If you're into lakes or pink then this is the thread for you
Good extreme evening y'all and welcome to the second round of the new Extreme E season - the series where all electric offroad SUVs are flung fast around 'remote' geographical areas by dudes and dudettes alike to raise awareness and hopefully do something about currently co-created climate change. I am Extreme Ov and I shall be your host here for this weekend.
If you cross your eyes, it kinda looks like old Silverstone
Our 'venue' for this 'X'-Prix is Lac Rose in western Senegal. Literally meaning 'Pink Lake', this salty yet oh so fine body of water is well-known for it's purpleish-red, pink and specifically Magenta a e s t h e t i c tone due to the presence of Dunaliella Salina algae that turns it's waters into a 2013 era Tumblr wet dream.
The problem here is that these pictures are not actually of Lac Rose Senegal, but
Lake Hillier in Australia - there's a flood of these pics when you search for pictures
of actual Lac Rose on Google so be careful what you read online y'all.
Ok boomer ?
This is actual Lac Rose. More like Indianapolis than Silverstone
The actual legit name for this suave piece of liquid sunshine is Lake Retba. Another prominent feature of this lake is it's very high salt concentration - two fifths of it's mass is salt lifting it to Dead Sea levels of salt.
Just slightly below the levels of your average F1 fan.
The salt mining operations here are it's defining socio-economic feature - case in point:
I couldn't pass up the *ahem* magenta opportunity to make a thread about a pink lake and not flood it with a deluge of rose pictures
The lake is situated on the Cap Vert Peninsula and 30 kilometers / 18 miles NE of the capital city of Dakar in western Senegal. If you are somewhat into Motorsport, I guess you heard about this Dakar before. Yes, Dakar is a 1 million soul strong capital city in the West-most tip of Africa where there used to be the finishing line for the world's most brutal, long and intense Rally Raid from 1979 to 2007, until the Rally still named after the city, moved to greener pastures in South America. At some editions of the famous rally, the last stage was at this very lake:
Go to 33:50 - I hope Jp sees this video
Cap-Vert was first settled by the ethnic fishing community of the Lebou people in the 15th century giving rise to villages called Ouakam, Ngor, Yoff and Hann - which are still names you find in modern day Dakar as neighborhoods. Then the Portuguese came in 1444 and started immidiately f***ing s***-up. We can't at all talk about this part of the world and it's rich history without mentioning the slave trade.
At one point when this land became the city Ndakaaru, the capital of a new theocratic state named the 'Lebou Republic' by the French. And from a French fort established at the outskirts of this Ndakaaru, did Dakar get it's eventual colonized name. These are all byproducts of the late-medieval Kingdom of Jolof that comprise the Wolof people, the ethnic majority of the region and it's non-colonial language.
To keep my Geographical nerdiness in check, I invite you to peruse these entertaining and enlightening videos before we move onwards to the x-vroomvroom.
Ok, enough cultural context, let's race
We had a first round of the Extreme E championship in the Saudi desert dunes with some very interesting results. The format of the first day with all the qualifying was quite the success. All those time trials were actually structured in an engaging way so I am looking forward to how that'll progress from round to round. The Sunday racing format whoever was lost in the dust. Literally. As cars were blinded by the duststorms kicked up by the competitors and we as fans were blinded by the intense cringe of the so called CRAZY RACE.
CRAZY RACE
Ultimately what I feared most happened, and that is - Johan Kristoffersson.
oh no
This dude is a World Champion B E A S T. And as World Rallycross fans, even WTCR fans, very well know that if this dude starts a season strong, it's almost impossible to overthrow.
But this is just the first race of the first season of a totally fresh series so anything can happen. Let's tune in and see what we have in store for this weekend.
If like I, you have a hard time with what UTC even is, please direct your consciousness to this helpful page:
https://www.extreme-...ast-information
Or better yet, keep these at hand:
In conclusion, another sacred Motorsport weekend dawns on us and I am looking forward to share all X-induced puns here with y'all alongside bikes at Estoril & Mugello, Charlotte 600, GTs at Paul Ricard and of course, the INDY 500.
Enjoy
Rose
Edited by OvDrone, 28 May 2021 - 17:04.
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