About Sidepodcast

Christine Blachford Sidepodcast is a creativity focused motor sport website, enabling better conversation through innovative application of technology.

From unrestricted, internationally available audio and video broadcasts, through to interactive discussion solutions, Sidepodcast continually pushes the boundaries of motor sport coverage.

Along with regularly delivering hundreds of gigabytes worth of data to consumers every month, the dedicated race coverage, inside line on paddock gossip and interactive roundtable discussions mean Sidepodcast has modern F1 all wrapped up.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Sidepodcast began life at the tail end of 2006, as a means for show anchor Christine and co-host Mr. C to air their views on all things Formula 1. Starting out as a single news and opinion show, output has increased and varied year-on-year to form a network of more than a dozen live broadcasts, pre-recorded shows, and regular opinion pieces.

In depth podcast information is available on the shows in detail page, while the archive contains everything produced to date.

Sidepodcast is backed by a strong and prolific community, eager to take part in live phone-in shows, author fantastic content and write endless streams of comments. You too can be part of this brilliant community by joining in the discussion, getting in touch or volunteering your ideas.

Who is behind Sidepodcast?

Christine Blachford - Show anchor Christine has been a regular on the social networking scene since 2002 and she's been actively writing ever since. An avid follower of Formula 1 from early 2003, you'll find Christine putting her experience with words to good use as editor-in-chief of Sidepodcast.

Christine became interested in podcasting when the concept was still in its infancy. Her first foray into the world of podcast creation was through LibriVox, volunteering audio readings of books in the public domain.

Writing and producing her own podcast was the next logical step, and Sidepodcast came to life at the tail end of 2006. Not content with simply talking about Formula One, Christine has published four books surrounding the motor sport world, with more on the way.

In 2009, Christine sang the song Felipe Baby for Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley. BBC Radio Tees picked up on the track, played it to Rob and spoke to Christine about it. Smedley met Sidepodcast at the Silverstone Grand Prix and was very lovely about the whole thing.

Mr. C - Christine is joined by the mysteriously named Mr. C, who very much likes to keep out of the spotlight. He keeps his identity a secret and his only two recognisable features are his dulcet tones, and the fact that he refuses to use capital letters. He never had plans to host a podcast, but Christine made him anyway.

Additionally, keep an eye out for Formula 1 journalist Joe Saward, whose regular An Aside with Joe has become one of the most popular shows on the site.

Contributors to Sidepodcast

A total of 85 people have written content for this site. We are always keen to receive original pieces from fantastic writers. Please let us know if you are interested in writing occasional or regular content.

Statistically speaking

More than 4,500 stories have been published on Sidepodcast
The average reader spends 23 minutes on Sidepodcast per day
The most read story in 2012 was Jake Humphrey quits BBC's F1 coverage for 2013
More than 32 hours of F1 audio discussion was produced last year
The most viewed live event last year was 24 Heures du Mans
Over half a million comments have been submitted since 2006
The most commented event ever is Live: Canada 2011 - The race with 2,986 comments
The most highly rated story to date is The illustrated 2009 F1 season review which 27 people gave an average rating of 5 out of 5
Over a third of traffic to this site comes from people using portable devices

Generous donations

This website and associated shows run without any form of third-party advertising. We therefore rely heavily on the support of readers and listeners to cover recurring expenses. Any donations, no matter how small, are always gratefully received and very much appreciated.

You can make a contribution using a Paypal account or a credit card, either on a regular basis or one time only.

We do a lot of work for charity

Where possible, Sidepodcast likes to help out motorsport related charities. In 2009, the F1 community got together to take part in a 12 hour radio marathon to raise money for a good cause. Following the successful completion of the broadcast, the community voted to give all £680 of collected proceeds to the Wings for Life Foundation.

Wings for Life was founded in 2004 by Dietrich Mateschitz, owner of the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team. The team recognised the efforts of the radio marathon on their website.

In 2010, Christine made her first foray into running, and signed up to complete a 5K race, raising funds for the Grand Prix Mechanics Charitable Trust. Thanks to the kind support of the Sidepodcast community, Christine raised £231 for this very worthy charity. The Trust supports retired and injured mechanics after their time in motorsport has come to an end.

A short history of nearly everything

2006
- Christine blends the terms Sidepod and Podcast. One domain name purchase later and Sidepodcast goes live
2007
- A weekly audio show forms the backbone of the content, augmented by an initial foray into video production
- Honda Racing provide us with posh-camping accomodation for the British Grand Prix
- F1Minute, a sixty second Formula 1 audio podcast makes its public debut
2008
- Live commenting of all F1 sessions begins with first practice at the Australian Grand Prix
- Christine and Mr. C get married
- We podcast live from the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere as Honda Racing provide us with posh-camping accomodation for the British Grand Prix (again)
- Live streaming of shows begins with a behind-the-scenes look at making videos
2009
- Sidepodcast is nominated in two categories in the 2008 Weblog Awards
- An Aside With Joe makes its debut
- Christine meets Rob Smedley at Silverstone, while Honda having quit the sport provide us with nothing
- Sidepodradio raises £680 for the Wings for Life charity
- The daily thread makes its debut
2010
- The most in-depth and accurate global driver ranking system ever produced (probably), appears for the first time
- The all new Factbyte Factbox provides play-by-play commentary on F1 sessions
2011
- F1Minute iPhone app is released
- Christine's first book 365 F1 Stories is released for the Kindle
- 28 March becomes official International Day of Petrov
- The final daily thread is published
- We send out F1Minute stickers to anyone keen to spread the word and a set of stickers make it to the South Pole
2012
- A new Live Event system is unveiled
- Christine launches the Pocket F1 Handbook
- Live audio streaming makes a welcome return
- A pilot episode of Radio Active F1 is aired

Almost award winning

At various times, this site has been nominated for a number of awards. Here are a few of them.

365 F1 stories

Which driver secured his first win in F1, at the season opening race in 1962, held on this day at Zandvoort?

1	Sebastian Vettel	89
2	Kimi Räikkönen	85
3	Fernando Alonso	72
4	Lewis Hamilton	50
5	Felipe Massa	45

1	Infiniti Red Bull Racing	131
2	Scuderia Ferrari	117
3	Lotus F1 Team	111
4	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	72
5	Sahara Force India F1 Team	32

Australian Grand Prix	17 Mar
Malaysian Grand Prix	24 Mar
Chinese Grand Prix	14 Apr
Bahrain Grand Prix	21 Apr
Spanish Grand Prix	12 May

Sidepodcast

All for F1 and F1 for all