Sidepodcast

Your Thoughts on This Year's Circuits

With an extra couple of races on the calendar this year, Mr C and I are rethinking the way we watch and discuss Formula 1. Free Practice has to take a back seat as there are only so many hours in the day, and we don't intend to free up all 19 Fridays through the year.

Less Conversation, More Action

A lack of Friday information means F1 Digest has to change, but hopefully it will be for the better. The first noticeable difference will be the reduction in show numbers. For the past two years, there have been four "digest" shows during a race weekend, but in 2010 we'll release only three. Free practice information will be bundled into a better qualifying show on Saturday.

The running order for F1 Digest will now look as follows:

• Thursday - Race preview in audio
• Saturday - Free practice and qualifying round-up
• Sunday - Race round-up

If you need more detail, all of this information can be found in our brand new 2010 F1 Calendar. Please subscribe to keep up-to-date.

Living for the Weekend

The weekend preview show will remain, but there is one addition to the show that I want to introduce, and that's your cue to get involved. As an introduction to the race, I want to get your thoughts on the circuits. Whether you love or hate them, favourite sections, thoughts on the atmosphere, and any other notes you'd like to make. If you've ever been to a race, first hand information is also a bonus.

I'm looking for opinions via text here, no need to pick up the phone for this one. The emphasis should be on concise thoughts, short sentences and catchy snippets, but I want to hear what you think about every circuit on the calendar (although Korea might pose a challenge).

I will read them out, mix them up and make the preview podcasts a great start to the weekend. I've set up a wiki page for the purposes - multiple entries per circuit are actively encouraged! There are a few examples on there already, so it just takes a moment of thought to add your own. You can also leave them in the comments here, or fill in the contact form below.

After submitting your ideas, all you need do is stay tuned and listen out in the first show of the year - the Bahrain Preview!

If you have any other opinions about F1 Digest, things you would like to see included, or anything that would make the coverage better for you, please let us know in the comments.

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.

Would You Like More Races a Season?

It seems as though a hot topic at the moment is about the calendar and whether it should be expanded or not in the interests of the sport. Here, Jeremy takes up the idea, and offers us a poll on the subject.

There has always been discussion on whether we should have more races in each F1 season, and I am firmly in the 'yes' camp.

I am lucky in that I have been able to schedule my working week to run from Tuesday to Saturday, and I think that a race every second weekend would be brilliant. Can you imagine 22 races a year, with the season running from early February to late November? They wouldn't have to be a week apart though - we could have some races back to back (where it makes sense to do so) and thus have a break mid season (boo!).

Now, here's the kick. The cars are developed at a tremendous rate. Everybody says that there aren't that many good tracks. So re-visit the same tracks later in the season! We then only need 11 great tracks, and we get to see exactly how much faster the cars are later in the season, instead of guessing.

I know that this idea won't go down well with everyone. Especially those who work incredibly hard in their spare time to produce a blog and podcasts about F1. But what do you think?

What are the pros and cons of this idea for the teams, the fans, the money makers? What about the environment? Who else would this affect?

More importantly though, which tracks would we use? How would new tracks get a look in? Surely some tracks wouldn't want two races in a season unless it becomes hugely profitable? How do we make the sport sustainable if this idea were to come about?

Sidepodradio - The Aftermath

We did it!

The entire Sidepodcommunity rallied round, and we managed to broadcast 12 hours of live sometimes F1-related content - give or take a server outage here and there. It was an awesome day, if a little tiring, and we're all still on a bit of a high after such excellent shows.

There was everything from quick fire quiz questions, to the vastness of outer space, to Sidepodbaking and much, much more. Now, it is over, but there are still plenty of ways to get involved.

The Charity

Most important of all, of course, is the charity donations we have received. The current total is running close to £600 which is an amazing effort from all involved. Minus our production costs, we will have a great amount to donate to the chosen charity. There is still time to donate though, as we'll keep adding amounts until midnight on Friday.

All you have to do is click the button on the right hand side of the homepage. There were a few problems over the weekend, so if all else fails, simply send your Paypal donations to christine at sidepodcast dot com.

On Friday, as the deadline draws near, we'll put up a poll to choose the charity who'll benefit from the Sidepodradio proceeds. There are suggestions on the wiki, feel free to add more, as long as it is motorsport related.

Thank you to everyone who has or is going to donate. We are amazed at your generosity.

