Sidepodcast

Live: Giggles Radio - E

Eventually even Eric's* ears are extremely entertained. Evidently Eric enumerated every element of an excellent experience, excluding engineering, and Giggles Radio empirically excelled - even exceeding electrolysis.

Welcome to Giggles Radio Episode E. Each episode our host Alex Andronov examines his experimental musical experience by playing around two hours of songs themed around a letter. This week the letter is E.

*Eric Boullier from Renault of course.

Playlist

• Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back)
• Martha & the Muffins - Echo Beach
• The Beatles - Eight Days A Week
• Little Boots - Earthquake
• Weezer - El Scorcho
• Franz Ferdinand - Eleanor Put Your Boots On
• MGMT - Electric Feel
• Athlete - El Salvador
• U2 - Elevation
• EMF - Unbelievable
• Traveling Wilburys - End Of The Line
• Paul Weller - English Rose
• Jam, The - The Eton Rifles
• The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)?
• The Bangles - Eternal Flame
• Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan - Especially for You
• Keane - Everybody's Changing
• Morcheeba - Everybody Loves A Loser
• Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World
• Kaiser Chiefs - Everyday I Love You Less And Less
• Sheryl Crow - Everyday Is A Winding Road
• Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday
• Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Express Yourself
• Madonna - Express Yourself
• Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
• No Doubt - End It On This
• The Blues Brothers - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

Making Conversation

We've had a complaint about the noise. Not the volume you understand, just the occasional noise in the daily threads.

Essentially a couple of people have mentioned that F1 discussion is in danger of being railroaded by chat about pandas, gadgets and food. Now we love conversation on all of those topics and more, so we wouldn't want to do anything to discourage such talk. However, we ought to enable those who come to Sidepodcast for the Formula One discussion to be able to do so too.

Something planned for the mythical SPC 3.0 redesign, which right now is rivaling Brigadoon and the unicorn in terms of visibility, was the idea of providing "breakout" threads of discussion when important news occurs. Essentially these threads will be a way of categorising conversation so that talk of Fisichella heading to Ferrari goes in one place, while chat about Piquet spinning in Singapore goes in another.

Conceptually speaking, breakout threads are extensions of the daily conversation, and not posts in their own right. You won't gain much insight from the post content beyond whatever facts are available, and that may simply be a tweet from a driver. The discussion will be where it's at.

Due to feedback received, we'd like to roll this out as soon as possible. Which means things might look a little odd in the existing design. You may just have to trust us that it'll all be okay in the end. Sidepodcast daily threads introduced back in November, offered a brilliant way to enable general F1 discussion as well as plenty of off-topic fun. Hopefully this new idea will take it to the next level.

Behind the scenes, we're also working on a new authentication system that will allow those who sign up to moderate and move comments as required. In theory we can also allow those same people to create new conversation categories as and when required.

That's for the future though and this is now. Christine has started us off with a thread for Force India discussion and we'll move existing comments over there now. Please let us know what you think of the plan and also yell in the daily thread if breaking news should be spun off into it's own category. As ever we'll learn and tweek on the run.

Daily: 20th June 2009

Fine, we promise not to do a bunk today. We'll stay indoors where it's safe and nothing ever happens.

If you missed the events of yesterday, you'll be needing to look at this photograph. Hand on heart, Rob Smedley is every bit as fantastic in person as he appears on the TV/Radio and Sidepodcast loves him to pieces.

In terms of what's happening elsewhere in F1, what do we have to consider?

• Rachel found a video interview with Bernie, where he claims he doesn't want F1 to leave Silverstone. Yup read that sentence again and then watch the video. Finally, pinch yourself to make sure you didn't dream the whole thing.
• Dan's been keeping abreast of Joe's latest postings and recommends we all check out this fine article. I'm going to read it right now and you should do the same. Go right ahead, we'll meet back here in five.
• F1 Wolf has also posted about his day in the Paddock Club sipping champagne and driving in an F1 simulator (hopefully not in that order). The man returns to Silverstone later today.

In Sidepodland, we've had a spate of de-lurking in the comments these past few days, and we welcome all newbies with open arms. If you're still yet to join in the fun, now would be a really good time to step up and say "hi". We'll be around all of Saturday, live commenting our way through Free Practice and Qualifying. Try it once and you'll wonder how you ever enjoyed racing without it.

Daily: 6th May 2009

The other half of Sidepodcast has now been taken out by whatever made me unwell last weekend, so the daily post once again falls on my watch. Luckily I am useful enough to be able to type, unfortunately covering the day's F1 news with brevity and panache isn't my thing, so the F1 Minute podcast is having a bit of a rest right now.

To keep everyone ticking over, here's a couple of thoughts to start the day:

• FOTA are meeting in London this morning to chat about the recent descisions Max threw up (almost literally) last week. Budget caps will no doubt be top of the agenda. The question is, will one day be enough time to figure out the best course of action?
• Most of the KERS enabled teams all appear to be pulling the device from their chassis prior to the Spanish GP. Circuit de Catalunya contains many sweeping curves and finding the correct balance is essential, but people must be questioning the validity of such R&D expenditure when the things aren't even doing a full season.
• The sidebar on the Sidepodcast homepage had a little refresh yesterday, it's now possible to listen to shows and adjust the volume at the same time. Revolutionary, I know. It is a stop-gap solution though, and hopefully a more feature rich and elegant alternative will be available soon.

The comments on the daily thread were excellent yesterday, do keep your thoughts coming and do yell if anything interesting is happening in your world during the next 24 (ish) hours.

