BBC coverage of BTCC

**Craig** · 22 Apr 2001, 16:53 (Ref:83615)

Average is all I can say. Very excited to see the series back and some good racing. However there was very little explanation of the new rules for the casual visitor, and what they did explain may not have made a lot of sense to the average Joe.

In addition they made no mention as to the reason there was only 8 cars on the track for the fist touring class race which will have looked bad. They should have informed everyone that there is another Alfa, 2 Lexus, another Pug and 2 Rovers on their way, and hopefully a couple of Volvos too.

And HOW the hell could they miss out so much of the production class race ?!?! OMG!

I'm not yet convinced on the idea of the girl strolling up and down pitlane asking the drivers silly questions with a silly grin on her face... though once she's got a bit of confidence and a bit more knowledge of the series, i'd imagine it could be quite a good feature.

Carrie · 22 Apr 2001, 17:06 (Ref:83621)

Yeah, having got to Brands last week too late for the Production race I was disappointed that so little of it was shown on the TV today.
Maybe it's just a case of being too tired, but I got bored and went back to reading the paper and half paying attention to the TV about half way through.

Bring Back The Cavaliers · 22 Apr 2001, 17:07 (Ref:83622)

Simon Harrison doesn't drive a Vauxhall, Tom Boardman doesn;t drive a Ford, Peter Cate is not Dave Allan. Just a few mistakes.

**Craig** · 22 Apr 2001, 17:11 (Ref:83628)

Along with mis-spelling Phil Bennett's name on the captions, amongst others...

Oh dear... and I thought it was just me.

Let's hope it was just tetthing troubles and Octagon get their act together in future coverage.

**touringlegend** · 22 Apr 2001, 17:15 (Ref:83629)

That Dawn McDaniel(?) just seemed to be lacking confidence, her voice was so quiet when interviewing Derek Warwick, and then when she was walking along with Matt and Jason, I got the impression she just didn't ask them hard enough questions. Though she did look really good in that tight top...

wodonnell · 22 Apr 2001, 17:29 (Ref:83639)

Got the same impression about the girl in the pitlane. Obviously not something she had done before. She should improve though.

The grid for the first race looked terrible. Reminded me a bit of the British F3000 championship which only 3 cars entered!

Only 2 and a half teams! I know they promised more but what chance will they have by the time they arrive.

It would have been nice for them to let us know why one of the drivers was called B+Q too! Whats the story behind that?! If he wins the championship its going to look a bit odd in the record books.

**Craig** · 22 Apr 2001, 17:33 (Ref:83643)

It *will* get better... don't worry about that! More cars are coming... wait til Thruxton.

About John B&Q - see this topic: http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...&threadid=8808

wodonnell · 22 Apr 2001, 17:38 (Ref:83647)

Thanks for the link. I had been avoiding the forum for the last week or so so I didn't get any results from the race.

Thread didn't really tell me much though

**Craig** · 22 Apr 2001, 17:45 (Ref:83654)

Well, feel free to ask away... John is a regular here, so he'll see your query...

Or you could wait until I finish the article i'm going to do on the man... feel free to submit any questions you would like me to answer in the article...

Sodemo · 22 Apr 2001, 17:47 (Ref:83655)

I thought the coverage was OK, not as good as BMP have done it in the past but good.
Things I liked: The fact that they have more in car cameras

Things i didn't like:
The camera positions/many of the cams looked like they were zoomed in too much.

The engine notes should be louder/why when they have an incar view can you hear the external sounds?

Some of the cameramen were obviously asleep during the lap when JT and Plato were side by side.

Overall it was good, but there are definatly some issues to address with the sound balance and the position of incar cameras.

Maisie · 22 Apr 2001, 18:08 (Ref:83659)

I was quite disappointed by the BBC coverage. From start to finish it seemed far too rushed. The start promised much with its "2001" theme, but it failed to deliver.