The Content

An unexpected twist in the Sidepodradio story is the sterling work done by SLVAaron yesterday. Throughout the broadcast, he captured audio of each hour and uploaded it to the drop. There are links to each hour (although some are less than an hour, oops!) on the wiki, if you want a quick way of catching up. Video replays will be up as soon as we can do so.

We'll also be releasing some of the content that we couldn't fit in yesterday, including Jon's Feeder Series show and the Interview with Bloggers submissions. Those will be standalone shows, probably released through the week.

We have decided that the Sidepodradio content is so good that it deserves to be in the main feed as a podcast. We want to do it justice though, and clean up any of our mistakes, server issues, and general problems. With editing time, the desire to release it all in the right order, and the fact that we have back to back races coming up, it may be a few weeks before this happens.

However, you'll have forgotten all about it by then, so when the shows pop up in your feed, you can relive yesterday's glory all over again.

We will also, no doubt, be producing some best of shows and similar after the season ends.

The Future

Mr C let slip on a few things yesterday, the most important being that we have signed up for another year of podcasting - regardless of who gets voted as FIA President in October.

That being the case, there is already talk of Sidepodradio II: The Revenge, and all I can say is - it had better be in the off season!

Once again, thanks go out to everyone who was involved, in even the slightest way. Show hosts, contributors, those who voicemailed, donated, commented, came up with ideas, and those who wanted to submit to the day but were unable. We couldn't have done it without you.

Races to Remember - Series 1 Omnibus

• Length: 26:15 
• Size: 24.1 MB 
• File: racesomnibus1.mp3 
• Transcript: racesomnibus1.pdf 
• Torrent: racesomnibus1.torrent 

Welcome to the omnibus of the Sidepodcast mini series Races to Remember. These seven shows were originally released over consecutive evenings, but are gathered together now for easy listening.

Here are the links to the individual show notes:

1. Brazil 2003
2. Belgium 1998
3. Italy 1967
4. France 1979
5. Europe 1993
6. San Marino 2005
7. Britain 1950

If you've got any suggestions for any other races that should be covered in future episodes of this series, then please feel free to leave them on the wiki. You can also suggest topics for other series, or perhaps come up with an idea for a brand new mini series, if you feel like it. Otherwise, comments and feedback are always appreciated.

2008 in Live Commenting (Part 2)

Continuing on from the first part of our look back through live commenting, we review the second half of 2008 through the eyes of those who watched. We're grateful to everyone who left a comment throughout the year, but I've hand picked out a few that are so much more significant with the benefit of hindsight.

Canada

A lot of the Canadian weekend was dominated with talk of Hamilton's pit lane incident, and the BMW win. But there was one very important thing that shouldn't be forgotten.

If they don’t improve the track situation, it might give Bernie an excuse to replace the race with one in Saudi Arabia. Dom

What have we said about giving the short one ideas?

France

A snippet from France:

We managed decades without a single penalty now there is one for about every twenty minutes of racing. I wonder whether the stewards decision was assisted by Max’s boy Donnelly. Steven Roy

If only we'd known that the worst was still to come.

Britain

We were on the spot reporters during the British GP and could only be in the comments for a few minutes throughout the race. However, Scott was encouraging everyone for us:

i say that because it’s silverstone and the British GP, we do everything we can to get 1000 comments. agreed? Scott Woodwiss

Remember when getting 1,000 comments was the big goal?

Meanwhile, answering a question about who was going to have the first off track moment, Poppy put her money on a safe bet.

My money’s on Massa. Poppy

Belgium

Belgium's race was amazing for all the wrong reasons, but halfway through, we were so naive:

YEEEEEEEEEY RAIN!!!!! 20 MINUTES!!! Jon Waldock

Italy

Vettel's win was the tonic that we all needed after the naivety wore off:

Well I’m glad I didn’t boycott the rest of the season now. Andy Taylor

Singapore

With hindsight, quite a lot of the blame for Massa's unsuccessful championship campaign can be laid at his team's door. He's not the only one suffering though.

Look at Ferrari- not surprised Kimi needs to drink….ALOT. Superhot

Japan

Roll on Japan, and we thought we'd had enough duff penalties to last us a lifetime. Unfortunately, there was still another one.

Presumably Bordy can’t hold Massa up for too long. Christine

Turns out Bordy didn't hold him up, and got penalised for it anyway.

