and poet is one of the hottest prospects in the industry, and an artist with an important message to pass on. the red bulletin: How much of your back story is true? benjamin clementine: Oh, it’s all true, although it’s perhaps been exaggerated a little by the press at times. We always love fantasies much
Benjamin Clementine The singer/poet has suffered for his art. Now he’s giving something back to a world he almost gave up on
“I’M HERE FOR A REASON” THE RED BULLETIN
more than real life. But there’s a reason why I went through what I did, and I wouldn’t be here without it. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, though. How down and out were you? Very. I tried to commit suicide three times. At the time, I just thought to myself, “If I go today, no one is going to look for me, or call and ask, “Where’s Benjamin?” That must be a disturbing place to be… It’s actually a good thought. Those experiences only opened my eyes more, and I feel so lucky to be here right now. Some people don’t make it after those thoughts, but I feel I’m here for a reason now. If I went through all of that and I’m still here, then surely it is for a purpose. And what purpose is that? To pass on the experiences I’ve had, and to inspire others. To make them appreciate the beauty and fragility of the world we live in. The new album [I Tell A Fly, his second] is about what’s happening in the world, but in a way that can be easily consumed and understood by anyone. It sounds as if you’re more than willing to suffer for your art… Well, I’m not going to cut my head off for my music. [Laughs.] But the result of the pain and suffering is the reason why I’m sitting here and creating my art… and I owe everything to art. Does an artist need to experience nothing in order to truly appreciate having something? If you are trying to make people believe in something but you’re lying, you’ll get found out very quickly. If you’ve been through painful experiences, you can’t really lie, because you went through it. It makes you want to talk about it even more, and the more you do, the more people open up to you. And you realise that even if you and that other person don’t look alike, you share a resemblance through your experiences.
You experienced bullying at school – how did that influence your career? I only started thinking about it when I grew up and became a man. As a child, you don’t understand these things. That was the reason why I went to France in the first place; I didn’t feel like my parents cared about me, and I wanted to run away from that situation. It wasn’t easy, but it has made me stronger and more compassionate. Would you do anything differently now? I think I would do the complete opposite of what I did, which was to shut my mouth and not tell anybody. You featured in The New York Times’ list of the ‘28 Creative Geniuses Who Defined Culture in 2016’. Is that something you set out to achieve with your music – to define culture? I’m here for a reason, for a purpose, and that is to inspire. In terms of being called a genius, this is nonsense. We hype people because we like them and we want others to appreciate what they do. Tomorrow I will call you God, but you’re not. I Tell A Fly is out now; benjaminclementine.com
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Elbow
It’s as if a 1980s Walkman took off its clothes, revealing the Terminator’s endoskeleton beneath
THE CASSETTE PLAYER REMIXED I
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with a cog that drives the tape. Instead of buttons, it sports a wheel that you twist to adjust the volume, play the cassette, or fast-forward. It’s a design concept from Lithuanian audiovisual artists Andrius Žemaitis and Marius Paulikas, aka BrainMonk, who created Elbow so as not to obscure the “cultural icon” that is the cassette, and to “allow the listener to appreciate the mechanical motion”. Until they’ve achieved the necessary funding, though, we’ll be stuck with Walkmans closer to that of Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord. Facebook: @ElbowCP
Elbow’s motor works together with an optical sensor that tracks the tape’s surface to maintain consistent playback speed. To play the other side of the cassette, just lift the biaxial arm and attach it to the second reel
TOM GUISE
n 2014, Guardians Of The Galaxy proved filmgoers would pay to see a Marvel movie starring Vin Diesel as a cartoon tree, and, thanks to its best-selling soundtrack, that ’70s pop was back in vogue. Most interestingly, 11,000 copies of the soundtrack were sold on cassette tape. Much like vinyl before it, the death of the tape, it seems, has been greatly exaggerated, with artists including Kanye West, The Weeknd and Justin Bieber releasing limited numbers of their albums on cassette. All that was needed was a new spin on the tape player to accompany this revival. Elbow is a portable cassette player without most of the parts you associate with a tape deck. Discarding the shell and all those pinch rollers and whirring internal mechanics, it strips the device down to its core – the magnetic playback head is attached to an arm
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SOUTH TYROL A n u n d is c ove r e d w i n te r wo n d e r la n d
Experience sun, snow and la dolce vita on the slopes of South Tyrol. South Tyrol, Italy’s most northerly region, is set amid the jaw-droppingly beautiful Dolomite mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the area boasts some of the world’s best ski and snow sport runs. Add 300 days of sunshine a year, and a snow guarantee from December to April, and it’s clear that this is the place to be for discerning snow enthusiasts. Home to the famous Dolomiti Superski and Sellaronda, South Tyrol offers excellent downhill and cross-country, with options for skiers and snowboarders of all levels, plus 63 ski schools catering for beginners. And it’s not only the landscape and the snow that make a visit here so rewarding; the region’s blend of cultures – Alpine and Mediterranean – influences everything from its food and wine to its spa tradition, all of this adding to South Tyrol’s eclectic and unique character. For more details, visit suedtirol.info
Red Bull Timelaps Take a full days‘ bike racing, stage it on the date the clocks go back, and you‘ve got what must rank as the world’s toughest endurance cycling event. Former Olympic pentathlete and sports scientist Greg Whyte OBE explains how to get through 25 hours of pain
“SUCCESS IS ALL ABOUT COPING WITH MISERY”
At Red Bull Timelaps, cyclists will compete in teams of four
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t midday on October 28, 600 intrepid – or, depending on your take, insane – cycling fanatics will power off the line at Great Windsor Park on the Berkshire/Surrey border to begin what might be the world’s toughest one-day bike race. Why? Because the teams of four taking part in Red Bull Timelaps won’t only be in the saddle for 24 hours – at 2am the next morning, just as the riders are really feeling the burn, the clocks will go back, making this a 25-hour event. This is the sort of extra hurdle that renowned sports scientist and former Olympian Greg Whyte OBE describes as “a brutal quirk, but a really fascinating one”. And the key to survival, he says, is planning. “You can boil it down to two key elements: pacing and fuelling, which includes hydration. Fuelling might sound straightforward: just load up on your favourite snacks and eat them when necessary. The problem is, your palate changes over the course of an event, and the snack you think is your favourite can suddenly become inedible. The best approach is to bring a little of everything. There will be
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a moment when chocolate is what you most want. Then it’ll be something else. It may sound odd, but the things I crave are pork pies, sausage rolls, savoury food. “This sounds obvious, but correct hydration is really, really important. If you don’t drink enough, you start to experience cognitive problems and your decision-making abilities become impaired – not what you want at 40kph. “Pacing is the other crucial element – you have to know what works for you. It’s absolutely possible to cycle for 24 hours non-stop – we humans are the most welladapted endurance hunters in existence and have evolved to outlast our prey, so we’re programmed for this – but you have to be familiar with your correct pace. Knowing what you can manage, what works for you and sticking to it as much as possible is what will get you through. “The mental side of it is equally tough, and setting short-term goals is crucial. ‘How far do I want to go in the first hour?’ You have to ‘be in the now’ and not project into the future. If you can deliver on short-term goals, the feedback is instant. You can celebrate the result, reap the mental reward and move on to your next goal. “Taking part in an event such as this is incredibly tough. It stretches every aspect of sports endurance – physiology, psychology, nutrition, biomechanics – as well as the technical limits of your equipment. “This is probably a bit harsh, but ultra events, when you’re deep into them, are just miserable, and the people who succeed are those who can cope with that misery!” redbull.com 27
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Laura Deming Ageing is a disease that no one can escape, but this woman believes a cure will exist in our lifetime
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and scientists will gather to accelerate breakthrough technologies into worldtransforming solutions. In its seventh year, the summit has so far generated $120m (£90m) for start-ups in every industry from healthcare and the environment to AI and aerospace. Last year even saw a pre-presidential Emmanuel Macron take the stage. If Deming and her associates achieve their goal, the future will be a place worth sticking around for. hello-tomorrow.org
Laura Deming, now 23, began to carve out her career at the age of eight
PIERRE HENRI CAMY
preventing organ rejection in transplant patients have extended the lifespan of mice. While the battle against cancer, dementia and heart disease has existed as long as medical science itself, the anti-ageing industry – a literal quest for the font of eternal youth – is still young. Deming is one of its leading voices, and in October her peers and potential funders will hear what she has to say at Hello Tomorrow, a global summit at Le CentQuatre in Paris, where tech startups, entrepreneurs
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aura Deming took an interest in biology at the age of eight. By 11, the New Zealander had talked her family into relocating to the US so she could work in a research lab there. At 14, Deming was admitted to MIT, and she was a biotech entrepreneur by the age of 17. Now, aged 23, Deming still has her whole life ahead, but she has plans to increase even that – considerably. As a partner at venture capital firm The Longevity Fund, she invests in research into eradicating ageing for good. By August this year, the fund had raked in $22million (close to £17m) in capital and made progress in the quest for immortality. Together with fellow scientist Cynthia Kenyon, they have extended the life of the Caenorhabditis elegans worm by a factor of 10. Other research has shown that drugs on the market for treating Type 2 diabetes and
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Discover the underwater world on your own terms. Join thousands of other freedivers exploring the world you thought you knew, from a whole new perspective. Freediving is about inward power, discipline and control. Stay as long as your breath allows and experience life changing adventures and encounters others can only dream about.
