[TV] Eurosport coverage of the WTCC 2009

[armchair racer]

As the new BTCC season is a month away i thought id watch the wtcc to get my first fix of the yr , but it was a bit of a chore if im honest ...The reason being the awful commentry team ...they were IMO terrible .. they must have just had a nap and woken up !!! Im struggling to put it into words ... but please Eurosport get some decent commentry that appears to have some enthusiasm in it !!

[touringlegend]

Qualifying I find is sometimes hard for commentators - there isn't much action going on that would happen in a race for instance.

I think Martin & John did OK for not having timing information half the time - which again going by my last point is the whole purpose of qualifying.

The main issue I have is the picture break up and graininess that was apparent last night - come on Eurosport get it sorted!

[armchair racer]

I do get your point ...But dont you think that it was all a bit random though ?? not really focusing on any car doing a full lap and comparing speeds etc etc .. Just seemed like 2 blokes chatting in a pub ...to me , even when im watching Footy on the tv , the commentry can make or break the coverage .... murray walker never sounded dull whatever the circumstances...

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by armchair racer

not really focusing on any car doing a full lap and comparing speeds etc etc

That sounds like your issue is not with the commentary but with the coverage.

Martin and John have no control over the pictures, they can only commentate on whatever global feed they are provided with. If the director decides not to follow a car for a full lap or misses most of the cars putting in a hot lap then there's not much they do about it.

[chunder]

Precisely red, Martin is one of the premier motorsport commentators, hence why he is eomplyed for various championships

The feed is from Brazil, not Eurosport, they will jujst be paying for it

If you remember the old Brazilian F1 races, they used to follow guys for lap after lap and miss evrything!

[armchair racer]

Originally Posted by redshoes

That sounds like your issue is not with the commentary but with the coverage.

Martin and John have no control over the pictures, they can only commentate on whatever global feed they are provided with. If the director decides not to follow a car for a full lap or misses most of the cars putting in a hot lap then there's not much they do about it.

Possibly , will still be watching this afternoon though..

[Sodemo]

I see the usual levels of Eurosport incompetance are evident once again.

Great, we now have 16X9 images, but oh no! They are being displayed in a squashed ratio.

It could be a Virgin Cable issue perhaps, but I doubt it, every other channel is fine.

[Hazard]

Martin & John's banter is fine for me - the TV pictures on the other hand are always terrible for WTCC - they never follow any of the action outside the top 8 in a race, and in qualifying they don't seem to know what to do.

As for Murray making everything sound exciting - yes, he did - but he was also just as excited when everything was boring, which wears thin after a while.

[stedevil]

Indeed, just as have been said, Eurosport commentators were not responsible and just as screwed as the rest of us, delayed or completely missing timings and on location TV crew only catching cars on the slowdown lap or in best case right before crossing the finish line. Not exactly optimal conditions for a commentator.

[chunder]

If you listen to Martin when he is commentating he getst utterly exasperated by the complete lack of professionalism shown by the directors

I am sad to say that people like this are often the ones that ahve more cluse about what is going on in a race than the directors!!

the amount of times I ahve heard him say "No!! please dont show the pits and the wife, the lead is about to change hands!"

Or, "show us the pitstop now, not the local guy touring round!"

Sad to say but often the commentator is the best director aswell!!

Give him the button!!

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by chunder

the amount of times I ahve heard him say "No!! please dont show the pits and the wife, the lead is about to change hands!"

BTCC is not much better in that respect. I lost count of the number of times we saw Gio and Plato going side by side into a corner and the pictures cut to a shot of Mrs Plato looking shocked.

[armchair racer]

After watching the whole weekend , to me the whole package is just wrong ..no excitement at all IMO.. I personally wont be watching it again , as i didnt enjoy it , as i said earlier it was a chore ...Sorry to sound so negative on the disipline some of you follow/enjoy but the BTCC coverage, commentry , circuits , variation of cars etc etc are a far more enjoyable for me ...

[the sniper]

Originally Posted by armchair racer

...Sorry to sound so negative on the discipline some of you follow/enjoy but the BTCC coverage, commentary , circuits , variation of cars etc etc are a far more enjoyable for me ...

You only watched one meeting, how can you complain about the circuits?

I've got to say, the coverage and racing at the first two events is generally very poor, I would recommend you try one of the European races, their generally better covered as the commentators are often at the track (well, they were last year) and the success ballast should hopefully be in place by then, limiting the SEAT's a bit.

Sadly though, TV direction at all the WTCC meetings is at best described as shambolic.

[chunder]

You have to remembr it is only a small seris relatively

I can imagine that DTM and many otehr series pay far more and will hunt the best talent.

DTM is my opinion is a far worse series, have seen very few really exciting races in many yeras

WTCC has contact, but bad team orders etc

BTCC has great racing, but boring tracks by comparison, and Plato! Who is a wrecker!

[armchair racer]

i would totally disagree with the point about the boring circuits ..The BTCC imo are far from boring compared with narrow street circuits of WTCC where it is difficult to pass and turns into a procession ..

[Super Hans]

Of course, the main problem with the WTCC on TV is the godawful theme music.

You wanna go Farstah! FARSTAH!

[Knowlesy]

Another problem is that it is the WTCC.

[touringlegend]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

Of course, the main problem with the WTCC on TV is the godawful theme music.

You wanna go Farstah! FARSTAH!

That is probably the tackiest thing on any motorsport TV coverage.

It makes me cringe more than the good old days of James Allen on ITV..

[The STIG]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Another problem is that it is the WTCC.

Err... isn't that the point of it being WTCC TV coverage?

[Knowlesy]

Yep, and it gets the coverage it so richly deserves.

[The STIG]

Stiggy confused now!!

[what do you mean, "wasn't hard"]

[Andy77]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Yep, and it gets the coverage it so richly deserves.

At least some non fake one 4-wheel racing gets free tv coverage. Especially these days where most of 4-wheel racing is hidden at some pay-tv channels.

[Craig]

Except, on satelite at least, it's not free...

[JamesRamone]

I'm just grateful I get to see it. It's always on at the times it is stated ! Which for Eurosport is something they don't normally do !

[Andy77]

Originally Posted by Craig

Except, on satelite at least, it's not free...

Over here it is. Some people get out their old analogue sat-boxes, pointing their dishes to Astra 19.2 east satelite and turning on German Eurosport.
Trick there is turning the audio channel down from the common 702 kHz to 695 KHz (or was it ghz?) and you have english/international comentary too.

Eurosport will stay analogue free to air on 19.2° east until mid 2010 at least but there are already talks to lengthen contract. It may be worth a try.