An Aside With Joe - Two Against One

• Length: 51:17 
• Size: 47.7 MB 
• File: aside4.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: aside4.torrent 

Having enjoyed a bit of well-deserved sleep ahead of the Bahrain weekend, Joe joins us to discuss all the latest goings on in the paddock.

Following requests and suggestions from the comments, we talk about the chances of new teams entering the sport in 2010, just how far Bernie is willing to take his "global" expansion, and how long Piquet will last at Renault.

This plus much more in the Bahrain edition of An Aside with Joe.

Linkage

• Subscribe to Grand Prix+ Magazine
• Read Joe Saward’s Grand Prix Blog
• Follow Joe on Twitter

Daily: 12th April 2009

I've been doing this job for all of two days, and already I'm setting new records for daily publishing lateness.

I've had a scout around for Formula 1 news this afternoon, and there isn't any. None at all. Which makes me mighty glad I'm not a news agency promising to deliver between 10 and 20 original F1 stories a day. If I'd have been dumb enough to suggest that, I might be forced to make something up.

Thankfully, there is plenty going on in the community today to keep us occupied.

• The Sidepodaddiction page has scaled new heights, reaching Stage 7.6 which handily covers "denial". I'll likely never make it beyond Stage 6, but if you haven't done so already please do confess your Sidepodhabit to all on the wiki.
• Apparently James Allen didn't get the memo about us appreciating his writing much more than his talking. Yesterday he published an audio slideshow of such pompous arrogance you wonder if he has any real friends, to advise and to guide?
• An early weather report from The Red Bullog has next weekend's Chinese Grand Prix down as a cold by dry affair. Might we finally get to see the relative pace of all the cars, or will Tuesday's FIA ICA hearing muddy those waters yet further?

That pretty much cover's Formula 1's day of no news. Do let us know what you're up to in the comments, and yell if you spot any made up Sunday news. There's bound to be some when you've got to fill those quotas.

Daily: 11th April 2009

It's been a while, but in the absence of one half of Sidepodcast, it falls to me to provide the daily post this fine Saturday morning.

There hasn't been a huge amount happening in the F1 world, and after the first batch of flyaway races, this can only be a good thing. Trivia to be aware of today includes:

• Autosport had a chat with Charlie Whiting and he revealed more information about what happened during the steward enquires in Melbourne and Sepang. It's a worthwhile read, albeit subscription only.
• In yet more Autosport news, or should that be AUTOSPORT news (upper-case is all the rage these days), Peter Windsor is thinking about Cosworth power, while Philippe Gurdjian is thinking about faffing around with Grand Prix start times - that can only end well!
• Outside of the Formula 1 bubble, Me and Page 22 continues to take on a life of its own, while someone in the comments (rumoured to be Steven), has started Sidepodreligion. The mind truly boggles.

That pretty much wraps up the past 24 hours, what will the next bring? On Zero Downforce, Scott has just compiled a Super Season Grid based on times from the first two races, while Christine is lord knows where, holidaying on a boat.

Me? I'll see you in the comments.

Sidepodpanel - Who Needs a Pinger When You've Got a Gavin?

• Length: 34:51 
• Size: 32.1 MB 
• File: panel8.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: panel8.torrent 

Long time paneller, first time host, Gavin takes the helm today to guide us through such topics as sports cars, swapping careers, and what could possibly make F1 more annoying. There are laughs aplenty in this show, which introduces a couple of new voices to the panel, as well.

Joining us on tonight's panel:

• Jeremy
• Jackie
• Ollie
• Lukeh
• Steven Roy
• Andy Taylor

Don't forget that the wiki is the place to be if you want to sign up for future episodes of Sidepodpanel - either as a guest or as a host. It's easy to do, all you need is access to Skype. There are a few more shows to be recorded for this series, so check your diaries for an upcoming Sunday.

Daily: 16th March 2009

We made it through the weekend with flying colours. Well maybe not flying colours, but it is Monday and this week we're likely going to hit some kind of podcast producing record. Watch out for the return of Sidpodpanel, the penultimate F1 Debrief before racing begins in anger, and the chat we had with Joe on Sunday. Christine has more season preview F1 Digest episodes in the works, and that's before we do the whole live thing again next Sunday.

Enough about us though, here's the things we're keeping an eye on today:

• More testing in Jerez from McLaren, Brawn GP, Renault and Williams. We were concerned yesterday that McLaren may have wasted their Sunday, but it seems a day of rest is all part of the grand plan. Whether that's a winning plan, is still anyone's guess.
• According to Autosport, Bernie's spoken to the Guardian and said F1 teams are taking more personnel to races than last year. This is opposite of the cost-cutting Max is trying to achieve, so is Bernie winding the man up, or highlighting the fact Formula 1 teams aren't trying hard enough?

Admittedly things are pretty quiet beyond those stories, however there are a couple of blog posts worth highlighting. Ollie has a feature on Alex Zanardi, F1 Wolf ranks the teams while Alex notes that McLaren might be listening.

It's all good stuff, and if there are other posts we've missed, let us know in the comments.

Live: Just 32 Days to Go

Ah, the second episode of Sidepodchat is upon us. Our intent is for it not to be quite as long as the first episode - if only because it takes a long time to up/download. Plus, don't even mention transcribing it! Nevertheless, we're hoping there are callers out there just waiting to talk to us about whatever's on their mind, plus some topics we have in store.

It's not just about who is on the phone, though, we also want loads of interaction with the comments. We'll be watching the thread throughout the show, so feel free to pop in any questions, facts or corrections that come to mind.

We hope to be live at 7pm GMT, so stay tuned and we'll be getting going shortly.