Last night was the Sport Relief telethon, in which recognisable names, both in sport and other fields, got together to do their bit for charity. The main challenges went to Eddie Izzard, who ran a million marathons, to the group who cycled for ages, and to Christine Bleakely who water-skiied across the channel. For us, though, the highlights came from spotting our F1 heroes taking part in all things sporting.
There are loads of videos available on the Sport Relief YouTube channel, but we've picked out a couple of our F1-related favourites.
Firstly, spot the famous faces taking part in the A Question of Sport Mystery Guest round.
Did you see that hair? I mean, really, how far does one have to go for charity? Secondly, Jenson Button reveals his true mentor.
That bloke gets everywhere. There's also the brief trailer for Sport Relief, showing Jenson on a space hopper. I want one!
It's slightly embarrassing that JB has moved on from then, and it's clear these were all filmed last year in the Brawn glory days. Nevertheless, a great effort from all involved. We also spotted Tamara Ecclestone sitting in the audience next to Eddie Jordan. I hope she took some earplugs. If you spot anything else, please let us know!
I had a bit of an idea, concerning the daily, in that guest writers could come along and take over the threads for a while, promoting their work and linking to the stories of the day that they find fascinating, rather than you always hearing from me. I've set up a wiki page for volunteers, and although the details are sketchy at the moment, let us know if you'd like to get involved.
In charity news, long-time commentor Andy is growing a moustache in November and encouraging donations for doing so. We've given a little bit to support the cause and you can do the same here. Also, if you want to see the moustache in progress, here ya go!
It is the second roundup of posts from Pitlane Fanatic, with Something For the Weekend II. I really like these recommendations, and particularly enjoy the roundup of Thursday Thoughts. Excellent stuff from Jackie, keep it up please!
That'll do it for now. There should be a live debrief later on today, so if you have an hour or two to spare on a Sunday night, we should be going live about 7ish. Don't hold me to that and we'll be in the comments to keep you updated. See you there.
The daily thread is an entire year old now, and we would have missed it if it hadn't been for RG's eagle eyes. Check out the celebratory blog post here, and let us know what you think of the good ol' daily. Meanwhile, here are some other things we're talking about:
It was time for a bit of Friday Fun yesterday, and although the name does kind of tie the game to a specific day, there aren't really any rules on that. If you haven't had a go already, let us know your mix and match drivers - which bits of which drivers would you take to make the perfect guy?
We also pointed you in the direction of the latest goings on at Red Bull, namely a chance to have your say in some awards, plus a look at the latest Wings for Life charity auction. There's not much I would be willing to bid on in the auction, but it's definitely worth having a look, even if you haven't got a penny to part with.
Don't forget that it is the second Sidepodfilmclub evening tonight with the chosen film the Disney/Pixar great Cars. We hope to see you around in the comments ahead of the film starting at 8pm. It should be great!
That'll do it for now. Thank goodness for the weekend, as yesterday was Friday 13th. I wondered where all the bad luck was coming from and then I looked at a calendar. Anyway, today is a new day, and I will see you in the comments.
It's taken a little longer than I'd hoped but I can now confirm that our £680.00 donation to Wings for Life has been completed. Everyone's hard work and generosity on the Sidepodradio event has paid off and the money is going to a fantastic cause.
Red Bull wrote about our combined efforts, and we also had a note from Anita Gerhardter, the Managing Director of Wings for Life, who said:
Thank you so much for featuring our foundation in your show (specially liked the muffin cooking part ;-)) and passing on the donations to Wings for Life. We very much appreciate your support and we can guarantee that 100 % of the donations will be used to finance research projects as all administrative costs of Wings for Life are covered by our founders. We support scientific projects all over the world. For three years now we also finance a project that is investigated at the university of Cambridge by Prof. Mark Kotter. So our foundation does also have a close relationship with the UK :-) Attached you will find our information brochure where you can find some more interesting facts about our work.
I've put the pdf on the drop, if you would like any further information about where your donations are going.
All in all, a success, I think you'll agree. Here's to the next Sidepodradio!
A one off special performance of Felipe Baby, performed live by Christine, as promised to the Sidepodcommunity if the total charity donations reached more than £500.
In the last Sidepodradio post, I touched upon the fact that we raised an awful lot of money for charity. It was much more than we expected, and the astounding generosity of people makes those 12 hours even more special.
It started out as a quick donations drive raising money to cover the cost of production - £120 to be exact. It soon exceeded that, and we knew donating to charity would turn it into the proper radiothon we wanted it to be. As it turns out, the server really didn't hold up as much as we thought, and therefore, it doesn't deserve any money. We'll return that £120 to the kitty, and round it up to the nearest ten, meaning our total for charity is:
£680!
That is an amazing effort, and everyone should give themselves a big pat on the back.
There's just one more step to go through, and that's deciding the motorsport charity who will benefit from the Sidepodradio event. We've had some great suggestions in the wiki, where there are links to find out more about each charity, plus a breakdown of the donations and how we reached the total.
Now, though, it's time for the vote.
Which is the 2009 Sidepodradio charity?
Grand Prix Mechanics Charitable Trust 24% (16 votes)
Wings for Life 36% (24 votes)
The Bruce McLaren Trust 6% (4 votes)
Mark Webber Challenge Foundation 12% (8 votes)
SANDS (as supported by Rob Smedley) 21% (14 votes)
Total voters: 66
Once again, thanks go to everyone who got involved in Sidepodradio from those who were on practically every show to those who just left a single comment. Everyone was part of it, and it's down to all of you that we have raised this money. We'll close the poll at about midday on Wednesday, and let you know the results. Get voting!