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ome a PADI Free
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Power. Discipline. Control. Become a PADI Freediver
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Daymak C5
Never judge a vehicle by its size. According to its makers, this cute Canadian kart can outrun the world’s fastest cars
T It may be able to outrun any production car on earth, but only on a racetrack – the C5 Blast Ultimate, not surprisingly, isn’t street legal
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o the uninitiated, this go-kart might look like a child’s toy, but even among superkart aficionados who know about such things, the raw power of the C5 Blast Ultimate will raise eyebrows… then blow them clean off. This electric kart can go from 0 to 60mph in less than 1.5 seconds. To put that into perspective, it’s 0.7 seconds quicker than the fastest production car, such as a Porsche 918 Spyder or Tesla Model S in ‘ludicrous’ mode; 0.2 seconds swifter than the 2015 Red Bull Racing RB11 F1 car, and on par with the AMZ Grimsel, which currently
lays claim to the title of quickest-accelerating electric car. Daymak, the Canadian developer of the C5 Blast Ultimate, says it’s the fastest go-kart on the planet. The secret to this incredible acceleration, according to Daymak president Aldo Baiocchi, lies in its electricducted fan motors. There are eight on the sides and four on the back which create upward thrust, making the kart lighter by 100kg, while a 1,000w engine powers the rear wheels. The C5 Blast Ultimate is yet to be pitted against other vehicles, so there are only beta-testing stats to back up Daymak’s boast, but you can try it for yourself – the firm is taking orders with a 90-day ‘build, test and deliver’ timeframe. And while that acceleration figure is low, the price – US$59,995 (£46,000) – isn’t, making it the most expensive go-kart around, too. daymak.com
THE RED BULLETIN
TOM GUISE
WHEN GO-KARTS GO WILD
No room for error
Risky journey: German cave diver Robert Marc Lehmann and his team at the entrance to Dan’s Cave in the Bahamas
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Deep-sea discovery: one of Lehmann’s diving partners, Brian Kakuk, retrieves a crocodile’s lower jaw from a cave in the Bahamas
German cave diver and underwater photographer Robert Marc Lehmann explores the most dangerous diving locations in the world to raise awareness of marine protection. Here, he talks about chilled-out sharks, underwater panics, and the last remaining undiscovered places on Earth Words: Andreas Rottenschlager Photography: Robert Marc Lehmann
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Micronesian mission: Lehmann’s team explore a WW2 shipwreck in the Chuuk Lagoon
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conversation with this man and you can put away that adventure novel once and for all. German photographer and research diver Robert Marc Lehmann films in the world’s most dangerous cave systems, explores historical shipwrecks, and goes undercover in pursuit of shark killers. Here, the 34-yearold explains how he stays upbeat in a job where any error invariably proves fatal.
the red bulletin: As a research diver, you are an expert in extremely dangerous dives… robert marc lehmann: I wouldn’t call it dangerous. Seriously? You dive kilometres into underwater cave systems as part of your expeditions, forcing your way through narrow gaps with heavy equipment, when all around you is pitch black. Most people would call that dangerous… As long as you make painstaking plans, cave diving is no more dangerous than any other dive. You just need THE RED BULLETIN
Protector of the oceans: Lehmann is committed to the cause of marine conservation
to be properly trained. Most of the people who die in caves are ‘normal’ divers with no special training, who don’t know how they’re supposed to react in emergency situations. This job doesn’t allow for error. If a problem arises, you have to solve it on the spot. What kind of problems arise? Gas-supply failure, broken lamps, torn cave lines [nylon cords that divers lay in order to find their way back]. When you’re training as a cave diver, the teachers are constantly bombarding you with those sorts of stressful situations. What happens during one of these emergency situation exercises? Do the trainers swim up behind you and turn off your air? Well, having no air can happen. Oh, OK… That’s a totally realistic scenario. You’re diving through a very narrow cave, right under the ceiling, and the dial on your oxygen tank gets caught and turns itself off, and you can’t breathe any more. The solution is to stay calm, get your hand on the dial and turn it back on. That’s a technical, mechanical solution. But what about when you’re diving through a dark, narrow cave and suddenly you’re gasping for air? For 99 per cent of people, that would be their worst nightmare. How do you manage to stay calm in that situation? You need extremely strong nerves for this job. You can practise. Plus your team gives you extra support. I would 37
The shark whisperer: Lehmann dives regularly with these marine predators. Here, he is diving with a blue shark off the Azores
Shark alarm: the right way to react 1. Check the beach
Avoid murky waters at dusk – this is the shark’s main hunting time. On the Global Shark Attack File website (sharkattackfile.net) you can see which beaches have the most incidents.
2. Don’t move…
…even if that’s hard to do. Stay calm and look at the shark. They’re not as interested in people who stay still, but they love it if you’re thrashing around.
3. Get into an upright position
Sharks ideally like to hunt dolphins and tuna (ie, animals that move through the water horizontally). If you’re in a vertical position in the water, the shark is likely to stay away as it won’t see you as prey.
4. Aim for the gills
In an emergency, avoid punching the nose and eyes as they’re much too close to the sharp teeth. A smack on the gills will have more impact as there are sensitive blood vessels behind them.
5. Turn the shark over (only for pros!)
If you flip a shark onto its back, it falls into tonic immobility – a form of paralysis. Animal rights activists use this technique when operating to remove fishing hooks from sharks’ jaws.
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never dive in caves alone; there are usually four of us. My Submaris team-mates are also very well-trained. Many top sportsmen and women prepare for crunch situations with mental training. I’d be considering that if I were you… Mental training was part of my free-diving training. You learn to control your breathing reflex. I can now hold my breath for five minutes. That gives me an extra window of opportunity if something goes wrong underwater. When you’re training as a freediver, are you taught any general tricks for coping with panic? Yes. Take deep breaths. That sounds a bit simplistic… But most people breathe incorrectly and only partially fill their lungs. To relax, you need to breathe into your abdomen and completely replace the air in your lungs. That helps with the shallow breathing associated with panic attacks. Good teachers and mental training still wouldn’t be enough to calm me – especially as there are still factors you can’t control. For instance, whether the ceiling of a cave is stable when you’re diving in an unfamiliar area… That actually happened when we were diving in cenotes (sinkholes created by collapsed rock, which form some of the world’s longest cave systems) in Mexico in 2012. We were working our way through the cave when parts of the ceiling started collapsing behind us and threw up THE RED BULLETIN
Top gear: Lehmann’s cave kit 1
Canon EOS-1D X Mark II camera
Encased in a SEACAM housing (water-resistant to 100m), with a Sigma 12-24mm F4 lens and Light & Motion lighting system. sediment. Our visibility was immediately reduced to zero – that’s a big problem. That sounds terrifying. What did you do? We followed the emergency procedure: you put one hand on the cave line, the other on the leg of the person in front of you. That way, you can communicate blind via pressure signals. My colleagues reacted perfectly. We slowly worked our way along the cave line and out of the cave. What happens if one of your diving partners has a bad day? You can’t control human failure… Mistakes happen to the best of us. We’ve got to be clear about that. There are professional divers who have died because they breathed the wrong gas at a certain depth; you take three breaths, suffer an oxygen seizure and die. Depending on the depth, we can use anything up to four different gases per diving session. That’s why you factor in double checks and ask your diving partner before you change gas. You have to act slowly and carefully, even though a diving session often lasts for hours. Is it true that the human brain works more slowly when you’re underwater? If you’re diving with air, the ‘Martini Rule’ applies: a depth of 10 metres affects the brain like a glass of Martini, 20 metres is like two glasses, and so on. That’s why we cave-dive with Trimix, a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and helium; it ensures you have a relatively clear head. Having said that, it’s still more difficult to record data or to remember your way back out, plus you have the extreme physical strain. After a cave dive, I feel like I’ve run a marathon. Despite the exertion and the obvious dangers, you keep diving into these treacherous caves that branch out in all directions. What is it about your job that you love? I love discovering places where nobody, or very few people, have been before. In the cenotes of Mexico, we found sacrificial altars that were thousands of years old, and fire sites from the Mayan era. The caves had been inhabited before they flooded. I find it absolutely fascinating diving into a world that remains hidden to most people. You’ve travelled to more than 100 countries, so you must have a favourite dive site. Which one has fascinated you most? Dean’s Blue Hole – a difficult, really long cave in the Bahamas. After more than an hour of diving, you reach the Glass Factory, a very low but breathtaking space with thousands of stalactites and stalagmites. You lie on the cave floor and stare into this green light. Only a dozen people have been there to date, because the route is extremely difficult to dive. Capturing places like that on camera and sharing it motivates me. THE RED BULLETIN
Aluminium tanks
2
With Trimix 21/35 breathing gas for depths of up to 45m, and high-performance Apeks and Mares diving regulators. 3
Sidemount buoyancy compensator
To carry the tanks on your side instead of on your back. You can even remove them and push them through holes ahead of you.
Hollis diving fins
4
Essential for narrow caves. They’re short and stiff, so you won’t break off any stalactites (the ones that hang from the ceiling) or stalagmites. 5
Diving helmet
To protect against sharp edges, with back-up lamps in case the headlamp fails. 6
Headlamp
To light the way and communicate with other divers. A full circle means, “All OK?” Slowly moving it from side to side signifies “Attention”, and the same motion but faster warns “Emergency”. 7
Light & Motion additional lighting
To light medium-sized caves, because very dark spaces can guzzle up to 100,000 lumens. 8
Back pouch pocket
Contains one reel with a 100m cave line to mark your route, and two spools – each with 30m of cave line – for short explorations off the main route. Also always to hand: a knife and compass, and underwater writing paper and a pen for making notes.
3 1 8
6
2 7 4 5
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How you can make your planet better
The Glass Factory in Ralph’s Cave is Lehmann’s favourite spot on the planet: “Very few people can make it there at all”
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Five simple tips: how to protect the environment 1. When grocery shopping
Support zero-waste stores that sell loose produce, such as coffee in ceramic jars and oats in reusable glasses. For more, go to wastelandrebel.com
2. When buying meat
Beef is the biggest climate killer. If you have to eat meat, buy local. Apps such as CodeCheck will help you make your selection at the supermarket.
3. On holiday
Don’t go to dolphin shows. Don’t ride elephants. Be sure to use an ethical company if you go whale watching (ie, one that approaches the mammals with a single boat and not a whole fleet).
4. When fishing
There are about a million plastic particles bobbing around per cubic metre of seawater, and these end up in fish. So we end up eating our own rubbish. For reasons of overfishing, too, I try not to eat fish.
5. In day-to-day life
Dispense with plastic straws, and use refillable drinking bottles. Start an initiative – a plastic-free school is a good example of this.
Another of your motivations is protecting the environment. You speak in schools and universities, and several thousand people attend your lectures each year. How would you sum up your message as an environmentalist in a single sentence? “The world is a beautiful place worth fighting for.” That’s why I document both its beautiful and ugly aspects. Your home page features photographs of dead whales and slaughtered sharks… The shark photos come from a mission to South America. In Peru, they kill about 15,000 dolphins a year to use as shark bait. They cut the fins off the sharks to sell them to Asia. We shot an undercover reportage on shark finning. What do you mean by “undercover”? We were gathering evidence. I stood in a courtyard at 3am in Lima where sharks were being finned, which is obviously illegal. I was dressed as a tourist and had hidden my camera. The report will be broadcast on the Oceancare.org home page early next year. Sharks are frequently the focus of your attention, and you often dive with them. How do you manage
Diver selfie: Lehmann meets a grey seal off the coast of Heligoland
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Wreck diving in northern Europe: Lehmann and his team inspect a ship at the bottom of a Norwegian fjord
to get so close without being attacked? By checking their behaviour first. I’ve worked with sharks for years, and you come to learn a lot about them and how they behave. Before I get into the water with a shark, I go through a number of checks to see whether it’s relaxed. What does a relaxed shark look like? It has almost no white in its eyes, it swims slowly, and its fins are relaxed. How does it feel to look a shark in the eye? It’s a fascinating experience. Sharks understand immediately that there’s an animal in the water with them that shouldn’t be there. But they will let you do as you please. After all the shark territory, deep caves and blue holes you’ve dived into, is there a place you still want to explore? Sure. We always think there are no blank spots left on the map, but 95 per cent of the oceans are still to be explored. We know more today about the surface of the Moon than we do about the deep sea. So there’s still plenty out there to discover. For more, head to robertmarclehmann.com 44
Hot spots: Lehmann’s top diving locations 1
Cenotes, Mexico
The states of Quintana Roo and Yucatán have more than a thousand of these ancient karst caves. 2
Dean’s Blue Hole, Bahamas
Breathtaking colours. One of the world’s most spectacular caves. 3
The Azores, Portugal
Sharks, manta rays, dolphins, whales and sea caves: this archipelago has it all. 4
Norway and Spitsbergen
Pros: dark fjords, deep-sea creatures, kelp forests. Con: water temperatures can plummet to -1.8°C. 5
Poor Knights Islands, New Zealand
Here you’ll find dolphins, orcas and huge shoals of fish, but the current is pretty strong.
