Scarbs for the tech president!

JA for 'politics'

Saward comes up with some interesting stuff from time to time, but for a guy who's supposedly a huge fan of the sport, he doesn't half sound depressed about it all. I also wish he would proofread his blog entries, most of them have several errors which are distracting, plus it's not a particularly good advertisement for work if your writing is error-laden, is it?

Have you ever listened to his podcasts through the Sidepodcast website?

No. Should I?

He does do a blog on the BBC site that is largely the same as his ITV notes. Perhaps it's more brief than the ITV ones, but he usually finds plenty of information that isn't widely covered elsewhere.

Is there anything wrong with that though? I think it's a really good idea actually, I mean this is his job - talking about F1 - he ought to be able make money out of it. If people are interested enough to hear what he has to say, I think he ought to charge for it.

Also, by making it a pay event, it keeps the numbers manageable. I think journalists, especially freelance ones, do not make much money at all. When you think about the costs involved, travelling to 20 odd grands prix, particularly with the rise in up to the second reporting by people in their bedrooms, he has to earn whatever way he can.

So yeah, paying sucks. But I think it's wrong to think about it as 'in the interest of the fans'. It's rather Joe offering a professional service to customers.

In this instance, probably not!

But just in case you do: http://sidepodcast.com/category/an-aside-with-joe/

He does often come out with some good points, but generally sounds too much like a scorned journalist who clearly lacks any enthusiasm for the sport he covers.

I'm not sure he clearly lacks enthusiasm for the sport. But he is certainly jaded by it.

I'm going to ask him about it :-)

He must either have rich parents or an incredibly understanding girlfriend

He is not FIA accredited, they don't accredit websites and also while he has a press pass for Jerez that was issued on a local basis not through the FIA so it is difficult to see where he is going to get the money from out of his site in order to maintain his standard of living that he made in his full time job, all the advertisers he has on there are affiliate programs so no way is he going to make even £3000 this year let alone £30k that he would have earned at AutoTrader, his only hope would be to take F1Fanatic subscription but again I can't see a mass take up of his thoughts on F1 on a sub basis when Allen/Saward are free

Good luck to him but giving up a well paid living to be a bedroom blogger is insane

There's a position now available at Autotrader offering £30,000?!! Where?!!

I tip my hat to Keith for having the balls to go full-time doing the website, but I worry that his business model might not hold up and when the realisation kicks in that the cash isn't flowing in as much, he'll go back to doing it on a part-time basis.

I hope it does go swimmingly for him, I really do. But he faces a massive mountain to climb.

Absolutely, it's a massive mountain to climb. If it was easy everyone would do it, wouldn't they?

Kinda ties in with my point about about Joe charging for his evening event. Bills have to be paid, and (sadly) writing for a living doesn't pay very well.

Yeah I was guessing how much a full time journo might earn, guess its less than £30k then but certainly a lot more than I see him earing out of F1Fanatic, I admire his dedication but just can't see where the £ is going to come from

I know a guy that runs the biggest Spurs community on the net, 12,000 member forum and 200,000 unique readers a month but he makes around £300 a month out of affiliate advertising

I think Keith has bitten off more than he can chew £ wise but good luck to him

The Scarbs Blog is a great addition!

I think there are too many blogs out there now so I'm going to stick with just a few as regular visits - James Allen, Joe Saward, and now Scarbs. I think all three offer something slightly different and are unlikely to overlap too much. I'll see how the others are when people link to them. If they're not linked much, I won't visit. Simples.

I remember the olden days when I had a F1 web page. In '95 a search for F1 on the internet returned just seven sites. Now there must be thousands and most are just re-hashing the same stories from press releases or each others site. For the sake of accuracy, speed and orginal content you can't beat Autosport and Allen.

For anyone who likes their F1 content tailored towards betting on the great sport, there are two excellent sites:

http://www.tip-ex.com/previews/

http://www.bettingzone.co.uk/formula1/betting/

No doubt they will be posting tips nearer the start of the season.

one more for McCabism

McCabe is the conspiracy theorist that reckoned a marksman shot out Hamilton's gearbox at Brazil 2007 or something with an electronic device isn't he ? he started a really absurd thread on here that defied all credibility

Just to let you know that my old pal Adam Cooper has recently launched a blog which can be found here. His name will be known to many of you on RC; he's been covering international motorsport since the mid-1980s before concentrating on F1 since 1994 and is a current contributor to Autosport, Motor Sport and SpeedTV.com. His portfolio also includes being author of books on Eddie Irvine (his old flat-mate during his Japanese F3000 days), Michael Schumacher and Frank Williams' first F1 driver Piers Courage. Adam also submits to the official F1 review annual and occasionally does some TV work.

