What makes a motorcycle or car racer special? What are the speed markers? What signifies talent in this particular sport? Do conventional rules of Bazi hold for this arena? These and other derivative questions form the basis into this research.
But first, let me add some perspective as to how this curiosity came about. I am a professional storyteller in the motorsports industry. Everyday for the past 20+ years, I write about these people. Even for those of us in the industry, we hold these riders and drivers in awe. Sometimes, I swear we think that they of them as a completely different species – this amazing ability to function at awesome speeds that would turn us mere mortals into quivering masses of jello.
When I started learning Bazi, the conventional teachings is that the Bazi Chart of someone who wants to be a successful sports person must have strong Wood energy and a strong Warrior Star (the 7 Killings – or shortened to 7K). Similarly in the study of Qi Men Dun Jia, the energetic and aggressive White Tiger tends to be considered as essential for an athlete.
So I wondered. Do these general rules apply to motorsports? If yes, why and vice versa. Motorsports is a particularly dangerous sport. When they go out on track, these riders and drivers frequently put their lives on the line. In that case, does the 7K profile of the White Tiger star become an asset or liability?
To answer these questions and more, I delved into 52 Bazi Charts of former and present motorsports greats. At this point, I need to add a disclaimer. I do not know their time of birth. So we can only examine their external pillars – the ones they display to the world. The readings will change if their hour pillars come into play. But for the sake of consistency, we will stick to a 3-pillar reading instead of four.
This research will focus solely on the capacity and potential of the Chart. I will not be forecasting anything for any of them.
ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON – THE ROLE OF EACH ELEMENT IN A RACER’S CHART
All Chinese metaphysics studies boil down to an examination of the Five Elements – Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal. What is prosperous in the Chart? What is weak in the Chart? Specifically for the drivers and riders, how do the various interactions between the elements influence them? Before I even delve into other markers like Day Masters or structure or profile, I must first determine the predominant elements in their charts, and correspondingly, what they represent.
Conventional Bazi wisdom is right, though. To my surprise, I found that 31% of the charts featured Wood as the dominant energy. Why surprised? Because our sport is metal.
But upon reflection, the answer to that lies with us – corporate motorsports, so to speak. Think of our languaging when we talk about new riders. We call it talent DEVELOPMENT. We say that this rider is someone we can ‘grow’ or ‘train’. This is exactly what the Wood energy governs – self-development and growth.
So because we are constantly talking about ‘growth’, little wonder when we select riders for the talent programmes, we are inevitably drawn to those with strong Wood energy.
The list of drivers and riders for whom the Wood Qi is predominant in their charts are the Steady Eddies of the motorsports world. As the sport changes into the new era, I believe we will see more drivers and riders with prosperous Wood Qi emerging among the top phalanx of the sport, simply because they have the aptitude that are naturally appealing to the corporate sponsors.
They include Alain Prost, Alex Marquez, Andrea Dovisioso, Aryton Senna, David Couldhard, Eddie Lawson, Fabio Quartararo, Hafizh Syahrin, Jorge Lorenzo, Loris Capirros, Mark Marquez, Mike Hailwood, Niki Lauda, Sebastian Loeb, Takaaki Nakagami and Valentino Rossi.
At the other end of the spectrum, prosperous Metal makes up 23% of the charts. These guys are naturally attuned to motorsports. So picking up the skills come easy for them. Don’t bother to ask this bunch how they do it – they won’t be able to tell you. As opposed to the Wood bunch that needs to be ‘grown’, this group needs to be MOLDED.
Among them are Thomas Luthi, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Mika Hakkinen, Khairul Idham Pawi, Brad Binder, Norifumi Abe, Damon Hill, Alex Lowes, and Max Verstappen. Notice how most of the ‘bad boys’ of the sport are here. James Hunt, Barry Sheene, and our very own Azlan Shah.
So if Fire and Water are the speed markers, does this mean that those born with prosperous Water Qi or Fire Qi in their charts will have a natural talent for speed? Yes. But Water is preferred to Fire because Water also represents the ability to assess risk.
Here are the drivers and riders with prosperous Water Qi in their charts – Angel Nieto, Karamjit Singh, Lewis Hamilton, Jonathan Rea, Kenny Roberts, Randy Mamola, Maverick Vinales, Alex Rins, Michael Schumacher, Freddie Spencer, and Alvaro Bautista.
In that case, since Water is the preferred marker for speed, why then are there so few dominant Water charts in this study? There is a 50-50 split here between current and former racers. The only one who is actively racing at the top are Lewis Hamilton and Jonathan Rea. The rest are either retired or upcoming names. I suspect that the answer for this lies in a lack of opportunity as opposed to a lack of talent. Water by its nature, is fearless and relentless. Drivers and riders with prosperous Water in their charts may simply be sidelined due to the fact that they can be difficult to manage. Look at the list. Do you think it is easy for a team manager to rein in the likes of Schumacher?
