I'm pleased to announce that Radio Fine Print should be on air again in August to give full coverage of the only 24hr motor race in the UK in '09.
Subject only to Gordon and Alistair not pushing the economy into total meltdown between now and August, Fine Print, with probable support from our 2008 co-sponsors, will set up the RSL as they have done in the past two years. Commentators will be as last year, Alan Hyde, Matt James and Lewis Beales, with expert input and support from club stalwart Ainslie Bousefield.
If you listened to it last year, then we hope you enjoyed it. If you have any ideas for improving coverage then post it here or contact me direct. If you are involved with promoting a product or service and would like to be a part sponsor of the station for just £250, please give me a call on 07973 303982
Brilliant! Loved the commentary last year, amusing and informative. Just wish I remembered my radio, as during the night I could only listen to it in the car when I was driving around the circuit!
Great news Martin!
In the true spirit of 2CV racing, we have a newbie joining the commentating team. He's Jon Waldock, and he's 18 and currently in his final A-Level year.
He has always had an interest in motorsport journalism and in particular
pit lane commentary.
Head motor mouth Alan Hyde has welcomed him to the team and it does mean that with Ainslie doing his bit, there are enough people so that the commentary should be continuous.
I'm also delighted that all the '08 sponsors of Radio Fine Print have come on board again for '09. If any of the new 2CV racers who've taken to the circuits this year have any good business connections who want to be associated with the only 24hr motor race in the UK this year, there is still room for one or two more sponsors at £250 each.
We think that we are establishing a yet another first for the Classic 2CV Racing Club. Not only is the club running the only 24hr motor race in the UK in 2009, but we think it it will be the first race in the UK to have a world wide webcast of the broadcast commentary.
It's all coming together late in the the day, but it looks very likely that the Radio Fine Print local broadcast commentary (on 87.7fm - don't forget to bring a radio to the circuit), will also be broadcast live on the web.
The funding for the package has been made available by Professional Motor Sport World Expo (www.professionalmotorsport-expo.com) Fine Print (www.lionpic.co.uk), Classic 2CV Racing Club, Crusader Vans and fellow racer Nick Roads. Local support will come from Snetterton Circuit / MSV.
There are a lot of technical details still to sort in a very short time. The webcast technology is being supplied by the Radio Show Ltd, led by John Hindhaugh (he of the Sunderland accent and known to anyone who's been to Le Mans in the past 10 or more years) They are most famous for Radio Le Mans: www.radiolemans.com
The technical stuff will be assisted by our esteemed webmaster Chris Yates (and he's learning about that for the first time as he reads this!)
The commentary team will be as previously announced, so their words will be broadcast far and wide.
It will all rely on a long connection via ADSL from the commentary box in rural Norfolk to the Radio Show Ltd computers in London which will digitalise the broadcast signal. If a wire comes loose, it could all fall apart, so keep your fingers crossed.
The webcast will be broadcast on either www.radiolemans.com or on www.2cvracing.org.uk, or possibly both. We'll post the info here soonest.
Martin, that sounds like a really great idea. It might pay to issue a press release to this effect to generate even more interest.
Mary:
It certainly would. Could you draft something? Do you have a possible email circulation list?
I should be able to get Edd Straw to get it a small mention in Autosport, but wider coverage would be super.
Martin
Martin, I will email you a suggested press release.
For the circulation list we can simply visit the web sites of motoring journals and any other press and media who might be interested and send it to them.
I have posted separately under "Publicity" the fact that I have managed to get Bob Bull of BBC Three Counties Radio interested and he is going to circulate his piece (an interview with one of our drivers from Hertfordshire) to his counterparts in other areas. What we need is some local interest drivers who are prepared to be interviewed. It would be helpful if they could contact me or you to pursue this as long as that Aubrey is happy with it.
QuoteThe technical stuff will be assisted by our esteemed webmaster Chris Yates (and he's learning about that for the first time as he reads this!)
Fantastic news Martin! I very much look forward to assisting in any way I can. Although I have no idea how to set that sort of thing up, I'm sure The Radio Show ltd will have considerable expertise in that area :)
Once the press release is final, I'll get it put up on the front page of the main site too.
