1987 Sandown ATCC Round

[racer69]

What was the deal with the Channel 7 coverage of this event. All the footage we seemed to get of the telecast is from the RaceCam's inside the Allan Grice Commodore and Glenn Seton's Nissan Skyline, and apart from that there is a recap of the previous rounds in that years championship. Anyone know what happened?

[RaceTime]

Was it a standalone round or the 500 that year? Around that time the ABC and SBS televised a couple of the rounds- maybe that was one of them?

[Forbesy]

Funny you should mention this, as I was reading about it on another forum the other day. Apparently around the time of the Sandown race there was a cameraman's strike (or something like that) that disrupted TV right across Australia I think. Seven managed to get a TV van past all the picket lines, and just picked up the race from the two racecams in Grice's & Seton's cars. Now that's what you call commitment.

Also, anyone noticed the drop in quality of racecam footage since 10 took over. With 7, it always appeared crystal clear, with no breakup whatsoever. Now with bloody ten you are lucky to go through a 'stint' on racecam without it breaking up. Bloody pathetic, and something that is common with the rest of the ****house coverage, particularly Matthew White.....

[RaceTime]

All the 'experts' (not being funny) stayed at Seven didn't they? Or went to CART

[Mattracer]

The only good thing Ten has in the way of commentators is Greg Rust (and Neil Crompton when the car gives up). Knows what he is talking about and gives technical information that is relevant. None of the sensationalised trivia Oastler and White constantly give.

[mickj]

Rust is FIGJAM like the rest. Crompton is a good commentator.

[Crash Test]

But have you noticed the size of the 7 cameras as opposed to the 10 cameras? 10 use those ABC mini cams, while 7 had these great muther cinema like things.

[RaceTime]

Credit where credit is due.

Ch 7 designed/invented these cameras - and the reason they were so big was because of the size of the motor gears for pan and tilt mechanisms they could accommodate a larger camera which meant clearer picture.

If you go forward a few years to the middle 90's, the Ch 7 cams were a lot smaller by then - headlight, roof cams - so no - they weren't left behind.

However, the quality of the pics from Ch 10 leaves a lot to be desired - it is as if they are using Logitec web cams and not decent broadcast quality cameras.

[Crash Test]

True, they did get smaller, but the internal ones were still pretty big.

How do you think the AVE Speedweek cameras stack up? They use a digital mini cam, and as soon as a race finishes, everyone swarms around for an action replay.

[Forbesy]

Yep they were a fair size, is it possible that the teams asked for them to be lightened or they wouldn't carry them? Or aren't they that much of an issue weight wise??

Is it correct that the technology developed by 7, using a microwave link back up to the chopper then down again, was a world first??

Remember the size of the camera in Dick's green car, that thing took up like the whole front seat!! But unfortunately, some idiot forgot to press the record button just before he hit Forrest's Elbow. Would've been good to catch on camera....

[Crash Test]

I think weight would be a big issue, or else the teams wouldn't dick around so much with carbon fibre etc

[racer69]

Originally posted by Forbesy
Is it correct that the technology developed by 7, using a microwave link back up to the chopper then down again, was a world first??

Sure was, first used during the 1979 James Hardie 1000 in Peter Williamson's Toyota Celica. Channel 7 even sent their technician's over to America to help them use it when they couldn't work it out for things like Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500.

7 did seem to use the bigger one's, maybe the bigger the better the quality? Didn't always go to plan, I remember during the 1992 Bathurst 1000 the fire extinguisher went off in the Richards/Skaife Nissan, covering the camera, so that every time it moved bits of foam would fly off into Jim. Also the Racecam in the Johnson/Bowe Falcon malfunctioned during the 1994 1000, it started spinning around constantly, meaning we missed some onboard's of the late race battle between Bowe and Lowdnes.

One thing i wish 10 would do is talk to the drivers while they are racing, like what 7 used to constantly do, all 10 seem to do is little chats during the safety cars.

[Forbesy]

Racer, perhaps what happened with Dick at the ATCC round in '95 (even though it was a mechanical failure) put them off? Really, only Dick & Brockie used to talk, and now that they've gone, no one to really take it up. For memory, Ingall at Bathurst in '95 lost something like 5 seconds in a lap talking to the 7 commentators. Bet Larry wasn't happy with that. I think Glenn used to do it a fair bit, and Jimmy Richards did it as well. It really is an artform, and with how close it is today & how the field is always bunched up, particularly at Bathurst due to the pace car, maybe the drivers don't want to talk why they're having a battle.

