Right, I’m back in action again and suitably relaxed after a pleasant sojourn in Cuba. Before I get back to F1, I’d like to write a little about that. It is not such a famous place for motor sport (which was one reason why it was chosen for the visit), but one can imagine that it could be. Cubans love cars and, judging by history, they liked motor racing as well, although international motor racing’s adventures in Cuba lasted just three years, between 1957 and 1960. The fleets of old American cars that fill the streets of Havana today are marvellous, and it is a tribute to US car manufacturers, and to the loving work of generations of Cuban restorers, that they are all still running (in one form or another) 55 years or more after they rolled off the production lines in Detroit. Particularly as the state of the roads is pretty awful. Alas, the biggest rip-off we encountered was the Depósito del Automóvil, a car “museum” in the old part of Havana, which consisted of two large rooms, one of which was closed. We were shadowed at every step by a woman who was there to ensure that no photographs were taken (you have to pay extra to take photographs) and as the cars were nothing special we amused ourselves by splitting up and going in separate directions…
It is suitably ironic that Havana is known to the world today for its ancient automotive hardware, given that the United States is deemed by the government to be the devil incarnate and is blamed for any misfortune, be that Dengue Fever or Swine Flu. Evil Uncle Sam is everywhere. There are precious few American tourists on the streets of Havana, which some might say is a good thing, but tourists are tourists are tourists, whether they wear baseball caps or lederhosen (yes, we really did see someone wearing them…)
Nonetheless, we loved the place. We did all the things that one is supposed to do: drank daiquiris at the Floridita (marvellous), visited Ernest Hemingway’s mansion in the hills, gawped at the Granma, and read the propaganda in the Museo de la Revolución. We watched cigars being rolled on a farm in the Viñales Valley and drank mojitos in the amazing DuPont Mansion in Varadero.
We even went off the tourists roads – where none of the Transtur buses go – in order to see a little of the real life in Cuba. In another life I would come back as a Cuban piano tuner, as there are fortunes to be made in that business. There is music wherever you go and often it is delightful, even if some might consider a ragtime medley of Haydn and Lloyd Webber to be an assault on the senses. All too often, however, the machinery needed tweaking, as the pianos all sound as though they have not been tuned since the revolution in 1959. That would not be a surprise as the impression you get when you visit Havana is that nothing much has been done since the glorious day when Batista was thrown out. This decay gives the place a certain charm, but at the same time a sense of melancholy at what it could be like in different circumstances. Perhaps it would be ruined by over-development, but given a choice between that and pitiful decay, I think I would choose the former.
Fidel Castro once made a four-hour speech in which he claimed “la historia me absolverá” (which translates as “history will absolve me”). I fear that will not be the case. History will tear Castro into little pieces and throw away the bits and pieces that are left. He may once have believed that he was doing what was best for Cuba, and perhaps for a while he did good things, but one can argue that until the cows come home. Cuba today is Fidel’s legacy and it is a mess, albeit one that is inhabited by joyous and friendly people, who do not seem to be too bothered about who leads them. One gets the impression that they are resigned to what they have. And what they have is straight out of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. All animals on Fidel’s farm are certainly not equal and some are definitely “more equal than others”. This is highlighted perfectly by the fact that there are two currencies: one for the locals and one for the visitors. They are vastly different in value and the aim of most of the Cubans we encountered was to get as much of the visitors’ money as possible. There is nothing wrong with that. It is called capitalism and it thrives on the streets of Havana, where we noticed three products that were on offer more than others: Che, El Ron and cigars.
There is a savage irony in that Che Guevara, the poster boy Marxist terrorist-turned-statesman of the 1960s, is now the primary source of revenue for those selling to tourists in Cuba. Che’s face is printed on tee-shirts, mugs, cups, fridge magnets, maracas and anything else that the inventive Cubans can cobble together. He is the symbol of modern Cuban capitalism and one can imagine that the man himself must be spinning away at a decent rpm in his mausoleum in Santa Clara. He is an icon in the manner of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe and there is little doubt that death was “a good career move”. Age has not wearied him as it has the other revolutionaries.
