Tuesday has arrived and before I do anything, I must point you towards yesterday's F1 Debrief. The show itself is marvellous, of course, but in the show notes there are some rather excellent outtakes - if such a thing exists. Actually, I might just post them again now anyway. Mr C and I could do with the embarrassment.
Now, on to other topics:
Adam Hay-Nicholls has an unusual post on his Metro F1 blog - spending some time with Tamara Ecclestone. She has some rather forthright views on Jenson Button, but if she's anything like her dad, I don't suppose she worries about what she says.
I mentioned yesterday that Mr C had spent some time watching NASCAR, and it looks as though that sport has just as much politics as F1. There was an incident involving Carl Edwards that he admits he caused on purpose, to try and knock his opponent out the way - revenge, if you will, for an early incident. Leigh has some thoughts on the concept of on track payback, and suffice it to say, it's not a good idea!
Today is the last day for the Joe Saward competition, where we are offering you the chance to win a signed copy of his book The Grand Prix Saboteurs. We've had tons of entries, but there's still time to get yours in, and you never know, luck might be on your side.
Finally, a quick plug to the TOTAL 2010 Grand Prix Travel Guide. It's clearly a marketing ploy, but has plenty of useful information in there including: "Where to stay in Korea? Where to get a drink in Bahrain?" The things you need to know.
That should do it for now. I hope your week is going smoothly, and as ever, I will see you in the comments.
The weekend is here, and whilst I am still fighting off germs, we're busy gearing up for the racing to start. This is the last weekend before everything kicks off in Bahrain, so I hope you're making the most of it! Here are some of the things we're talking about, in a super duper extended daily:
A quick plug before we get into the motorsport stuff, I quickly posted a new episode of Media Future Change last night. It had been delayed a few days because of voice issues but finally made it into the public domain. Hope you enjoy listening, and as ever, feedback is always appreciated.
I finally got round to updating the about page on I Heart Franck to feature more information about who I am, obviously, and how I discovered Monsieur Montagny. Not that I discovered him or am taking credit for his success or anything. I was tempted to write a bit about how I would faint on sight of FKM, but then I remembered he has read the site in the past, and that wouldn't really be a great opening line.
Whilst we're talking about yummy people, Lucas di Grassi has partnered with some watch people. They sponsor Renault as well, which is slightly odd, although he was a development driver for them. I wonder if this will affect his position in the rankings.
We often get people asking if we're bringing back the video previews and at the moment the answer is still no. Teams aren't really giving out as much footage as they used to, and now we know why. Red Bull kept it all for themselves! They have shared the packaged video with us, though, and it's pretty awesome. We'll let them off, especially as they intend to do it for every race.
Don't forget the competition to win a signed copy of Joe's book. It closes on Tuesday, so if you haven't already entered, make sure you do!
Whilst we're doing reminders, it's worth mentioning the Fantasy Racers league. We'll be doing a roll call of all the teams signed up in this weekend's show, so if you haven't yet joined, are planning to, and want a shout out, make sure you join the Panda Racing league before Sunday.
That should keep you going for now - double the usual number of items! Let us know how your weekend is going, and I will see you in the comments.
Sidepodcast is heading to our nation's capital tomorrow for the Evening with Joe that has been highly anticipated for many weeks now. We're going there both as fans and as crew, to record some audio and take some photos for a podcast to promote the event. In some ways it's sort of like An Aside with Joe Live.
We're running a competition at the moment to win a signed copy of Joe's book The Grand Prix Saboteurs, but if you're lucky enough to be attending, Joe will be selling and signing books at the event.
If you're planning on being there, please do let us know in the comments, and we'll do our best to match any new names to faces. Don't forget that part of the evening includes "a chance to talk informally on any subject you care to mention", so make sure you arrive armed with plenty of questions and your best speaking voice.
We'll also open up a thread for the Joe talk on Friday so that us and others can feed back what's happening to those unable to attend. We'll be recording audio during the main part of evening for a future podcast, although I don't think there are any plans to do anything in terms of video.
There's no F1 Debrief show this week, but we hope to have some Joe audio edited out for you over the weekend, so if you're attending the event tomorrow, you can relive it, and if you're not, you can catch up with some more of the man's thoughts.
Today is Pedro de la Rosa's birthday, and the Spaniard is turning 39. Hopefully he won't be celebrating too hard and will instead be preparing for the upcoming test in Barcelona. It kicks off on Thursday, so he has a couple of days to eat cake, I suppose. Meanwhile, here are a couple of the things we're talking about:
Ahead of Joe's meetup in London on Friday, we've got a competition for you! We're giving away a signed copy of The Grand Prix Saboteurs, and there's just a simple question (and a little luck) standing between you and it. You've got a couple of weeks to enter as well, but do it now before you forget!