[racer69]

Brock was great with that, especially Bathurst 1986. During the opening stint, chatting away to the commentators, arm on the window, oversteering and correcting it with one hand, superb. Then later that same race talking the viewers around a lap of the track like he was sitting in the commentary box talking about someone else's lap, that was fantastic. It was Neville Hay;s first trip to Bathurst, i don't think he could believe (he certainly didn't approve of Gricey waving on the last lap)

Brock in the pits chatting to Crompton out on the circuit was another great display in 1988, fantastic TV.

A pity some of the drivers won't talk nowaday's, that was a great innovation. Channel 7 still used up till '99 (haven't produced much since), they spoke to Cromton during the 1000 in 1997 while racing, same with Brad Jones in 1998, and during the 100km race on the saturday in 1999 they spoke with Paul Morris.

[Crash Test]

Here's one of the Ch10 swivly jobs

[Mattracer]

I think that if a driver did talk during the race and they went off or someting because of it, the teams these days would kill the driver on the spot. At Pukekohe, Murphy quite clearly said "the pace car lights have gone out guys, so I'm going to have to leave you here..." It's a bit of a shame really, because those mid-race chats with Dick were bloody funny sometimes, particularly the one with Federal Minister John Brown at Bathurst in '84 as the car broke an axle coming onto Conrod. Not funny for Dick but he sure made something good out of a terrible situation. And the truckie joke at Bathurst in '94, but that was during the safety car. Shame it's all gone really.

[racer69]

I bought the 1991 ATCC review vid today, and there was a funny occurance at Wanneroo in Round 3. Dick Johnson is leading, Mike raymond starts chatting to him on Racecam, the engine loses power and he drops out. Laterthat same race, Brock is chatting to Mike on the Racecam when his car loses power and retires, it seems there was a Mike curse that day.

It's a pity Ch10/drivers whoever don't do this anymore, i found it always added an interesting viewpoint to the telecast, it's not as if you can interview a footy player during a game, or a tennis player halfway through a match.

[Morris 1100]

Lets face it, when you are racing the last thing you would want to do is talk to any of the ********s from channel 10 (seriously)

[Forbesy]

Too right, point taken Morris.

BTW Racer, where did you buy the '91 ATCC video from? I didn't think they produced one, as with '92 & '95 as well?

[racer69]

Neither did i until earlier this year i was in a book/video motorsport shop in sydney and saw that they had both the 1991 and 1992 championship reviews. I bought the 1992 one on the spot and today got around to getting 1991.

They are done pretty well, they contain every round, (except the 1992 one doesn't have Mallala), all Channel 7 stuff. It seems like the shop may have ordered them in from overseas, as on the back there is a reference to Duke Marketing in the Isle of Man. I'm not sure why one would have been released over there and not here. I'm not sure how common they are either, there was only one of each on the shelf and i took them. Fantastic racing as well.

[Rotary]

What is the shops name racer69?

[Amaroo Park]

Originally posted by Morris 1100
Lets face it, when you are racing the last thing you would want to do is talk to any of the ********s from channel 10 (seriously)

Oh I don't know Skaife being a dick head and the commentators being ********s they should get on well

[DAVID PATERSON]

Channel 10 seem intent on having cameras all over the car showing all sorts of angles. To be honest, I'm really only interested in the view out the window, what the driver sees, I don't want to see the driver.

[RaceTime]

Years ago, when SBS did Sandown, I recall talking to Will Hagon and the producer about in car shots - my view was that when they used the in car shot you had absolutely no idea where the car was on the track - so I sugested it - for that meeting they did just that - whilst the camera was shwoing in the car, in the top crner they also showed whe car on the track.

And this is what is usually missing - they give you a picture that can't be related to anything which is absolutely stupid...

[William Dale Jr]

Originally posted by racer69
They are done pretty well, they contain every round, (except the 1992 one doesn't have Mallala), all Channel 7 stuff.

If you're wondering why that is, Channel 7 didn't actually telecast the 1992 Mallala round. I still don't know why...