Back in the days when we worked together on Autosport Adam was given the nickname 'Snake' in respect of his ability to get the heart of matters and generate scoops. Life's not quite like that in F1 any more, but Adam still has the ability to provide a different 'take' on situations and developments as they evolve. He also has 'the ear' of several high-profile names in the sport and thus gets more access than your average hack - see his latest piece on Kimi Raikkonen as an example.

So if you think you'd enjoy reading the bits the publications couldn't fit into their publications or websites check him out - he's now taking a camera down pitlane too! And if you can't wait for his next blog update he's quite prolific on Twitter as adamcooperf1

Not a fan of Cooper. Quite possibly the most boring, by the numbers, writer in F1.

And now he's a 'me-too' blogger.

Adam Cooper does a real good job, last year he was at the heart of the controversy in Australia as he picked up on something Lewis Hamilton had said after the race and wondered why Trulli was penalised if Lewis said he slowed down to let Trulli by, went to the FIA to ask and we ended up with the truth.
Getting the truth is what a good journalist does and Adam Cooper more than showed his skill in that case as a journalist.

I enjoy his blog, interesting and informative. A very good addition to the blog world.

Each to his own, I like his understated prose.

Twin Window, thanks for the heads up.

Oh now I'm sure that endeared him to millions of McLaren and Hamilton fans

That's a fair point actually, you are right. On the flipside, his coverage of the cool fuel scandal at the end of 2007 was utter tosh.

No, no he wasn't.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/04/fres...o-mclaren-case/

Someone by the name of 'doctorvee' mentioned it on James Allen's blog before it came to light in the press, and reading Allen's book (which reflects on his blog postings from last year), he mentions that the FIA took action based upon that very post.

Yeah, not like it was mentioned, oh, a few posts ago eh?

Oops, somehow I'd missed that post.

Cheers for that Dank!

Well I do know that Keith is in Jerez this week for the tests so he must have got a paddock pass from somewhere!
And the FIA did start giving accreditation for websites in 2009 as a pilot which has now been extended. The rules are totally complicated and no it is not easy to get into the "inner circle".

Media accreditation for testing is handled by the circuit in question, I have had media passes before for Silverstone testing and you have to deal with Silverstone itself its nothing to do with the FIA so Keith would have got through applying to Jerez itself

James Allen without a doubt. Joe Saward is full of ridiculous speculations and unfounded truths

Oh come on! its blog for tech nerds

Oh, nice, I remember thinking how odd it was that so few people even on this board picked on that interview with Whitmarsh at the time.

Adam Copper's blog seems to be really interesting, I will definitely follow it.

Full of ridiculous speculations true, but even I wouldn't say the latter claim is anywhere near being correct.

I can give you many instances but I wont bother digging up his bile

Doctorvee had a great F1 blog. Unfortunately, he shut it down due to time constraints.

Not sure if it counts as a blog as it looks more like an online magazine that is published on Wordpress customised software but I love this site HERE with analysis and opinion from the likes of Nick Daman and guys that have worked in the commercial side of the sport, a very good read IMHO

Does anyone here subscribe to GrandPrix+?

http://www.grandprixplus.com/

They keep bigging it up on the Chequered Flag podcast and while I don't mind most of Saward's writing, at other times I find his manner irritating. Can anyone recommend the spend?

close enough ;)

a couple more blogs to add to the list:

• http://suttonimages.wordpress.com/ - Sutton Images new blog
• http://www.metrof1.com/ - Adam Hay-Nicholls' blog
• http://www.stuartcodling.com/ - Stuart Codling's blog
• http://www.manipef1.com/blog/ - Manipe F1 blog

am guessing the first three are known around these parts. manipe is a fresh(er) name on the scene but has f1 paddock access during race some weekends.

i'm curious that james allen gets such a good rating around these parts, yet he seems to go to less and less races (although he wouldn't admit that). very odd.

Ok, I'll comment on Saward, Allan and Scarbs.

Saward is the ultimate political animal. He will basically tell you the big picture behind the political moves that happen weeks, months or years before they actually hit the race track. That's an important thing for me because I am fascinated with the rule making and politicking of F1 as much as other blokes are with the drivers, the 0-60 time of their cars and the appearances of their girl friends. Saward is crap when it comes to technical issues. He lacks the basics of a physics or engineering education. He also entertains some hard core biases which you have to take into consideration but he works as an important opinion indicator of elitist thinking British influenced people to me.

Allan is kind of main stream. A good mixture of engineering know how, excellent F1 sources and solid journalistic neutrality. I seldom have the feeling that I wasted my time reading one of his pieces.

