Monday 27 April 2009

Quick hit: Fast and er dirty

In Stuff's sports section:
Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull car he calls 'Kate's Dirty Sister' have given Formula One championship leader Jenson Button plenty to think about ahead of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

The eye-catching moniker came to light after Vettel powered through rain, spray and treacherous standing water to hand his team a breakthrough first victory at the Shanghai circuit last weekend.

"Like a ship, a car should be named after a girl as it's sexy," the 21-year-old German explained to reporters when asked about the name stuck on the dashboard of his car.

"My original car was called Kate. But then it got smashed at the opening race in Australia. So we called this one Kate's Dirty Sister because it is more aggressive and faster."
Click through for the rest, which is actually about motor racing.

Most of the article is about sport. But the beginning, and the headline (Faster, more aggressive: Meet 'Kate's dirty sister') are about the car's name. Head, meet desk.

Shiny red racing car helmet curtly tipped to Cynical C, via Facebook.

6 comments:

Giovanni Tiso said...

Sorry, I chuckled. I might have to hand in my badge and relinquish my pro-feminist credentials.

And to think that I loathe motorsports.

Anna said...

Why are cars sexy? My car's not sexy (unless you consider things that are full of empty lollie packets and spattered with duck crap to be sexy, which most people don't).

Mary-Lou said...

Oh god. Not again.

Anonymous said...

Calling a car Kate? That's just disgusting

Julie said...

Way to miss the point Anon.

Anonymous said...

Well it may not be the point of this post but to me giving a car a woman's name is a massive sign of objectification.

And that's before we get into 'Kate's dirty sister'.

I wonder how the real 'Kate' feels about all this? I wouldn't be surprised if Mr Vettel isn't really the sort to ask her about her feelings. Now there's a shock.