F1 Big Picture was updated yesterday with a couple of great photos. I am particularly partial to this one, as I do like the shadows, plus it's good to see Alonso and Webber side by side. Let's hope we can get some overtaking action in the races as well as in testing.
Kubica has been talking about the Renault and it looks like he's hoping they have some upgrades before the racing gets underway in Bahrain. He's also keen to point out that there won't be a number on in his team, which I find odd because a) who cares? and b) he then goes on to admit that Petrov hasn't driven in F1 so he would still be learning. Bless teams and drivers always keen to show there's no favouritism.
That should do it for now. Let us know how your week is going, and I will see you in the comments.
On Friday 26 February, motor sport journalist Joe Saward will be hosting his first "Evening With..." event, in front of almost 100 Formula 1 fans in London. The two of us will be in attendance, recording discussions for a future podcast, but to mark the event, this week Sidepodcast is giving away an exclusive signed copy of Joe's book The Grand Prix Saboteurs.
We've discussed the book at length on the Aside with Joe series, but to give a refresher, it tells the most remarkable but true story of three motor racing stars of the '20s and '30s working together as British secret agents during World War II in Occupied France. It is a fantastic read, and we highly recommend it.
Joe spent 18 years researching the content, and when we caught up with him before Christmas he kindly agreed to sign a copy to give away here. We'll be running the competition for the next fortnight, and to enter you simply answer the question below, and submit your details. The competition is open to entrants of all ages, although we're assuming that the lucky few attending Friday's London meet-up will be happier to see the man in person - there are still a few tickets available, should you be at a loose end and in London on Friday evening.
All you have to do, to be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize, is to answer the following very simple question:
Question: How many years of research is The Grand Prix Saboteurs story based upon?
Once you have your answer, submit your name, email address and answer using the form below.
To enter the competition, simply answer the question and complete the entry form published on the web site. By entering into the competition you agree to the terms and conditions stated herein and acknowledge that failure to comply with the rules may result in disqualification.
Only one entry per person is permitted. Multiple or incomplete entries will be deemed to be invalid.
Unless otherwise stated, entries must arrive no later than the published closing date for the competition. Entries received after this time will be allowed only at the discretion of Editors who may extend the closing date without prior notice.
Proof of emailing will not be accepted as proof of delivery and no responsibility can be accepted for entries lost, delayed, mislaid or for any technical failure or for any event which may cause the competition to be disrupted or corrupted.
Employees of Sidepodcast, their agents or members of their families are not allowed to enter any competition. Subject to that rule the Editors' decision as to eligibility will be final.
All entries, photographs, and other material submitted as part of a competition entry shall become the property and the copyright of Sidepodcast. Editors reserve the right to publish them in whole or in part or use them in any way they think fit without the permission of the entrant or payment for such use but subject always to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998.
Unless otherwise stated, Sidepodcast accepts no responsibility for the return of entries, photographs or other personal effects or for loss or damage to such items. Under no circumstances does Sidepodcast accept responsibility for the safe return of any material or its return in an undamaged condition or any liability for loss of or damage to such material.
Except where it is expressly stated that the winner will be the first correct entry drawn from the total entries submitted, or that some other mechanism will be applied, all competition entries will be examined and the prize will be awarded to the entry the judges consider to be the best.
The Editors reserve the right to change the rules applicable to any competition or to void any competition at any time and for any reason. In the event that any competition is so voided, all entry fees will be returned. In particular, in the event of unforeseen circumstances the Editors reserve the right to offer alternative prizes of equal or greater value.
If the winner of a competition is unable to take up a prize for any reason Sidepodcast reserves the right to award it to an alternative winner, in which case the first winner chosen will not be eligible for any share of the prize whatsoever.
Failure to comply with any of these rules may result in the disqualification of the entry. Editors reserve the right to disqualify any entry at their absolute discretion.
Editors' decisions are final in all matters concerning a competition. It is a condition of entry to any competition that the entrant agrees to be bound by these rules whether they be published in the relevant online editions of the newspaper or not, and that the decisions of Editors and judges on any matter whatsoever arising out of or connected with the competition are final.
By entering the promotion participants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by the terms and conditions which will be interpreted in accordance with English law and subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
Good luck to everyone. If you have any further questions, please let us know in the comments. You have two weeks in which to enter, and hopefully we'll be seeing a few of you in London.
During last week's show, we talked about McLaren's latest initiative to engage fans, by asking them to design the next McLaren hoody - one that would actually be sold in the McLaren eShop. Merchandise created by the fans for the fans. Excellent idea.