I assume they put the BTCT sprint on first so (as the cynics have said) that they weren't shown up by the BTCP sprint. Congratulations to the BBC for making the BTCT race look more interesting than it actually was, although it was better than the grid promised.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BTCP SPRINT??? That race was worth so, so much more than 5 minutes coverage. It was great from start to finish.

The combined feature race didn't fare too badly, however, some points could be remedied for the future:

- the in-car shots are great, and there seem to be loads of cars with them. HOWEVER, especially when both cars (eg Plato's and Thompson's) have identical dashboards, abrupt switching between them in the middle of an overtaking move is confusing. If you want to show the action from both cars, eiher do a split-screen shot from both cars, or a have a replay from inside the second car.

- Slow it down. Make the coverage longer, and lose the frantic and abrupt camera switches and cuts. Going from a Safety Car board to the action after the safety car in 2 shots is not good.

- Devote more time to the BTCP class. Their race was the best of the day, and their dices are at least as close and as exciting as the BTCT class.

- Lose the tart in the pitlane. Looking good is no compensation for knowing next to nothing about the cars, drivers or series. And please, please, if you must keep her, tell her that fawning over Matt Neal and Jason Plato, grabbing their arms and bouncing up and down on one leg like an excited 5 year old does not good TV make.

- Get the facts right. Surely who drives what car is not so hard to work out??

Coverage is on probation for me at the moment - it can redeem itself by being more in-depth, more correct, and above all LONGER.

Les · 22 Apr 2001, 18:43 (Ref:83666)

I agree with the lot of you - hated the switching between identical in car cameras esp. when it didn't actually show you anything. Wide angle lens might help.
The rear view was spoilt by the rear wings - need to move them.
Cut down on the in car shots - it isn't racing. Only show them when something is happening - like harrisons wheel coming off.
Dawn will improve and she will give a different perspective. (I hope)
Show more production racing - the sprint race was cut to ribbons - very disappointing.

SL · 22 Apr 2001, 18:49 (Ref:83668)

A little more coverage of the new rules and history would have been better than the so called driver interview. The in car bits were good but as Maise said the cars looked the same from inside so they were hard to tell apart.

I caught a glimpse of the Eggy banner as the cars were speeding along the pit straight once. When the 10/10 banner is unfurled for the first time, you just have to get it seen on the TV.

Did you see John B + Q dicing with the leaders as well, at one stage I thought I thought it was because he was being lapped.

Simon

redshoes · 22 Apr 2001, 18:58 (Ref:83673)

Right, let's see....

Camera positions were ok but would have prefered some of the bumpercam or headlightcam shots used in previous years.

Production sprint, considering it was the best of the three races, the coverage was awful. Ditto the production class in the feature. Did me get run-down of BTCP driver's points ? I remember seeing teams but not drivers.

Dawn McDaniel, sorry but fluttering your eyelashes at Derek Warwick and asked about his secret plan does not a reporter make. Woody was less doe-eyed when she met Matt Neal.

Would have liked to have seen more of an intro about the teams and drivers. Unless you're already a fan and have been following on-line or from Autosport you would have no idea what was going on.

I'll forgive Charlie Cox a few errors in the heat of the moment but not Dave Allen vs Peter Cate THREE times.

On the plus side, the Eggy Bennetts were clearly visable during Charlie Cox's intro on the grid and even I made a "blink and you'll miss it" appearance, twice !

Guy Goddard · 22 Apr 2001, 19:02 (Ref:83674)

I agree with you all of you, how could they get it so wrong..even Watson and Cox appeared low key for some reason and the coverage lacked the bite we have seen in the past, not enough featured of the production cars and that bloody girl who appeared as part of the commentry team reminded me of a presenter of a kids program as she asked the most stupid questions..as if a team manager is going to tell you his race strategy for before the start..yeh right...she must go

Carrie · 22 Apr 2001, 19:06 (Ref:83675)

I must have blinked

RIKB · 22 Apr 2001, 19:09 (Ref:83677)

Well they made it all look so exciting that I wished i was there!.......Hang on......I was there

Seriously though, I thought it was clever how they made the boring bits look really exciting. Shame they didn't make the exciting bits seem exciting.

