BTCC Tim Harvey

[Wendy Wool]

Has Tim finished with commentating on ITV4?
Without doubt he is one of the best in the business, hopefully he will be back.

[Greem]

He's racing in the British GT Championship in a Porsche 997 GT3. Some of the dates clash with the BTCC.

[mattt]

He was racing in the British GT races instead of commentating. he will also miss the other BTCC meeting that clashes with the BGT meeting

Also missing Croft according to another thread

[rallycrosscraig]

Originally Posted by Wendy Wool

Has Tim finished with commentating on ITV4?
Without doubt he is one of the best in the business, hopefully he will be back.

The ITV4 coverage at the last meeting really missed having Tim' on the commentary team, the program was no where near as good as usual without his experience/enthusiasm.

[Craner Curves]

I'd argue with that. I thought it was better. He proves the point that just because you took part in and were reasonably good at a sport, you don't necessarily make a good pundit. Mark Blundell anyone?

[awrb]

I think Harvey is fantastic, and i really missed him last time out. You're right Craner, some people just don't make the transition from racing to pundit very well (Blundell, as you said) but Tim is always enthusiastic and seems to describe what the drivers do very well. Like the Jackson-Collard incident at Oulton, Moody and Hill just described what happened, but it took until Steve Ryder and Paul O'Neill were talking before anyone analysed what happened and pointed out who was to blame. If Harvey was there he'd have analysed that as soon as it happened and I really missed that throughout the weekend.

Not that there's anything wrong with Simon Hill, but you need someone pretty good alongside Toby Moody to stop me smashing my TV screen!

[vintage]

Yes we miss Tim he knows what he is talking about. But will somebody tell the new commentators that when at Oulton Park Knicker Brook is Knicker Brook not Hislops. Hislops is only for bikes.

[Greem]

It should be obvious why that mistake got made so much, shouldn't it?

[chunder]

Moody is fine for bikes, but he needs to stop bloody shouting and getting pathetically iover excited over nothing

It kind of works on bikes, but not in this stuff.

he does it wirth everything though so must be some kind of selling point! (not)

[Craner Curves]

I'm sure at one point he called Clay Hill "City Hall".

Moody's not the man for the job, I'd have preferred somebody like David Addison.

[safc_fan89]

Don't understand the fuss about Toby Moody, I really can't stand him. His commentary is forced and annoying. Couple that with Simon Hill and it's a complete disaster.

[Balgair]

I tried to give Moody a fair chance but he's grated on me from the start, can't even put my finger on it, but his tone of voice or something like that just jars on me. I used to think of Harvey as the weaker link in the commentary team, when he was with Ben Edwards, but now you see such a huge difference when he's gone, no disrespect to Simon Hill but Harvey works much better with Moody in my mind. Would rather see it as Harvey and someone else though, tbh, I'm sure Moody is great at bikes but I'm not a big fan of him for BTCC.

[awrb]

Yes commentating is hard and its easy to make mistakes... But dear god, it's STILL Bratt!

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by safc_fan89

Don't understand the fuss about Toby Moody, I really can't stand him. His commentary is forced and annoying. Couple that with Simon Hill and it's a complete disaster.

Originally Posted by Ghirlracer

I tried to give Moody a fair chance but he's grated on me from the start, can't even put my finger on it, but his tone of voice or something like that just jars on me. I used to think of Harvey as the weaker link in the commentary team, when he was with Ben Edwards, but now you see such a huge difference when he's gone, no disrespect to Simon Hill but Harvey works much better with Moody in my mind. Would rather see it as Harvey and someone else though, tbh, I'm sure Moody is great at bikes but I'm not a big fan of him for BTCC.

Ghirlracer, I think safc_fan89 nailed it. Mr. Moody just seems to force his excitement too much. His voice almost sounds patronizing in a way, as though he is trying to read you a bedtime story. He just has this way of getting on your nerves? I feel too lazy to Google this, but why did Ben Edwards leave?

