T-Square -- F-1 GRAND PRIX WORLD

One sign of that we're fully into summer in Toronto? The annual Honda Indy is back in town. Yup, starting from today, the cars have been racing around at Exhibition Place. I've got a friend who works for Honda so he'll be busy helping out and trying not to lose his hearing.

Well, why not reflect this event on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" tonight through the T-Square album "F-1 GRAND PRIX WORLD" (1992) where through its tracks, elements of a typical race and even some of the potential driver personalities are illustrated musically by the Japanese fusion band. Two of the tracks have already been given their due, "Truth" and "Circuit no Hourousha"（サーキットの放浪者）. Yes, I realize that F-1 and IndyCar are different classes of racing.

Then, came along Track 3, "Cool Professor" which sounds like it's describing the Iceman of the circuit...that one driver who never loses his/her temper, smoothly calculates the odds in his/her head while calmly taking in the information from the crew and quietly climbs all the way to the lead. The Bjorn Borg of racing (does anyone remember Bjorn Borg?).

Next is "Red Zone no Tenshi"（レッドゾーンの天使...Angel of the Red Zone）which may describe the complete opposite of the Cool Professor. With a rock guitar entry, this driver wears emotions all over the jump suit and has lots of fun (or makes trouble) whether anyone else likes it or not. Lots of fine show-off riffs on the keyboards but let's not forget the guitar.

My final entry tonight is "Pit In, Pit Out", a piece of funky groove which surprised me at first, since from the title, I had been expecting something high octane, similar to the feeling of rushing into the pit stop, getting as much gas and other repairs done within a handful of seconds before rushing right on out. Instead, this is relatively relaxing as if the crew and drivers are just hanging out and knocking back brewskis there before the big race the next day. There is even something about this track that had me thinking whether this would have made a decent theme for an 80s American sitcom about racing.

Well, all the best to the racers tomorrow and Sunday, especially James Hinchcliffe from Oakville, Ontario.