THE RED BULLETIN
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DAVID CLERIHEW
“YOU JUST GRIT YOUR TEETH AND GET ON WITH IT”
DAVE GROHL
MIGHT BE T H E W O R L D ’ S M O S T P A S S I O N AT E R O C K S TA R . H E R E ’ S A M A N W H O NEVER GIVES UP ON A CONCERT – EVEN AFTER BREAKING HIS LEG O N S TA G E . T H E F O O F I G H T E R S FRONTMAN EXPLAINS HOW HE KEEPS H I S PA S S I O N F O R T H E J O B B U R N I N G
WORDS: MARCEL ANDERS 47
IN 1986, 17-YEAR-OLD DAVE GROHL QUIT SCHOOL
the red bulletin: You broke a leg during a concert in Gothenburg in the summer of 2015… dave grohl: I was so euphoric I lost my balance on the edge of the stage and fell into the photographers’ pit. It’s a miracle I survived the fall, actually. I could have just as easily broken my neck. And yet after a short break you got on with the concert. Sitting down and with your leg in plaster! Why didn’t you just call it off? Because I can’t. What do you mean? It’s down to my punk-rock past. In the old days, musicians were constantly breaking their nose onstage, getting electric shocks, or falling flat on their face when they stage-dived. No one would have dreamed of cancelling a gig because of it. You just rocked on! I internalised that philosophy – you just grit your teeth and get on with it. OK… but doing a whole European tour with a broken leg? It soon became clear after the accident that I wasn’t going to be able to stand at the mic or sit in a wheelchair with a guitar for two hours. So a technician and I designed a throne that was also a guitar stand and a smoke machine. It meant I was able to do the remaining 50 concerts of the tour. Later, Axl Rose had a similar accident, and he asked 48
The guitar-throne idea came to Grohl in hospital after the accident: “I was completely high on painkillers” THE RED BULLETIN
GETTY IMAGES
to tour Europe with US punk band Scream. Since then, he has rarely been off the stage – first as the drummer of grunge icons Nirvana, then, from 1994, as frontman of his own band, Foo Fighters. Over the past 30 years, Grohl has sold more than 50 million albums and played thousands of shows. Now, at 48, he tells The Red Bulletin why he still gives 100 per cent to every performance, why he doesn’t take any time off, and why he wouldn’t wish to have a son like himself
me if he could borrow the throne for some Guns N’ Roses shows. Have you patented the throne? People really did ask me if I wanted to do that, but it would be absurd for someone who had broken their leg to have to ask my permission in order to continue their tour. That kind of attitude will never make a good businessman of you. Hip-hop artists such as Jay-Z or P Diddy would monetise it… Like everything they touch, because that’s their main motivation. And that’s OK because they come from a world where it’s about survival. And you only survive if you earn money. The more the better. What’s wrong with having some healthy business acumen? Nothing, but it’s never been my approach. I may not come from a rich family but I’ve never had to worry about survival. In that sense, fun has always been the priority for me, along with things that help me move forward as a person and as a musician. I don’t need even more money, cars and gold chains – they don’t make you happy. And I’d rather be happy than stinking rich. OK, I might be rich, but I don’t stink. You wanted to reward yourself with a longer break after the tour. How come you’re now releasing a new album much earlier than planned? At first I was really enjoying the time off, but then my daughters said, “Dad, why are you hanging around the house the whole time?” They didn’t like the idea of me always wanting to do stuff with them. So I started writing new songs. In six months I had enough material, and I didn’t want to hang around for ages, so I rounded up the band. Most of the guys were still on vacation. They were pretty surprised. So even after 30 years in the music business, you still can’t just switch off for long? I think that’s why I’ve made it as far as I have: because I’m crazy about music – in a good way. After all this time, I still can’t get enough of it. If I just sat around THE RED BULLETIN
at home pursuing odd hobbies, Foo Fighters wouldn’t be on album number nine, and we certainly wouldn’t be playing such big venues. You only get out of life what you’ve invested in it. Where would you draw the line between having a positive obsession with music and being a workaholic? Before my music career, I did all sorts of crap jobs. It was music that gave me prospects and made a better life possible. Music is the love of my life; if I’m not doing something with music for a couple of days, I immediately get a negative conscience. In my first few months off, I was flirting with the idea of directing a film. But it felt weird right from the getgo, because I couldn’t be as enthusiastic
energy to drive the kids to school, go grocery shopping, and pick up the dog crap in my garden. Your eight-year-old daughter Harper went on stage with you recently as your drummer. Would you say she’s following in your footsteps? Harper did great, didn’t she? Especially as she’d only been playing for two weeks by that point. She said to me, “Dad, can you give me drumming lessons?” I put on an AC/DC record and showed her a simple rock rhythm. She had to struggle
“I’D RATHER BE HAPPY THAN STINKING RICH. OK, I MIGHT BE RICH, BUT I DON’T STINK” about any film project as I am about Foo Fighters. It felt so much more like work, and that’s never been the case with music. I never have to look for inspiration with music – it’s just there. How do you maintain that passion for work? Do you have any tips? The key is to do something fulfilling, for which you get respect. If you don’t find that in your day job, you need to look for another outlet. That could be theatre, dance, sport, some nerdy hobby, whatever. Do what’s fun, and enjoy life – that’s all I’m doing. I play music with my friends and that gives me the
through that before I taught her We Will Rock You by Queen, and she got that. When she came to see me at the Foo Fighters concert in Iceland, I asked her if we should do it on stage and she said yes straight away. It was magnificent! Can we expect to see a family band soon – The Grohls? I hope my three daughters will play together some day. But for now they’re more into arguing with each other – and it’s constant. Would you like a son? I’m not sure about that. The thing is, would he be like me? That could be quite a nightmare – a rebellious, uncontrollable child? No thanks. Foo Fighters’ new album, Concrete And Gold, is out now; foofighters.com 49
Former British Rally Champion Malcolm Wilson is in the driving seat again at M-Sport
Hidden away in a former mental hospital in the Lake District, operating on a fraction of the budget of its manufacturer rivals, British independent outfit M-Sport has secured rallying’s biggest star, built the sport’s best car, and now stands on the brink of World Rally Championship glory. Ahead of the Wales Rally GB, boss Malcolm Wilson explains how the “little team that could” have done it Words: Gemma Briggs 50
Photography: Sam Barker
THE
GIANT KILLERS
Tyre-less commitment: a look inside the workshop at M-Sport’s headquarters, Dovenby Hall
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n 2007, Malcolm Wilson, managing director of M-Sport, stood in front of his 250-strong workforce and wept. Ford, a long-term partner, which M-Sport had just taken to a second consecutive World Rally Championship Manufacturers’ title, was pulling out of the competition; redundancies were inevitable. A decade later, if you were to meet the teaktough 61-year-old you would find it difficult to believe that such a public display of emotion took place. Not because you doubt that he cares so intensely about his staff – a queue of workers will attest to his assiduity – but this team is now on the brink of clinching its first-ever Drivers’ championship victory, along with yet another Manufacturers’ title. Tears do not fit with the fortitude required to
continue as an independent, outflanked by heavily funded manufacturer teams, and being within touching distance of a real sporting upset. It isn’t Wilson himself who tells the story of the emotional Ford announcement, of course; the stoic nature endemic to this corner of Cumbria wouldn’t let that slip. It is one of the technicians hard at work in the slick, modern workshop that is the tip of M-Sport’s expansion who details just how deeply the severance was felt. While the sundering was hard, it wasn’t total. M-Sport and Ford remain close partners, with the rally team linked to the global manufacturer by a long-standing technical partnership. Indeed, it’s hard to now imagine M-Sport without Ford logos emblazoned across its competition cars.
The Ogier effect After VW’s exit, rally legend Sébastien Ogier could have chosen any of the WRC’s big squads. Instead, he picked one of the smallest… THE RED BULLETIN: What made you decide to compete with M-Sport? SÉBASTIEN OGIER: I always had a lot of respect for Malcolm, and when I tried the car I immediately saw its potential. I knew I was going to the smallest team, which was interesting. Did you see it as a risk? Not really. With what I’ve achieved, I don’t feel I have anything more to prove. Whatever happens in the rest of my career, I’m very happy. What were your first impressions of the team’s Dovenby Hall base? It’s a bit in the middle of nowhere, but the facilities are fantastic. For a private team, it’s really impressive. When I visited the factory, I was happy to such a passionate team at work. How do you get on with Malcolm? Really well. He’s straightforward, so if there’s anything wrong we always discuss it and try to find solutions. I can see he’s doing absolutely everything he can to win. What was the response to your first victory of 2017? It was the first round of the season and was quite a surprise, actually, as I was almost no one in the team. It was good to start like that immediately, as it gave everyone an extra boost. As an independent, how is M-Sport different from manufacturer teams? The structure is not different, but for sure there are more resources for the manufacturer teams. With a smaller budget, M-Sport is really doing the best. It’s beautiful for the sport to see.
M-Sport’s small but passionate team get their hands dirty
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Would it boost your reputation to win the title with an independent? To be successful in this environment is definitely a big achievement, so it must be good for my reputation. It’s a hard challenge, but I’ve already proved myself. There are four rounds to go and we’re still in competition for the title. We’ll give our best.
