European Sportscar TV Coverage

[Graham Goodwin]

From dsc last week - Good news

"Those of you who know Paul Truswell, or just know his voice thanks to Radio Le Mans, and who knew that he had a serious operation last year, will be delighted to find that he’s back at work now, and his facial muscles are improving all the time (as the nerves recover)."

Le Mans just wouldn't be the same without him now would it!!

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by SebringMG

IMO the problems for Motors really stem from the pretty poor production done by the ACO / LMS rather than anything they control!! AFAIK the picture and graphics come from the LMS not motors and this is where the problem lies

I'm not really sure about this. The pictures are pretty inconsistent for a start.

The picture for Le Mans is decent for example but an LMS race from Donington looks awful.

Similarly, look at the ARCA coverage. This is from Speed and yet looks dreadful. Speed do not run picture quality that bad!

[Justin Moran]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

From dsc last week - Good news

"Those of you who know Paul Truswell, or just know his voice thanks to Radio Le Mans, and who knew that he had a serious operation last year, will be delighted to find that he’s back at work now, and his facial muscles are improving all the time (as the nerves recover)."

Le Mans just wouldn't be the same without him now would it!!

Thanks Graham! Good to hear he's doing well, looking forward to hearing his dulcette tones at Le Mans again this year!

[old man]

As someone who has gone on a bit about spectator interest in the past you know my thoughts really, both Eurosport and Motors TV are in the "could do better" category IMO. Certainly Motors is the best of the two and the way that they stay with the pictures when the host goes to adverts if excellent.
The worry for me was that the actual paid advertising during the Eurosport coverage was really very small and one wonders how they made the programme pay. The space was filled with the same promo tapes every time so unless the Grand Am people paid for the coverage I would not be surprised if that is the last we see of it due to lack of income

The Eurosport commentators were in the UK, Mark Cole mentioned Sunday's Times newspaper, and so I agree, why not just let us have the USA comentators who really are good at what they do. The trouble with that is, as anyone who can compare USA/Canada TV with ours knows, they do have an awful lot of advertising. Motors cover that by having studio guys to fill in and if they took the Live Timing feed they would be able to keep up. From a disussion I had today the live timing that Grand-Am put on the web was exactly the same as the one to the pits and it did not keep freezing as some of the European LT does

Speed are key to this IMO, they do a grand job and any European station would do well to take their feed or copy their level of expertise in our sector of the sport at least.

I enjoyed the weekend but split my time between Eurosport, Live Timing and TVU after a link was published on 10/10ths, you could leave their commentary on and look at the timing screen

[Johnny1lap]

Are there any online video streams live from Motors TV. I have Not got sky

[JAG]

When you watch Speeds coverage of the ALMS you learn things that are not immediately obvious from the TV pictures, i.e. timing, problems for certain cars, fuel strategy etc.

LMS commentators resort to stating the obvious, they don't have anyone on the ground feeding them info, that's why a link-up with someone like DSC is crucial.

After a live LMS race you have to check out DSC to discover what actually happened!

Motors TV's Le Mans coverage however is superb, fautless, all LMS races should be like that.

With Audi, Peugeot, Aston Martin and Porsche participation, and so many hours dedicated to LMS coverage, Motors TV need's to up it's production values, rather than relying on commentators watching a TV feed!

[jc_nl]

Will motors be the tv partner then?

From what I understand Audi wanted a major upgrade in the way the series is marketed. And whilst Motors is a dedicated motorsport channel it might not have the amount of viewers wanted.

Is there any news on this?

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by jc_nl

Will motors be the tv partner then?

From what I understand Audi wanted a major upgrade in the way the series is marketed. And whilst Motors is a dedicated motorsport channel it might not have the amount of viewers wanted.

Is there any news on this?

Maybe Audi is satisfied with (besides live coverage on Motors) 60 minutes highlights on mainstream TV channels?

[Paddy_NL]

Originally Posted by JAG

When you watch Speeds coverage of the ALMS you learn things that are not immediately obvious from the TV pictures, i.e. timing, problems for certain cars, fuel strategy etc.

LMS commentators resort to stating the obvious, they don't have anyone on the ground feeding them info, that's why a link-up with someone like DSC is crucial.

After a live LMS race you have to check out DSC to discover what actually happened!

Speed have got a few reporters in the pitlane, so there's your feedback from the commentators. Of course this way of commentating is far more expensive, hence the amount of commercial breaks during ALMS.
Personally, I like it the way it is. I don't care about the non-HD screen quality, don't care about the lack of reporters in the pitlane during LMS either. The only way to have these gadgets is to gain more money from sponsors, who will demand more airtime during LMS races. Leave it like this please.

[JAG]

That's fine, but you need to know whats going on in a six hour race, the race strategy and storylines are what make endurance racing interesting.

[Paddy_NL]

Originally Posted by JAG

That's fine, but you need to know whats going on in a six hour race,

I sometimes wish I did when at the fence at an LMS race (I visit three on average per year), there it's even harder!

[Mal]

Originally Posted by Paddy_NL

I sometimes wish I did when at the fence at an LMS race (I visit three on average per year), there it's even harder!

That maybe because you cant see the race, for the orange smoke Paddy.

[Justin Moran]

Originally Posted by jc_nl

Will motors be the tv partner then?

From what I understand Audi wanted a major upgrade in the way the series is marketed. And whilst Motors is a dedicated motorsport channel it might not have the amount of viewers wanted.

Is there any news on this?

Audi have their own channel on sky, so I suppose they could promote this more and get more viewers that way?

[Paddy_NL]

Originally Posted by Mal

That maybe because you cant see the race, for the orange smoke Paddy.