Also, where's a link to the full Oulton Park races that I can watch in the USA?

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by Beetle

I feel too lazy to Google this, but why did Ben Edwards leave?

http://bit.ly/MPDuDn

Moody was bloody awful yesterday. Is he as bad as this on bikes?

[graham bahr]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

http://bit.ly/MPDuDn

Moody was bloody awful yesterday. Is he as bad as this on bikes?

moody and julian ryder are bloody brilliant on bikes! sometimes they are more entertaining that the race itself, i guess he just needs to find his feet

[knowyourenemy]

Originally Posted by awrb

Yes commentating is hard and its easy to make mistakes... But dear god, it's STILL Bratt!

that got pretty annoying, after almost 2 laps shouting at the TV telling them it was the #14.....then they did it again as Shedden crossed the line

[Claire]

I am so pleased that other people find Toby Moody as annoying as I do and for all the same reasons, he drove me mad yesterday with his over excitement about nothing and getting the cars mixed up. I am hoping Tim will be back at Snetterton to keep him under control and correct all his mistakes!

[Balgair]

Originally Posted by Beetle

Ghirlracer, I think safc_fan89 nailed it. Mr. Moody just seems to force his excitement too much. His voice almost sounds patronizing in a way, as though he is trying to read you a bedtime story. He just has this way of getting on your nerves?

I think I agree, that about sums up my feelings. I try to not let it irritate me too much, but it's been even worse with Harvey away; I actually quite like Simon Hill on the support races but combined with Moody really doesn't work for me. And I know those Audis look similar (being fair, there's a few teams where I wish they'd make more difference in their liveries, although with the different sponsors, the Audis are easier to tell apart than some), but you'd think after the first time they'd remember to check the second time.

I'm getting flashbacks to James Allen and Martin Brundle, I won't claim Harvey is quite as expert a commentator as Brundle, but he sure makes it a lot better to listen to. Oh well, I hope Moody's just taking time to settle in, if we get stuck with him as long as Allen lasted (ITV don't seem to like getting rid of commentators) I really want him to improve soon.

[Tom Bee]

I defended Moody after Brands as I thought it was a bit harsh with all the stick he was getting considering it was his first meeting. However I think this weekend was the worst he has been. As soon as he got the Audi the wrong way round I (like I am sure many others did) knew strait away. And when he made the mistake again I couldn't believe it!

As for Simon Hill I think he is quite a good commentator. When he had the interview before Race 1 he reminded me of a young Tim Harvey the way he explains the technical information about the BTCC to the audience.

[steve_r]

Mistaking one Audi for another for almost an entire lap was really really poor, were they not even looking at their monitors? And then to do again 5 minutes later in the same race, that is pathetic and amaturish and really makes it hard to defend them.

If there are two commentators - one should spend 100% of his time looking at the same footage that is being transmitted to the punters, and let the other commentator look at timing screens and see what is happening out of the window etc.

[Craner Curves]

They don't look out the window, they have it screened off to stop the sun getting in. I noticed they both have 3 screens each. One with the feed that's being broadcasted, then a different feed and the timing screen.

[safc_fan89]

Originally Posted by graham bahr

moody and julian ryder are bloody brilliant on bikes! sometimes they are more entertaining that the race itself, i guess he just needs to find his feet

I think that's the problem, he is trying to be entertaining and to anyone unfamiliar with his style, it is quite "in your face" and can be seen as unprofessional. He should focus on doing a good job over showing a bubbly personality.

Mistakes I can live with. Ben Edwards makes them all the time, but he corrects himself as soon as he has realised. Continuing with a mistake is poor. It's something that ITV are renowned for in their football coverage. They insist a goal was brilliant even when they watch a replay which shows it took a significant deflection...

[Greem]

I think it would be nice if a mod could split the "Toby Moody Bashing" thread out of this one...