GETTY IMAGES, JAANUS REE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
S
o how did this company, set up 38 years ago at Wilson’s home of Cockermouth, build such a formidable relationship with Ford and secure the services of four-times World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier to spearhead its 2017 title campaign? In the oak-panelled boardroom of Dovenby Hall – a 12th-century estate acquired by the team almost 20 years ago – the first matter Wilson clarifies is the size of the company. It’s evident that M-Sport is one of the smallest teams on the WRC stage, running Ford’s programme independent of full manufacturer support. Yet with around 250 staff at its main UK base and 38 more in Poland, it produces between 80 and 100 cars each year, with an annual turnover of £50 million. Where does that place M-Sport in comparison with other British motorsport outfits? “To be honest, I can’t tell you,” says Wilson. He’s not being evasive, but rather genuinely modest. “I don’t bother with anybody else.” OK, but it must make you proud to sit alongside the likes of Williams Grand Prix as one of Britain’s most successful motorsport companies? “Yeah, but the trouble is you’re too close to it. It’s a way of life. It’s been my life and I don’t know anything else,” he says, bluntly. “Don’t get me wrong – when I’ve got some of the awards, like the OBE, it has made me stop and think. But then immediately I’m back and focused on the business again.”
The business that occupies his attention is not just a WRC campaign for a trio of cars; it runs a further six customer WRC entries, as well as supplying a host of Fiesta R5 models for WRC2 and Fiesta R2T cars for the entire Junior World Rally Championship field. Then there’s a pair of Bentley Continentals that have propelled M-Sport to second place in the Blancpain GT Series standings, and a winning customer project with the Ford Focus RS RX in the World Rallycross Championship. It’s clear that its partnership with the blue oval has endured and prospered: indeed, in just four years M-Sport has built and sold 250 Fiesta R5s. “The scale of the team from the outside looks big, but a lot of that is straightforward commercial business,” says Wilson. “The actual WRC side of it is small in relation to the manufacturer teams. We’re punching above our weight, for sure.” While the WRC programme takes a big chunk of the firm’s finances and resources, it by no means monopolises Wilson’s attention. He left Rally Finland early to watch his Bentleys in Belgium’s 24 Hours of Spa, and he enthuses about how endurance racing reminds him of rallying in the old days. It seems every aspect of this business inspires him. “The WRC programme is basically our marketing tool,” he reasons. “As much as financially it would be better if we weren’t in the WRC, I use that as our flagship programme to drive everything else we do. It gives us the credibility with all the other disciplines and levels of car.”
“The Fiesta RS WRC is the best car we’ve designed and developed”
Sébastien Ogier is driving the new Fiesta RS WRC in his debut season for M-Sport
M-Sport is the little team that has taken on and beaten the giants, and its relationship with Ford has been key to this
Welshman Elfyn Evans is one of the up-and-coming stars of the World Rally Championship
Rising force Elfyn Evans, 28, drove for M-Sport from 2014-2015 before rejoining this season. We caught up with him after Rally Finland, where he scored his second podium of the year… THE RED BULLETIN: Tell us about your history with the team... ELFYN EVANS: I won the Junior WRC [in 2012] and the prize was six rallies with the Fiesta R5. From 2013 to 2015, I actually lived on site and was involved in the development of the new car. That progressed into a full factory drive. Did you enjoy living and working in such a remote location? I grew up in North Wales, and it’s very similar – I’m used to all the shops being an hour away! It’s a great atmosphere, and I’ve made lots of friends in the team over the years. There’s a great mix of people: a lot of locals, but also, being an international motorsport team, it draws others from all over the world. There’s a family atmosphere. It’s a great team to be involved with.
JAANUS REE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, OLAF PIGNATARO
How would you describe your relationship with Malcolm? It’s obviously been good, as we’re still working together after all these years! He competed against my dad [former British Rally champion Gwyndaf], and what he’s achieved has been incredible. He’s still very driven, and, to be honest, that’s not always easy... Does he give some tough love? There are naturally times where things get tough, and the atmosphere is not always sunshine and roses. I think that’s the case with anyone who wants to be successful in sport or business. If he’s not happy, he lets you know that, but I don’t expect to be mollycoddled. You know where you stand, and at least everything is transparent, which is a lot easier to deal with. Would the atmosphere change if the team was factory supported? M-Sport is an independent, but the family atmosphere would be there whether they were branded a factory team or not. It’s been like that since I’ve been involved; there’s a big sense of achievement when we do well.
This approach is clearly working: next up is a state-of-the-art test track and evaluation centre, due to open in around a year and aimed at motor manufacturers’ top-secret projects. As he talks about the possibility of autonomous vehicles being put through their paces in this remote estate deep in the picturesque Lake District, Wilson admits that business excites him as much as competing ever did. Wilson left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications, although his two late ’70s British Rally Championship crowns and experience driving for manufacturers in the WRC gave him a good start when he conceived his own team. There was a strong affinity with Ford – [British rally legend] Roger Clark was my hero, and he was always with Ford” – and M-Sport gained its first WRC title in 2006 with the Ford Focus RS. It was Ford’s first WRC win since 1979, and the pairing repeated the victory the following year. After years of struggle during which title sponsors came and went, Wilson took the opportunity at the end of 2016 to snap up reigning champion Sébastien Ogier when VW quit the WRC after the Frenchman delivered the German squad four consecutive titles. The coup was immense; in many ways, it was the WRC equivalent of a privateer F1 team such as Force India announcing that Sebastian Vettel was going to drive one of its cars.
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allying’s hottest property brought M-Sport instant victory in the opening round of this season, but it isn’t only Ogier’s Midas touch that has lined up the chance of overall glory this year. Enter the Fiesta RS WRC… “I like to drive every new rally car in the early stages to ensure there’s nothing fundamentally wrong,” says Wilson, who for several years was Ford’s chief test driver. “I did a full day in [Cumbria’s] Greystoke Forest with the Fiesta – it had been a few years since I’d driven one of our cars. Instantly, I felt confident that the team of engineers and designers had explored every possible avenue to produce a rally-winning car. It’s the best car we’ve designed and developed.” So how does Wilson translate this confidence to his team, who clearly have remained loyal through the leaner years? “I don’t think I translate it so much,” he reckons. “OK, I suppose I do by showing my enthusiasm. But when the proper drivers get into the car – for example, [regular driver] Ott Tänak immediately said, ‘This
car is for me’ – that passion rubs off on all the technicians and engineers. It spreads through the company. I go round the departments and say, ‘Look, this car is going to be really good, guys,’ but I don’t get everybody together. Well, maybe every now and then when we have success.” Wilson doesn’t give away any details of these gatherings, but the staff themselves offer stories of a celebration that included prosecco, an ice-cream van, and a staff raffle for memorabilia. The idea that even the least experienced team members are as valued as the stalwarts appears key to the extraordinary spirit that helps M-Sport exceed service park expectations. Pete Maze, a young technician on the WRC programme who joined the team two years ago, enthuses about the M-Sport/Ford combination. “Are we underdogs?” he says. “Probably. We’re not a full-blown manufacturer team, but we’ve had better results than the others – four wins so far this season. We’re leading the championship and have a really strong chance. Malcolm isn’t your average boss. Whenever he’s in the workshop, he’s happy to chat. He looks after us all.” Garry Barker is number-one technician for Tänak, who, along with Elfyn Evans, completes M-Sport’s trio of factory drivers. Barker has been with the team for 17 years, having started out doing work experience at Wilson’s home. “This year, we’re obviously on the way up, leading both championships, and that gives the team a huge boost. I see Malcolm quite often; he’s always in the workshop, having a bit of craic. He’s not difficult to talk to, and he likes to be nosy. On the other hand, he can keep the pressure on. He wants to win as much as we do.” M-Sport is the little team that has taken on and beaten the giants, and the key to its success is maintaining a strong working relationship with Ford through thick and thin, coupled with Wilson’s ‘tough love’ management approach. He undeniably cares about every person who toils for him, and the devotion that inspires appears to be the fuel of M-Sport. The best insight into the passion that has driven this team to such unexpected heights comes from Stephen Waddelove, chief technician for the R5. “I’ve worked here 12 years, so I have seen the ups and downs,” he says. “When Ford pulled out, Malcolm got everyone together and he was in tears. It mattered to him that somebody did not have a job any more.” If the promise of victory is fulfilled this year, perhaps it will be time to put that memory to rest. m-sport.co.uk 57
HIGH F LY I N G FA L C O N Former England Sevens star ALEX GRAY is making his mark Stateside – as the first English rugby pro to break into the NFL
Words: TONY THOMAS Photography: HAMISH BROWN
Leading the charge: Englishman Alex Gray has his eye on NFL success
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he fast track. One of the chosen ones. A high-school sports star who won scholarships thanks to an inherited physical prowess. A teenage professional born with a sporting silver spoon in his mouth. This was Alex Gray, 1.98m and 105kg of genetically blessed rugby union ace, whose first toddler steps had him striking out towards a field of dreams. A rugby professional uncle was the early beacon, sketching a draft inside the youngster’s head of “what he would do when he grew up”. The boy’s first images – his formative sights, sounds and smells – were all infused with rugby’s essence. Ripped turf. Cloying mud in cold, damp British winters. Vaseline and oranges. The fast clip of studs on concrete. Shouts from the touchline. Vast steaming baths. Blood. Pain. Elation. Little Alex sat on his mum’s knee in the stands, absorbing it all. By the age of six, his grandmother had signed him up for mini-rugby, and soon enough he’d gained entry to Barnard Castle School in the north-east of England – a noted hothouse for rugby talent. Future England stars are nurtured here – “It was a production line,” says Gray – and he would become one of them. Emerging as a young man big and athletic enough to handle ‘year up’ agegrade rugby (ie, playing against boys a year older, and therefore physically more developed) he was an England schoolboy international by the age of 16, most often in a preferred back-row position – flanker or ‘number eight’.
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“I’d spent all my life being really good at one thing: rugby. As soon as I arrived in Florida, all that was stripped away” Already he’d been picked up by professional club scouts. At 14, Gray became part of the Newcastle Falcons academy, and he spent summer, Christmas and Easter holidays training with fully fledged professionals such as England’s World Cup poster boy Jonny Wilkinson, who swiftly cemented himself as Gray’s sporting idol. “It was crazy,” says Gray, “but I was in a place where rugby was just a way of life. And then seeing Jonny up close, seeing how he operated in such a completely professional way, how he went about his business, I got to instil that in myself.” Gray became England ‘16s’ captain, then toured Australia with the under-18s – two years ahead of his age grade – before going on to lead that side for the next two seasons. Even by the hyperaccelerated standards of sporting prodigies, he was a shooting star. Straight out of school with a Falcons contract in his pocket, Gray’s path was set: any notion that he might pursue a career other than that of a professional rugby player seemed simply absurd. There was, though, a spark of curiosity, a latent wanderlust common in many teenagers, though tempered by the restriction of being under contract. “I wanted to get out by myself a little bit and experience something different, learn some life skills,” says Gray, who is still only 26. “Rugby was my passion, but now it was my job too, which meant I couldn’t just go travelling. So how would I get to experience the best of both? I worked out that the only place I could go was New Zealand.”