You might be right, Mal

[ss_collins]

Yup motors could do with some pit reports - but I think its a money thing - can you get the likes of Tyler, Hope Frost, Pruett, even me - to the race, put up in the hotel - transport to and from - and pay them? it gets expensive really really quickly.

[The Tour]

I dont know if people will get what I mean but there is also a difference between commentating and talking.

For example the Sebring GT2 battle last year will live with me forever not just for the racing but for the way it was commentated on.

If that was in the LMS the commentators could quite easily just be chatting away about something else literally. There never seems to be any "and there side by side" type commentary, more sort of "and as you just saw the Peugeot No.7 has moved past his teamate and into the lead".

Terribly explained I know but anyway..........

[JAG]

Originally Posted by ss_collins

Yup motors could do with some pit reports - but I think its a money thing - can you get the likes of Tyler, Hope Frost, Pruett, even me - to the race, put up in the hotel - transport to and from - and pay them? it gets expensive really really quickly.

Yet they have the budget to send a crew to every ALMS and LMS race for the Endurance Mag show's features and interviews.

They similar interviews etc to be live and intergrated into the race show.

This isone of Motors TV's flagship series, with many, many hours dedicated to live coverage.

The Le Mans coverage is perfect, that needs to be replicated on a smaller scale.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by The Tour

I dont know if people will get what I mean but there is also a difference between commentating and talking.

For example the Sebring GT2 battle last year will live with me forever not just for the racing but for the way it was commentated on.

If that was in the LMS the commentators could quite easily just be chatting away about something else literally. There never seems to be any "and there side by side" type commentary, more sort of "and as you just saw the Peugeot No.7 has moved past his teamate and into the lead".

Terribly explained I know but anyway..........

This comes from a lack of info for the commentators, they often don't follow a cars race up the field, so the drama and excitement doesn't build.

It's also due to the fact they need someone like Hindy or Haven leading the descriptive commentary, with Cole and resident experts adding the background chat.

[deggis]

I'm talking about Le Mans world feed: why it's so impossible to have proper onboard camera feed? You know, for example last year the feed/connection kept breaking up everytime in certain parts of the track and audio was totally asynchronized, and it had quite awful audio quality anyway. And too few onboard cameras, as far as I remember only Audi, Pug and Flying Lizard Porsche. See example.

Long track obviously has something do with getting good enough signal... but it's quite interesting that looks like camera systems have gone technically backwards if continous, smoother, better audio quality and with synchronized picture and audio onboard feed was possible already 10 years ago?

What I also hate, mainly in FIA GT but also LMS is that they have onboard cameras but they only show couple of secs at max. It's like the world feed directors are "hey, we got onboard feed but we won't show it to you!". At least Speed TV has once in a while those "Sounds of Speed" segments.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by deggis

Long track obviously has something do with getting good enough signal... but it's quite interesting that looks like camera systems have gone technically backwards if continous, smoother, better audio quality and with synchronized picture and audio onboard feed was possible

I have been watching fantastic in car camera work from Bathusrt for over 20 years and that is a long track and goes round a 'mountain' so I think it is more a money thing than a technology thing. Hell, if they can get live signals to go around the world they should be able to get it from Mulsanne to the pits at Le Mans.

dont know if people will get what I mean but there is also a difference between commentating and talking.

For example the Sebring GT2 battle last year will live with me forever not just for the racing but for the way it was commentated on.

If that was in the LMS the commentators could quite easily just be chatting away about something else literally. There never seems to be any "and there side by side" type commentary, more sort of "and as you just saw the Peugeot No.7 has moved past his teamate and into the lead".

I think you are spot on with this, but I suspect it is to do with the information available and the way it is presented. I suspect that the Speed guys see the action a second or so before we do thus giving them time to react. Having said that Hindy does a very good job.

Hopefully things will improve dramatically this year with Audi coming in. Audi said they would only join the series with guarantees of proper promotion. One assumes this demand has been met.

[old man]

Talking vs Commentating:

The comments above are bang-on. There is too much reminiscing and too little involvement with the racing. The gaps when using the feed from Speed could be used to track the progress of certain cars, say the ones with UK drivers, or the ones that had a bad grid and are making progress or had a long pit stop and are fighting back.

Murray Walker was a great one for doing homework and I would expect any commentator worth his fee, meagre though it may be, to check on the local interest for the audience to whom he is talking. So if the commentarry is going out in the UK then research the UK drivers, check their websites, contact them for latest info, know where they are in the championship table or what they did well in last so that they have something to say that is germaine to the event.

UK commentators are too keen on talking about foreign drivers and not taking a direct and active interest in UK drivers. If they make it interesting for the UK audience then the audience will grow and they will talk themselves into more work and better fees.

[old man]

Just thinking about it, the above comments apply to UK journalists as well as commentators

[The Tour]

i'm glad some of you understood me!!

I agree with the comments and think its a mixture of both a lack of info/lack of excitement from (some) of the commentators.

I suppose as a UK journalist (of sorts) I will take your comments on board!

We had some emails ourselves regarding Eurosports coverage last week and we will cover it on the next podcast - http://www.thetour.org.uk - without trying to give them too much of a hard time

I think what we are all saying is that we are all extremely grateful to the likes of Motors and Eurosport (without them - sportscar racing would have no coverage) but there is always room to improve!!

[Ian Sowman]

I've never commentated live on an endurance event but in addition to being well researched (of course) I would say it is important to know when to keep quiet and let the pictures do the talking. On the other hand, a more 'Test Match Special' style is probably appropriate for longer distance races (in comparison to sprints), and audience interaction adds interest.

[ss_collins]

Ian you are not guilty of the charges levied here - I like your commentary! I hope i'm not guilty either!

But yes I think the above comments are spot on - which is why speeds commentary (or Hindy) is so much better.