Sidepodcast

Daily: 15th March 2010

Monday, and the day after the day before. F1 is back in business and we've ticked one event off of the 19 race calendar already. It will be a further 11 days before cars take to the track again. It looks like we have some time to kill.

Christine has entrusted me with daily duties, which I interpret to mean "discussing in-depth technical aspects of the site at great length". Something I shall gladly do.

This weekend, marked for Sidepodcast, the culmination of 4-6 months worth of work. During the off-season many hours were spent shoring up weaknesses of the old live commenting system, to enable the smooth experience of the past four days. I'm quite relieved it all worked as expected.

The debut of the Factbyte Factbox marks the new technical direction Sidepodcast.com is heading in. We bought a brand new server from Rackspace to host the system, and after a solid weekend's work, we'll be migrating the rest of the site there shortly. I don't remember the last time we had so few technical issues during a race weekend, and in fact the only downtime experienced was a 60 second server outage caused by the two of us attempting to publish F1 Big Picture and F1 Minute articles simultaneously. In over three years, we've never crossed the blogging streams before, and we should probably avoid it in future.

Back to the subject of F1, what's new for Monday?

• I've just been reading the latest edition of GrandPrix+, which might explain the delay in posting the daily. Joe and David are far more optimistic about what they saw in Bahrain than we have been. I understand races in days of yore used to be slow burners, building to a climax, but does the Playstation generation really have such patience nowadays?
• Lukeh debuted a new report card rating system on his blog, and he's given race number one a resounding 'D', although he is looking positively towards Australia.
• F1Photos offers a unique look at yesterday's first lap incident between Kubica and Sutil. I approve of the frame-by-frame sequence, and hope to see more as the season progresses.
• Finally, Gavin published his comprehensive analysis of the opening Fantasy Racers round. I faired better than I was expecting, so haven't started sulking about my position just yet.

That'll do for me. Don't forget to listen to Christine's F1 Digest roundup today, I don't remember the GP episode appearing as early as Sunday for a very long time. The girl worked incredibly hard throughout the whole of the race weekend, and I stand in awe of her work.

An Aside With Joe - Motor Racing Is a Religion of a Different Kind

• Length: 46:50 
• Size: 43.6 MB 
• File: aside17.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: aside17.torrent 

For the first time in 2010, Joe joins us from France to cover all of the latest goings on in the world of F1. Topics of conversation include, bad liveries and naked cars, the fast and the furious, and troublesome pronunciation.

We cover what USF1 got right, why Renault F1 made a fine choice, and what in the world Stefan GP are up to. Joe also announces plans for a long awaited real life meet-up, talks long term research and what we might look forward to in forthcoming GP+ articles.

All of this and more, in a February edition of An Aside With Joe.

Places to Visit

• Read Joe's Grand Prix Blog
• An Evening with Joe
• Subscribe to Grand Prix+ Magazine

Autosport Magazine to Add Digital Option

Credit: theseanster93 (creative commons)

A stack of paper magazines - the old way of doing things?

This week, F1 fans received some excellent, and forward-thinking, news from the fine folks at the publishing company Haymarket. A forum post appeared on Wednesday with an announcement of an announcement, but this time it was about something we've long been calling for.

The post, written by Autosport.com's Publishing Manager, read:

Following on from the trial during the postal strike of last year, and based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback it received, I can let you know that a digital version of AUTOSPORT will be launched next month.

There will be a formal announcement in due course, but the digital version will be free to existing magazine subscribers and we will offer it at a discounted price to Autosport.com PLUS subscribers.

We've been pushing for more and more in the way of online resources from publishers because quite honestly, it's the future. Mr C wrote a two-part rant back in August last year, entitled Print is Dead, and since then, we've gradually started to see a bit of a shift. When the postal strike hit, the major flaw in the print subscription model was highlighted. What was already out of date information became even more irrelevant by the time it reached consumer doormats, and in some cases it never showed up at all. The introduction of a temporary digital installment of the magazine was a stroke of genius, and a great way to deal with the problem, but it was a sad moment when it disappeared.

Previously, we'd been interested in purchasing the online subscription to Racecar Engineering, which is available through digital publishers Zinio. At the moment, the service isn't ideal, requiring you to download custom reading software. However, Zinio are working on an iPhone app, albeit one that's only available in the US at the moment. Presumably this will scale up for the iPad, and once available in the UK, we'd definitely consider subscribing to RCE. Mr C can then pretend to understand a digital version of the magazine, instead of the paper version.

