Brilliant Pit Radio on dutch TV.........

[steve nielsen]

The Dutch television station network RTL5 has permission to use a scanner to recieve the Arrows Pit radio, and I admit it was brilliant last race. You could hear Pedro and Jos in qualifying, both drivers comlained about oversteer, Jos complained about oversteer,understeer and lack of grip, very strange.

In the race you heard Jos again*
Jos:" a electronic's box has come loose, it's dancing around on my leg"
Pit: ïs it the left or the right side"
Jos:"the left"
Pit:"that's the telemetry radio, whe'll take it out on your stop"

And so Jos held the radio between his legs until the stop.

Just before the stop:

Pit: "It's almost time for your stop Jos, PUSH!!"
Jos: "I'm going as fast as I can"

At the stop they took out the telemetry radio, unfortunatly the gearbox failed on both cars, on the bright side: Arrows started testing today at silverstone, Jos will drive all 3 days, tomorow and thursday Mark Webber will join im in a second car, so maybe they can work together to get a more reliable car and more mechanicle grip.

[Minardi fan]

Excellent. PLEASE ITV WE WANT IT!!!

[Francesca]

Yeah in-board radio is one of the things I like about watching CART - it is a fascinating insight.

[Peter Mallett]

In 1984 at the British GP, at Brands Hatch, there was a radio message transmitted during qualifying. It went "hurry up with those f****** burgers, we're running out down here". To which Ayrton Senna replied "I'm going as fast as I can!".

[Gerard]

Yep, Dutch RTL4 has an excellent Grand Prix coverage.
I believe ITV has won a prize for the best broadcast of formula racing but I think this is a bit strange.
Do ITV start their coverage 2 (yes, two) hours before the start of a race?
Do they show the latest changes on the cars and have lots of interviews?
Do they have an item in which the commentators and sometimes Jos Verstappen answer letters and e-mails from fans?
Do they have in-car radio like Steve mentioned?
The only negative thing I can say is they have a lot of commercial breaks but therefore I watch the race on RTL4 and tape it on digital.
Excellent coverage, RTL4.

[Mr.S]

What language does RTL4 broadcast?

[steve nielsen]

It's rtl5 now actualy, but it's Dutch TV, that's also why they have the Arrows pit radio and Jos Verstappen as co host to answer questions from viewers in the preview, maybe an idea for ITV with Jenson or David??.

[Jay]

Lucky Dutch!

We in Canada have to listen to two fools talk over a satalite phone for 30 min before the start of the race. Then we get ITV for the race. When I was in the UK I was amazed at just how much better the ITV prerace show is than the **** we have to put up with.

[Unknown Soldier]

Jay,

It's too bad we don't get to see the drivers interviewed on the grid just before a race.

I don't know why they just don't go to ITV from the pre-race. It's not like TSN will show programming that's any good at that hour. It's like re-runs of Darts or something

[steve nielsen]

But what Gerars was talking about is also a good point, Rtl5 has 2 hours of preview, they show us the latest changes on the cars, although Mclaren make it very hard to see, a laserpen can do miracles.

[Minardi fan]

AAAAAAAARGH!!!! I'd much rather see a pre-race show hosted by Jos than Jenson...

[Jos]

I'm Dutch.

[Jo]

Correct me if I´m wrong here, but wasn´t the prize for the F1 coverage for the pictures and overall broadcast of the British Grand Prix that year rather than the actual ITV programme??

[Danielsun]

You Canadians have no right to complain: in Oz it's Darrell Eastlake (It's huuuuuuge) and the Goodyear Blimp -- sorry, Alan Jones...

And if you want good in-car radio, just take a look at the coverage of Touring Car racing, either from the BTCC or if you can get a hold of some footage from a few years ago, try Channel 7's coverage of Bathurst - commentators talk to the drivers. Could you imagine that in F1?

"David, it's Martin Brundle here. That move was unbelievable!"

DC: "What, the pass?"

MB: "No! The finger!"