A whole new ball game, perhaps, but Gray has all the mental and physical prowess needed
Putting on the war paint: Gray will be fighting for a place on the Atlanta Falcons’ full team roster for the 2018 season
Six months in the most intense rugby culture on the planet, playing with the famed – and feared – Canterbury Crusaders, served only to draw Gray deeper into the sport that had consumed him since he was still in nappies. “It was an amazing time, and I realise in some ways how lucky I was,” he says. “Some of the guys I was at school with went straight into jobs, but I was able to travel to a very beautiful country where – and this is no exaggeration 62
– everyone plays rugby. All thanks to the game. And that’s kind of what it was about for me; I wanted to make the most of all the opportunities I had.” Further success beckoned. Gray captained the England Under-20s to a Junior World Championship final – they ended up losing to New Zealand – and he was soon playing in the English Premiership as a top-flight rugby pro. A switch of clubs from the Newcastle Falcons to London Irish was a logical
next step for a young man hungry for life experience, but it would also prove to be the first less-than-lustrous passage in a thus-far-gilded career. “I just kind of got a little bit stuck in the mud really, rugby-wise,” he says. “It was the first time in my life when there was no pressure on me to be the numberone guy in the team. I was behind a player named Chris Hala’ufia who, on his day, was one of the best in the world, so the team wasn’t depending on me. THE RED BULLETIN
“I didn’t want to get to 35 and think, ‘I wish I’d done that’”
“I got to a point where I was sitting on my hands a bit, and that ultimately led me to look to other things for satisfaction. Drinking, partying, chasing girls…” All of this would seem perfectly normal for a young adult male, but such pursuits are at odds with the monastic demands required of the modern rugby pro, and also unworthy of Gray’s own self-imposed standards. “That was a façade; it just wasn’t me,” he reflects. “It got to the point where THE RED BULLETIN
I thought, ‘I can’t do this any more. I’ve got to make a change somehow.’” Despite the offer of a three-year contract extension with London Irish, Gray felt sufficiently discontented to reach for the ‘reset’ button. “I realised what was happening,” he says, “and I just thought, ‘I need to make a huge change.’ I knew where I’d got to was not for me.”
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tepping away from the English Premiership, Gray hurled himself at the Rugby Sevens scene – a stripped-down, high-intensity, super-fast version of rugby union, featuring just seven players in each side. Sevens is faster and looser than regular 15-a-side and demands players with speed and explosive skills. Suddenly he was back in a sporting environment with nowhere to hide, where there was no option to be at anything less than his best. “I made a very conscious mindset change,” says Gray. “When you can feel everything you’ve done previously slipping away because of where you’re heading… that’s a huge thing. I stopped it by saying that I would try to be the best version of myself I could be every day. And that season [2015] I was England Sevens’ Player Of The Year.” The experience of near-failure had a profound effect on Gray. Forced to soul-search, he came to realise that opportunities for elite sportsmen were fleeting and the switch to Sevens had given him a taste for stepping out of his comfort zone. Something else – he didn’t know what – would beckon. That something came into view one evening last winter while Gray was channel-surfing. On Sky Sports, he found NFL Undiscovered, a show charting the progress of young American footballers with ambitions of making the major leagues. “I sat there thinking, ‘Well, if these guys are doing this, why couldn’t I?’” Gray set to researching this exotic new sport; one that had echoes of rugby union with its use of an oval ball and the necessity for big, skilful and explosively athletic players, but which was also very different in many other ways. Quickly, Gray realised that the new physical demands would be attainable for one of his pedigree; he’d simply have to adapt to the rules of the game. But how to make the switch? “I was speaking to my agent late last year about what I was going to do in
2017, rugby-wise,” he says, “and tonguein-cheek I said to him, ‘Why don’t we just go to the NFL and make a lot of money for us both?’ Lo and behold, two weeks later he was giving me a call saying, ‘I’ve just been speaking to some NFL scouts and they want to meet you.’ And that was kind of it.” ‘That was kind of it’ rather understates Gray’s place in sporting history, for in making the switch he was about to become the first English rugby union pro to quit for American Football. Summoned Stateside in February, he began an intensive 10-week programme of training. “I didn’t know anything,” he confides, “The biggest thing was the mental side of it. Physically it was very tough, just the amount of workload I had to go through to get up to scratch, but mentally… You know, I’d spent all my life being really good at one thing: rugby. Then, as soon as I arrived in Florida, all that was stripped away. It was a very humbling experience, but quite refreshing as well, because it meant I wasn’t being held back by anything I’d done in the past. “So I just set to grinding it out – being the first one in and the last one out, studying. I’d train from seven till seven, have half an hour for my dinner, study until half eleven at night and then go to sleep. I did that again and again every day for the next three months. It’s probably the most intense thing I’ve ever done, but it got me through the door. It’s what I had to do.” The one-year deal Gray has signed with the Atlanta Falcons will see him play as a ‘tight end’ (a hybrid offensivereceiver position) in their practice team, with the aim of winning a place on the full team roster. Gray admits that entering uncharted territory is “a huge gamble” and he’s unashamed to admit that the departure from the region, country and game he loves will be an emotional wrench. “But I thought, ‘You know what? This is exactly the challenge I wanted,’” he says. “I didn’t want to get to the age of 35 and look back and think, ‘Damn, I wish I’d done that.’ So that was that. I just kind of got up and left.” “Would I ever have thought this would be possible? Definitely not. But who knows what the future holds? Doors open, doors close – that’s the way life is – so I’m just trying to make the most of my opportunities.” 63
Freeriding aficionado M AT T JONES ’ first film for Red Bull shows how he visualises tricks in his mind’s eye. But even he wasn’t prepared for the tricks this year pulled on him WORDS: TOM GUISE
“I’m visualising ideas before they’re built, then building them to match the visualisation”
PH O T O G R A PH Y: R U T G ER PAU W, FR ED M U R R AY
REVOLUTION IN MOTION
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Jones has been mountain-biking since the age of 10. He’s spent as many hours building jumps as he has riding them
“To be able to look at a jump and know how it’s going to ride, without riding it – that’s a skill”
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“THESE ARE CHILDHOOD DREAMS. I LOST MY WAY AND FORGOT ABOUT THEM. IT’S RAD TO COME BACK TO THAT”
H “These tricks, utilising the terrain… for me, that’s the freeride element you can’t tap into at contests”
idden among the conifers and Jurassic ferns of the 400-acre Rushmere Country Park in Bedfordshire stand towering constructs formed from the soil and surrounding trees, incongruous and yet a perfectly formed part of the landscape. These mounds, incomprehensible to the uninitiated, have been willed into being by the mind of freerider Matt Jones. Jones has ridden his mountain bike in these parts since the age of 10. Early on, he knew he was able to master the terrain in ways regular riders couldn’t – jumping, flipping, rotating. The next step was to shape the landscape to his requirements. “I’d often do 10 hours’ digging, then ride for the last 45 minutes,” recalls Jones, now 23. “The building was just as fun, especially when you’re young. It’s the next level from playing with Lego. Then getting to ride it with your mates, to see if it works, was amazing. There was no thought back then that I would ever be a professional rider – I didn’t even know that existed.” But soon the world of professional freestyle mountain biking would know about Matt Jones. In 2013 – his first year
of international competition – Jones came third in the Red Bull Phenom contest at the X-Games; a year later, at 19, he won New Zealand’s Farm Jam and earned his helmet as a Red Bull athlete. This year, he’s wildcarded his way into the Diamond Series, the very pinnacle of FMB competitions, and filmed his first Red Bull project – one that’s brought him back to these potential-filled Bedfordshire woods. The formidable ramps and jumps here today haven’t been shaped by Jones’ own hands; he now has help. “This project is an extension of that decade where I was naïve, new to the sport and just playing in the woods,” says Jones. “I wanted to return to my roots. I know this ground and how to build on it. Red Bull said, ‘What used to take you months, you’re going to be able to do in days. We’ve got a build crew – we can help you break new ground.’” And as Jones’ tricks have evolved, so have his methods. He’s tested these jumps in his mind before putting foot to pedal. A successful session here has become more about maths than mud, more science than soil. What was once based purely on the physical is now all about the physics. “I’m not a practice-makes-perfect learner,” Jones says. “It’s all visualisation. 69
TRICKS OF THE MIND Director Stu Thompson reveals how he brought Matt Jones’ mental projections to the screen… Where did the idea come from? We talked about the idea of a ‘trace’. There are music videos where you see a person walking towards an static image of themselves in a certain pose [One Direction’s video for You & I uses this technique]. When they reach this ‘future self’, both images come together and they kept walking. We just took that concept a step further by doing it in slow motion. How is the effect achieved? We shoot the action in super-slow motion, then cut out the best part of the trick using either a blue screen, rotoscoping or keying [where a colour is removed] and put it on the right part of the image, which is just a normal speed shot. What was the hardest shot? Matt rides the loop and, straight after, goes into a corner with dirt flying everywhere. We realised that in the back of the shot was the next line he was about to do, and we thought it would be really good to see this in the distance. So we shot the next trick from quite far away and put a blue screen on it, because you can’t cut out every bit of dirt. We filmed this with Matt hitting the corner really fast, but about four metres after the corner was the blue screen and Matt went tearing towards it, so we had to pull it out of the way. That was spontaneous. How much input did Matt have? All these projects are a collaboration. It’s very much what Matt wants to do. We plan out every trick, and he’ll regularly look at the shot after we’ve done it. He’s obviously checking out his style, but he’ll always ask, “Should I do this? Or go a bit higher? Drop the front wheel?” He just wants to be the best he can. How true is this to how Matt actually visualises a trick? He works things out in a lot more detail than any other rider. The way he goes from thinking about a trick – just sitting there, about to try something for the first time, but with no idea how it’s going to go – to landing on two wheels and moving on to the next trick… that timescale is unreal.
