September 2012 recap - Back to racing and behind the scenes - A look at how Sidepodcast's audio and visual content is created

Published 2 October 2012 by Christine

After a cool and calm August, the Formula One season ramped up the action again for the Belgian Grand Prix, and heads into a crammed final couple of months. For Sidepodcast, we're really starting to make progress on the site and things are starting to fall into place. Unfortunately, the audio side of things is suffering - as both of us had colds towards the end of the month - but we will try again in October!

Formula One in September

Back to back racing kicked off the second half of the season, with the ever popular event at Spa, and the historic atmosphere in Monza to end the European leg of the season. Then we had the night race in Singapore, which was sparkly and colourful, and led off the final flyaway leg of the 2012 F1 year.

Date	Race
2 Sep	Belgium Grand Prix
9 Sep	Italy Grand Prix
23 Sep	Singapore Grand Prix

Sidepodcast in September

There have been no major site developments in September, partly due to the racing fun and games, partly due to the aforementioned sickness, and partly because there were some tweaks and enhancements to be made to keep up with the iOS6 announcement and release. Where September has been all about upgrading and structural stuff, I can confirm that Mr C has his code-head back on again. Who knows what might be to come?

Where we had little to share from behind the scenes, our fabulous guest writers/artists came up with the goods instead. Stuart Taylor has been sharing his F1 cartoons for a few months now, brightening up the post-race blues with some humour in art. This time, he also provided a fantastic video to show how the cartoons come together, from conception, through first drafts, through digitisation. Personally, I love to see how this stuff works, particularly as I can't draw for toffee. Do have a look, if you haven't already.

On the audio side of things, there was a lengthy delay on the F1Minute roundup of the Singapore action, and whilst I was sidelined with germs, Will put his thinking cap on. Rather than waiting for the nasal tones to disappear so I could get on and record, he devised a solution of cutting and stitching previous F1Minute episodes together to end up with the same result. It makes for a great, if stilted, listen and must have been a huge lot of work for Will. Take 60 seconds out to have a listen, or 120 if you want to compare mashup and original.

Finally, the entire F1 world was saddened by the death of Sid Watkins, a much-loved member of the paddock and someone who will never be forgotten. We had an incredible feature post from Steven Roy to recap the Prof's achievements and why he was so popular, whilst Stuart provided some simple but effective artwork to pay tribute to Watkins.

Shows in September

Whilst our efforts were somewhat thwarted, this month saw the heralded return of Joe Saward - well rested, full of news, and plenty of updates about the return of Formula One after the summer break.

Posts in September

It was another bumper month for guest posts, as well as some home grown gems as well. We had some travel stories - from cycling for miles, to catching the bus to Spa - as well as some thoughts on how F1 is portrayed, via the BBC and in the children's toy market. All that and much more, with plenty to keep you occupied until the next race begins.