Posts in Motorsport Blog

Channel 4 unveils it’s F1 broadcast team

Motorsport Blog 1 Comment

Channel 4 has revealed it’s team for their coverage of Formula 1®. Former X Factor USA and life-long F1 fan Steve Jones will host each show alongside David Coulthard, while former BBC F1 commentator & Formula Ford 1600 racer Ben Edwards will continue his lead commentary role next to Coulthard. Lee McKenzie will take up lead pitlane reporting duties with Karun Chandhok being the technical analyst.

The broadcaster has announced a collection of famous faces and legends of the sport who will drop in to enhance coverage on various race weekends. These include Susie Wolff, Eddie Jordan, Bruno Senna, Alain Prost, Mark Webber, Alex Zanardi, Nic Hamilton and Murray Walker.

Speaking at the unveiling of the new team, Channel 4’s Chief Creative Officer Jay Hunt said:

“This is the dream team – we’ve brought together the very best in screen and off screen talent to make Channel 4’s coverage unmissable.”

Channel 4 will broadcast live coverage of ten Grands Prix each season, including practice sessions and qualifying, all live races to be broadcast without advertising breaks. Channel 4 will also show comprehensive highlights of all 21 races of the FIA Formula One World Championship.

Channel 4 coverage will begin over the weekend of March 18th with build up and comprehensive highlights of the 2016 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix weekend. Channel 4’s first live race will be the 2016 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, broadcast over the weekend of April 1st to 3rd.

Live Races

Bahrain – 1st – 3rd April (4.00pm)

Spain – 13th – 15th May (1.00pm)

Europe (Azerbaijan) – 17th – 19th June (TBC)

Britain – 8th – 10th July (1.00pm)

Hungary – 22nd – 24th July (1.00pm)

Belgium – 26th – 28th August (1.00pm)

Italy – 2nd – 4th September (1.00pm)

Malaysia – 30th September – 2nd October (8.00am)

Mexico – 28th – 30th October (7.00pm)

Abu Dhabi – 25th – 27th November (1.00pm)

All Channel 4 F1 coverage will be broadcast free-to-air and in high definition.

https://twitter.com/C4F1/status/707164987937001473

Motors TV resumes broadcasting on Sky 447.

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Following the turmoil of a week ago when the French owned Motors TV suddenly dissapeared from Sky’s Electronic Programme Guide, The broadcaster has today announced that it has ‘resolved the issue’ and is back on the Sky EPG.

Many championships in this country rely heavily on the exposure the channel provides; many competitors and championships took to social media in the past week to express their worry and outrage, with some already looking into alternative platforms for exposure for the race coverage they pay a lot of money for.

Maybe only time will reassure the British motorsport industry that the channel is back for good?

Karun Chandhok to be part of Channel 4’s F1 coverage

Motorsport Blog 1 Comment

[media-credit name=”Sutton Images on Twitter” link=”https://twitter.com/suttonimages” align=”alignright” width=”300″]Chandhok C4F1 2016[/media-credit]

Former F1 driver and British F3 Race Winner Karun Chandhok looks set to join Channel 4’s team to cover Formula 1 this season.

Spotted in the paddock in Barcelona during testing today by Sutton Images chatting to World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

So far, The Broadcaster has been tight lipped over who will front their coverage and the rest of the team following the announcement of David Coulthard in January and that they will retain BBC’s iconic theme tune The Chain by Fleetwood Mac.

[media-credit name=”Sutton Images on Twitter” link=”https://twitter.com/suttonimages” align=”alignright” width=”300″]karun1[/media-credit]
 

https://twitter.com/C4F1/status/703331131203166212

Ginetta G57 to star in Britcar Prototype Series

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[media-credit name=”Chris Wallbank” link=”http://www.cjwphotography.co.uk/” align=”alignright” width=”300″]Ginetta G57[/media-credit]

Ginetta has announced that it’s newly-launched, beautiful G57 car will get it’s racing debut in the UK in the New Dunlop Prototype Series.

It’s expected that four Ginetta Prototypes will take part in the new series organised by Britcar Endurance.

Claire Hedley, Britcar Managing Director;

“We are very pleased with the support Lawrence Tomlinson [Ginetta Chairman] and Ewan Baldry have shown, and are over the moon they are showcasing their G57s at our first race weekend.”

Ewan Baldry, Ginetta Technical Director;

“The Britcar Protoype Series is the ideal place to run the Ginetta G57 during its inaugural UK race programme. The circuits are ideal for the car, and the series itself fits incredibly well with the racing ethos we have here at Ginetta. Given the car’s specification, it’s sure to be running at the sharp end, and we look forward to getting on track at the first event!”

