Sidepodcast

My Brand Spanking New 2010 F1 Calendar

As time passes, there is more and more in F1 that we need to try and keep track of. Bernie keeps on adding to the race calendar, there are more teams ready to launch and new drivers keep popping up with birthdays. The only thing there is less of is testing, but we still need to follow that as well. To aid us in the pursuit of remembering stuff, we have created an über-calendar - currently available below and in the playground.

A year or so ago, we created two separate Google calendars - one for F1 Minute, with all the race and launch dates on there, and one for Sidepodcast with an attempt at an upcoming podcast schedule. Neither of them did exactly what we wanted and they were gradually dropped as we moved on to other things.

Now that the need for a calendar has cropped up again, we decided to put our minds to the task and come up with a proper solution. Hopefully, we feel we have done that. Google allows the option to create many different calendars - really these should be called categories, I think - and you can feature them all on the same one, or you can pick and choose which are displayed. In this way, we have created the option of seeing the driver birthdays in one colour, and the non-F1 events in another. Those are just two of the calendar categories we created. In full, they are:

• Commenter Birthdays & Anniversaries
• Driver Birthdays & Anniversaries
• F1 Minute Schedule
• F1 Schedule
• Non-F1 Events
• Sidepodcast Schedule

Hopefully, these are quite self-explanatory, but a couple of things to note: the Sidepodcast calendar features all related things, including podcasts, live streams, special events, and meetups. The F1 schedule has races, launches, testing, and court dates. The non-F1 events include Autosport, Goodwood and things we will likely live comment such as Le Mans 24 Hours.

There is also a calendar over on F1 Minute, which selectively shows the F1 Minute and F1 Schedule, tailor-made to be slightly less cluttered.

If you are a Google user, you can even add them to your own iGoogle homepage, or calendar, by means of the little button in the bottom right. Click the plus, they'll be added, and you can then set your own reminders and such-like.

We are still tweaking the calendar, hence why it remains in the playground. The customisability seems to be endless, so we are also taking suggestions. I'm hoping to use the calendar to aid in some of the daily posts as well, so if anyone has links or thoughts about notable dates to remember, let us know. Plus, if I have missed your birthday, please do shout and I'll add it in.

Daily: 20th July 2009

It was a terrible day in the world of motorsport yesterday, but here's hoping today is a better one. We've got lots going on in the world of Sidepodcast, which is good as we ramp up to the Hungarian weekend. Here are some of the things we've got going on:

• Yesterday's Debrief is now available in both the edited format and the uncut live stream. We talked about all manner of things including a little bit of politics, some silly season, and even Franck gets a mention. That must be a good show.
• We also talk about the phenomenon that is Sidepodradio. What started out as a bit of a joke from RG has turned into a real life plan to broadcast some Sidepodshows for 12 hours at the beginning of August. There's more about it on the wiki, but mentioning it here is really just an excuse to plug Alex's pilot music show.
• Finally, I forgot to mention that yesterday I wrote the Goodwood Roundup post that was promised in last week's Debrief. If there are any other blog entries or online photo sets that I have missed, please let us know and we can update the post.

That's all for now. It's Manic Monday, so I hope it is okay for everyone who dislikes the first day of the week. I will see you in the comments.

Goodwood Roundup

It's been a couple of weeks since the Festival of Speed came to a close, and as promised in last week's Debrief show, we're gathering together the tales of those who went and shared their stories with us. We've got blogs to link to, pictures to look at, plus those fabulous voicemails from Lukeh on the premises. Let's get started.

Lukeh has written about his day and by all accounts he was very impressed with his first trip to the Festival. He also has some photos up on Flickr. He, Lou and Chris (Vampire Chris) met within the grounds and had a fun-filled day, including a chance meeting with John Button. If you've heard the Debrief linked above, you'll know we played some voicemails from Lukeh about the day as well, but here they are again:

The voicemail where Lukeh was speechless:

The voicemail where Chris punched John:

This leads us nicely on to Lou's photos of the weekend, which are - as usual - excellent. There are plenty of Jenson Button ones, but also lots of the hill climb as well.

Like Lou, Pat spent just one day at the Festival but still managed to see an impressive amount. This puts us to shame really, as we found ourselves unable to fit it all in even over three days. Nevertheless, Pat's got three blog posts so far with, I think, more to come.

1. Pt 1 - Arrival & Bikes
2. Pt 2 - F1
3. Pt 3 - Trackside

He also has photos on Picasa. Over to Flickr again, though, Chris Harland has four pages worth of photos - focusing more on the cars than the personalities. Ollie also has some great photos on Flickr, and I think he is currently deciding whether to put his writeup on BlogF1 or his personal site. Ollie met up with Tom at the festival, who has also written his thoughts up.

