Irish Smiles

This year continues to be a fantastic one for Irish sport in general. The international football team is looking somewhat capable of a decent go for World Cup qualification and in rugby, our Grand Slam triumph in the Six Nations has also being joined by Leinster making the Heineken Cup final, after coming through an all Irish semi-final.

Irish motorsport has also enjoyed what can only be described as its best year ever. Not since the days of Jordan Grand Prix have we had much to celebrate here. (And for those boffins not in the know, while Jordan was based in the UK, it ran under the Irish flag – hence the reason Amhrán na bhFiann was played when the stewards didn’t cock up the ceremony.

The year started with the Irish Rally as the opening round for the World Rally Championship. Granted, it doesn’t feel like the WRC has the same sort of lure as it used to, but it was a fantastic achievement nonetheless in the days where everyone is starting races anywhere except in Europe.

The icing on the cake came this weekend, with Adam Carroll winning the fourth A1GP series for Team Ireland. The victory is the first time an Irish national has taken an international motorsport title. Carroll took it in dominating fashion, with pole position and race victory in both the Sprint and the Feature.

It is a fantastic achievement that will hopefully put more emphasis on motorsport back in this country. Currently, it has handled very poorly and even when Formula One as shown on terrestrial television, the commentary was down there in the basement alongside that of James Allen.

New Year, Different Sport, Same Problems

Not exactly motorsport news, but it goes to show that while the BBC coverage for Formula One is a voyage into the unknown – we are better off over ITV.

Last night saw the FA Cup replay football match (soccer for any US readers) between Liverpool and Everton. For those not inclined to watch football, this is one of the biggest rivalries in English football. Both teams are from the city of Liverpool and this match is popularly known as the Merseyside derby.

The match went past the regulation 90-minutes. Given that it was a replay, a winner had to be decided on the not, prompting a half-hour overtime period. On the 118th minute, Everton scored the winning goal.

But where were ITV? On a break, of course.

It is something we have become used to on Formula One, as the broadcaster cuts away at a potentially pivotal moment. It’s one of the reasons I was happy to do a song and dance with the switch to BBC. But to put an advert break so close to end of the match is nothing short of farcical.

ITV are putting it down to a glitch in the system. A plausible excuse, but not good enough. According to reports earlier last year when it was announced that ITV lost the F1 contract, some of the reasoning’s on their side was purportedly due to wanting to focus on football.

I’m sure many will be happy to stick with Sky Sports if this is what ITV consider to be a ‘quality’ broadcast.

Brundle to the Beeb

Martin Brundle has confirmed he will be a part of the BBC F1 coverage next season.

This is news I am fairly happy about. For me, he was the only member of the ITV Sport team who came out with any sort of creditability from the last few years. What makes me happier is that none of the other members of the team seem to be on their way. No word about James Allen or Mark Blundell. I would do a little dance if my leg wasn’t sore.

There were rumours floating around about attempts by the FIA to put the kibosh on the move, but nothing really ever came of it. BBC have captured an experienced and well respected commentator – an impressive notch on their belt. It will be interesting to see how the new team builds up in the coming months and what else we learn about the new coverage.

Buh-Bye!

With the end of the Formula One season, we now say goodbye to the ITV Sport coverage of the sport.

I for one am quite happy to see them go. I have made no secret of my annoyance towards the coverage over the past few years. There is very little good that can be said about the coverage. After starting out on such a high in the early days, to finish off in such a way is disappointing. As they always say, you are always remembered by what you last did. For ITV, in the eyes of many including myself, that will be painful.

Why am I harsh on the coverage? Well, in college I was taught that the role of a journalist is to be impartial and to produce the facts. What ITV have done over the past few years is to pepper these facts that made Hamilton out to be some sort of racing messiah. Don’t get me wrong, they are fully entitled to support Hamilton. But their job, as journalists, is to give fair, unbiast commentary and I honestly don’t believe they have given that.

Heck, I remember back in late 2006, when Allen couldn’t keep quiet about Hamilton – even before he had ever signed a contract to run the next year. This all going on when he should be following the race at hand. The off mention, fine – but his constant shoving it down our throats, it is easy to see why people had a dislike to Hamilton even before arrived.

Their final broadcast was no better. To paraphrase what Allen claimed Raikkonen’s job on the day was, he said something along the lines that Raikkonen had to get between Raikkonen and Hamilton. Gee, James, there are two Raikkonen’s in F1 now?

Even more glaring was Jenson Button’s release from the pit-lane. Remember only a few races ago that they were all over it like flies onto shit when Massa was involved in such incident. Was a single word said? Of course not! It is that sort of double-standards that I am glad to see the back of ITV coverage from the sport.

Is it so hard to ask for impartiality once you live? Britain is a proud nation; they don’t need you guys trying to cajole support around Hamilton. His driving skill alone would’ve garnered the fan base he now has. Actually I’m sure a lot more people might find Hamilton a tad bit more likeable if you didn’t insist of shoving it upon us.

Of course, there is a chance the BBC could be just as bad if not worse than ITV. Believe me, that thought has crossed my mind. Maybe this time next year, I will be saying that perhaps we were better with the devil that we knew. But if it comes to that point, I don’t think I’d be watching the sport in 2011.