OK:
It's now confirmed that the webcast will be broadcast on the club website, www.2cvracing.org.uk
There will be plenty of cross links to www.radiolemans.com who will be broadcasting the ALMS race from Mid-Ohio the same weekend.
So, to maximise the number of people who might listen in, we ask every club member to start now to circulate the news about the webcast to everyone on their emailing lists at work and at home.
To make it work, Chris, I will be taking you up on your offer and am emailing you seperately.
Excellent news and well done with the endeavour.
I'm always interested to know how the race is going and found it frustrating in the past to have to wait for days for the reports to come out.
I for one will be logging onto the webcast regularly over the weekend.
Any news about Mondello chances nowadays??
Which commentator was the Alan Partridge-a-like last year?
I hope he's back again!
That's Alan Hyde, who also does BTCC circuit commentary. Bit of a legend, and is aware of his Alan Partridge similarities :D
Quote from: Steve Panas on July 23, 2009, 09:08:07
Any news about Mondello chances nowadays??
I assume you're asking about a possible 24 hour return rather than a regular race meeting, since as far as I know the costs quoted for an attempt to come over for a regular weekend this year were too high.
I've been out of the loop there for a while but will put out some feelers.
The usual two issues will apply I'm sure - cost and noise.
Given the commentary booth will be "online" might it be possible to send message inwards via email?
Also, will there be current standings available in real time?
(Simple sounding requests I know, but they may be more difficult than they sound to put inplace).
Cheers Derek. It might not have to be a full 24 hour race.
Quote from: Chris Yates on July 23, 2009, 13:57:17
That's Alan Hyde, who also does BTCC circuit commentary. Bit of a legend, and is aware of his Alan Partridge similarities :D
A-ha! Sorry! lol I think he read out a lot of texts last year during the race that referred to the similarities (hopefully that also answers Derek's question)!
Seriously though, the commentary last year was great. Informative, entertaining, fun. It adds a lot to the event.
Derek: Good to hear from you again.
Chris Yates is doing a quite outstanding job sorting out the links from the commentary box to the web, and we've had excellent co-operation from Jamie Hopper at Snet.
And, yes, Chris is hoping to set up an inbound email screen in the commentary box, so listeners to the webcast can send in ideas and feedback. We'll post the email address here if we know it before the event, otherwise listen out on the webcast.
Displaying the live timing sounds like a great idea, but I've absolutely no idea how we might make that available. Chris - do you know? Does else anyone reading this? I rather suspect that we'll put it on the wish list for the 2010 race as time is now very short.
For the live timing; isn't there an hourly printout? So MST (or whoever's doing it) could make that available. As for the constantly-updating in-the-garage thing, I don't know how you'd do that (supply it to a website?).
Speak very nicely to the TSL time keepers either befor ethe event or at Snetterton on Friday evening
£17000 for a 2hr race if my memory is correct.
I think I will attempt to speak to someone at TSL. I know they can do hourly bulletins that are printed off, and they used to do 'live' updates of results to the website when they were MST. Perhaps we can come to some arrangement this year, even if it's just getting the results to me in computer form which can then be displayed on our website. If it comes to the latter though, updates may be sporadic, as I hope I'll be driving the car some of the time! :)
What I meant was to get them to upload the bulletins onto their website during the race so that they are accessible
Chris: They do upload ptactice times and raceresults, but only as PDF's whereas in the past they seemed to be sort of live. However, if they can do PDF's hourly and you post a link on our site, that would go a long way to offering people the info they need to follow the race. MH
Take a look at: http://www.citroencarclub.org.uk/PostNuke/ We've today told them about the webcast, and hopefully they'll add that info to their site.
This is a very small but valuable piece of progress as the Citroen Car Club is currently the only Citroen club recognised and supported by Citroen UK. They sent a mobile display unit to La Vie En Bleu at Prescott which was manned by CCC people who organised a very good display of Citroen heritage cars and vans. We have tried to make contact with the recently appointed MD of Citroen UK, Gary Savage, but no response as yet.
