As we are heading into the Christmas Party season, it's time to start planning your F1 themed party. Imagine you were hosting a party for various teams, drivers, engineers, management etc. How would that party go? Here are some things to think about:
Who would you invite? What music would you play? Would you be handing out the mistletoe? Would there be any party games? What food and drink would you serve? Would it end up in a drunken brawl with Trulli and Sutil fighting, or would it be a nice peaceful event with an after dinner speech by Murray Walker?
The possibilities are endless, and I want to know what would happen at your F1 Christmas Party.
Alex Andronov guides us through his experience at a rather swanky event in London, where two veterans of motorsport were about to meet and share their memories with a select few.
After Sidepodcast announced the once in a lifetime chance to hear Murray Walker interview Sir Stirling Moss, I girded my bank account into action and booked my ticket.
The venue was to be the RAC - a members only club - in central London. A very swanky part of London. The dress code required a tie and so I got dressed up and headed to the venue. The RAC is a pretty swanky venue steeped in car history. They even have old cars just sitting in the lobby. I would like to tell you that I made copious notes about what this car was but sadly I got distracted by something else.
As I delicately supped at my glass of Champagne, I discreetly made a few comments on Sidepodcast just to let everyone know what was going on. After a while I decided to check if I could actually see Murray or Stirling. So I had to look away from my iPhone (other mobile doohickey devices are available) and look around the room.
Suddenly there they were. People were all being very polite and not approaching, they looked like they were in conversation with friends. But of course, let's face it, they were probably just in conversation with people who were more pushy than me. I tried to very subtly snap some pictures. It would appear that clandestine reconnaissance is not in my immediate future. For me subtle = shaky!
Slowly the room started filling up and I got chatting to a number of Formula 1 fans. I recommended that they all immediately check out the website of the greatest Formula 1 podcast in the world. The general consensus was that now they were here they would check out the talk, but they would check out the site afterwards.
While I had been chatting to these people the crowd had increased in size and a line had appeared for photos with Murray.
I passed my iPhone to a young guy who looked like he could deal with the modern technology.
There we had it. The key shot, bit blurry perhaps but it was proof nevertheless. I didn't get a chance to talk to the man himself because he was being distracted by the lady in the previous shot who had switched over to his other side. It didn't matter, I was happy!
I wondered about taking a few more photos (and even some video) while I waited for dinner.
Suddenly, we were whisked into a large dining room with lots of enormous round tables and plenty more new people to meet. I was sitting between a guy who didn't like Formula 1 anymore and a guy who was one of the James Bond stunt drivers. They were both very interesting to talk to. Dinner arrived.
I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. It seemed that there was some kind of rostrum ready for them to speak on. In all of the excitement I managed to spill gravy on my tie. The main attraction of the evening began with a short film talking about Sir Stirling's career, and after that Murray and Stirling took to the stage.
They started going when the microphones weren't working properly and so it was hard to work out exactly what was being said. Murray asked him how he got started in racing and he talked about his dad. Murray asked if Stirling had been pushed by his father and Stirling said that his dad was hard but fair. Put it this way, he said, if he had done something wrong he would get his mother to talk to his dad for him.
Then, thank goodness, they fixed the microphone and I managed to record the rest of the session. There were some absolute gems in the recording, and although the quality wasn't great, it was worth it.
With that, the mingling really got going. It was a great evening so thanks to Sidepodcast for the tip off and for all of the comments through the evening.
The two men are legends, and when you get a chance to listen to legends it isn't expensive, it's priceless.
Alex has very kindly passed the audio recording to us, and we will be releasing it as special podcast all of its own very soon.
Remember when the season first ended and we had to wait for 150 days for it to start up again? Somehow, all that time has passed and we are now just over 30 short days away from the first race. For us at Sidepodcast, this is not enough time to get through everything we had planned, but even so, like you all, we can’t wait for the season to get going.