As for El Ron, I was disappointed to discover that this was a drink, which we know as rum, rather than being some revolutionary hero from Woking. And as for a cigar, well, isn’t that the ultimate symbol of capitalist success?
The nicest part of Havana is an area called Miramar, where foreign nations have their embassies (and where Fidel lives in genteel retirement). It is the only part of town where the Cubans mansions are properly cared for and where one can imagine what this place would be like if there was some investment.
While in Havana, I did do a fair bit of research about the celebrated Grands Prix on the the 1950s, that can wait for another day. Now it is time to get back to work…
And of the kidnapping of fangio?
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Welcome back! Missed your reports.
Welcome back, Joe. Sounds like you enjoyed yourself. Cuba seems like a fascinating place.
Wasn’t Cuba where Fangio was abducted?
Indeed it was. I went to the Hotel Lincoln to have a look. We also traced the route of the street circuit. Just for fun!
I met a cuban national in the state(s) who shared the story of how he was a six year old and Fangio was in the family kitchen. His comment was – he never seen someone so frightened and it wasn’t until years later he realized the significance of the story.
I’d have thought that “El Ron” could also have been a sci-fi author-turned-alien cult leader. Although given the cultish following that “our” Ron’s business seems to generate, maybe the similarities don’t end there…
Nice, to be a adventurous spirit most wouldn’t go off the beaten track.
It’s good to listen to a different perspective on Cuba
Nice report. Haven’t been myself, but that brought it to life for me.
Welcome back Joe we have missed you – great article thanks.
‘The nicest part of Havana is an area called Miramar, where foreign nations have their embassies (and where Fidel lives in genteel retirement)’ – says it all really in the land of the best (??) attempt at communism.
Going to Barcelona on one of your road trips?
Nice story!
Welcome back Joe, good to have you back. I had a laugh about El Ron 🙂 Is it possible to add a few images of your trip on the blog?
Yeah, where are the wedding pictures?
Good to have you back Joe, now whats going on at Force India, still no 2nd driver and lots of reports of Mallya being in the doodah.
IIRC, the US wll let you invest $$$ in Vietnam and China, but not in Cuba. When you figure that one out, lemme know, because it doesn’t make a bit of sense to me.
when the eu tried to mediate between havanna and washington in the 1990’s, bill clinton described the europeans role as showing up to a party where people were throwing bottles at each other as part of a terrible family feud, i guess that is the best explanation there is.
Ah! You’re back, Joe! Been pining, i have…. Now for a read of your Cuban adventures.
Hello Joe,
great to see you back. Regarding research on 1950s GP – is this a sign we can expect your next book anytime soon? I read The GP Saboteurs last year and this year I bought the book about Capt. Kendall – and read it over one night. It would be great to get your next book.
Maston Gregory once told me a very long story about that kidnaping as he was there and involved. It took an awful long time in the telling as we consumed quite a lot of pasta, of which he was a great cook, and even more grape, of which he was also had a great knowledge, happy days.
It is an amazing story. But then so was the story about Moss and Gregory in the race itself…
I was there in 2000 at the peak of the Elian Gonzales hoo-ha, am delighted that it sounds from your description it hasn’t changed a bit in the last 12 years.
Glad you both had a good time.
Uselss ‘Che’ factoid. He used his mother’s family name. Had he used his father’s family name he would be Ernie Lynch. His father’s family having come from Ireland. I have a classic Che T shirt from my daughter marked ‘Ernie Lynch’ instead of ‘Che Guevara’.
I went to Cuba in the early 1990s. This account could be about our trip in every detail way back then. Cars as a testament to Detroit and local mechanics, the same museums, government escorts everywhere, El Floridita crumbling building and the sad fixation with the monstrous Che Guevara. Pathetic, really. When we went it was as part of a tourist group of 20-30 mostly die-hard socialists, including my partner at the time. Cuba certainly cured her of that affliction.