The team haven't stopped there, though, reaching out that one step further by inviting Steve at the McLaren Fan Blog to hold the official vote to decide the winner.
We've seen fan submission ideas before, particularly from Jenson Button, who has previously asked fans to design a Christmas Card and his helmet. They have been a little less interactive though, with submissions disappearing into the ether to be selected presumably by JB himself. McLaren are letting us make the final decision.
Thumbs up to the team, then, and now it's over to you. Who will you vote for? I don't want to sway your vote at all, but we do have submissions from two people of Sidepodland - designs from two of our favourite commenters Lou and Lukeh are up for your clicks.
I am intensely jealous of people who can design things, although to my eyes, some of them seem as though they already exist. It's probably just the red and silver look, though. Either way, I can't wait to see who wins, and I'm off to vote right now. If you haven't already, make time to do it now, and we'll report back with the winner!
Fantasy Racers was a mixed experience in 2009. The rule changes were of a similar magnitude to those in Formula 1 itself, and some of us adapted well, whilst others of us did not. Kathi led the way almost from the very start, and put on a really impressive show to make the Sidepodcast League the top scoring league of the competition for the second year in a row. She also completely outclassed the rest of us in the field, meaning we simply have to try harder in 2010.
Preparing to defend our Fantasy Racing title again. Click to join.
There are a couple of changes to the Fantasy Racers rules again this year, and we're also tweaking the way we play as well. Starting with the competition, though, you can now choose between two strategies, as detailed on the site:
Strategy 1 allows you to make unlimited changes during the course of the year, with a 40.0m starting budget.
Strategy 2 does not allow you to change your drivers, but has a starting budget of 45.0m. You may only remove a driver that is sacked / injured / unable to compete.
As a particularly lazy person, I have selected Strategy 2, although I have yet to choose my drivers. You are welcome to choose either option, and the selection you make will show up against your team in the league.
With the added complexity this gives the competition, we've realised it's going to be almost impossible to cover it in a sensible amount of time on the podcasts, so generally speaking, Fantasy Racing is now a blog-only thing. That doesn't mean we're not encouraging you to sign up and join in though, because we want you all to go ahead and do that now.
Sign up is free, just head on over to FantasyRacers.com, pick a team name, your strategy and your drivers - if you're thinking that far ahead already. I believe at the moment you can change your mind on the strategy front, but that will most likely be locked down at some point before the season begins.
We've created a league for everyone to join, although we want it to be less Sidepod-centric this year. Thus, we have named it Panda Racing 2010. To join the league you can simply click here, or search for Panda Racing. There's no password this year, so you can just sign right up and get choosing. Once you've done that, come back and let us know your team name and what your strategy is.
The first Sidepodcompetition was a bit chaotic from start to finish for us, but thankfully the tickets ended up in the right place. Here, Chris Harland tells us his experience at Top Gear Live, and ponders whether he would go again.
It started off badly; I began to wonder if the ticket debacle wasn’t a sign! I had to be in Earls Court for half past ten, which was looking pretty likely until... a Signal Failure on the Paddington line! This caused the train to have to wait stationary for a good fifteen to twenty minutes! But this was ok, I’d factored in a little time for this. My wife and I then arrived at Paddington a little later than planned, but this would be ok if we could make a nice quick journey on the Tube to Earls Court. For those in the know, that’s either the Circle or District lines from Paddington. So, down to the underground we go only to find, yep, you guessed it, BOTH the circle and district lines CLOSED for weekend engineering works. Great I thought. This meant the only way to Earls Court was a journey via Piccadilly Circus, which turned out ok in the end.
So, we arrived at Earls Court at about twenty past ten, just in time I thought. As I now had to collect my tickets, I asked the security guys where the “VIP” ticket collection point was. “Join the queue to the right of the building” he said. So we walked around the side of the building, and saw one massive queue! Oh dear, long queue and only ten minutes to get inside! Still we joined the back, and the queue moved reasonably ok. When we got inside, at about ten forty, I looked over to the far side, to see the “VIP” ticket collection point and NO QUEUE AT ALL!! I’d only been given duff information by the security man. Oh well, I went over and collected my tickets and went in.
I called the contact from Shell, who asked me to make my way to the VIP enclosure, so I did. I went up the escalator, VIP passes in hand and got off at the top. “Wow I thought, this is posh! I looked around for a minute, no sign of Shell. I then realised I was only in the “Platinum” enclosure and I had to walk around the side to the even more posh “VIP” section. I could get used to this I thought.
