CRC Motorsport - positives & negatives

[NZSTfan]

Thought i'd start a new thread seeing as the other 'raw deal' thread is now really for V8 supercar coverage via sky.

So the idea behind this thread is to vent any positives or negatives about the 'home of motorsport' program. I am sure that Shaun and Nigel still peruse this forum and they may find some of our views about their program useful.

Ironically its main sponsor is CRC, which in managment terms means 'Commend, Reccomend, Commend' so i thought that was a good place to start. My thoughts below are purely for the ST's, you may want to add some thoughts around other classes that interest you e.g. rally. My reason behind this is so that maybe if some of these ideas get taken on board then the potential 'saleability' of the program would increase for the overseas market.

Positives (Commend):
- Overall good coverage of the ST's and other events
- The camera shooting angles etc seem to be getting better
- The in-car footage is the best we have seen
- the linkage of in-car and out-car action seems to be run very well. So when there is an incident there is normally some footage from cameras inside and outside of the car that all seem to link in nicely.
- I like the in-car chat with Boothy, would it be possible to have a few others hooked up for a chat too? i notice that generally you have 5 cars with in-car, maybe those 5 should also be hooked up for audio.

Negatives (Reccomend):
- The driver photos need to be updated. The one of SVG makes him look like a) he is 12, and b) he is still part of stones. IMO all driver photos should be current, and with the drivers wearing their sponsored racesuits
- I believe that the fastest qually lap should be replayed in full from in-car footage. Its clear you have the technology to do this. I personally would love to see the fastest qually lap (like they used to do in F1) from the in-car shots to see where that particular driver is braking, turning etc etc
- More footwell shots would be nice, especially if you could have one set up for left foot brakers (e.g Murph) and those that drive a more traditional heal and toe technique. The reason for this is that it would give the viewer an appreciation of how commited they have to be under brakes and how they feather the throttle
- An on screen graphic to show basic telemetry such as gear, throttle, brake and speed. I imagine the technology for this is already there
- I would like to see a full race lap in car with one driver, without any commentary (or minimal). They do this in Aus and i really like it. It normally follows the 'lets sit back and enjoy a lap with xxxxx' format
- I notice that Mork is no longer in Pit Lane, could Shane Drake fill this spot? its always exciting to hear first hand whats happening in pit lane. I realise that Mork is now spannering with PSR.
- If its possible it would be nice to see (Nascar style) drivers passing on the on screen ribbon that shows driver placings. Even better would be to include the drivers starting spot and whether or not they have maintained that spot, fallen back or got ahead. A simple arrow system could do this easily.
- In my view all of qually should be screened and it would be nice to see sector splits and a light system (red, yellow, green) that shows driver progress compared to previous laps
- I also believe there should be a 'tech station' (without trying to mimic Larko with his whiteboard!) which focuses on a different part of the car each round. For e.g R1 could focus on the brakes and suspension, R2 could focus on the drivetrain, R3 on safety aspects of the cars, R4 on aero and so on.

Final positives (commend):
- the commentators seem to be getting to grips with who's driving what which is good
- Shaun is an excellent host
- Every race weekend you seem to be talking to the usual suspects in pitlane but also talking to others as well, which is good. Maybe focus on a chat with 2 or 3 different drivers each meeting, plus the usual suspects.

Would be very interested to hear other peoples thoughts on the show, and any ways in which you think it could be done better. And no, before you ask, i dont work for TV3, i just like to see a well put together TV package that you can watch over and over again and not get bored.

Cheers

[socram]

Is it just me, or were the ad breaks longer than usual?

I tend to record and fast forward quite a lot of motorsport and generally am not at all interested in qualifying in any shape or form. With all the F1 qualifying etc., I am not spending that amount of time glued to the TV. Tape the race and then whizz through it, though I do usually enjoy the F1 commentary if I do watch at normal speed.

Top ten shoot outs or anything with only one or two cars on track are a waste of time unless it is a Rally Sprint or a hillclimb.

Apart from the Speedway commentator who gives me the screaming ab-dabs, commentary is generally pretty good.

Having straight talkers such as Shane and Shaun are positives and a "news" section of say 5 mins a week is probably valuable, given that the print media never tells us anything.