The “Capitalist investment” and modernisation for which you wish would result only in bigger mansions for fewer rich folk “near the embassies”, and vastly greater poverty for the rest.
You found the people to be “joyous”, their environment “charming”, and that is more than can be said for many many societies trapped in the nightmare of free market capitalism.
Let’s think, again, before auto responses make us sneer at Fidel and Che and everything they stand for.
BTW Animal Farm is a crap book, worse even than 1984.
Well, I am sure you are right. I thought Animal Farm was wonderful but then I am obviously not socialist enough for you. Surely motor racing is not going to be your thing…
I’m afraid it is, Joe, but don’t worry …this was a first contribution and probably not the start of prolific posting. I’m too busy restoring an old French racer [Alpine A110]. If Williams look to be resurgent this year, I’ll be back. Meanwhile, my regards, and sorry about Orwell !
Che….. that is an irony in of itself….
Joe, welcome back.
Thanks for the Cuba travelogue; so nice to get a fresh report from a credible source about such a contentious place (contentious at least to many people here in America).
While you were away, I read a nice piece in The New Yorker magazine (USA) about the Austin F1 race. You were respectfully cited by the author in several places; it was clear he considered you a very credible source. No surprise to your regular readers! I hope it boosts your blog traffic and GrandPrix+ subscriptions.
Cheers
You hit it on the head. I went to Cuba a few years back and this is exactly as I felt when I left. It was really sad and it had such potential for beauty. Outside of the tourist trap areas of Havana, the buildings of this glorious city are in ruin. Some have the front facade crumbling away showing the inside and people are still living there. A day in the Miramar was nice.
But the saddest part was the situation of indentured service. The people are GREAT, don’t let anyone say otherwise, but we spoke with a few locals, and they spoke of their poverty, their lack of freedom and the feeling that they were born and will live and die in the same town. This small family had 4 members, only 3 had been to Havana.
Sad place to visit, but I still loved it. Glad you went there and felt the same as I was starting to think I was being too capitalist (maybe I should don a Che shirt). Asode from the people in gov’t, the hotel workers in Veradero are the best paid. People who went to school to be a doctor are paid less than those who turn down the sheets, or bring another rum to drunken Canadians (like myself) and zee Germans.
Nice to see you back, Joe.
You forgot to mention the fun you had photographing vacuum cleaner parts and uploading them to Google maps . . . 🙂
Lovely pictures, Joe, thanks for sharing. By far my favourite feature of your blog
(forgive me the next bit, it’s a selfish plug to encourage more of your photography, though looking at your holiday photos, it’s obvious that what kit you have means next to nothing these days, it’s the eye behind the camera that counts)
If you are in the market for camera gear, I got a Olympus OMD, last week, and it’s a revelation (7 years since I shot no compromise Nikon kit) For one thing it’s almost impossible to over expose, which digital can do in very ugly ways. (Ways impossible to spot until you get home, unless you are in a technical seance with the machine, which is not conducive to being social with family or anyone) For very contrasty scenes, that’s a blessing. Allowing any non overcast day presents tons of contrast. Basically, you can take your mind away from fussing the exposure to a extent that has me almost flummoxed. The menus are, however, utterly infuriating, you need to perform some voodoo (well documented at various sites) but after that it just gets out of the way. Long out of practise, I am unsure whether I’ve yet to improve on the automatic modes it was set to when I took it out of the box, with my fiddling.
This is definitely a camera you can hand to someone, confident they will get a good result. Stabilisation built on to the sensor is super. Moreover, this is definitely a size and build that won’t burden a lady, nor embarrass her with something that anyone would think “a girl’s camera”. When Yoshihisa Maitani designed the first “Pen”, he had in mind lady photographers, and created a unparalleled hit (even though it cost about a month’s wages at the time) The OMD is more camera than a modern Pen (though virtually no difference in pictorial ability) but not commensurately bulky. At first I thought it toy – like, but that first impression vanished, it’s very well balanced.