As it was now about ten fifty and the show started at eleven, the Shell guests had already gone down to take their seats, no-one was actually in the VIP area. Not to worry, our personal hostess took us down to the theatre and led us to our FRONT ROW BOX SEATS where we had a fantastic view of the stage. After several rather long adverts, the show could then begin.
It was much better than I would have imagined, Jezza, Hamster and Captain Slow were on fine form and there was more car action than you could shake a stick at. We had a Ford RS tribute and stunt show where the r cars randomly turned from black to white due to some special heat responsive paint. Two Subaru’s duelled with the rear halves on fire following an explosion. There were the results of a TOP GEAR challenge which was to build a mode of transport out of things you’d find in your garden shed. May had built a sun lounger with SIX chainsaw’s lined up like tank tracks and he won by a country mile, it was incredibly impressive. We had an interactive cool wall where various cars were driven out onto the stage and the audience voted how cool it was. All this, and there was much more.
After the show, we were shown around the paddock where we got to see all the cars used in the performance, although they wouldn’t let me near the Ferrari F40 for some reason. We then went back upstairs to the VIP enclosure where we were fed and watered (well, beered!) and I waited eagerly to be summoned for my stunt car ride. Having watched the show already, I was quite excited to have a go. However, when it eventually came around to it, I was somewhat disappointed. It turned out that I wasn’t to go in a stunt car, but instead in one of the cool wall cars that had been driven out at idle revs not very quickly at all. Never mind I thought, still better than nothing. We were again taken downstairs into the paddock where the cool wall cars were waiting to go out on stage. I ended up in the Ford Mustang, which was rather nice, but I would’ve preferred the Rolls Royce Phantom. It was quite daunting been driven out onto the stage with everybody looking at you. The Mustang was voted as cool until Jeremy activated the “Presenter Overide” feature, and slapped the car firmly beyond uncool.
After leaving the stage in the car, my wife and I were then left to enjoy the MPH show until the end of the day. There were plenty of performance and Supercars about the place, but after spending a little while looking at them, we soon became bored and headed off home. I was asked by one of the Top Gear Live hosts if I’d come back next year. My answer now is yes, but only for the Top Gear Show, the MPH feature was a little rubbish to be honest.
Still, we both had a fantastic day out as VIP’s, and are very grateful to Sidepodcast, Shell and Edelman for giving us the opportunity to enjoy such a day.
Our first ever Sidepodcompetition drew to a close on Monday night, and we can now announce the winner! I know, it's taken quite a while, more on that in a moment. For now, many congratulations go to Chris Harland.
Chris correctly answered the question:
Shell have a unique FMT formulation that is one of the added benefits when using V-Power fuel in your vehicle. What does FMT stand for in this instance
Answer:Friction Modification Technology
The tickets are now winging their way to Chris, and on Sunday he'll be at Earl's Court watching the Top Gear Live show unfold. Clarkson and Co. plus plenty of action awaits him. We're looking forward to hearing all about it upon his return.
We had a great response to the competition, 40 entries through the new and rather snazzy form, plus a couple via email. Nobody got it wrong, and there were plenty of submissions from names we haven't seen before... Hello lurkers! Why not join the real-time conversation? We'd love to hear from you.
When it came to selecting a winner, things didn't go exactly according to plan, as Chris was the name we pulled from the hat at the second attempt. Unfortunately, we didn't get a response for the initial winner, which caused all manner of trouble given the tight deadline we were working to. Thanks go to the lovely people at Edelman and Shell, for not only allowing us to run the competition but also for going beyond the call of duty and fast-tracking tickets to the winner at the last minute.
Thanks to everyone who took part, and please do have a go at whatever Sidepodcompetition pops up next.
That was it then! Not exactly the season ending cliffhanger that we all wanted, but I suppose it was a nice relaxing way to round off the year. Now the off-season begins in earnest and I can't tell you all the stuff we have planned to keep you entertained. It'll be great. What I can tell you though, is some of the things we're talking about:
Mr Jake Humphrey of the good ol' Beeb has written up his post-race blog with some alternative awards to hand out having spent his first year presenting the F1 show. The Favourite F1 Location award is an interesting read.
James has been dreaming up some numbers for us, and posted some random facts about the 2009 season. Some of the "most poles" and "most laps completed" ones are fascinating, and James says there are more stats and facts to come. Yay!
Gavin has completed his usual driver consistency analysis, with a bit of commentary on the race itself as well. I do love a post that begins by saying the race was dull so here are some pictures to liven it up! Sums up the weekend, I think.
That should do it for now. Don't forget that the deadline for the Top Gear competition is tonight, if you haven't already entered. I will see you in the comments.