Does anyone know whether 2CVGB have been advised of the webcast?
Just to confirm:
The webcast of the broadcast commentary will be at: www.2cvracing.org.uk. It should start around 5pm, with the race scheduled to start at 5.30pm.
Listeners can email the commentary team at:
[email protected]There is also a Twitter link, under 2CV Racing.
The main 2CVracing.org.uk website has been updated with a new page:
http://www.2cvracing.org.uk/24hrlive
This will hold all the important links for the commentary feed, and how to get in touch with the commentary team on the day.
There may also be another surprise coming on that page, but I won't say anything yet until it's official :)
I should really finish the above post shouldn't I?
If you've been to the http://www.2cvracing.org.uk/24hrlive page already, you may have noticed the surprise! If not, why haven't you?
Yes, this year we'll have the commentary streamed from the circuit - live text updates via Twitter, and also LIVE video feed from the circuit! We should have at least one camera on board Tony Robinson's car (run by Tete Rouge team), and a controllable camera in the pitlane somewhere. This will give the commentators something to play with the ability to show you the action from the pitlane! We might also have a static camera feed from the pits, and perhaps the timing screen plumbed in as well. More information when we set it all up, hopefully on Friday.
In fact, with that much information coming to your screens at home, why bother going to the racetrack? For the atmosphere of course! Don't miss the real taste of 24hr racing if you can physically get to the track this year.
looks and sound good - a small suggestion should/could we make the home page default to the 24 hour page for the next 5 days or have a very clear link right at top of home page to the 24 hour live page
big thanks from the marshals for the excelent Radio Fine Print coverage over the 24hrs including the "fog break".
During the fog it was good to know others were out there and it did help to keep our spirits up during the lack of visability.
Please make this a regular thing as during the night on marshals posts it is realy good to have the information that you guys have, also through the day when the PA system is on, at riches and sear marshals posts there is no commentary at all so your radio service is even more appreciated.
The team of commentators were a great bunch who seam to gell together very well and there was a very natural feel to the banter all through the race.
Great work guys, allready looking forward to next year.
Radio during the fog break...a bit like Test Match Special when it's raining but with fewer buses and pigeons.
but playing bob the builder at 5am? Ive been singing it ever since.... ::) :-X
Quote from: helen deeley on August 11, 2009, 13:38:27
but playing bob the builder at 5am? Ive been singing it ever since.... ::) :-X
yeah i do appologise for playing that, lack of sleep does that.... ::)
I must say on this subject, from all the things I've been hearing and reading, that the radio coverage is now essential to the 24hr - and I use that word to its fullest meaning.
How else would the marshals on far-flung posts find out what was happening in the race? And keep up their spirits in the dark hours? How else would anyone know what on Earth had been happening overnight when the PA at the circuit goes down?
So it's my belief that Radio Fine Print MUST continue. This man has made it all possible, so let's give him as much support as we can, and perhaps next year we'll be seeing scenes like this again! :)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2517/3814851883_a00ba716b9.jpg)
He's probably too polite chris ,so on martin's behalf:You barsteward
It was really great having the on line coverage of the race commentary and results and the web cam was a brilliant idea. One of our team who was unable to get to Snetterton because of an injury to his foot remained at home and when we got back he knew more about what had happened than we did.
Many congratulations to Martin and Chris and everyone else involved in it.
We emailed all of our friends and told them they could follow the race and I know that a lot of them kept in touch with the event all over the UK and further afield.
Martin, were you selling your little radios this year? If so that needs publicising a bit more as several of us would have bought one to use.
Finally, many congratulations Martin on a great result for Team Fine Print. We look forward to seeing you next year.
Excellent coverage, well done to all involved.
The in-car camera was brilliant and being able to listen to commentary at the same time as watch the timimg screens was pretty cool.
Two small, small suggestions for even better coverage next year (and I appreciate a huge amount was done in a very short space of time this year):
- more web cams please, and perhaps the choice for the visitor to pick which camera they watch
- coming in some way through the race it was hard to know what had happened to that point. A couple of times the commentators looked back over their notes as they were discussing a team or incident and told us what had happened earlier. If those notes could be made on a PC and available via the web (perhaps the twitter feed) that would be a big help, not only to occasional visitors over the weekend but also those looking to do a race report afterwards.