We’ve now got lots of information about what to expect for those first few races, as well. The organisers of the Australian GP have confirmed the race will start at 5pm, with the CEO suggesting:
"The changes to the Formula One session times means that each day finishes on a high note and, for Thursday and Friday, the most anticipated action will happen after school and after work."
Hmm. Not for us. That translates to 5 and 6am in the morning for the UK, although you will hear no complaints as it could be a lot worse. One interesting thing to note in their timetable is that they have only allowed an hour and a half for the race itself.
Session
Day
Time
Practice session 1
Friday
1230 - 1400
Practice session 2
Friday
1630 - 1800
Practice session 3
Saturday
1400 - 1500
Qualifying
Saturday
1700 - 1800
Race
Sunday
1700 - 1835
It says approximately, I grant you, but you would always want to allow two hours, wouldn’t you?
Elsewhere today, Malysia have confirmed they will also be starting at 5pm, but they have no interests in going any later. The costs of lighting up the race would be too great, and organisers say they don’t care what Bernie thinks. In this economic climate, their prediction is it won’t happen before 2015, if at all.
Finally, as Dank pointed out in the comments, the BBC have issued their own schedule for the first few races. It is as we expected, with live TV and online coverage simultaneously, plus plenty of interactivity on the site as well.
The best quote from them is:
"The website will also have extra analytical data during the race, in-depth looks at the drivers, teams, tracks and an F1 car, as well as reports, news and insight from the TV team, as well as broadcasting legend Murray Walker among others."
We don’t know what the "extra analytical data" is yet, or whether it is any good, but the fact that they are even attempting to provide more information is a good sign. The worrying thing, also spotted by Dank, is that they don’t seem to have listed FP3 in their schedules at all. Fingers crossed they know it exists and this is just an oversight. Even if not, I think Murray Walker’s presence would almost make up for it.
This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.
Autosport International 2009 took place in Birmingham this weekend, and there were plenty of famous faces there talking about the upcoming year in motorsport. Unfortunately, Formula 1 seemed to be highly unrepresented, with only David Coulthard, Anthony Davidson and Murray Walker the main names from the pinnacle of motorsport.
I'm not sure whether it's because Formula 1 is trying so hard to cut costs, or just the general economy, but there really weren't many F1 related stands either. In previous years, we've seen teams turn up with pit stop competitions, plus plenty of merchandise stands, new circuits and feeder series booths as well. This year there didn't seem to be as much going on.
Nevertheless, it was still a good day out. The Autosport Stage was the best part, with Henry Hope-Frost interviewing some of the attendees. We heard from Suzie Stoddart and Paul di Resta - both DTM drivers, with di Resta hoping to get a seat in F1 through McLaren. Murray Walker had a good chat, as did Martin Brundle and his son Alex, who has raced in Formula Palmer Audi.
Elsewhere, the F1 display, sponsored by F1 Racing, had a variety of cars. The majority of the grid was there, all except Honda. The McLaren car was hoisted onto a platform, as the car that won Lewis Hamilton the championship. Unfortunately, it had the green striped tyres that were part of the "Make Cars Geren" campaign at the Japanese Grand Prix. I say unfortunately, as they're not that good looking and make some of the photographs a bit disappointing.
There are plenty of motorsports in schools initiatives at the trade show, which is an admirable thing. The main event is a drag race for teams of children to design their own streamlined cars, which then rocket down a straight track. Times are noted and the fastest wins.
Elsewhere, the Live Action Arena is somewhere I still haven't been. Reports suggest that it is a popular event, with many cars showing off in front of the crowds. However, it is very loud, and taking pictures very difficult as it's so dark. I can honestly say that I'm not sure whether I'll go again next year. There'll need to be some real F1 involvement for me to want to attend, as this year there was little for the hard core F1 fan to get excited about.
Welcome to F1 People - Series 2. This is the omnibus edition of the series, which was seven short shows originally released over seven consecutive days. Now they are all gathered up in one place for easy listening.