It may not appeal to the general public, but ten minutes a week featuring a lesser class of racing/competition would be good for the sport - but someone has to pay for the production...

[Swedish Brick]

To expand on the ten minutes, there's enough racing and interest out there to have an hour long slot full of 10 minute highlight reels of other classes around the world.
Maybe even a separate program in the evening. I recall I think TV1 having a programme on around 10pm that used to show DTM and the UK rally Cross. I miss it rather a lot...

[M Jones]

Ive got to say that Waimate 50 coverage was great. More of those kind of events need to be shown.

Maybe TV3 could have coverage of the BTCC this year as a replacement to the V8SC's?

[smokin'joe]

the quality and variety of content isn't too bad, but:

too many ad breaks with too many ads

every second word /statement/ news tidbit could be about some other facet than Supertouters. THERE ARE OTHER TYPES OF M/SPORT IN NZ ffs, how about a news report from round the traps instead of yet another yawnfest intro for your personal favourite class.

The Dirt, whilst speedway is good to see, there are other racers at western springs other than Team USA and young Pickens. the presenter is far too excitable, either needs to calm down or let the young lass take the reigns ??
i realise bill buckley has probably cut a similar deal as the NZST for grand promotion, maybey, bruce robertson needs to do the same to cover his 2 promotion tracks to get more salloon/stockcar action ?

[Samwhk]

the only thing I would like to see more of is more NZ circuit classes, such as the NZGT, SS2000, CMC etc. Of course, that depends on funding more than anything else, and I'm not sure what contracts, if any, those classes have in place for TV coverage.

[NZSTfan]

Originally Posted by Swedish Brick

To expand on the ten minutes, there's enough racing and interest out there to have an hour long slot full of 10 minute highlight reels of other classes around the world.
Maybe even a separate program in the evening. I recall I think TV1 having a programme on around 10pm that used to show DTM and the UK rally Cross. I miss it rather a lot...

I think thats a great idea brick. Kind of a 'week in motorsport' condensed into 1 hour. That would also give sky TV a run for their money too.

I too would love to see DTM, leMans and BTCC, and maybe M Jones idea floats well too

[Club racer]

Originally Posted by NZSTfan

I think thats a great idea brick. Kind of a 'week in motorsport' condensed into 1 hour. That would also give sky TV a run for their money too.

I too would love to see DTM, leMans and BTCC, and maybe M Jones idea floats well too

Yep, cool idea. Plenty of packaged stuff out there they could run as a weekly special. DTM would be cool, may be Porsche SuperCup and GP2 with the Kiwi interest? And Hartley sportrscar stuff. It all gets filmed and broadcast somwhere.

I'd watch that. A couple of late night re-runs of the weekend show wouldn't go amiss either. Sometimes you can resist the sleep demons when relaxing on a Sunday afternoon after a lardy lunch an a few beers. Much rather watch that than some religious pap.

[ElCoyote]

Originally Posted by Swedish Brick

To expand on the ten minutes, there's enough racing and interest out there to have an hour long slot full of 10 minute highlight reels of other classes around the world.
Maybe even a separate program in the evening. I recall I think TV1 having a programme on around 10pm that used to show DTM and the UK rally Cross. I miss it rather a lot...

How about more Sam McNeil commentary. Liked him.

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by ElCoyote

How about more Sam McNeil commentary. Liked him.

Ah, you're back Warwick...

[GT 86]

Originally Posted by ElCoyote

How about more Sam McNeil commentary. Liked him.

Wrong channel, wrong programme. Aren't you thinking of the Toyota show with Toyota employees presenting it with Toyota adverts and you have to pay to watch this? CRC is FTA!

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by GT 86

Wrong channel, wrong programme. Aren't you thinking of the Toyota show with Toyota employees presenting it with Toyota adverts and you have to pay to watch this? CRC is FTA!

Well he does work for the parts department at - you guessed it - Toyota!

[Nigel TV3]

Originally Posted by GT 86

Wrong channel, wrong programme. Aren't you thinking of the Toyota show with Toyota employees presenting it with Toyota adverts and you have to pay to watch this? CRC is FTA!