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Forest jump: Jones and director Stu Thompson discuss takes and angles on set
From takeoff to landing, you can run through it all in your head before you get in the saddle. I already know the jump work, height limitations, air time… the entire trick from start to finish.” This mental power has helped Jones create a course that pushes the limits of his capabilities. “When building jumps, you have to avoid trees, but at the end of the day you’re in the woods,” he says. “When I was younger I had ideas about integrating the trees with my riding, but I wasn’t capable. There are so many features that incorporate them here: riding up a tree, down a tree. We used a digger to lower a log onto two posts for a trick.” And then there’s the 360-degree helix. “When it turned up on the back of a lorry, it was massive. Five metres high and five metres wide seems like nothing on paper, but when cubed it’s the biggest thing ever. I didn’t know how well that was going to work until the day I rode it.” Success would all be down to Jones’ mental power of projection. It’s a key visual element in his upcoming Red Bull film. An in-camera effect shows slowmotion duplicates of Jones performing his tricks in mid-air, slightly ahead of his real-time performance. This is so close to what Jones says he sees in his head
that he actually used the footage to hone his tricks further. “There are points in a trick where it’s make or break: the timing of your hands, or how hard you carve up the lip. If you watch it back in slow motion, it massively influences how you visualise and change your next attempt. It doesn’t take many goes to feel like you’ve got it figured out.” There was one point this year where it certainly seemed as if Jones had it all figured out: his first appearance in the Diamond Series, the moment his whole career had seemingly built towards. “It was the Crankworx Rotorua in New Zealand, right at the end of March,” says Jones. “I was riding really well all winter and flew out early. Almost for the first time ever, I felt comfortable on the big jumps. I was ready. “The day before the finals, I tried a normal 720 on the first massive jump. You take off at almost 35mph, so it would have been enormous. I had this confidence and knew it would set me apart from the rest of the field. But something went wrong in the rotations and I jumped off expecting to roll away. At such a speed, it must have been a high-energy impact on my wrist – it shattered both the bones. When I looked THE RED BULLETIN
“I LOVE PHYSICS AND UNDERSTANDING HOW THINGS MOVE. THAT'S ALL TRICKS ARE”
“In real time, you’re still making alterations in midair. You can salvage tricks that have gone wrong”
ANATOMY OF A JUMP: THE BUM SLIDE
NEED FOR SPEED
SUDDEN IMPACT
“I need the perfect amount of speed to make it onto the platform, but not too far,” says Jones. “I pull the bars down towards the ground and push the back wheel ahead of me.”
“This is damage control, as I’ve effectively crashed the jump. For it to work, I take the impact through my handlebar and hip, keeping my body rigid to look ahead.”
“I COULDN‘T PRACTISE, RIDE MY BIKE OR EVEN MUCK IN. I HAD TO DO EVERYTHING BY EYE”
S TA N D A N D D E L I V E R
DROP ZONE
“I throw my weight forward as the bike starts to decelerate due to friction. This begins the process of standing up before dropping off the end.”
“I twist anticlockwise and lean forward as hard as I can. There’s only a short time between the drop and landing, so I rotate fast to face forward again.”
down, I knew straight away that I was in for a rough couple of months.” Jones’ Crankworx was over, but that wasn’t his biggest concern. “It was the [Red Bull film] project. The whole year, all I’d been thinking was, ‘Don’t hurt yourself, Matt, because you’ve got this massive opportunity and it’s one you can’t miss.’ But I knew a wrist injury isn’t one where you’re back in six weeks.” Suddenly, Jones had to visualise an altogether different trick: recovering in time to get back onto the Diamond Series circuit and complete his dream project. “From the day the machines and guys with shovels came in till the day they left, my arm was in plaster,” says Jones, still frustrated that he was unable to get as involved in the building of the course as he’d have liked. “And then it was like, ‘OK, your turn – you’re riding.’ “I couldn’t practise anything or ride my bike or even muck in, so I had to do everything by eye. I had to stand in front of a jump that was completely new and think, ‘How am I going to ride that? Will the jump straight after this one work? What needs to change?’ So, before I was even back on my bike, I needed to build an understanding of how I was going to ride all this for the film.” Now life was imitating art, as the mental technique portrayed in the film was actually Jones’ only way of navigating the course. “It’s all physics,” he explains. “You’re just one great big spinning mass, and it’s about finding if you can spin in a different orientation. The visualisation is a short cut to getting there. You can get a few failed attempts out of the way before you’ve even got on the bike, and you gain a good understanding of what it’ll take to get you close to the finished product.” Meanwhile, the next Diamond Series events – back-to-back Crankworx weekends in June – were approaching. “It went down to the very day,” recalls Jones. “I was given the all-clear to compete just before flying to Les Gets in France, so I was really lacking practice.” Nonetheless, he felt positive when he took to the course. 73
This year, Jones signed with California-based bike maker Marin and designed his own ride. “I’m no engineer, but I’ve figured out some angles that work perfectly for me”
“The project doesn’t lean on the fact it’s set in the woods, but it is an extension of me and the way I ride”
“In my first round, I had a perfect run all the way to the last jump, where I finished on a double backflip. It’s a trick I never do in practice – I always save it until the run, for the surprise factor. It’s definitely a crowd-pleaser. I don’t know how, but I went way too far, landed completely flat and flew off the bike. I was fine, but the second run blew my back tyre, so that was the end of Les Gets. The following week in Innsbruck was a mirror image: I did a double backflip and cased, then on the second run I blew my back tyre. “There was the silver lining that I didn’t miss the whole Diamond Series season, but it damaged that level of confidence and trust in my abilities that I’d spent a lot of time building up. It’s a shame, because I still feel I haven’t quite got that back when it comes to contests. I feel like I’m on the back foot, trying to preserve my body for filming but at the same time playing the long game to get points together this year.” Analysing the past nine months, Jones talks much like he’s watching a slow-
motion replay of one of his jumps. “This year has been as frustrating as it has been amazing,” he says. “It’s been hard, because the filming has been going on mid-season, so where I’d usually be riding at my compound and just training, I’ve been digging and moving around wooden features to make them work. Have I taken on too much? I think the only disadvantage would be that I haven’t been practising the styles of riding I do at contests. But I can always come back to that. I won’t get this opportunity again for a long time.” Jones’ enviable career progression into filming and competition hasn’t changed what he enjoys most: “One hundred per cent creative riding in the woods, whether with mates or strangers; a set of smooth, steep trails to ride all day, creating cool shapes and chilled tricks that look good. Contests are a great way of pushing my tricks and progression, but at the end of the day it’s about the fun for me. It’s what I grew up doing – just digging and riding.”
“CONTESTS ARE A GREAT WAY OF PUSHING MY TRICKS, BUT FOR ME IT’S ABOUT FUN – JUST DIGGING AND RIDING” THE RED BULLETIN
As our interview wraps up, Jones still has three days of filming to go, and he’s saved the most challenging parts till last: three new mountain-biking tricks that have never been successfully executed before. “They’re all completely possible. One is a 720 downside tailwhip, which is an easy way of saying I go around twice and my bike goes around once. I’m super-keen to land that on a dirt jump, because it just looks hectic. Another is a 720 no-hander to barspin. The 720 no-hander is a trick I brought to competition last year on quite a small jump. We’ve got a big jump at Rushmere, and I can definitely throw in a barspin for a mega combo. “The third trick is a regular 1080. They’ve been around in BMX for a long time, but no one in mountain biking has landed a true triple spin. When you spin, having spinning wheels makes it hard, and we’ve got much bigger wheels than on a BMX. It’s like a gyroscopic effect, but on a big jump it’s 100 per cent possible.” From the mouths of many riders, such confidence in pulling off neverdone-before tricks might come across as bravado. But Matt Jones isn’t many riders. Having witnessed his ability to precisely visualise tricks in his mind’s eye, it’s clear Jones is about to ride his way to the next level. Matt Jones’ first Red Bull film project is out this month; redbull.com 75
WE LOVE HACKNEY
FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY 76
THE RED BULLETIN
Over the past 10 years, half of the UK’s clubs and gig venues have vanished. This is a trend that nightlife campaigner Alan D Miller is determined to reverse. Here, the head of the Night Time Industries Association talks about the future of clubbing and how you can make a change Words: Florian Obkircher THE RED BULLETIN
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It’s the country’s fifth largest industry, accounting for at least eight per cent of UK employment, and British clubs and DJs are known all over the world. However, despite appearing to be in rude health, under the skin the industry is wasting away. Fifty per cent of the UK’s concert and club venues have shut their doors over the past 10 years. Most prominent of these was the closure of London club Fabric last year, following the drug-related deaths of two teenagers on the premises. After four months of negotiations, the shutdown was revoked, thanks in no small part to #savenightlife, a campaign initiated by veteran club promoter Alan D Miller, whose Vibe Bar, launched 22 years ago, helped turn East London’s Brick Lane into the creative and cultural centre that it is today. In 2015 Miller, now 47, formed the NTIA (Night Time Industries Association) with the backing of 250 bars, clubs, festivals, and live-music-event operators, as well as music managers and other supporters all over the country. Its aim: to advocate for the night-time industry, challenge the unfair attitudes being imposed upon it, and celebrate its contribution to the fabric of cultural life in the UK. the red bulletin: How can it be possible that one of the UK’s most successful industry sectors is slowly crumbling away? alan d miller: A lot of it goes back to the Licensing Act of 2003. The act was supposed to allow pubs to serve alcohol 24 hours a day and offer them all sorts of different options, but what we’ve increasingly seen is fewer and fewer UK venues being granted late licensing, particularly those in London. 78
Why is that? If you run a venue, you face a lot of regulations. For instance, you’re also responsible for some of the things that happen outside your venue. If someone is mugged down the road, or they lose their phone, all these things are put in the crime statistics, which are then used as proof that “nightlife is increasing crime”, even though crime has decreased in Britain. Was that the main impetus behind the launch of the NTIA three years ago? Exactly. We started getting involved in understanding these things, looking at the statistics, talking to the police and the Home Office. We wanted to change hearts and minds and improve nightlife’s reputation. We said, “Actually, if you add it all up, the benefits far outweigh the costs.” Many people only became aware of the nightlife crisis after Fabric closed. The NTIA was key to the club’s reopening. How did you make councils and lawmakers listen? We got a lot of people involved in our #savenightlife campaign internationally. So, all of a sudden, the three Islington councillors were being sent hundreds of thousands of pieces of correspondence. We were on TV, in the press… everyone was talking about Fabric. There was a lot of pressure on the three people making the decision – and we succeeded. It was a bit of a watershed moment, getting artists, politicians, journalists, academics and others together to say, “This is going too far. We don’t want this to happen.” The problem is, even though Fabric was reopened, nightclubs are still subject to many pernicious conditions. What are those conditions? There are a number. One is what I call “death by a thousand cuts”. We have a situation where nightclubs are forced to stock up their security and get CCTV – and now some even need metal detectors, alongside what seem to be ever-increasing requirements. The cost of doing these things becomes intense if you’re a club owner. It’s time to rethink: the venue is not an accomplice but the victim of any crime. No one opens a premises and thinks, “Let’s have lots of crime here.” We need to work together to ensure that doesn’t happen. How does the NTIA help nightclubs on an everyday basis? The problem with clubs like Fabric, or Rah Rah Room in Piccadilly, is that they got shut down very quickly, and many club owners can’t afford to fight when they’re closed. So the NTIA offers its members a unique insurance policy with NDML that includes THE RED BULLETIN
LEWIS NICHOLSON (2), COURTESY OF FTI, TYLER PALMER
AT FIRST GLANCE, THE UK’S NIGHTLIFE SCENE IS A HUGE SUCCESS STORY.