Scarbs is someone special in terms of understanding F1 technology. He probably had access to every technical director of any team on the grid. He has spent a lot of effort researching F1 technology on his own time as a free lancer. He is now writing for Race Car Engineering but I doubt that he gets anywhere near the income of the other two guys I have commented on. If Scarbs tells you something about the car or the technical side you can take it to the bank.

For people who are bi-lingual with German I would also recommend Michael Schmidt's blog in Auto Motor und Sport. He is the best connected guy from the German F1 press with excellent connections into the FiA, FOTA, FOM, the manufacturers, tyre suppliers and many teams.

I was wondering about this, I presume he will be Silverstone, but he seems to have only gone to only one or two other races the season, when last year he seemed to be at most of them. Sadly I do think this shows on his blog, as he now only has the inside line on events he attends, such as the McLaren one yesterday.

As for other blogs - I like Will Buxton's, though he hardly ever updates it unfortunately. Though he does interact with the people on the Speed TV forum (he's now their pitlane reporter), which is nice.

Saward has some interesting opinion pieces but his "exclusive" rumours often turn out to be way off the mark, so you have to take it all with a pinch of salt. On the negative side, I don't like his new habit of doing 3 line blog posts which don't really tell you anything, and he is a moaner of Mansellesque proportions.

I'm not too keen on Adam Cooper, he does get a number of exclusives, but from what I've read from them, it seems that people go to him when they want an easy interview on something controversial. I mean, he had the chance to interview Christian Horner right after the Turkey fiasco and the most significant thing he got out of him was "Mark asked Sebastian to back off" - which wasn't particularly relevant, and according to Andrew Benson wasn't even true.

And although its not really a blog, I have liked reading the F1 diaries that Chandhok has been doing for The Telegraph.

As for non-accredited blogs, I don't think anything beats F1 Fanatic, Keith does a superb job with that. The only other one I read on a somewhat regular basis is Sidepodcast, which is often quite fun.

Wholeheartedly agree about Roebuck. It's the only piece of F1 journalism I'd really miss if it didn't come out every month.

Have you had a chance to listen to Motor Sport's podcasts? Excellent, informative and humorous, particularly when 'Niki Lauda' is on.

Das stimmt!

I have been much busier with work this year and so my reading time has been seriously curtailed. In that context I've had to narrow down what I read, and I found the first casualty was Saward.

I met him earlier in the year, and he's quite an engaging guy to listen to. But ultimately a bit full of himself too. And I think that comes through in his writing. I don't mind that even, actually. It's usually amusing, and certainly provides talking points.

But with limited time, and a lower care-factor for nonsense, I've found Adam Cooper's blog to be the best of the bunch right now. James Allen has maintained his high standards, but the comments there are now impenetrable and that takes away a little bit from what made the site so great in its early days.

I miss the gump actually. But he (like Eason) would be behind the 'great paywall of fleetstreet' anyway. So that would have been a no-go anyway.

*Edit* And Scarbs' actually as well. He is legendary awesome. In contrast I don't miss Autosport 'Plus' one little bit, whose subscription I let lapse earlier this year.

Agreed, really enjoy reading his technical articles from time to time. Not read for a while, but last I did he was in serious need of editorial help. Content great, writing/editing ability not so great.

I doubt any of them are particularly high earners. Saward in particular makes his money by freelancing, and spends most of it travelling. It's not a great paying job, writing a blog.

Yeah, it'll do...

With regards GrandPrix+ I went for the subscription anyway and spent the time downloading the old stuff to keep for myself and for this years stuff. I'll decide whether or not to renew on that basis and I thought £25 was a reasonable outlay for the archive and this year. Whether it's good for only one year's worth remains to be seen.

So far though, it's been a good read if (expectedly) opinionated. Need to take that into account - it's less 'news' and more 'editorial' in style.

I'm also going to play the 'free advertising card' and recommend that anyone who likes a but of a good-natured satire checks out my f1 blog:

www.reverendfrog.co.uk/frogblog

The problem with being a modern F1 journalist is that you have to suck up to certain factions to get invited to the right places.

Roebuck told them all to F-off years ago. He predicted the demise of Schumacher perfectly.

He's been replaced now by Kevin "haven't a clue" Eason.

And you have to pay to view the Times now I believe.

No, the blog is free.

Pretty boring, like reading Reuter's reports.

I never figured there were many F1 fans in NY.

Not sure where to put this, so this seems like the obvious thread - it seems like there's some "blog sniping" going on:

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/...ight-on-sunday/



And the "we're" bit from Joe Saward is taking a swipe at:

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2010/10/look...going-to-korea/

Specifically the title: Looks Like We're Going To Korea.

I thought it was fairly common knowledge that James Allen didn't attend half the races?