The funny thing is, or maybe, the sad thing is, that they actually get paid quite well for this. And I find myself hoarse from shouting at the television every grand prix weekend as I correct their obvious errors.

Happy days.

IRL Kicks Off

The first race of the unified Indy Racing Series past off without major incident at Homestead.

Allot of the concern over how the former Champ Car drivers proved to be mostly unfounded. Of course there was some slightly dodgy moments during lappers but it wasn’t a crash fest as some predicted. There was only three yellow flag periods during the race in fact which saw all but four of the field get lapped.
Scott Dixon picked up where his empty fuel cell let him down at the end of last season. Marco Andretti, son of Michael, grandson of legendary Mario finished second. Dan Weldon, team-mate of Dixon finished third. The Kiwi took victory after Tony Kaanan suffered suspension damage when he clipped a crashed car inside the last few laps. Kaanan tried to limp with three straight wheels on his wagon in the hope the safety car period would end the race, but he had no such luck. It was disappointing that the IRL officials allowed him to take the restart when it was obvious there would be a number of laps run under green. Letting the Andretti-Green car lead those to the line caused slow speeds and confusion behind him.

It's a touch of irony given that many thought that the Champ Car refugees would be the ones to cause chaos in the field. This year is obviously a massive learner process for these teams, especially on the ovals. It will be interesting to see how competitive they can be on the circuits. I don’t think they will win, at least not in the first few, but they shouldn’t find themselves filling up the back rows.

Props go out to the camera work at the start. With championship challenger Dan Weldon starting at the back, they split the screen with a cockpit cam of the Brit on the right while the front runners on the left. It didn’t let the viewers miss anything. We got the action up front and able to watch Weldon slash through the field.

It’s going to take time for the fruits of this unification to bear its full fruit. I reckon give it two, maybe three years and the IRL will be once more a major product in world motorsport.

We Don't Know How Bad We Got It.

I wonder if Formula One fans realise how restricted the coverage given to us is.

Currently waiting during the red flag period during the Autoclub 500 Nascar race which Sky are showing via US coverage. Seeing it makes me shake my head about elements of the Formula coverage that we get. First example is the split screen to coverage two parts of the race, or replays. How many times have we sat in an F1 race and the television coverage is switched to something we don't need to see. Why don't we have split screen for that sort of situation, to keep us apprised of the race lead and whatever else needs to be shown? US race coverage has been using this for years.
There is also the marker system that commentators can use to point out specific things to the viewers. Another handy bit of technology that isn't around in Formula One. Something as simple as that to help make a point we don't have over here.

It does make you wonder. For all the wonders and the bragging that Formula One does about been the most high-tech sport in the world and we lack the sort of diversity to help enhance the viewing pleasures for us, the fans.

Of course those who broadcast could learn a lesson or two. As long time readers know I have long been harsh of the sub-standard coverage now offered by all but one of the ITV Sport team.

They too could learn from their American counterparts. ITV Spot puppy dog eye the home talent and their ass kissing extends to barking at anyone who enters their personal space. There is none of this bias in the coverage over in the US. Each driver is given equal treatment in their coverage. There is no 90% talk of one specific driver just because of his nationality even if he's having a bad day. That does maybe give you an idea of the F1 fan that ITV Sport is trying to court. The term is 'fair-weather' fans. Ones that just show up because they have been told to because there is someone successful to latch their success on to. Seen it way to many times in football, best example was Beckham's move to Real Madrid that prompted everyone to start wearing Madrid jerseys. History repeated with his move to America when LA Galaxy jerseys started propping up in sports stores over here.

If there is something technical to discuss, well FOX have a mock car that they can tell the viewers exactly what they are talking about. We just have to rely on descriptive wording. If pre-race bits can be done with real cars, surely they could arrange to have a replica on site to give fans an idea to the more technical aspects of a car. Or is that asking too much?

Why can't we receive unbias coverage that depends on fans for the love of the sport? It would be so much better to watch. How come we receive inferior coverage when other sports get it? F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsports. It's about time it started acting like it.

What A Race!

Nope, ain’t talking about the Italian Grand Prix. Not really going to mention it much. It was an alright race with nothing too amazing, apart from the end of Massa’s title run, Kimi trying to put the cat amongst the pigeons with a one stop and good move by Hamilton (though in fairness, if Kimi had turned in then Hamilton would’ve been in the wrong from coming back from so far.)

No, what I’m going to talk about is the IRL season finale at Chicagoland. What a race. Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon have three points between goings into the race. It’s a close race with a pack of six cars up front until yellows come into play leaving the two title chasers on their own. The last thirty, forty laps were amazing with the cars dicing amongst those who were not on the same strategy.

It all comes down the last three laps with Franchitti trying to find a way by. Dixon looked to have it. Last lap halfway around Dixon runs out of fuel. Franchitti is champion. What a way to end it. It was a great race to watch. Any one of about six to ten cars at one stage had a chance of winning. Fantastic battling. F1 could learn, at the very least from the way the broadcasting is done. If there is action across the track the US coverage has split screens. Why don’t we have them in F1? It would make watching close dices without having to complain about not seeing the action. The same has to go with pit radios. Right now we get the diluted radio streams about a lap or two after they were said. In the final part of the race we had live radio streams from the spotters. All of it made this race all the more enjoyable.

For sure I’ll be giving the IRL coverage allot more notice come next season.