Sidepodcast

The Best of Sidepodcast 2009, and a Big Thank You

During 2009, Sidepodcast managed to publish 1,319 posts on this website. That's more content in the past 12 months than we managed in the previous two years of blogging combined. A considerable amount of that content came from over 20 guest writers who contributed their thoughts and ideas and to whom we will be eternally grateful.

To celebrate such a fantastic year, and because we're feeling more than a little nostalgic on this eve of '10, we've pulled together some of our favourite topics from 2009.

Thank You for the Memories

• An Audience With Mark Webber - January started well, meeting and greeting Mark Webber
• Always Look at the Bigger Picture - The big idea for '09
• Design and Share Your Fantasy Race Tracks - Anyone can do better than Tilke, right?
• Websites You Can Trust - F1 journalism comes under the microscope
• Episode 93 - KERS For 5 Year Olds - Everything you needed to know about KERS
• Character Cup - 2009 Winner, Fernando Alonso - He's quite the character
• McLaren Testing at Kemble - We knew they were in trouble from this point on
• When Did You Lose Interest? - An historical look at F1 supporters
• 2009 Australia Predictions Montage - How did you fare?
• A View of Sepang - Journeyer's visit to the Malaysian GP
• Heard It on the Radio - Christine talks to BBC national radio
• There's an Official Formula 1 iPhone App, and It Rocks! - F1 coverage changed for the better
• Winning Isn't Everything - Lou gets a cog too
• Circuit Cup - 2009 Winner, Spa - The best track by miles
• Print Is Dead - Our take on the future of media
• A Live Tour of Albert Park - Amy goes live from a deserted park in Australia
• We Heart Lukeh - Lukeh provided us laughs aplenty in 2009
• Sidepodfilmclub - Talladega Nights - The inaugural filmclub evening
• Will.i.am Wheelman - Possibly our best headline of the year
• 2009 Championship Contender - Jenson Button - A look at the man before he became the man
• Sidepodradio Gives You Wings for Life - Red Bull Racing liked the cupcakes
• Happy Birthday Daily Thread - One year on and still going strong
• When Giggles Met Murray and Stirling - He only went and messed up his tie
• Things I Learnt From Watching Franck - Everybody does it better than Formula 1
• Formula 1 2009 (Wii) Review - Finally a proper F1 game hits the shelves
• The Illustrated 2009 F1 Season Review - Currently the highest rated post on Sidepodcast
• Live: After Eight - The last live show of the year and a festive one at that
• F1 Advent Calendar 2009 - Roundup - The F1 season, all wrapped up

We've shared some fantastic experiences this past year and we're promised many more in 2010.

Thank You for the Music

As this is the one time of year when Christine allows me to give thanks, and running the risk of missing someone important, Sidepodcast would like to share the love. The two of us would like to extend a huge thank you to all guest writers, to everyone who's helped transcribe a show, especially Amy for leading the effort, and to every person who pledged a donation this year. Much appreciation goes out to anyone who took time to pick up the phone, send an email, or leave a comment, especially if you did so for the first time.

Thank you to the participants of Sidepodradio, to those who tuned in and anyone who gave so much to charity that day. A special note of gratitude to Steven Roy for volunteering anyone and everyone who dared show an interest and to RG for the initial inspiration. A huge Sidepodthanks goes to the bestest host of the parade lap, Alex (Giggles) Andronov, without whom there would have been no pre-race shows this year, and to Katherine and Hyde Park for opening their doors to us.

Major kudos to Lisa McCormick and to Rob Smedley for both being especially lovely. The same goes to the 5Live team for providing such fabulous coverage that saved the season. To Danny from Fantasy Racers, and to anyone who's plugged, promoted or shared the Sidepodcast word, we also say cheers.

I would like to extend a personal thank you to everybody who offered their support back in the summer of discontent and encouraged us to continue, we quite literally would not be here today without you. A hat tip must also go towards Racecar Engineering and F1 Racing for featuring our McLaren photographs and to Stuart C for providing an education in journalism at no charge.

A special mention goes out to Joe Saward, a man who has given so much to Formula 1 for so many years and who this year, extended a generous hand in our direction.

Finally I give a huge hug to Ms Christine Blachford, for producing what are by far the best F1 podcasts on the internet and also for putting up with her co-host for another year.

Lord knows I hope we haven't missed anyone from that list, but just in case, Sidepodcast raises a virtual glass to everyone - may Formula 1 be good to you in 2010.

Live: The Parade Lap Extravaganza

It's here, the end of the season, and the last Parade Lap of the year. Having taken a break for the last few race weekends, the Parade Lap is back to send off the F1 season in style. Two hours of discussion, predictions, games and music, will lead you in to the BBC coverage and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

We'll be live at 10:10am GMT with host Alex as he guides us through the topics of the day. We'll see you there.

Daily: 1st November 2009

It's a brand new month, and we are looking at a brand new circuit for the final race of the year. Abu Dhabi has looked stunning but so far the action has left quite a lot to be desired. Meanwhile, there is plenty to talk about as the season draws to a close:

• Yesterday, Mr C finally got round to writing his post about the recent site updates, which he was supposed to do when he released them mid-week. Still, it's worth having a quick read if you want to know what we're trying to achieve and why it has taken us so long to get round to it. Don't forget to leave your thoughts and feedback at any time, we are always open to ideas.
• Campos META confirmed the speculation that they have signed up Bruno Senna for 2010. They seem very impressed with the young driver, who has risen through the motorsport ranks very quickly. I haven't watched him in any lower formulae but have heard concerns that he may not be ready. What do you guys think? There's a breakout thread waiting for your comments.
• Another thread we opened up yesterday was to discuss the lighting situation in Abu Dhabi. It seems to work very well, but it is so vastly different to Singapore that it has made me pause for thought. In one of my digest shows, I also picked up that Heidfeld did say it was brighter in Singapore, but that here it hasn't been a problem so far.