Anyway, I think you and Mrs Joe would like it. Really excellent no bother, gets skin tones looking super with no fiddling. (My mother disagrees any shot of her is flattering, such is the self consciousness of fading beauty, but it is flattering. My Banlga boys were impressed it got them looking natural too, whilst I was impressed it didn’t underexpose, which is a crime when shooting darker skin) I pulled my first test shots into Photoshop, and there just wasn’t anything to adjust that bothered me. (If I was intending a particular look or style, the I would fiddle, but I wasn’t.) Only then did I realise that out of the box it was delivering “only” 3 megapixel files, not the 16 of which it is capable. In other words, you can upload those straight to WordPress, and be done. (check out the various plugins like Image Pro or Imsanity to take away the bother of fiddling).
Just don’t get one of the Panasonic 35-100 f/2.8 zooms, or a certain Peter Nygaard might feel you’re pushing him out!
(Okay, I know this is not what I’d buy to shoot sports in earnest, but you should hear the grumblings in the Nikon camp how they mucked with the dials enough to frustrate pro users. Nikon mashed up things like focus switches that are literally motor memory to anyone who is serious. The awkward menus of the OMD do not lend it to sports shooting. I immediately missed just being able to move a finger and shift settings, even in casual use. It’s as if they deliberately don’t want to compete, because the image quality is right up there for all but extreme situations. TBH the silly fast sensors of the big guns make a world of difference for a pro action shooter. But when a lady commenter asked here for pointers because she wants to get into F1 photography, I don’t feel my suggestion of one of these smaller cameras was misleading. With good technique, you can overcome relative “inadequacies”. I mean, how did we ever get good pictures without all this technology, and cameras the price of a saloon car?)
My gush is probably just because I’m so out of date, and last I used a camera in earnest, you really needed technique to get even passable results. So I’m sure there are many alternatives out there. But the kit is genuinely a fraction of the price of bigger names, and – I dare suggest – a sweet thing to have for newlyweds. I had a big hangup about photography, because it’s since a child part of my life, and stopped altogether. My highest praise is this little thing made me enjoy taking pictures again.
Glad to have you back, Joe. May all be well with you and yours.
Joe, Your travelogues are as entertaining and informative as your F1 coverage. I enjoy both equally. Thank you!
Great post! Been intending to go to Cuba for a while, since my parents went few years ago. My mum and dad visited a cathedral where Pope John Paul II had said mass. To my dad’s horror my mum waited til the coast was clear, snuck under the rope that barred entry to the altar, dashed over to the papal seat and sat her bum on it, before dashing back again.
(The following year they went to the Monaco Grand Prix and called me from the rocky outcrop overlooking the track so I could hear the cars screaming by right in front of them. Cool folks I have…)
Anyway, yeah, Cuba. You’ve described it exactly as they did. Heartbreaking in a way how they said even just a few dollars given to locals – just pocket change that meant next to nothing to them – literally seemed to mean the world to the street kids. And don’t get me started on that clown Che, whose face I seem to see everywhere around Shoreditch…
Your wifes name is not “Karen” by any chance is it….Welcome back !
Welcome back Joe. Looking forward to this year’s reports.
Always wanted to go to Cuba. My uncle used to go regularly as he was a large consumer of both rum and cigars. His idea of heaven.
Incidentally, so does this mean a visit to Cuba no longer causes hassle with US Immigration / visas and all that?
I know that relaxed things, but you have to be squeaky clean to get the tourist waiver, and I’ve always needed a business or “O” visa anyway.
Maybe some of the attraction of Cuba is exactly that it seems set in a time warp, that if you go next year, it will be the same as the last, or decades before. John BG’s comment above supports that idea, I think. I’ve never been, simply because never wanted to risk difficulties that could impede work.