Back to the photo sharing, and Nick set up a Flickr account specifically for his Goodwood photos. There are some great car closeups on there, I am particularly fond of the Le Mans car shots. Lynch has also posted his photos, and there are some stunning ones in there.

So, that is the majority of what has been on my radar. If I have missed anyone, firstly accept my apologies, and secondly, let us know in the comments, and we'll update the blog as we find them. It looks like a great time was had by all, so roll on next year!

Daily: 10th July 2009

Apparently, according to the people's encyclopedia, Dublin was founded on this day in 988AD. If ever there was cause for a celebratory Guinness that would be it, but get this - Odense in Denmark was founded on the same day. Double the fun! Anyway, here is some F1 stuff to keep us going this Friday:

• Tis Free Practice day, so expect some live commenting threads to appear throughout the day, and an F1 Digest episode later. It looks as though the weather is going to be pretty changeable over the weekend, with Friday and Saturday currently showing as rainy. That'll make for some interesting sessions!
• I don't know about anyone else, but I am falling more and more to my happy place - so don't forget that if you're on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #f1happyplace to add to the fun. There are no rules about what goes in there, as long as it will cause a smile.
• Pat has begun the mammoth task of writing up his Goodwood adventures. So far we have pictures and a blog entry about bikes. Can't wait for the rest!

That'll do it for now. Here's hoping Friday is a good one, and as ever, let us know if you have any plans for the weekend - other than joining us for all the sessions, obviously. I'll see you in the comments.

Daily: 8th July 2009

I hope everyone is having a good week so far, but if not, it's the mid-point today - Wednesday. Things can only get better, and if they don't get better then we're closer to the weekend than we were before. Now you have that uplifting thought, here are some other topics to think about:

• Lukeh has written an excellent piece on his blog regarding his trip to Goodwood. It was his first time at the Festival of Speed and it's fair to say he got a lot more out of it than we did on our first attempt at navigating the hill!
• For once, the letters F, I and A are not miserable around here, as there is the prospect of a new president come October. Okay, that's getting a bit carried away, but if someone is prepared to stand against the dreaded Max, then I am prepared to believe he can do it. Joe has some more information on Ari Vatanen and he seems to be an all round good guy.
• Yesterday, we were discussing the relative merits of Villeneuve's attempts to rejoin the sport. Without wishing to ignite that debate again, Jacques did raise a good point that with the testing ban, experience counts for a lot. Who else would you like to see make a triumphant return, or who would you most like to stay away?

That'll do for now. Don't forget, you can listen to the last episode of the recent F1 Safety episode, or if you're hanging around for the omnibus, it should be along later today. I'll see you in the comments.

Daily: 6th July 2009

With both Goodwood and Wimbledon over and done with, it's time to regroup and turn our attention back to Formula 1. Sadly, there is little going on at the moment, but things should be ramping up towards the German Grand Prix as the week progresses. Meanwhile, here are some things we're talking about (and it's all self promotion today):

• We're in the midst of my latest mini series now, with five episodes under our belts. Yesterday's episode focused on the process of how an accident is dealt with, including notes on the Safety Car and on the different types of flags.
• We also spent some time yesterday rehearsing things and improving some of the technology we use to produce live shows. We went live for some of the process, and it can be replayed here, but don't panic, there is nothing major in there if you missed it. If you've got a spare two hours, though, feel free to listen to us muddle our way through.
• During yesterday's show, to pass some of the time, we came up with a game where you simply have to sum up each driver in three words. A good example from Steven about Vettel: "Ain’t no Schumi." And I came up with "Dangerous Whilst Pitting" for Nakajima. Have a think and see what you can come up with you.

That'll do it for now. Please feel free to discuss your adventures, if you were out and about this weekend, and discuss anything on your mind if you weren't. I'll see you in the comments.

Daily: 5th July 2009

We are now celebrating Goodwood Sunday, plus Wimbledon Finals day for the men's game and... actually, I think that's about it. Still, it is set to be a good day, and we are having a pretty good, relaxing weekend at SPC Towers. Finally, we are sitting back and taking stock of what we have got, and trying to improve things rather than bring new technology on board. Meanwhile, here are some F1 topics:

• Campos Racing have suggested that the lack of budget caps won't hinder them in 2010, so I am wondering if Max chose his new teams on the basis that they could survive without the caps? We know that USF1 were allowed in because they're working really hard on their funding, so is it all about the money? (Answer = yes.)
• Conspiracy theory of the day: Bruno Senna drove his uncle's title winning MP4-4 up the Goodwood Hill yesterday and trashed the gearbox. Lewis Hamilton was due to drive it today and has now been denied the opportunity. Coincidence or intention? Hamilton will now run last year's MP4-23 instead.
• Talking of Goodwood, we've had loads of people commenting as they navigate the grounds. Nick and Lukeh have both been in touch, and we were getting lots of snippets throughout yesterday about Newey and Glock. Expect more good stuff today.