That'll do it for now. Don't forget that there is an extra special super duper two hour Parade Lap season finale extravaganza starting at 10am Sidepodtime today. In fact, here's a trailer for it, as created by host Alex:

We'll be waiting for you and I will see you in the comments.

Daily: 14th September 2009

With the race weekend out the way, we are now starting to realise that Sidepodradio is only week away. Argh! In the true spirit of Sidepodcast, we will bury our heads in the sand, and reminisce about the weekend that was:

• Barrichello took his second win of the year, then. You can hear about the brief details in yesterday's F1 Minute, catch up with the live show replay, or wait for F1 Digest later today. We spoil you with options, we really do!
• Whilst we're on a plugging trip, you really must check out the Parade Lap if you weren't able to join us live. Alex made a special effort as it is the last one for a while, and there's an added bonus of church bells and a special surprise right at the end.
• Yesterday, Scott wrote a post about Fisichella's move to Ferrari - and whether it really was a dream or turning into a bit of a nightmare. Some interesting thoughts in there, why not add your own?

That'll do it for now. I'll be spending my Monday evening editing several shows, what will you be doing? Let us know, and I'll see you in the comments.

Live: Jump In My Car

We've reached the final European race of the season, which means it's potentially the last Parade Lap of the year, barring one or two specials depending on how the championship pans out. That being the case, our host Alex has upped the ante and taken the Parade Lap into the garage.

If you are in the live comments, you'll see his live stream in the Factbyte Factbox, whilst ours is displayed below.

We'll be underway at about 11:10am UK Time, and we need your race predictions, your Giggles'll Fix It requests, and of course, let us know what you're eating during the GP.

In addition, last race we assigned commenters with drivers they had to support for the next couple of hours, and it was great fun, so we're doing it again. The first twenty commenters will find themselves with a driver to support. Good luck!

Live: We've Got a Hill to Climb

I'm not sure there's any way we can follow the awesome qualifying yesterday, or really precede the potential race we have today. But that is what we are going to aim to do! The Parade Lap is here to brighten up your morning, and while away an hour until the race coverage begins.

We want your predictions, thoughts on the upcoming race, plus we'll indulge in other fun and games as per usual. We get going at 11:10 UK time, so I hope you can join us.

Daily: 30th August 2009

No one could have predicted the qualifying order from yesterday, and I wouldn't ask you to have a guess at what's going to happen in the race today. It was great fun though, and am expecting more of the same. Here are some of the things we're talking about:

• Fisichella and his pole position makes us even more sure that qualifying is better than the race itself, so much so that we decided to hold a poll about it. We prefer Saturday to Sunday but what do you think?
• Continuing on the same theme, it's worth noting that our results posts for qualifying now have added graph goodness. It's really just there to help me make notes for the Digest, but it adds a bit of colour to the post as well. As Maverick points out in the comments, he has better graphs over on Pitlane Fanatic.
• Don't forget, if you've got an hour to spare before the race this morning, head back here to tune in to the Parade Lap. Host Alex will guide us through fun and games, as he lives out his radio DJ dreams. He's written about that here, so please tune in to support him.

That'll do it for now, it's going to be a busy day today, but stay tuned to Sidepodcast throughout as we try and figure out what on earth is going on in Belgium. I will see you in the comments.

Live: The Final Countdown

The worst thing about the summer break is not the lack of racing, or the lack of news and driver interviews, is it? There has been something much more important missing from your lives - the Parade Lap! Well, now it's back in all it's mad-cap, crazy segmented glory.

We'll lead you into race day with some music and laughter, and only vaguely touch upon the subject of Formula 1. Only at Sidepodcast could we get away with being the opening act for the BBC.

We'll be going live at 11:10 BST, so make sure you're in the live comments, as you'll likely get a mention on the show. See you there!

P.S - Title blatantly stolen from Gavin - check out his awesome blog here.

Daily: 27th July 2009

We're headlong into another week now, and facing several of them without races. For us here at Sidepodcast Towers, this is good as we can get round to all those things "on the list" that have been put off for breaking F1 news. However, we will endeavour to keep you entertained during the summer break. Let's start right now:

• The replay of the live show is up and ready if you want to catch the Debrief in its unedited glory. The podcast version should be done by tonight. Apologies it was not ready on Sunday, but I was, as Rob would say, cream-crackered.
• At the end of the live stream, we talked for a little about Sidepodradio. Don't forget to leave your voicemails for smooth transitions, sign up for a show, leave comments and questions for existing shows, and suggest a charity for our donations. It's all happening on the wiki.
• Finally, it's also worth checking out the replay of the Parade Lap, if you weren't there to listen live. Our host Alex talked us through predictions, food, blame steven, and even an homage to a certain news network. Definitely worth a look, and maybe even a second look.

That should keep you busy for now. We'll be around if anyone has any questions about Sidepodradio, and I feel another blog post coming soon. I'll see you in the comments.

Live: Hungary for Some Racing

It's been a crazy weekend so far, and if you're hoping for someone to make sense of it all, you've come to the wrong place. The Parade Lap is your one-stop way into the BBC coverage, who will then try and guide you through the racing action. We're here for the laughs.

We'll be going live at 11:10 BST, so make sure you're in the live comments, as you'll likely get a mention on the show. See you there!