Sidepodradio is done and dusted, and we're gradually winding the project up by tidying all the stray loose ends. Edited podcasts are coming soon, but until then, there's the small matter of donations to talk about. When I say small, I mean massive, but we'll get to that later.
A potential donation came during the Sidepodradio marathon and was from myself. I had just created a wiki page called 100 Reasons to Watch Formula 1. There was a lot of negativity floating about, a considerable portion of it coming from me, so I wanted to find out what was good about F1.
I set up a table with 100 rows, filled in the first one myself and left the rest to you guys. Mine was:
Because you can guarantee at the end of the race, someone will try and drop the champagne over the side of the podium, and the waiting mechanics will drop it.
That is conceivably the highlight of my race weekend. Anyway, there were a few more submissions but I wanted everyone to get involved, so I pledged that if we could reach 100 reasons by the end of the 12 hours, I'd stick £10 into the pot. We had a great response, but we didn't quite make it, so I extended the deadline to this Friday, the same as the charity donations deadline.
Today, we reached the goal, we achieved 100 Reasons to Watch Formula 1. Some of them are wonderful:
In learning about F1, you end up learning about everything that matters and quite a few things that don't. Alianora
Getting up at 4:00 am(Pacific) to watch the race with everybody in the comments is better than watching it alone. Aitch
Deep down, everyone loves a pile-up. Alison
Some of them are silly:
Nnneeeeeoooowww! Pat
The fact you can name people after public transport vehicles. Alex
And some of them are cheating:
84. Wet races. Maverick 85. Very wet races. Maverick 86. Wet, then dry, then wet, then dry, then wet, then dry, then wet races. Maverick
They are all brilliant though, and you can read the full list over on the wiki. I recommend doing so. This along with the entire Sidepodradio event, the donations, and everything that has come with it, shows how much the Sidepodcommunity can achieve when they put their minds to it. Thanks to all.
The deadline for donations is midnight tonight, Friday 25th. We will do a final tot up of the full amount, and put up a poll for the charity selection tomorrow.
Here we go then, the day is finally upon us and it is all about Sidepodradio. Doesn't matter if there is any F1 news going on, we've got a whole host of shows to keep you occupied. I imagine the majority of today's conversation will be in the upcoming threads, but for now, here's what we're talking about:
If you want to get yours ears wrapped around something before the mammoth 12 hours begins, we've posted an Interviews with Bloggers Sidepodchat special with Scott Woodwiss. Consider it a teaser for the upcoming show.
There are many questions floating about regarding replays of the Sidepodradio extravaganza and whether there will be podcasts of the event. The short answer is: we don't know. Nothing will be lost if we can possibly help it. There will be replays of the video, and we hope to extract as much as we can - but whether it will appear on podcast feeds or not is another matter. Bear with us, it will all become clear in time.
Don't forget, and you'll hear it a lot today, that we're doing this to raise money for charity. Plenty of kind people have already donated, and our production costs are pretty much covered. The excess will go to an as yet undecided charity, so if you're feeling generous, click the button on the right hand side of the homepage.
That'll do it for now. Hope to see you in the comments throughout the day, enjoy it all, whether you are a host or a listener, and we'll see you on the other side!
So, first up, apologies for the postponement, but really, it was for the best. We weren't ready and it would have been absolute chaos. More so than normal. However, we are back, ready to get going, and have a new date in mind.
Please set your alarms for: 20th September 2009.
I know it seems like a long way away, but the days will fly and we need that time to prepare.
I'm So Confused!
I know. Me too. We had several hosts pulling out at the last minute due to illness or lack of time, so what we need to do now is confirm who is still up for the challenge on the renewed date. The first job, therefore, is for all show hosts to update the status column on the wiki to let us know what is happening.
If your show is well underway, then let us know that too. Don't forget to create a subpage for you show, especially if you need feedback or listener interaction. Perhaps I will do a post gathering what we need from the community in a few days time.
If you've got an idea but don't want to do a show, share that as well. We've got a few people who are up for talking for half an hour but are struggling for inspiration. Likewise, if you're not sure you can fill an entire 30 minutes, still let us know if you want to submit something. We're 99.9% sure that we will not be able to stick to the half hour schedule rigidly. Everything will be aired one way or another, even if we have to do Sidepodradio 2.
If you want to share shows with us, there's a new drop in case you'd rather keep it off the main one. Of course, the usual email still applies: christine at sidepodcast dot com.
What You Can Do
If you're not ready to be a show host, don't forget that you can leave us a voicemail. In fact, change that to read please leave us a voicemail. Say hi to your mum, encourage people to donate, or tell a quick joke, we want voicemails and transitions to help us through the day. Find us on Skype under the username sidepodcast, or call us 0121 28 87225.
We have had a super response to donations, with the total now up to £220 - a whole £100 going to charity already. There is information about nominating a charity on the wiki. Please consider donating. It doesn't have to be a massive amount, and every penny helps. Ah, just getting my telethon hat on.
So don't forget your first job is to update your status on the wiki, or let us know in the comments so we can do it for you. We have roped Steven into helping organise as he is so good at "volunteering" people. If you've got any questions, let us know!