Thanks for letting those of us far away be able to check in in real time, it was a 1st class service.
All:
Thanks for all the nice comments. The delightful Maria poked her lens in just everywhere! And if we don't get a bit emotional now and then, why bother with life? Actually, it may just have been relief that I wouldn't have to be arguing with the scrutineer for another year. He never did explain why he thought our comedy diffuser was illegal.
One of the spin-offs of the webcast was that one Paul Leason (newbies - he's something of a club legend) was listening in the USofA. And he's already working out how to wangle a trip over here next year to take his seat again in our car. We enjoy working with all our drivers, but Paul is the only one who's ever won in our car (at Anglesey in August 2003) and he holds a special place in the affections of the team. If he comes over, expect us to be raring to go.
As for Radio Fine Print, we'll make it happen again in '10. Problem now is that with the videocast the bar has been raised substantially. Yes, Derek (fancy a drive next year?), we plan to arrange many more cameras, workign with DriveData, but whereas we scrounged a lot of stuff and facilities this year, more money will be needed. Indeed, quite a lot more. An obvious possible source for some of that is Citroen Ltd, which is why I'm delighted to see their activity on the retro scene and to have gained a couple of names to contact. If anyone else has business connections that might see some benefit in being associated with the world-wide Radio Fine Print, then please get in touch.
We'll also need to recruit some extra techie volunteers to train to help with the video operation, including being a sort of 'Programme Director'. If anyone reading this knows about that kind of thing or is interested in helping / learning about that, let me know. Now I watch the touring cars and F1 coverage and think - just how much does that all cost?
Oh - and reply to Mary:
I had 87 ear radios left from the original stock and I think 83 of them got taken up as freebies by the marshals, as happens most years. I can get some more for next year.
Woud you believe that we forgot to bring a 'proper' radio into our own garage?
With the web video coverage, I guess I'll have to ask Chris Y whther we can set up some kind of local wireless network so we can all connect our laptops to the web while in the garages.
Incidentally, Chris did absolutely amazing work on the audio and video cast - I may be someone who has ideas and pushes them along, but he just grabbed the webcast idea and built it up and made it all work. Thanks, Chris, for all that great work. He had great support from Mike Rump the audio guy and John Chambers of DriveData, so thanks to both of them as well.
Martin, Norry Taylor thought the internet stuff was really good (he phoned me a couple of times to tell me, then again to ask why we were back in the teens somewhere...).
As for the comedy diffuser, I had a thought about this at the time (but after we spoke about it); it alters the silhouette of the car.
Martin,
I came very close to putting a bid in for the badgeroo seat that came up at short notice this year, but in the end it was too short notice for me to get organised. But it certainly got me thining and I'm very interested in discussing a seat next year. I'll be thinking about options (of which bringing a car over unfortunately is not one, so I am definitely looking for a seat) and watching out for driver wanted notices next season.
In terms of the services and programming and technical support, I wonder if some of the digital media colleges and their students might not be interested in such a project? A very nice technical challenge to let them loose on, and perhaps a cost effective way to get the job done?
Derek,
Correct me if i'm wrong but acc. to Blue book The silhouette rule only applies above the center-line of the wheels so i doubt that that would have been the issue??? could it have been ride height? or the catch all '...if it doesn't say you can, you must assume you cannot do it...''
As for the laptops in the garage, to view the webcast stuff, that would contravene the PIT -Car / Car -pit communication rules, as the driver would be able to inform the team back at the garage what the problem was and also shout out fuel gauge readings etc. Tete rouge racing had the opportunity this year to have the video feed in the garage (as it was our car carrying the camera's) however we realized that this could be a contravention of said rules and quickly did a u-turn on this facility.
How this is policed if someone in the campsite feeding it back to the team..........food for thought.
However I did hear that there was over 150 users logged in watching the feeds.