In November, Claire Hedley appeared on the Downforce Debrief show to talk about the new series. 

You can stay upto date with all the latest Dunlop Prototype Series as part of the Britcar series on their website http://britcar-endurance.com/

Tom Brooks drives Todd Crooks’ Rallycross car

Motorsport Blog

Our Flat out and Sideways host Tom Brooks got behind the wheel of Todd Crooks’ Classic Mini this week at the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship Test Day at Blyton Park Driving Centre. This footage shows his first few ever laps at rallycross!

 

Speaking after the test, A delighted Tom said:

I started out slow and built up confidence, and really enjoyed myself along the way. My times didn’t appear too shabby and despite missing out on my last run due to a broken throttle cable, I went away feeling very pleased indeed.

 

You can download the latest Flat Out and Sideways show with Tom and guests which include Todd Crooks this Wednesday afternoon.

 

 

Video: Tom Brooks Media ©

Motors TV taken off Sky

Motorsport Blog 27 Comments

Fans and much of the British Motorsport Industry was left in turmoil as news emerged yesterday that the giant of motorsport broadcasting in this Country Motors TV has been taken off Sky’s Electronic Programme Guide.

The move comes only weeks after its service on Freeview channel 71 was also taken off air without warning.

Many racers and fans have taken to social media to express their shock and dismay and with only weeks to go before the start of most people’s 2016 season, the disappearance from Sky’s Electronic Programme Guide will cause great concern to many within the industry who relied on the exposure Motors TV provided.

The news also throws into question whether many UK viewers will get to watch the World Endurance Championship or the British GT Championship live this season.

Motors TV does continue to broadcast off the Sky EPG on satellite, although it does have encryption which prevents non-Sky users from viewing it. For the time being you can still watch Motors if you are a Sky subscriber, go to Services, Options, Add Channels and enter the following details: 11082 H, Symbol Rate 22000, FEC 5/6

There has been no comment from the Broadcaster.

There’s something about Carmen…

Motorsport Blog 2 Comments

There’s nothing wrong with countless heterosexual males clicking on links with nice but pointless images of Carmen Jorda like you probably just did, all the motorsport press have been fixated and fascinated with Carmen ever since she…….uh, sorry I just saw another article about her. Where was I?  oh yes, the motorsport! My timelines for almost all of the motorsport ‘press’, bloggers, youtubers and twitter personalities websites have been bulging with any comment, statement or latest news on the former race driver, So I thought I would chip in, get involved and see how easy it would be to get you to click on yet another dull, click-baity, totally irrelevant article about Carmen Jorda.

[media-credit name=”Carmen Jorda on Instagram” link=”https://www.instagram.com/carmenjorda/” align=”alignright” width=”300″]carmen jorda 4[/media-credit]

I know it’s the time of year when the dullest press releases from F1 teams come out anyway and they get faithfully copied and pasted to a million sites but this year seems somewhat different after the Renault launch with more of a heavy emphasis on one person who’s not even a driver, not a team boss and seemingly not involved with racing in any way anymore, The sheer weight of coverage from the likes of the BBC, SkySports F1 right down to the small blogs and facebook groups would be more understandable if she were even relevant or talented or showed signs of promise or success in any previous category as a driver.

But hey, who am I to get in the way of a good news story?…….what was the story again? I forgot, something about Carmen Jorda.

How old were you when you thought F1 was at its best?

Motorsport Blog

As a social experiment, I want to see how old you were when you thought F1 was great, what age you were when you thought it was in it’s prime, when F1 was enjoying it’s glory days.  If you are one of the overwhelming amount of fans or former lovers of F1 who thinks the sport isn’t great anymore, I’d like to know at what age you were when you thought it was great.

I’ve long held a theory about what the results might be, It will be very interesting to see if I’m right or not, The poll results will be revealed when #DownforceDebrief returns for the F1 season.

[socialpoll id=”2326866″]

Dean Stoneman to race in the remaining GP2 races with Carlin

Motorsport Blog

[media-credit name=”Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service” link=”http://www.gp2series.com/” align=”alignright” width=”300″]Stoneman Sochi GP2 2015[/media-credit]

Downforce Radio has learned that Dean Stoneman will compete in the remaining two rounds in the GP2 championship with Carlin at Bahrain This Weekend and in the final round in Abu Dhabi.
Stoneman who impressed in Formula Renault 3.5 with DAMS as a Red Bull Junior Driver had previously made his GP2 début in the Russian round at Sochi

Announced on Monday Night’s Downforce Debrief radio show, Host Lester Forbes revealed the good news that Dean would be able to show his talents once again this season. [spp-timestamp time=”6:06″]

 

 

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