For us, the ideal solution for an online magazine format is a PDF file, as showcased so well by GP+. Files are easy to archive and more importantly, you can search for words and phrases and find what you're looking for directly from your desktop. The solution that Autosport.com used to cover the postal strike trial, and presumably will continue to adopt for the upcoming subscription model, is provided by Ceros. This system provides a flash version of the magazine with scrollable pages and clickable links. It's a huge step in the right direction, but still isn't quite as accessible as we'd like.

All reservations aside, though, this is brilliant news from Haymarket, and has restored a little of our faith in their ability to adapt to changing technologies. This is the only way we would ever have subscribed to the weekly Autosport magazine again, and we shall be doing just that.

The real beneficiaries of this, though, are not us here in the UK, but the people living overseas who have to wait for their magazines to be shipped, and have nothing of an equivalent nature in their own countries. USF1 are bringing international fans to Formula 1, and now Autosport will bring timely F1 features and insight to them.

The information is at our fingerprints, but most importantly, at everybody's fingertips at the same time. Autosport are taking the right steps, even if they are baby ones. F1 Racing, it's now over to you.

An Aside with Joe - He Makes a Yo-Yo Look Reliable

• Length: 53:44 
• Size: 49.9 MB 
• File: aside16.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: aside16.torrent 

In this special end of year show, Joe wraps up all of the important post season events. Including, what's going on in Michael Schumacher's head, where the PR people have got it wrong and the real reason the FIA have appointed an ambassador for every race.

Additionally, our award winning blogger offers insight into how young driver testing has evolved, where the future of race circuits can be found and who might not survive a season in F1.

All of this and much more, in a festive edition of An Aside With Joe.

Linkage

• Read Joe's Grand Prix Blog
• Subscribe to Grand Prix+ Magazine
• Interact with Joe on Facebook

An Aside with Joe - Some People Like to Write a Lot

• Length: 55:07 
• Size: 51.2 MB 
• File: aside13.mp3 
• Transcript: aside13.pdf 
• Torrent: aside13.torrent 

Joe joins us for some blogging and commenting conversation, as well as dissecting the finer points of traveling, writing and the enigma that is Leo Sayer.

We also take plenty of questions from the comments, covering driver prospects, NASCAR prospects, and what did and did not go down in Suzuka last weekend.

As ever, all of this and so much more in this episode of An Aside With Joe.

Linkage

• Read Joe Saward’s Grand Prix Blog
• Subscribe to Grand Prix+ Magazine
• Grandprix.com
• Grand Prix Saboteurs at Morienval
• Purchase Grand Prix Saboteurs from Amazon

50+ Issues and Counting

If you caught the latest episode of An Aside with Joe, you likely would have heard Joe talk about GrandPrix+ magazine reaching the milestone of its 50th released issue. We thought we'd mark the occasion with a quick plug for the original F1 e-magazine.

If you ever spend anytime in the Sidepodcast comments, you'll know we like to plug things, be it blogs, podcasts, published books or certain brands of energy drink. GP+ deserves a very special plug from us though, for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, as we have detailed many times in the past, we're not exactly fans of regular paper-based publishing, and GP+ offers everything that print cannot - instantaneous worldwide delivery, portability, indexable content and it gets released a few hours after a race is complete. One day all magazines will be delivered like this.

Additionally though, we like to plug Joe's work because he has given so much of his time to the Aside series this year.

Any sensible professional journalist would insist on being paid handsomely for the effort that goes into recording podcasts from all corners of the world - including manually rewiring the hotel's Internet access in Spain, jumping through firewall hoops in China and getting up at all hours to speak from Malaysia.

If you've enjoyed listening to any of the podcasts, like the idea of being a forerunner in the rapidly changing world of media publishing, or frankly just like to learn about Formula One faster than anyone else, go subscribe to Grand Prix+ magazine now. There may only be three races remaining this year, but you'll grab yourself all 50 back issues in the process. It's only £25 GBP and it would mean a lot to us if you did.

As a quick reminder, below are links to all of the Aside shows recorded thus far - 13 in total. Both Amy and Rachel have been doing a fabulous job of transcribing these recordings, so we've added links to the PDF files too. Just like issues of GP+, text transcripts can be downloaded and searched from your computer should the need ever arise. We are eternally grateful for the efforts put in by anyone in the community who help lighten the transcription workload, and help make the podcasts even more useful.

The Aside So Far...

• Guardians of a Tradition
• Let's Get on With the Proper Game of Motor Racing
• It's About Providing Interest and Excitement and Entertainment
• Talk Is Always Cheap in Formula One
• Formula 1 Teams Like to Keep Things Secret
• What's the Point in Having 3 Championships, When You Can Have 1?
• The Customer Always Comes First
• The Politics of a Free Lunch
• Two Against One
• Nobody Comes Here Unless They Have To
• Ben-Hur Without the Horses
• Pretending Not to Pretend to Sandbag
• Everybody Wants to be a Formula 1 Driver

Don't forget, we're always open to more questions for Joe in future shows, please add them to the wiki page and we'll get to them when we can.