This is the first omnibus edition we've tried, the idea came from a suggestion on Facebook by Dave Monks. I'd love to have your feedback - is it useful to have the information presented this way, or is it just clogging up your feeds with the same shows twice? Also if you missed a mini series, do you think this would be a good way to catch up or are the seven separate shows easier?
Welcome to F1 People, a mini series of short shows chronicling the lives of important people in the world of Formula 1. Today we’re going to look at Murray Walker, not a traditional F1 People subject, but an important one nonetheless.
Graeme Murray Walker was born on the 10th October 1923 in Birmingham, England. His father raced motorcycles professionally before the war, and was pretty good at it. Murray’s father also became a commentator for the BBC, working with them for 31 years. Walker decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, trying out the motorcycling route but realising he was never going to be as good as he wanted to be. At a particular race in 1949, his father was preparing to do the commentary, but had to step down at the last minute. Walker stepped in, and was overheard by a BBC producer in the crowd. He was invited for a commentating audition ahead of a Goodwood meeting, and got the job instantly.
Walker also took over his father’s role as motorcycle commentating when he died in 1962. Whilst commentating on the race weekends here and there, Walker made ends meet by starting a career in marketing. His creative flair saw him promoted through an advertising agency, and this double life suited him. He worked on occasional F1 commentaries until the late 1970s, and in 1978 he was given the job full time.
In 1980, Walker was teamed up with James Hunt, who had recently retired from Formula 1. Initially, the pairing was awkward, with Hunt being somewhat of a playboy and Walker perhaps slightly disapproving of that. But as the years went by, they became an incredible partnership, the first to really bond a commentator’s art of conversation with a driver’s expertise of the sport.
Walker retired from the advertising industry in 1982, making commentating his full time concern. He began to get a name for himself as having the “commentators curse”. He would discuss the action out on track and often say how well a certain driver was doing, and then moments later, the driver would crash or suffer a mechanical failure and have to retire. It became such a common theme that some drivers actually asked Walker specifically not to mention them during a race, so their luck would hold out.
James Hunt died in 1993, but Walker continued to commentate. The next year saw the death of Ayrton Senna, an event which Walker himself describes as the blackest moment of his career. He found it very tough to talk about the accident during the race, as he didn’t know the outcome, and the pressure of having so many fans awaiting news was incredible. However, Walker got through these and other similar tricky events with aplomb and was therefore top of the list when ITV won the rights to F1 coverage in 1997. He and all the fans switched channels with ease, and Walker was teamed up with the newly retired Martin Brundle. This pairing mimicked the James Hunt success with Brundle providing the insight.
Murray Walker retired from F1 commentating in 2001, at the United States Grand Prix. He was presented with an original brick from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in recognition of his work. This is a rare honour and something Walker treasures to this very day. Despite his retirement, Walker remained a public figure within motor racing. He became the voice of the Grand Prix Masters series in 2006, he commentated on Supercar races, and filled in for a couple of F1 commentators when they weren’t available – in both the UK and Australia. In 2006, Honda signed Walker up as their team ambassador for half of the season, meaning he was a corporate front for the team, welcoming and entertaining VIP guests.
When the announcement came this year that the BBC had won the rights to F1 back from ITV, Murray Walker was the first name that sprung to everyone’s lips when talking about who would fill the commentators role. He’s done plenty of work for Radio 5live since retiring and commentated on the odd race. Whilst Walker said he doesn’t want to return and do a full season, he would be more than happy to do the odd Formula 1 feature.
Walker has been married to the very private Elizabeth for almost 50 years, and himself turns 85 this year. Whilst admitting that he is slowing things down gradually, he’s also very open about the fact that he loves the limelight and the attention.
Finally, if there’s any doubt that Murray Walker is a legend in F1, you just need to know this. When the upcoming Hollywood film about Michael Schumacher was announced, there were rumours that Murray would be played by Bruce Willis. You don’t get a better compliment than that.
That’s all for today’s episode of F1 People. I hope you enjoyed the show and will join me again tomorrow when we look at another VIP in the world of Formula 1.