I found the commentary strange as well. I guess Wattie hadn't seen the race before as he seemed to be commentating as live whereas Charlie Cox, who was at Brands, was commentating in a past tense. Or was I imagining it.

peter knivett · 22 Apr 2001, 19:34 (Ref:83687)

Hhhmmm. Interesting to here your comments on the coverage. As PR for GA-Janspeed Racing it's a pity we didn't see more of the BTC Production Class Sprint race, it had so much more action than the BTC Touring Sprint race. On the whole though I think it was a promising start - we have great confidence in BMP's abilities - look at what the company achieved with Superbikes. Roll on Thruxton!

**Craig** · 22 Apr 2001, 19:40 (Ref:83696)

Welcome aboard, Peter. You have a good point about BMP/Octagon's production abilities... BSB's are brilliant. Could there possibly be some level of conflict between BMP/Octagon and BHP who lost the contract for covering the race and were given the job of producing the off-track show ? No idea; just a total stab in the dark at why the quality of coverage was not what it should be. Or could it simply be teething troubles in getting the new show on the road ?

We *definately* want to see more of the production class though, so if you're listening Mr West, you know what to do

janetcampbell · 22 Apr 2001, 19:49 (Ref:83703)

HI GUYS - I'M BACK- I'VE BEEN OFFLINE FOR A WHILE - FINISHING MY KITCHEN BUT I'M BACK FULL SPEED AND THE GOOD NEWS IS ---- I'M GOING TO DO THE COVERAGE THIS YEAR OF THE BTCC ON BBC2 FOR ALL THE RACES - SO - IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR WANT ME TO TRY AND GET INTERVIEWS WITH THE DRIVERS PLEASE LET ME KNOW - DROP ME AN E-MAIL AND I WILL DO MY BEST - I AM WAITING ON FULL INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE PERSON WHO HAS JUST GIVEN IT UP AND ONCE WE HAVE THINGS HANDED OVER IT IS FULL SPEED AHEAD - HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL DOWN THE PITLANES!!! (ESPECIALLY AT KNOCKHILL!!!) CHEERS FOR NOW - AND LOVE TO CARRIE - I'LL GET ROUND TO E-MAILING YOU BACK ONE OF THESE DAYS CARRIE - TAKE CARE!!!!

redshoes · 22 Apr 2001, 19:56 (Ref:83705)

Welcome Peter. From GA-J's point of view the coverage was particularly bad, given the way Gavin Pyper was driving early on.

Carrie, I'll post some suitably blurred vid-caps if I can.

**Craig** · 22 Apr 2001, 19:59 (Ref:83710)

Explain yourself Janet!

**touringlegend** · 22 Apr 2001, 20:21 (Ref:83720)

The graphics were the same as the Superbikes, if I'm not mistaken? The race finishing order/qualifying grid order just didn't seem to have the same visual impact as last years, but were more classy looking.

Sodemo · 22 Apr 2001, 20:52 (Ref:83739)

Oh, I was under the impression that BHP (the company TOCA hired to present the BTCC) had lost the contract, and that BMP (the BTCC Governing body were going to do it themselves via Octagon.

PS where were the promised on-screen captions (revs, speed, brakes, gear etc?)

Minardi fan · 22 Apr 2001, 20:56 (Ref:83743)

Where did they drag up that pit-lane bimbette from? She seemed more interested in getting into Jason Plato's trousers than finding out how his car handled. Hardly a probing interview...

The camera shots were zoomed in too far, zoom out a bit guys so we can get a wider view! And the way the camera flitted about from shot to shot was quiet disorientating.

Smacked wrists all round for the criminally-short coverage of the Production class race - why have so little of the race?!?

And change the graphics - they are as cheap as ITV's horrendous F1 graphics, which look like they come straight from a naff Channel 4 F3 show...

Aside from all that, nice races, shame about the lack of Tourers but hey there's more to come, and the sight of Pinkney's cute little Alfa steaming was chucklesome.

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