An Aside with Joe - Guardians of a Tradition

• Length: 46:48 
• Size: 38.0 MB 
• File: aside12.mp3 
• Transcript: aside12.pdf 
• Torrent: aside12.torrent 

A long distance call sees Joe join us from Singapore, tackling questions from the comments on the subject of street racing, a packed calendar and ghost commentating for the BBC.

Additionally, the 50th issue if GP+ magazine was released this week, so we find out what it means to Joe, how it all began, where it's going next and where it fits in the world of F1.

As ever, all of this and so much more in this episode of An Aside With Joe.

Linkage

• Subscribe to Grand Prix+ Magazine (50 issues, one low price)
• Read Joe Saward’s Grand Prix Blog (now with added donations)
• Grandprix.com (including Mike Doodson's excellent articles)

An Aside with Joe - Talk Is Always Cheap in Formula One

• Length: 46:01 
• Size: 42.9 MB 
• File: aside9.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: aside9.torrent 

Joe discusses all the latest F1 news, this time from London.

Prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, topics under discussion include the future of racing circuits and those in charge of promoting them, as well as governance of the sport and those that wish to govern it.

Race action sees some coverage too, as drivers, strategies and expectations for the coming days get the once over, before talk turns to the words and pictures that make up a Joe's GP weekend.

All of this and much, much more in this episode of An Aside With Joe.

Linkage

• Subscribe to Grand Prix+ Magazine
• Read Joe Saward’s Grand Prix Blog
• The Business of Motorsport Newsletter
• The Paddock Magazine
• Follow Joe on Twitter
• The Cahier Archive

Remind Me, Is There a Race this Weekend?

As reported yesterday, the Valencia street circuit was given the go ahead for the F1 race, as the FIA handed out their official licence. Button also gave his stamp of approval to the new circuit.

It is a great venue and it will bring a lot of new fans to F1. It is quite a fast circuit, for a street circuit. It has got a lot of run-off in the places that you need it.

BMW are already looking to the simulator to get accurate data for the race weekend, including downforce levels, gearbox ratios and brake specifications. Willy Rampf said they were starting early so as not to lose time during the race weekend.

Mike Gascoyne has revealed that although they will test out Force India's new seamless shift gearbox on Friday in Hungary, they're saving actual implementation for Valencia.

Lewis Hamilton is looking as far ahead as the Singapore night race, saying he will walk the track to get a good feel for it. No doubt he is planning to do the same for the unfamiliar curves at Valencia.

From what I can see, all the talk at the moment is about Valencia, despite the fact the race doesn't take place for almost another month. I'm looking forward to it, another proper street circuit, and the track looks stunning. With the races we've been having this year, adding a brand new, unknown layout to the mix is only going to cause chaos!

With that in mind, then, with the Valencian GP so close and everyone talking about it, do we even care about Hungary? I say, why not just hand this weekend's points to Hamilton, and let's move on to a track we're actually interested in.

Day 3 - Just a Couple of Snaps

On the final day of testing at Silverstone, the big guns came out to play. With Fernando, Lewis and Kimi all on hand to try out their respective machines in preparation for next weekends British Grand Prix there was far more media interest than on previous days.

Fernando Alonso

Alonso had a rough day testing, first his engine expired in the morning wiping out a large portion of the days running and then his final lap was compromised when the Renault powered Red Bull gave up in the closing minutes.

The man didn't appear to be a happy camper in Silverstone, he left the circuit quickly after one of the shortest debriefs in the paddock.

Lewis Hamilton

Quickest of the day, on the only outing prior to his home Grand Prix, Lewis was very aggressive with his tyre warm up on exiting the pitlane. He appeared to lay more rubber than the rest of the drivers put together.

McLaren tried out all sorts of aero updates ready for the upcoming Grand Prix. It seemed like every time the guy went past he was carrying a different front wing configuration.

Kimi Räikkönen

Only managing the 3rd fastest time, and completing the least amount of laps bar Couthard (who crashed, and then broke down), left Räikkönen looking for a way home as quickly as possible.

Due to a slight misunderstanding with an oncoming van, Kimi's driver was forced to wait amongst the crowd for a clear exit. Kimi was seen holding a phone to his ear during the very long delay, maybe he had a lot of messages to check?

Red Bull Hospitality

Wandering up and down the paddock, it was blatantly clear that Red Bull is the place to hang out. They were the only ones with a purpose-built motorhome (even McLaren had just a bus / awning), and they were also the only ones with a roof.

Actively encouraging the media will, I'm sure, sway many a journalist. The late night opening hours are a bonus too.