I haven't looked at the blue book yet, just the club's regs. However, there's also..."It shall be the intention, at all times, to preserve a standard external appearance to the cars".
I see the problem with the webcast film; however, communication (if possible) would only be one-way, and would be visible to all watching. I've got some in-car film from some time ago, and you can more-or-less make out the swearing but that's about it due to other noise going on.
Andrew I was one of the 150 users logged in, sitting in the motorhome in the paddock ;D
Actually, I think that "150 users" logged in was just at one point during the commentary. In fact, at one point there was about 220 people watching the video link simultaneously!
Over the course of the weekend, over 1,100 individual people viewed the video streamed from the circuit, and more than 500 people tuned in to the commentary.
For such a last minute effort, I think that's an awesome result!
Regarding the car-to-pit communication (there's nothing provided for the other way 'round) - I really don't think it's an issue - with the engine noise in the car, there's no way of picking up on any voice communication. Ok, you could argue that hand signals could be seen, but they could be seen when you're coming past the pits anyway. And as Derek says, would be visible to all, so would be obvious if someone was abusing the system to their own ends.
B**G*R I will have to remove the radio and speakers from the car now ???
Now there is one for the Tech Committee and I'm sure our scrutineer - in theory you could use a 'Road Legal' 2cv for racing (Spanners ;D) so if it had a radio fitted could you use it during the race as you are not it contact with your team/pit?
Why not just get rid of that rule? Everyone has a mobile phone nowadays and it wouldn't cost much to put a holder in the car and connect it to a headset. Mind you, as someone who ran into the back of another car while trying to see what the time was on my watch..... I suspect I would at least be attempting to watch what I was doing and not pressing buttons on a phone! ;D
Firstly because a mobile phone does not comply with the blue book regulation.
Secondly, you would then see an "arms race" whereby teams get radio communications in place, which would add another £1000 or so to the cost of doing the race.
By banning any form of comunication except hand signals, pit boards etc, the costs are lkept down
If we still did the two driver enduro races thogh, you could in theory use a radio in them!
With the obvious success of the video webcast trial showing real-time pictures from on-board cameras, and the technical and commercial possibility of having more of them in cars in the 2010 24hr, clearly the rule regarding 'electronic communication between car and pit' may have to be carefully reviewed by the committee during the next few months.
<the rule regarding 'electronic communication between car and pit' may have to be carefully reviewed>
I'm not sure if it does; the camera's not communicating with the pit, after all (at least, not first-hand) and the microphone could always be sited away from the driver so that no speech is audible. Most modern cameras have a "line in" facility for both audio and video.
Talking of car - pit communications;
Quote from: Trevor Williams on August 28, 2009, 11:50:07
which would add another £1000 or so to the cost of doing the race.
Just to say that I use communication systems on my bike and the price you are looking at is not £1000. A good bike system from one of the big brands (which can also feature inputs for GPS, phone, radios, MP3, pillion passenger and noise cancellation) will cost substantially less. Even after buying a radio the bill can be less than £200 for a new system. Shop around and buy 2nd hand lowers brands and you could come away with a right bargain! Checking e-bay right now I found a full working set up for £90!
Autocom system, good for bikes to bike etc, not good for racing. PMR 446 radios are open to all to listen to, and the helmet kits aren't uo to the job either. And a crew headset is £400+
That plus the cost of 4 helmet sets, plus at least one pit set, plus two decent radios (motorola gp240 etc) and the relevant licence would take the cost north of £1,000
Best thing for the race is to keep the ban in place, we are after all supposedly cheap motorsport!
Quote from: Trevor Williams on August 30, 2009, 20:13:29
Best thing for the race is to keep the ban in place, we are after all supposedly cheap motorsport!
I quite agree trev,there is no point in the technical and management committees exploring ways of reducing the costs overall if we then allow something that from my experience with the belgian car is expensive(you only have to think belgian car and you've spent a monkey)and not as easy to use as you would hope.I think one year in three it worked something like right.
Although we could try to write something to allow camera coverage from the live feed only to be viewed as this has a delay so would not be of too much help.Maybe.