Joe, I hope this is not being personal, though it’s my personal though of the day, but with your new life and all, surely there’s a horde of potential interns who could lift the weight off your shoulders, take on much of your travel planning, and so on, dying to apprentice and learn? If I was 17 again, I’d be camped out, practically stalking you (as if I don’t anyhow!). I know it’s hard when you are used to doing things your own way. But try this: had a intractable load of utter BS to sort out, been frozen molasses for weeks. My young friend I am training up grabbed the phone. Every single thing he said made me groan “that’s not the way to do it!” (He was posing as me, and out accents are distinctly different..) but he nailed the job in minutes. Maybe they were just happy not to have me on their case again . . but Shah got the job done, just like that, and likely was receptive to cues that I was blocking out in my frustration. It’s very hard to let someone else take control (let alone “be” you), but it can work. Proof positive, here, lately.
The scary thing is for a while you have a shadow. If someone truly wants to be involved in your business, there’s almost a creepiness to things. You get a echo, someone agreeing too much, repeating your views too often. But that just means they want to fit in, not that you just recruited a mini – me. Maybe young people think the word “apprentice” is demeaning, but that’s the description. It’s far better than how most media companies treat their interns, as gofers, lackeys and general dogsbodies, often with no rewards and maltreatment to boot. I remember a super bright pal of mine, wanting to break into the film industry (he ended up rising the ranks of a big news agency) . .. when he told me how his day went, I had to ask how he tolerated the treatment. He just said that was the only way. This is a very educated man, even at the time.
The thing that is hard, is when you’re almost a one man band, and pushing the boundaries of the working day, even when on a “easy” day. I at least thought I’d never have the time. “No,” I thought, “I’m too busy with this and that that’s important .. ” and was running myself into the ground. I’m lucky, my new friends are local (met by accident one night, talked about Lewis, think I even write a comment about that, a year or more ago) and they work doing trade supplies between cash and carry firms and the corner shops that are peppered along every street here, all on spec. So I get visited whenever they have time. Which became more and more time. I think I genuinely needed the interruptions. Now, that would be difficult whilst you’re travelling to the races. But it matters to give the personal time, I think. You’re not hiding behind a imposing 20 foot mahogany desk, a receptionist and a secretary and all the pomp that goes usually with a publisher. I just think you could make a similar approach work. Me, I never considered or planned anything.
One thing I do think is very important: never advertise directly. I don’t mean never put word out. I mean, do not ask yes or no questions. What happened with our situation, is one day I heard the words “I’d really like to work with you.”. I’d ever pushed anything, but always talked work (it was during my never ending working day) and never given a chance to be told “No, thanks.” By leaving it on a plate, but not force feeding, and being open as to what I was up to, thinking about, or concerned about, I got to hear those words which to me, unprompted, unforced, I feel I can commit to in return.
Also of note, not having advertised the position, I’m not about to be sued by someone fishing for a legal con, claiming I rejected them on “unfair” grounds.
If I can ever work out how things could work the same way in a different situation, I’ll be sure to shout out. But though sadly I cannot report the sound of wedding bells in my life, I think lately there is a strident difference in my life, and a huge part of that is recognising not only do I need to relinquish some control, but that someone else (in this case two brothers, the younger is not as confident, needs more attention, but they came as a package) might just want to do the right thing by you, so you can stop worrying. I grew up knowing my co-founding partner, I’m not naturally trusting (though I can be *stupidly* trusting, a poor compensation) and so am slow to accept new situations. I may be jumping the gun, here, but it’s not a race, it’s for me figuring out how to let someone be themselves in my own highly private world.
I think you need staff, Joe. I’ve thought as much, before, and maybe spoken up. But there’s so much I’d like to see you do with GP+ that short of inventing a cloning gun and tracking you down like a hunter, I think that with this blog as well, I cannot fathom how you find time to make a life. My only fear is that GP+ ought to get very much bigger effect in circulation and business, but your prodigious output over-arches the time you have to grow the business. I’d like to see a real author make it big time in publishing. Very possible I am projecting my own experiences as though you are similarly placed, and if so, please forgive me, but two decades of writing off so many awful publishers, jaundiced fools, wastrels and con artists, in publishing, all that experience makes me not want to push you, but on the contrary, not ever have to write a case study, but see you leverage all the long hours, make a home run.