Confirming TRS was broadcast on Sky... as a point of interest the ratings for TRS on Sky, for all races, was zero... not enough people were watching to register on the Ratings measuring devices.. CRC Motorsport on the other hand had over 280,000 people tune in on Sunday....

Also ... Indycar, MotoGP, NHRA, WEC, WTTC and Rallycross will soon be screening on CRC Motorsport, plus local content including Rally NZ, Jet sprints, Speedway, Muscle Cars and Race to the Sky... a busy year ahead.... hope you enjoy.

[Goat Boy]

I remember the RallyX and DTM coverage with Geoff Brian, Geoff was a great host I thought, pity he doesn't do it any more.

I enjoyed the RallyX coverage but do you remember the appalling American commentator for the DTM? He was so unruffled that he might as well have been commentating on the ballet! Really boring to listen to.

Muddly Talker was the best ever commentator for motorport though!!

[raymond]

Originally Posted by Goat Boy

I remember the RallyX and DTM coverage with Geoff Brian, Geoff was a great host I thought, pity he doesn't do it any more.

I enjoyed the RallyX coverage but do you remember the appalling American commentator for the DTM? He was so unruffled that he might as well have been commentating on the ballet! Really boring to listen to.

Muddly Talker was the best ever commentator for motorport though!!

I quite like Neil Crompton and Martin Brundle

[Swedish Brick]

Haha yeah I remember that guy. A slow monotone drone....
That's how cool DTM was, was still thrilling with that guy!

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by Swedish Brick

Haha yeah I remember that guy. A slow monotone drone....
That's how cool DTM was, was still thrilling with that guy!

Almost better to watch with the mute on! Cool cars for sure

[NZSTfan]

Does this mean that the good people at CRC have been reading this thread?

[NZSTfan]

Well well well, what did I spy with my beady little eye today on CRC.....an acronym 'DTM' and something to do with drifting (sounds like road drifting like they do in Japan, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the discipline, but it looks rather cool)

So does this mean we are going to get DTM on a free to air channel sometime soon?

By crikey I hope so. Well done CRC if this is the case

Go ze Germans!

[HProject]

Summersby confirmed that DTM was on the cards on Facebook the other week He also said there was something else in the pipeline too

[Southern Man]

Drags are not really my thing but todays show captured the sport and was both informative as well as entertaining. Rally Nation too showed improvement from last season and as well as the sport it showed a bit of a special area of NZ to us all.

[smokin'joe]

Originally Posted by Southern Man

.... as well as the sport it showed a bit of a special area of NZ to us all.

even when they call you horrible things, Carl ?

[NZSTfan]

Originally Posted by Southern Man

Drags are not really my thing but todays show captured the sport and was both informative as well as entertaining. Rally Nation too showed improvement from last season and as well as the sport it showed a bit of a special area of NZ to us all.

Agree Carl, I too really enjoyed the rally yesterday. Its been a while since I have seen some decent rally on TV. Still loving those older Mk 2 Eskies, there is just something about them.

Paddon was showing his skills for sure, and I guess he wasn't able to gather enough cash to run in PWRC, or SWRC (or whatever its called??)?? unless someone can correct me on this.......he needs to be in WRC IMHO

And then of course after that we had young Mitch climbing 8 or 9 positions in his 4th GP2 race. Sorry, off topic, but it was a good race to watch.

MrFBear, great to have you here, and hopefully you can keep us up to date with all things CRC

[brown dog]

I just watched Rd.1 of DTM yesterday on CRC, and would like to say a very big THANK YOU to the whole CRC Motorsport team for bringing this series to us! AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its about time someone latched on to this. We kept getting told that V8SC's are the best touring car category in the world (funnily enough this is usually from the guys promoting V8SC) but I really do like DTM , the cars look fantastic and many big name drivers in there.

thanks again, fantastic, will be watching every round

Conrad Timms

[smokin'joe]

Originally Posted by NZSTfan

something to do with drifting (sounds like road drifting like they do in Japan, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the discipline, but it looks rather cool)

Touge racing ??

looks like a silly publicity stunt for Red Bull, .......but could be wrong.
more than likely muppets in Cefiros on Laurels will head over that road and kill themselves trying to emulate their hero........but could be wrong.