That's enough to talk about for now, I reckon. It's a bit of a quiet weekend in terms of F1 news, as teams are either busy demonstrating or resting up for next week's race. Anyway, I'll see you in the comments.

Daily: 4th July 2009

It is Independence Day today, although Mr C and I also recognise it as the day Will Smith helps save us from aliens. Bruce has got the meteorites covered and Will knows what he's doing with those UFOs, what could go wrong? Anyway, here are some of the things we're talking about:

• What's going on with Alan Donnelly then? The story is that Virgin are moving their sponsorship, which is fair enough. Their relationship with Brawn has been dwindling almost since the first race. So, what does this Donnelly fella have to do with it?
• Over on the F1 Big Pic, we took the challenge of covering the Valencia story. What were the chances of finding a decent pic of that instantly forgettable race? I am mightily disappointed the green building didn't make the pic, but we should be able to see more of that if there is less seating around.
• Finally, Alianora has written a great post about her daily process of finding out what's going on in the world of F1, detailing which sites she visits and in which order. Would love to hear other people's routines as well.

That'll do it for now. It's Goodwood Saturday, so we'll still be keeping an ear and eye out for any pics or tweets cropping up. As always, I'll see you in the comments.

F1 Debrief - I Think There Was Something Subtle in There

• Length: 41:30 
• Size: 38.1 MB 
• File: debrief110.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: debrief110.torrent 

This week we talk about what we learned in the Shell V-Power lab at Silverstone, we run through some half-term reports for our Fantasy Racers teams, and catch up with loads of feedback.

Intro

We've gone a bit Ferrari mad, but you'll only know if you're watching the live feed.

Good Week / Bad Week

A good week for Mark Webber at Wimbledon and Backstreet Boys fans in Singapore, but a bad week for Hockenheim and Brawn GP (thanks to Kathi for helping with pronunciation.)

Sidepodtour

Shell have given us some fascinating facts and figures which we share with you, we run through a weekend in the trackside lab and play some of our tortured audio clips. Plus, the Sidepodscience challenge begins.

Fantasy Racers

With Mr C down in 305th, and myself up in 88th, we run through those above, below and in between, with comments from team owners, and some of the closest battles to watch out for.

Feedback

A couple of voicemails from Silverstone, plus some new voices to hear from. We also read through a plethora of emails covering topics from the BBC coverage to a money-making scheme for the FIA.

Housekeeping

Next week, many people are headed to Goodwood and the Renault World Series, so if you are, we want to hear from you. Meanwhile, we'll be at home creating a mini series.

Linkage

• Making Up the Numbers
• Shell V Power
• Blog F1 Fantasy Racers
• Pressdog.com
• Too Much Racing
• Rob's Good Deed
• Richard's Melbourne Video
• Wiki - Meetup
• Wiki - Other Motorsport Events
• Sidepodcast's Drop
• Fantasy Racers

Daily: 28th June 2009

It is Sunday. Mr C and I enjoyed a nice day off from Sidepodcast yesterday, which involved watching the tennis, blogging a bit, catching up on RSS feeds, and commenting. Okay, technically not going completely cold turkey but we have already established that isn't possible. Here are some of the things going on at the moment:

• Ollie has written a fantastic guide to Goodwood. The Festival of Speed is next weekend, and if you've never been before there are plenty of handy tips and some invaluable advice to help you along your way.
• There are plans for a new Sidepodmeetup afoot on the wiki. This time heading to a new Continent, Bassano and Journeyer are heading up the plans to meet in a completely different timezone to us. If you're around and about for the as yet unconfirmed meet, please visit the wiki and sign up.
• This has nothing to do with F1 at all, but I wrote a post earlier about my top five favourite modern Doctor Who episodes, and Lukeh was inspired to write his own thoughts on the up to date Who series'. Please let us know your thoughts if you're a fan, because we're really missing the series this year.

There will be a show later on today, probably starting about 6pm, although we are not confirmed on that time yet. We did enjoy starting later last week because the show was out before the day was done, but it is a bit of a wrench being ready for 6. Stay tuned though, and we'll let you know asap. See you in the comments.