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2 4
1. Miller onstage with Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, at Parklife Festival in June 2. House DJ Hot Since 82 is a supporter of the #savenightlife campaign 3. Miller discusses the benefits of nightlife to business at BRITs Week 4. Shooting a video outside the National Gallery for an event with the Night Czar
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“WE HAVE TO FACE THE FUTURE, OTHERWISE THIS COUNTRY WILL BECOME A MUSEUM”
3
24-hour legal advice and £500,000 of legal cover. Beside that, we put a lot of effort into advocating for and helping to create the Night Time Commission, in association with the Mayor of London’s office, and helping lay the foundations for the creation of a Night Czar [a role performed by comedian/ presenter Amy Lamé]. We do similar things in Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool and Bristol, too. We want night-time ambassadors across the UK, working with the police and housing and transport, because this is about how we shape the cities of our future together. Earlier this year, GQ magazine claimed that London has the worst nightlife in Europe. Is that your assessment, too? Look at Amsterdam – it has around 800,000 residents and almost 17 million visitors per year. Berlin is a similar example. What you’ve got there is 24-hour licences in a number of places. We've got about three nightclubs in London that open 24 hours. I can’t tell you how embarrassing it is when friends from LA or Hong Kong are visiting. At 1.30am, you’re like, “Oh, sorry, there's nowhere to go.” Why can you have a glass of wine and a baguette at six in the morning in Paris, but not in London? But I also want to see gymnasiums, salons and cinemas profit from 24-hour activity, as well as creches, high-street shops and galleries. It’s not the 1950s any more; people’s routines have changed. We have to face the future, otherwise this country will become a museum. What can people do if they notice venues and clubs in their area are closing down? Sign our campaign at Savenightlife.com. That will send an email to local councillors and MPs. When Hackney Council decided in 2015 to stop new bars opening in the borough, saying that residents had had enough, we launched our We Love Hackney campaign. Within a couple of weeks, we had 5,500 people expressing the importance of nightlife in their area. The council recognised that and reversed its decision. So you want people to speak out about how important local nightlife is to them? Definitely! A lot of the time, it only takes one very vocal individual to raise an issue, and a venue could be facing closure. But there might be thousands of people – a silent majority – who also love what’s going on in their area. In order to preserve what you love, you need to realise the power you have and get yourself heard. For more NTIA-related news and events, go to ntia.co.uk 79
guide Get it. Do it. See it.
4 CARLO CRUZ / RED BULL CONTENT POOL
November 2017
RED BULL BC ONE WORLD FINAL
The biggest B-Boy contest on the planet comes to a head (and other body parts) at Amsterdam’s Westergasfabriek. Sixteen dancers from across the globe have made it through to this final showdown. Catch it all live on redbull.tv
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GUIDE
See it Brett Rheeder makes the leap at Red Bull Rampage in 2016
FAST AND FEARLESS ACTION
There’s plenty of high-level competition this month on Red Bull TV, whether it’s on two wheels or four. Or even on your head, B-Boy style
WATCH RED BULL TV ANYWHERE Red Bull TV is a global digital entertainment destination featuring programming that is beyond the ordinary and is available any time, anywhere. Go online at redbull.tv, download the app, or connect via your Smart TV. To find out more, visit redbull.tv
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Brandon Semenuk, winner of Red Bull Rampage in 2008 and 2016
THE RED BULLETIN
27 THE RED BULLETIN
October
LIVE
RED BULL RAMPAGE
It’s the return of most coveted title in freestyle mountain biking, pitting riders against one of the toughest landscapes on the planet – the red rocks of Virgin, Utah. This year, to ramp up the excitement, a new ridgeline will been added, and, building on the improved format of 2016’s competition, the 21 elite riders will each carve their own personal man-made line down the mountain.
BARTEK WOLINSKI/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, CHRISTIAN PONDELLA/RED BULL CONTENT POOL (2), MAURO PUCCINI/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, @WORLD / RED BULL CONTENT POOL
October / November
4 22 26
November
LIVE
RED BULL BC ONE WORLD FINAL Amsterdam Westergasfabriek is the venue for this final showdown between the world’s best B-Boys. These gladiators of dance will have to pull off their most daring moves and slickest routines to take the crown from last year’s champion, Issei from Japan.
October
LIVE
RED BULL STRAIGHT RHYTHM
One day of pure Motocross racing action from dawn to dusk… and on into the night. See the world’s top Supercross and Motocross riders crank up the speed on a straight, half-mile track at Fairplex in California. There are exciting changes planned this year, too.
to 29 October
LIVE
WRC WALES RALLY
The World Rally Championship roars into North Wales and neighbouring Cheshire for its penultimate round. The fast, treelined forest tracks may not be technically difficult, but the muddy conditions and unpredictable weather are a real challenge.
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GUIDE
Do it
16
October / November to 19 November Kendal Mountain Festival If you’re looking for a UK festival at this time of year, you’re clearly enthusiastic about brisk outdoor experiences – and this event in the heart of the Lake District celebrates exactly that. You’ll find seminars by experts in climbing, caving, snow sports, endurance and exploring; a film competition dubbed the ‘Oscars of Outdoor Filmmaking’, and there’s even an invigorating 10k trail run. Kendal, Cumbria; mountainfest.co.uk
21
Sep to 28 Jan
BASQUIAT: BOOM FOR REAL
Graffiti pioneer Jean-Michel Basquiat’s art elevated him from life on the streets of ’70s Lower Manhattan to collaborating with Andy Warhol, and prior his death in 1988 he was selling his work at $25,000 a piece. See more than 100 examples of Basquiat’s work, including notes and sketches, plus NYC films from the era, and a theatrical show titled Suckerpunch Boom Suite. Barbican Art Gallery, London; barbican.org.uk
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Fun for all the family – literally. This retrospective looks back at 40 years of video gaming, from Mario to Minecraft, Pong to Pac-Man – titles that even grandparents will remember from their youth. And for OG gamers, there are adult-only late sessions where you can battle it out on classics such as Mario Kart. Science Museum, London; sciencemuseum.org.uk/ powerup
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October to end of March The Moroccan Medina Ward off the winter blues with a splash of Mediterranean splendour as an East London rooftop is transformed into a Marrakech bazaar. Enjoy spiced buttered rum, halloumi fries and shishas while sitting around a chiminea or lounging in the secret snug inside a giant Moroccan lamp. Queen of Hoxton, London; queenofhoxton.com
2
to 5 November We Are Robots The festival of the future: a four-day gathering of musical minds plotting the next sonic revolution. By day, interact with sound installations and attend workshops hosted by engineers and producers; at night, artists including Mute Records founder Daniel Miller and South London trio Little Cub hold court in the Boiler Room. Old Truman Brewery, London; wearerobots.org.uk
THE RED BULLETIN
TOM GUISE
20
to 31 October Power UP
THE RED BULLETIN PROMOTION
REDISCOVER BRIGHTON A t wo -w h ee l e d a d ve n t u r e a r o u n d o n e of t h e U K ’s m o s t ec c e n t r i c c i t i e s
“ F l a s h i n g a l o n g n a r r o w, g r a f f i t i lined streets and squeezing through alleyways, you really get to see a different side to the city” – BETH
Historic, inspired, unique: Brighton evokes a multitude of images. Here’s a British seaside experience that’s less cold, more cool; a liberal haven on the South Coast that’s home to the UK’s only Green MP. Brighton is also – if a 2001 census is to believed – the city with the highest population of selfprofessed “Jedi knights”. Definitely different.
“ B r i g h t o n wa s b e t t e r t h a n I r e m e m b e r e d . I t r e a l l y f e l t l i ke I r e d i s c o v e r e d t h i s g r e a t s e a s i d e c i t y – e s p e c i a l l y ex p l o r i n g i t b y b i ke . To u r i n g a r o u n d B r i g h t o n o n t w o w h e e l s , I s a w p o c ke t s o f t h e p l a c e I n e v e r e v e n k n e w ex i s t e d , l e t a l o n e r e a l i s e d h o w b e a u t i f u l t h e y a r e” – S U M O
The Canyon Commuter combines practicality, performance and style like nothing else on the streets. For more information on what makes the Commuter perfect for any urban environment, go to canyon.com
GUIDE
Do it
October / November
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October Elrow Haunted House If you’ve ever been to one of Elrow’s parties in Barcelona or Ibiza, you’ll know their carnivalscale insanity is perfect for a supernaturally sensational Halloween celebration. Expect horror-costumed performers, circus spectacles, and a lot of confetti-covered cobwebs. Runs from midday to 11pm. Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh; therestisnoise.co.uk
North Wales and Cheshire; walesrallygb.com
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THE RED BULLETIN
TOM GUISE
The penultimate leg of the World Rally Championship sees the best of the best take on an epic forest course through Cheshire and North Wales where, when it comes to the weather, anything goes. Last year, Sébastien Ogier took the Wales GB crown for the fourth year in his Volkswagen Polo R WRC. Now behind the wheel of M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta WRC, can the French driver make it number five?
@WORLD
26
to 29 October Wales Rally GB
THE RED BULLETIN PROMOTION
The famous Engadin Ski Marathon celebrates its 50th year in 2018
ENGADIN ST. MORITZ
SWITZERLAND TOURISM/LORENZ RICHARD
Explore the rich va r i e t y of s p ec t a c u la r la n d s c a p e s a n d s k i to yo u r h e a r t ’s c o n te n t
Whatever your skiing style – from the classically elegant to the more dynamic skater technique – there are up to 230km (142 miles) of cross-country trails for you to discover in this southerly, high-lying valley in the Alps. It won’t come as a surprise to learn that, year after year, 13,000 cross-country ski enthusiasts make their way here to take part in the world-famous Engadin Ski Marathon.