Conversely, prosperous Fire seems to be less favourable in the quest to become a motorsports great. Simply because, Fire that is too strong creates Earth which leads to stagnation.
These are the guys who are driven by passion – Mick Doohan, Daijiro Kato, Sebastian Vettel, Anthony West, Giacomo Agostini, Lorenzo Dalla Porta, Max Biaggi, Alex Yoong and Tetsuya Harada.
For these guys to succeed, Water must be present somewhere to bring about some much-needed balance. Of the 10, Sebastian Vettel, Giacomo Agostini and Max Biaggi and Mick Doohan has both Fire and Water in their charts. Which is why they lead this passionate bunch in terms of accomplishments.
The motorsports arena is no country for the Earth Qi, the heaviest and least mobile of the five elements. These guys make it to the top by sheer force of will alone. It would take a tremendous amount of willpower for them to make it to the top. Here’s the list of drivers and riders with dominant Earth energies in their chart – Casey Stoner, Kimi Raikkonen, Wayne Gardner and Wayne Rainey. Remember what Casey Stoner said when he retired? He said he was exhausted!
To summarize a very long segment on the elements, prosperous Water is a better indication of motorsports talent. However, only a select few reach the top because the corporate world has a marked preference for the more pliable nature of those with Wood in their charts.
THE CLASH CODE – TO 7K OR NOT TO 7K
Many many years ago when I first embarked on my career, I knew a rider who retired at the top of his game. The reason? A fortune teller had informed him that if he continued racing past a certain age, he would meet a premature death.
When I finally immersed myself in the study of Bazi, I understood why. The technical explanation – in the year when the 7 Killings star protrude to the Heavens while at the same time, a clash between pillars happen in the chart, there is a higher chance of an accident occurring. This applies to all of us, but is magnified in racers due to the dangerous nature of the sport.
Yet, conventional wisdom says that an athlete should ideally possess a 7 Killings star. I wondered if that was true for motorsports.
Let’s start off by what the statistical data tells us. Of the 52 charts, 44% has ZERO 7 Killings. This includes Rossi and Marquez.
I would say it is better for a motorsports athlete to have ZERO 7 Killings. Why? Because according to the ancient text, when Officer and Influence converge, disaster can happen.
Basically what this means is, the Day Master loses control of the Warrior Star, leading to a possible loss of focus, wrong risk assessment and wrong decision making.
This can also happen to people like you and me, right? A split second of distraction, and maybe we accidentally ding our cars against the gate. But because Motorsports is a dangerous sport in itself, that is why I say, that for motorsports, the 7 Killing can be a disadvantage. Because their risks can be magnified. I would rather not see it in their chart.
Since we’re on this topic, let’s spend a paragraph on the Qimen White Tiger star which by its aggressive nature, is also considered as something necessary for a motorsports athlete. Not true. None of the 52 charts showed the White Tiger star in their destiny palace.
THE X-FACTOR: TO BE A SUPERSTAR
In this research, two key profiles stood out as the necessary ingredient for a successful racer. You need the overwhelming confidence of the Friend profile and the creative, out-of-the-box thinking of the Eating God profile.
But to be a superstar…
This, is Valentino Rossi:
What makes this guy special?
- He is a Wood Day Master – born in the day and month of Wood (Tiger). This is strong, thriving Wood that is very competitive by nature.
- For a Wood Day Master, the influence element is Metal, representing iron-clad determination.
- This chart has ZERO 7 Killings.
- His Guardian of Destiny is Harmony – endowing him with the ability to work with all kinds of people.
- This chart is not without its weakness. It has zero Water (a speed marker). However, he went through 30 years of Water luck from the age of 14.
- The Friend profile is his dominant profile. As mentioned earlier, this represents a towering self confidence along with an instinct to size up his competitor and use that information for his own benefit.
- A strong and usable Eating God star, a talent marker is found right next to him in the Month.
- The X-Factor lies here – the Rob Wealth leadership star. This is the star that brought his legions of fans to him and props him up a head and shoulder above the rest. Ironically, 40% of the drivers and riders surveyed had little or no Rob Wealth stars.
I’m not saying that Rossi’s chart is the only way to success in motorsports. However, of the 52 charts I studied, his stood out as having all the necessary ingredients. What differentiated him from the others, was that he instinctively knew how to use what he had to achieve his goals.
In the modern practice of Bazi, there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ charts. There is only the best use of the chart.
So what can we do with this information?
We can of course, identify potential, we can know how to motivate a talent, possibly forecast longevity in the business, we could also figure out how best to market this person and teach them to be mindful of the blind spots in their thinking.
I conducted a Facebook Live presentation of these findings about a month ago. Follow this link if you would like to watch the video.