I got a stomach bug and temperature, felt sick and I don’t like feeling sick. It means I’m weak, I’m a man, I shouldn’t feel weak or at least I shouldn’t do anything and pray on medicines. I hate being unproductive or not having great fun. This space in between these two states is useless to me. So, I found this incredible documentary and watched it while Wim Hof Breathing.
Time well spent. Frank Stephenson is an incredible blend of a masculine personality with a feminine side. The yin and yang. His father was as tough of a man as they get. WWII veteran and sailor. Felt in love with Frank’s Spanish mother and stayed in Spain. He was pushing Frank and his brother to the limit in everything.
There is a very powerful story in the documentary about Frank and his brother playing baseball with their dad. He was so demanding, that he was asking them to get 10 consecutive strikes while pitching! Apparently, even the baseball greats couldn’t do that. Their father was doing it for one reason only. He was teaching the boy to never ever give up. Sadly, Frank seems to have survived and understood the lessons of his dad, but his brother didn’t. He was prone to developing bad habits and died from lung cancer.
Frank, on the other hand, got obsessed with performance, in his teenage years, his father pushed them to be as strong physically as possible. In his late teens, Frank started motocross. In no time, he was at world championship level! Usually, to be at world championship level you should have started before your teens and it takes a looot of time. Still, Frank was top 10 rider, but his father one day told him. Frank, if you don’t win, you retire and go to school. Why? Because apparently if you don’t win, but you’re 8th or 4th, nobody remembers you. People only remember the winners. Who is remembering Ricardo Patrese for being 2nd to Nigel Mansell in F1 1992? Or who remembers that actually Jenson Button was 3rd in 2004 beaten only by both Ferraris? Few do. Everybody knows Jenson as the 2009 champion, but few remember he was 3rd in 2004, arguably a no less incredible achievement.
It isn’t fair, but people only remember the champions. As Ayrton Senna once said: Second is the first of the losers!
Frank had to step it up and perform, but his massive lack of experience obviously was too much to be overcome with sheer determination and he went to study design in LA. His mother was an artist, always painting. She taught him about art and love. He went to LA and combined the lessons of both his father and mother to finish top in class and was right away recruited by Ford!
The first car Frank had the chance to work on at Ford was the rally homologation version of the Escort – the legendary Cosworth! It’s still one of the best looking rally cars, this car was incredible and Frank actually wanted to have a 2 decker rear wing! But they thought it was too much, too costly. So it was just a single-element wing. Still, the Escort Cosworth is one of my favorite cars ever. Francois Delecour could make it dance, sadly Francois had an accident with a Ferrari and couldn’t become champion with the car. But the car became an icon in 90’s rallying… countless national and regional championships. Not only that, the road-going version was just fantastic to drive. It was made for drivers, direct steering. Of course, it never achieved the same status as the Lancia Delta, but it’s probably the 2nd most popular car from the group A era of rallying after the Deltona.
Then he went to BMW and there his never give up relentless attitude combined with his artistic talents delivered. He was put in charge of a fast-tracked project for BMW’s first SUV – the X5. He had to design it in WEEKS and present it to the board. Usually, car designs take years, not months, years. So, how did he do it? In Germany it’s against the law to work on weekends, so he had to go to Italy and get some locals to help him. He got the same people who did the Lamborghini Miura to make the clay model of the car.
The CEO of BMW at the time saw the end result and bluntly said: This goes into production.
Then he had the luxury to do the new Mini, but this was on a normal schedule, so he had the chance to break the norms and created an avantgarde car that was still in the spirit of the original Mini. The original design of the reborn Mini is still almost the same now 20 years after the premiere in 1999.
One who was never shy of challenges, he went to Ferrari and he was duly given an ultimatum to create the FIAT 500. They needed a car to save the company as it was close to bankrupt. The FIAT 500 saved FIAT and Frank was the person in charge of that mission. He delivered. It’s a boutique car with incredible handling. One of my favorite cars to drive, it’s capable of cornering at incredible speeds for a car of that size and height. But he didn’t have time to do any development. This time, he had to find a way to create a masterpiece using whatever models FIAT had as the basis. This had to be done in months and he had to find ways to cut time as much as possible. So, how did he do it? He took the FIAT Panda of all cars and then changed the bodywork and the interior. The 500 is 100% the same as the Panda. One is ugly, the other is gorgeous. Same body, same car underneath. It’s an incredible story.
After Ferrari, of course, Ron Dennis would call. He took him and he designed the MP4-12C and then the P1. IMHO, the McLaren P1 is the most beautiful car of this decade and maybe even century so far. It’s something more than the rest, something special. It’s like a provocative woman. Still, the first time Ron Dennis saw it he asked what is the front and what is the rear? He put Frank under tons of pressure at the wrong moment. Of course, he is an artist, but not an ordinary highly emotional artist. He’s a world-class athlete capable of withstanding pressure. But when you combine pressure at work with family problems and show no understanding to the person… one must be mad to stay with such a boss. Ron Dennis is famous for being incredibly insensitive to people and this time, again, he went too far. At the time Frank had both his brother and mother ill. Still, he delivered one last time. And delivered he did. This car is absolutely gorgeous, it’s like the girl you see at a party and you remember her after 1 year and many other girls. One of a kind.
What I learned from this documentary is that this romantic concept of how great artists are supposed to be melancholic and chaotic and waiting for inspiration. That’s bullshit. If you are an artist and you love what you do, then you do it as often as possible no matter what. You can be human, loving and tender, yet… just like in yin and yang… you can be tough as nails, but never be an asshole. If you’re in a creative field, you should embrace these feminine qualities to create the concepts that will lead you to success, but you should also use your masculine nature, not over imposing, but determined to reach success. The masculine decisive drive that never tires in the chase for perfection.
After the movie finished, I checked my temperature. From 38.4 to 36.6 thanks to the breathing :) Oh, and btw, a week after my flu I understood that apparently the pill I took which I thought was Paracetamol was actually Aspirin and I’m allergic to Aspirin. I can get anaphylactic shock. So, quite crazy! :)
Next morning’s temperature check: 35.8 C! Ready to rumble.
Ivan On Racing 