I could just be desirous of there being a print GP+, but that aside, I do want you to have the time to bring it all up (considering what tosh makes millions, this is on principle!) and Mrs Joe, and the team also. Not only Bernie can make out like a bandit in F1. Succeeding for the right reasons is the ultimate satisfaction. all best ~ j
Great post Joe, thanks for sharing. Glad to see you back and very much looking forward to your take on the 2013 season build-up.
Nice surprise… I have just made a “Cuban Sandwich” (pork, pickle, ham, cheese… can you get one in Cuba I wonder? Or is it as Cuban as “French Toast” and “English Muffins”?)
I am surprised that JotherJ has not also invoked Captain Segura to investigate two supposedly coincidental events: Joe Saward (known Williams fan) departs Cuba, Shortly followed by the departure from Cuba of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez (known Williams sponsor) today!
The Plot Thickens.
if you want to know what the place would look like under different circumstances, i’d suggest a visit to santo domingo in the neighboring dominican republic. they killed their tyrant two years after the cuban revolution, but the socialist government that was then elected was overthrown by a us intervention after half a year in office. the dominican oligarchy then installed a guy named balaguer. balaguer dominated the country with rigged elections and the occasional murder until 1996 when, at age 90 and blind, he made a deal with the opposition and handed over power to a handpicked successor, who handed over power to a handpicked successor himself last year, because the constitution didn’t allow him to run for office again. lucky for him, it was nowhere said in the constitution that he couldn’t install his wife as vice-president.
as an amusing sidenote, his party had balaguer run for president again in 2000, even though by that time he was so old and sick that cynics suggested that someone had just attached strings to his corpse and used it as a puppet.
today, streets, cars and old buildings aren’t necessarily better maintained than in cuba. but as a means for laundering vast amounts of drug money they’ve build lots of shiny, luxurious skyscrapers nobody lives in. appartments in these towers are often owned by military generals (the dominican republic has more than the us), which is no surprise, since the main purpose of the dominican air force is to transport cocaine.
similar to cuba, the dominican republic suffers from regular electricity blackouts. in cuba this is because the government sells the oil needed to run generators in order to earn foreign currency. In the dominican republic it is because politicians steal the oil to pocket the money.
unlike cuba, there are free elections in the dr, but since all political parties are equally corrupt and the only noticeable difference between them is their colour, people tend to sell their votes for sausages, chickens, tin roofs, suv’s, jobs or government contracts, depending on where in the social hirarchy they stand. one presidential candidates election campaign fampously consisted of throwing money at peasants out of his helicopter.
it’s hard to argue what is better, dysfunctional communism or being ruled by oligarchs and cleptocrats. personally, i’d take havanna’s melancholy over santo domingo’s traffic jams and insanity any day, but i don’t have to live there permanently and have access to cuc’s. my guess is that being poor sucks bigtime on both islands.
Point well made. On my one visit to the DR I was impressed by:
– how nice the people were
– the resort briefed us on how to bribe the police
– the local “bank” was a rental van in a square with heavily-armed military all around. In the evening the resort people at the gates carried shotguns
– how cheap the rum was
– did I mention how nice the people were
Very interesting contrast.
A friend of mine here in Alabama went to Cuba a few years ago on business and got to sit through a four hour Fidel rant. He said nobody moved to get a drink or take a bathroom break during the whole thing. He actually shook the hand of the old man and felt the repressive vibe that has held that country back. He also brought back some impressive art. The cigars weren’t bad either.
Welcome back, Joe. Am glad you had such a good time, but it’s also good to be reading your words again, teatime’s not been the same without you.
Welcome back. loved the reference to the revolutionary hero from Woking!!