Brazil

Hamilton won the championship in the epic final race, but it wasn't a good day for all involved.

None of the guys in the press conference look happy. Steven Roy

To which Journeyer replied:

Yup. Indeed. Surprised the FIA hasn’t said anything yet. Journeyer

And of course, it's only right to finish on a happy note:

Best championship decider ever. Alex Andronov

As ever, we're bound to have missed some. With so many wonderful contributions it's impossible not to, but please do let us know if there are any specific moments from the comments you remember. Anything you predicted that turned out to be true, or anything you regret come the end of the year?

Here's to as much fun in the live comments in 2009.

2008 in Live Commenting (Part 1)

Our ongoing end of year series takes a look back at the inaugural year of Live Commenting on Sidepodcast. It's been an incredible season in the comments, and we appreciated every single person who took the time to hit submit. Here, I've picked out some of the classic comments that we can read more into with the benefit of hindsight.

Australia

As we like to point out quite often, Massa started the season really badly.

Massa stacked it for no reason. Just can’t handle the pressure. Michael Roberts

Yes, he did. Considering how much pressure he was under by the end of the season, it's amazing that it's the same person. Having said that, though, Ferrari weren't exactly making it easy on themselves.

ferrari struggling to pass an aguri, bring on the ‘09 aero regs. me

Would you like to reconsider?

Malaysia

Mr C again, and this time he's writing off some of the early race results:

martin [brundle] thinks hamilton needs the points… wtf? he’s still leading the championship. me

I think he is right. The championship could be decided on who picks up the most points when they don’t have the best car. Steven Roy

As Steven rightly pointed out, championships often come down to one point here, one point there. This year was one of those.

Bahrain

On to the third race of the season, and Alex reminded us that we were in for a calm season, with little in the way of politics.

Ron basically said they won’t play politics this year - so no appeal. Alex Andronov

There may not have been an appeal in Bahrain, but by the time Belgium had finished, McLaren found themselves back in Paris again. Let's hope next year is more peaceful.

Those BMW’s are going to win soon. Kubica only 1.6secs behind Kimi. Michael Roberts

Spain

After watching a few too many crashes by Coulthard, we were all starting to wonder if his time had come.

Radio 5 just said that DC is moans that his car is understeering, glad all that testing at this track was worth it then.

Although is ‘understeering’ just code for ‘I’m getting to old for this’?
StevenintheUK

Just a few short races later, and the man announced his retirement.

Turkey

There's a rumour circulating the Sidepodcommunity that I tend to get crushes on a lot of people. During the Turkish race, Mr C was trying to pinpoint another potential candidate. I was quick to quash it.

No. He’s making that up. I like him, because everyone else in Ferrari is all Italian or whatever, and then there’s Rob with his Manchester accent. It makes me smile. But no, not a crush. Christine

Of course it turned out to be one of those "she doth protest too much" things.

In Formula 1 related comments, Lou came up with this next one. Perhaps it was the positive thinking that turned everything around.

Renault really are best of the rest aren’t they?! thats what i like to see! Teams improving! lou

Monaco

The most remembered bit of Monaco is probably the Sutil/Raikkonen incident. Although a shocking moment, apparently for one person it was entirely predictable.

Raikkonen should get Sutil at the tunnel exit. Steven Roy

Seconds later...

That’s not what I meant by get him. Steven Roy

In my mind now, there was a more unfortunate thing that happened in Monaco, which Scott picked up on:

Are we going to be seeing lots of close-ups of Nicole Scherzinger for the rest of the season? Scott

Yes. Yes we are.

That wraps up the first part of our look back through the live commenting of 2008. Don't forget to check out Part 2 for more quoting goodness.

History of F1 - Series Omnibus

• Length: 26:48 
• Size: 24.6 MB 
• File: historyomnibus.mp3 
• Transcript: historyomnibus.pdf 
• Torrent: historyomnibus.torrent 

This is Sidepodcast’s mini series – History of F1. The following seven shows were originally released over seven consecutive days, covering the history of the sport from the 1900s all the way up to the present day. This omnibus now gathers all the shows up together in one, for easy listening. Enjoy.

Here are the links to the individual show notes:

1. 1900s to 1940s
2. 1950s
3. 1960s
4. 1970s
5. 1980s
6. 1990s
7. 2000 and Beyond

For now, History of F1 is just a single series show, but I suppose in 70 years time, I can get to making Series 2.