Françoise Stahel is known as ‘Madame Engadin Ski Marathon’ – she hasn’t missed a single one since 1969. Now the 80-year-old cross-country skier can’t wait for the marathon’s big anniversary. myswitzerland.com/en-gb/madame-engadin-skimarathon.html
the
FABRIC of TIME Photography: LUKE KIRWAN
Set design: ZENA MAY HENDRICK
The materials a watch is made from are chosen to endure the ravages of the very thing
T I TA N I U M Previously used solely in aerospace design, titanium first appeared on a timepiece in 1980 and has since proven its worth as a watch material. It's resistant to corrosion from almost all acids, seawater and chlorine; five times stronger than ordinary steel, and less than half the weight. It’s also 50 times more costly than carbon steels.
it's been built to measure. And to keep it looking timeless
Clockwise from far left: VICTORINOX INOX Titanium, victorinox.com; BELL & ROSS BR-X1 Black Titanium, bellross.com; PORSCHE DESIGN Datetimer Eternity Blue, porsche-design.com; SEVEN-24 Bandit, seven-24. watch; MONTBLANC Summit Smartwatch Titanium, montblanc.com; SEIKO Prospex 200M Diver Automatic Titanium SBDC029, seikowatches.com; TAG HEUER Aquaracer Calibre 5, tagheuer.com
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CERAMIC It's a word that conjures up images of pottery or bathrooms, but ‘engineered’ ceramic is different. Made from pure, non-metallic materials, this crystalline substance can be four times harder than steel, virtually scratch-proof, and resistant to extreme temperatures; ceramic tools are often used to mill metals. Its only weakness is that it can shatter under excessive force. Clockwise from top left: TAG HEUER Carrera Calibre Heuer 01 Black Ceramic, tagheuer.com; NIXON Time Teller Acetate, nixon.com; APPLE Watch Edition with white ceramic case, apple.com
COMPOSITES If mankind’s history is defined by our periods of material usage, such as stone or bronze, we’re now in the Composite Age where technology allows us to combine materials for any purpose – scratchresistant coatings, lightweight bands, or rough-hewn carbon-fibre cases that look and play hard. From top: ALPINA Seastrong Horological Smartwatch with glass-fibre and stainless-steel case, alpinawatches.com; CASIO G-Steel GST-W300G with resin and steel case, casio. com; PANERAI Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Automatic, made from carbon-fibre-based Carbotech, panerai.com
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From top: ORIS Movember Edition with heat-stamped leather strap, oris.ch; BREITLING Navitimer Rattrapante in 18K red gold with crocodile leather strap, breitling.com; ZENITH Chronomaster El Primero Grande Date Full Open in steel and 18K rose gold with calfskin strap, zenith-watches.com; WHAT? Calendar Watch Gunmetal Black with textured leather strap, whatwatch.com; CARL F BUCHERER Manero Flyback Chrono in 18K red gold with Louisiana alligator leather strap, carl-f-bucherer.com
G O L D A N D L E AT H E R As long as watches have existed, you’ve been able to buy them in gold – if you could afford it. Precious and mesmerising, it’s the symbol of luxury. Due to its softness, it’s easy to damage but also to refinish. Its best companion? A leather strap – timeless, classic and comfortable. 92
THE RED BULLETIN PROMOTION
The Superstar is CInelli’s flagship model, offered in disc and non-disc options
CINELLI SUPERSTAR
©JACINTOVIDARTE
T h e r e s u l t o f a r i c h h is to r y o f d e s i g n a n d i n n ova t i o n Cinelli’s story started in 1947. An outstanding pro cyclist with 15 years of experience, Cino Cinnelli had covered thousands of kilometres, distances that had allowed him to develop some truly innovative ideas. History remembers Cinelli less for his racing career than for his design innovations. He gave modern cycling the first aluminium handlebars, the first saddle with a plastic core, the first pedal straps and the first quick
release pedals. Thirty years later, in 1978, Cino handed the company over to a young industrialist, a leader in the field of steel tubing with a love of cycling – Antonio Colombo. With this change of leadership, the Cinelli brand was transformed. Colombo instigated a series of collaborations with designers, making Cinelli the first brand to take a passion for art and integrate this into the world of bicycles. Every product is taken through a rigorous
creative and development process, with focus continually on the two ideologies on which Cinelli is built – innovation and design. And their latest venture, the Superstar, is no different. This is Cinelli’s first disc-equipped bike and it offers the finest performance a road bike can possess. It’s a blisteringly fast machine featuring handling that inspires confidence. Cinelli is now known throughout the world for its bicycles which combine not only an emotional, cultural and artistic elegance, but are designed for optimum technical performance.
www.cinellibicycles.co.uk
S TA I N L E S S S T E E L A durable alloy that looks great, but not all stainless steels are equal. The lowest grade (201) is the hardest, but it’s also susceptible to rust; the highest (904L) is resistant to most forms of corrosion, but its high nickel content may trouble those with an allergy. The best is perhaps 316L, better known as surgical-grade steel because of its application in biomedicine.
Clockwise from top left: BAUME & MERCIER Clifton Club 10340, baume-et-mercier.co.uk; FARER CARTER II, farer.com; TUDOR Heritage Black Bay Steel, tudorwatch.com; RAYMOND WEIL Date Tango 300 Steel on Steel, and Tango Quartz Chronograph Steel on Steel, raymond-weil.com
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THE RED BULLETIN PROMOTION
COME RAIN OR SHINE
Alberto Contador’s Foundation teams are sponsored by Polartec and will put its fabrics to the ultimate test this year – from NeoShell with its breathable waterproof protection, to Delta, Polartec’s revolutionary cooling fabric.
©JACINTOVIDARTE
E m b ra c e eve r y e l e m e n t t h a n ks to t h e s c i e n c e o f fa b r i c
From humble beginnings more than 100 years ago, Polartec has become a leader in its field, producing the most advanced performance fabrics available today. Inventors of modern synthetic fleece in 1981, Polartec’s engineers have supported adventurers and athletes alike. And now they’re redefining what to wear on a bike, revolutionising the industry with Polartec Alpha and Delta. Polartec has pushed the limits of fabric technology, bringing cyclists the benefits of active insulation, adaptable breathability, reduced skin-cling, increased airflow, and superior wicking properties. This year, the Polartec Alberto Contador Foundation cycling teams will be putting
Polartec fabrics to the ultimate test as they compete on the international circuit. Look out for the Polartec logo – it’s a sure sign your clothes will be working even harder than you.
The rh+ AirX Lite Jersey featuring Polartec Delta
www.polartec.com
GUIDE
Check it
THE RED BULLETIN WORLDWIDE Surfing in New York, singing in Switzerland, and a 7ft-tall cover star – just some of the highlights you’ll find in our November issue…
UNITED STATES KAI LENNY Meet the waterman: The Red Bulletin paddled through New York Bay with the US surfing superstar
MEXICO DANIEL RICCIARDO On the eve of the Mexico Grand Prix, we talk to the Red Bull Racing driver
FRANCE
UNITED STATES RALLYCROSS From fans mingling with the mechanics in the pit to major technological advances, we examine how rallycross has changed motorsport 96
RUDY GOBERT The NBA player – centre for Utah Jazz, and, at 7ft, The Red Bulletin’s tallest-ever cover star – graces the front of our French edition
“I RUN THROUGH EACH TRICK IN MY HEAD BEFORE GETTING IN THE SADDLE. IT'S ALL VISUALISATION” UNITED KINGDOM MATT JONES Read about the freerider's visionary new film for Red Bull on page 64
THE RED BULLETIN
November
GLOBAL TEAM UNITED KINGDOM
The Red Bulletin United Kingdom, ISSN 2308-5894
SWITZERLAND
AUSTRIA SEILER & SPEER The comedy pop duo feature on the cover of our Austrian edition. For our shoot, we sat the pair in 331HP racing cars at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg
Editor-in-Chief Alexander Macheck Creative Director Erik Turek Art Directors Kasimir Reimann (Stv. CD), Miles English Photo Director Fritz Schuster
Editor Ruth Morgan
Production Editor Marion Lukas-Wildmann
Associate Editor Tom Guise
Editors Stefan Wagner (Chief Copy Editor), Ulrich Corazza, Christian Eberle, Arek Piatek, Andreas Rottenschlager
Music Editor Florian Obkircher
SEVEN The Red Bulletin sits down with Switzerland’s most successful soul singer to discuss stubbornness, failure, and the magic of Michael Jackson
Editorial Director Robert Sperl
Deputy Chief Sub-Editor Davydd Chong Sub-Editor Olivia Rosen Country Channel Management Tom Reding Publishing Manager Ollie Stretton Advertisement Sales Mark Bishop, mark.bishop@uk.redbull.com Printed by Prinovis GmbH & Co KG, Printing Company Nuremberg, 90471 Nuremberg, Germany UK Office 155-171 Tooley Street, London SE1 2JP Tel: +44 (0) 20 3117 2000
Design Marco Arcangeli, Marion Bernert-Thomann, Martina de Carvalho-Hutter, Kevin Goll, Carita Najewitz Photo Editors Rudi Übelhör (Deputy Photo Director), Marion Batty, Susie Forman, Ellen Haas, Eva Kerschbaum, Tahira Mirza Commercial Director Franz Renkin Advertising Placement Andrea Tamás-Loprais Creative Solutions Eva Locker (manager), Martina Maier, Verena Schörkhuber, Edith Zöchling-Marchart Country Management and Marketing Sara Varming (manager), Magdalena Bonecker, Thomas Dorer, Kristina Trefil, Stephanie Winkler Marketing Design Peter Knehtl (manager), Simone Fischer, Alexandra Hundsdorfer Head of Production Michael Bergmeister Production Wolfgang Stecher (manager), Walter O. Sádaba, Friedrich Indich, Michael Menitz (digital) Repro Clemens Ragotzky (manager), Claudia Heis, Nenad Isailovi c,̀ Maximilian Kment, Josef Mühlbacher Office Management Kristina Krizmanic IT Systems Engineer Michael Thaler Subscriptions and Distribution Peter Schiffer (manager), Klaus Pleninger (distribution), Nicole Glaser (distribution), Yoldaş Yarar (subscriptions) General Manager and Publisher Wolfgang Winter
GERMANY ROBERT MARC LEHMANN How does a cave diver deal with a panic attack beneath the surface? If anyone knows, it’s this man
THE RED BULLETIN
Global Editorial Office Heinrich-Collin-Straße 1, A-1140 Wien Phone +43 1 90221-28800, Fax +43 1 90221-28809 Web www.redbulletin.com Red Bull Media House GmbH Oberst-Lepperdinger-Straße 11–15, A-5071 Wals bei Salzburg, FN 297115i, Landesgericht Salzburg, ATU63611700 Directors Christopher Reindl, Andreas Gall
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GUIDE
Action highlight
The site of a wind turbine construction factory in northern Spain provided skateboard pro Danny Léon with an intriguing set of obstacles. And the pinnacle of his session was a handful of prime tricks in arguably the world’s most difficult half-pipe. For more, go to: instagram.com/danny_leon
“45 tons of steel shaped this half-pipe!” Spaniard Danny León, 22, enjoys his new playground – a tube that will soon form the tower of a 100m wind turbine. SEBAS ROMERO/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
Avilés, Spain
Makes you fly
The next issue of The Red Bulletin is out on November 17, 2017 98
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