GT driver suspended after use of cocaine

[Principessa]

Statement of the FIA "Luca Moro, a driver in the 2006 FIA GT Championship, has been suspended after testing positive in a routine doping test carried out by the FIA.

The decision was made by the Stewards of the 2006 Proximus 24 Hours of Spa event on the basis of an adverse analytical finding of Benzoylecgonine (metabolite of Cocaine) in the urine sample B, which confirms the result of Sample A, both collected from Mr Moro at the Spa event on July 27, 2006.

Following a Stewards hearing it has been decided to impose on Mr Moro a two-year suspension of licence with application from August 31, 2006.

Cocaine is included in the 2006 list of prohibited substances published by the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA).

Mr Moro has been reminded of his right of appeal."

[Tom]

...good

[Ranald]

Well said Tom.

[Scuderia_Russ]

Not exactly going to be performance enhancing though is it.

[bizadfar]

Not exactly going to be performance enhancing though is it.

Over 24hours it could.

[Scuderia_Russ]

I don't think so. Over 24 hours he would be awake but he wouldn't be able to do his job properly if he was on it at the time!

[Ranald]

I don't think it's a metter of performance inhancement. It's more that cocaine is illegal and that we don't really want the users of such drugs in the sport or any sport for that matter.

[Scuderia_Russ]

I know what you are saying, he could put others lives at risk also.

[Ranald]

Very good point Scuderia_Russ.

[millerjam]

Does anyone remember any other incidences where drivers have been caught taking supposed performance enhancing drugs? I remember Thomas Enge being banned for smoking some cannabis a few years ago.
You would think that it would be a sport that might be susceptable to use taking into account the stamina and fitness levels involved in driving a modern F1 car. Not suggesting for a moment that anyone on the grid would be, but I wonder how much of an influence it could have?

[Ciro Pabón]

There were only two Japanese GPs at Fuji (in 1976 and 1977), and the race was not revived in Japan until 1987. To Hunt's fury, the BBC decided not to send any commentators to the new venue, Suzuka, but instead asked me to sit in the luxurious commentary box allocated to us, complete with its own telephone link to the studio in Shepherds Bush. A couple of years later, I invited an upstart young reporter named Joe Saward to join me, and together we made a fine double act.

It infuriated James Hunt that the Beeb was too mean to send him to Japan. Having been forced to rise at 3am, he would express his annoyance with heavy handed remarks ("unfortunately, our commentary point is too far away for us to see the pits"), while Murray got his revenge by taking over the microphone for long periods whenever James took a break for one of his special cigarettes ("James has left the commentary box to take a look at the far side of the circuit").

[m3_lover]

If he used cocaine before the race started his perception levels would be heighten as well as his instincts because of the high that you would get off cocaine. I remember last year a f1 ferrari technician said that half of the field of F1 uses cocaine... he said this after he was fired.

[AeroGT3]

Not exactly going to be performance enhancing though is it.

Definitely not, and he should be removed simply because of the danger he presents to other competitors.

[Ted68]

I remember last year a f1 ferrari technician said that half of the field of F1 uses cocaine... he said this after he was fired.

I also remember reading that for some time from mid 70's to early 80's Ferrari and others provided coke for the drivers for a performance edge.

Then again, heres this...

The Clue is in the Description
By Sports Blog Archive, December 29, 2004


Make of this what you will.

Rome - A former Ferrari team doctor, Benigno Bartoletti, has said that close to one third of Grand Prix drivers takes cocaine.

"At races, there is a lot of cocaine and in Formula One, it could be as many as one third of all drivers who take cocaine," the 68-year-old doctor told the Italian motorsport magazine "Quattroruote".

He said that cocaine gave the drivers the belief that they are invincible.

He added that the effect of cocaine lasted around 90 minutes and during this time the driver had a faster reaction time. "However, if a race takes longer, then it could become dangerous for drivers as the drug loses its effect."

Doping tests amongst Formula One drivers in the past season however did not return a single positive test.

This story is so incredulous, at first I checked to see if it had been posted as an April Fool's joke. Operating under that premise I went Googling in search of Dr. Bartoletti to verify his existence. Or her exsistence, as this resume shows, (translated from Italian via Babel Fish). A certain Dr. Bartoletti, identified as female, from "1972 to 1992 have been responsible sanitary of the square run Ferrari and from 1987 to 1989 Official Doctor CSAI, for the Italian pilots participants to the Championship of Formula 1. This would seem to indicate they are one and the same "doctor," although there is an age discrepancy, she was born in Genoa Italy in 1935. But how many females don't lie about their age? It also calls into question the South Afican source of this story (free reg. req'd). It takes very little journalist integrity to publish these allegations of cocaine use based on someone's word that has had no connection to Formula One since 1992.

For a moment let us leave aside whether my "Google search" turned up the correct doctor in question and look at the basic science involved. Based on this study by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine cocaine introduced into a baboons system "produced an average reaction-time decrease of 10 to 12%." Not the type of thing you would want braking at the end of a long straight at 200 plus mph. What, you say baboons don't drive F1 machines? ( except for this one of course) Well fine, have a peek at what the NHTSA has to say about cocaine use and the effects on humans.

Effects:
Early phase – Psychological: Euphoria, excitation, feelings of well-being, general arousal, increased sexual excitement, dizziness, self-absorbed, increased focus and alertness, mental clarity, increased talkativeness, motor restlessness, offsets fatigue, improved performance in some simple tasks, and loss of appetite. Higher doses may exhibit a pattern of psychosis with confused and disoriented behavior, delusions, hallucinations, irritability, fear, paranoia, antisocial behavior, and aggressiveness. Physiological: Increased heart rate and blood pressure, increased body temperature, dilated pupils, increased light sensitivity, constriction of peripheral blood vessels, rapid speech, dyskinesia, nausea, and vomiting. Late phase - Psychological: Dysphoria, depression, agitation, nervousness, drug craving, general CNS depression, fatigue, insomnia. Physiological: Itching/picking/scratching, normal heart rate, normal pupils.
To be fair the article does note "faster reaction times and diminished effects of fatigue" as a result of cocaine usage, but "improvements were greatest in behaviorally impaired subjects (e.g. sleep deprived, fatigued, or concurrent use of ethanol) and least improvements were observed in well-rested, healthy subjects."

Again, not the stuff of Michael Schumacher or seven World Championships, but it may help explain why the brain trust behind Minardi keep pouring good money down a rat hole.

Here is another relevant Google find, this one for a clinical study of WonderCup, "A NATURAL FORMULA FOR BREAST ENHANCEMENT," conducted by "Dr. Benigno Bartoletti, MD" in September 1999. Is it one and the same "doctor?" I don't know, you be the judge.

As my title suggests, I tend to believe the adjective "former" that modifies this doctors name in the original story may have something to do with his/her opinion. But I would be remiss if I failed to point out "Witch Doctor" or "Snake Oil Salesman" may also be appropriate descriptive terminolgy.

[manchild]

Cocaine... umm... 1994, 1997, 2006? Could a driver begin hallucinating that his car is a tank or that a parking appeared in the corner?