73 replies to this topic

[ktrhe]

I think my best shot this year at the Festival of Speed

 

 

Elfyn Evans

M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC

Forrest Rallye Stage

[ensign14]

I doubt it is coming to an end, given the suffocating level of crowds on the Friday.  Plus major manufacturers seem to be increasing their pavilion sizes every year. 

[sabrejet]

The 'shoot out' is contrived beyond belief: on the Thur or Fri, Dumas was waaayyyy under the record up to Molecomb and even the commentary team noted that he obviously backed-off from there on, and said that he'd be keeping some in hand 'for Sunday'. Well that worked didn't it?

 

He still set fastest time on the Saturday but that will I guess only count as a 'class' record, even though there aren't any correctly-defined classes at FoS.

 

So all very confusing for any speed event goer, but most of the current FoS audience won't notice.

 

I do also wonder if Justin Law wasn't taking part this year because you can't describe him as, "...off of F1" to The Masses. That aspect of FoS has all become very corporate and staged and ordered.

[Roger Clark]

Anyone who judges the Festival of Speed by comparison with a pure hill climb is missing the point by almost as much as someone who judges it purely on the television coverage.  I was there on Thursday and Friday, found the crowds bearable around the things I wanted to see and don't think I saw a "supercar" at all.  Of course some of the better cars have been there before but a man who is tired of a W125 is tired of life.

[BRG]

The ITV coverage was dreadful.  Apart from the ever wonderful Julia Bradbury, it had nothing to commend it at all.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Although I'm no fan of FOS, it's difficult to imagine it ending any time soon. I would think it's a big revenue generator for the estate. And although it isn't my particular cup of tea it seems to have a lot of fan support. Anyone care to speculate as to why and when?

[BRG]

I agree. Along with the two race meetings and the horse races, these are the Duke's revenue streams taht keep his estate and his doubtless very comfortable life style going. And good luck to him. In the case of the FoS, it seems to be partly filling the gap left by the demise of the UK Motor Show.

[kayemod]

The ITV coverage was dreadful.  Apart from the ever wonderful Julia Bradbury, it had nothing to commend it at all.

 

I'd agree with that, I recorded the programmes but only watched the first 5 minutes or so, then gave up and deleted. I quite like Julia Bradbury as well, but along with her male co-presenter, she was the main reason I gave up. She's a Sheffield girl and I was at school with her (King Edward VII, originally one of the top grammar schools in the Country, but later a co-educational comprehensive), though if I say this in her hearing, my wife is quick to point out that there was a gap of about twenty years between us, so no memories of shared changing rooms... I really do like Julia as a presenter, but she's really better at being pictured climbing over stiles in tight leggings, her manner was hopelessly unsuited to the FoS, even if her road cars are usually 911s, and the less said about her accompanying Blue Peter type accompanist, the better.

 

Before this, weren't the FoS shows done by Amanda(?) somethingorother, and a reasonably competent man? They weren't bad at all.

[2F-001]

Stretton.

[kayemod]

Stretton.

 

That's her, she was pretty good, and who was the man who presented with her? I appreciate that the current ITV4 shows aren't aimed at people like us, they have to be fairly light entertainment, but now they've gone too far. There's no excuse for presenters having very little knowledge of the subject and peppering their talk with endless mistakes.

[2F-001]

Well, Amanda is (or, at least, was) a pretty useful racer herself, in some quite serious machinery (GTs, LMP2). Wasn't she previously married to Martin (and kept the surname after splitting up)? I *think* she is now with Bob Berridge - racecar prep man and HGP racer.

Edited by 2F-001, 13 July 2019 - 21:06.

[dwh43scale]

That's her, she was pretty good, and who was the man who presented with her? I appreciate that the current ITV4 shows aren't aimed at people like us, they have to be fairly light entertainment, but now they've gone too far. There's no excuse for presenters having very little knowledge of the subject and peppering their talk with endless mistakes.

I recall some programmes with a chap called Dario Franchitti - didn't he do rather well over in the US :-)

I have ignored the programmes this year - last time I checked my blood pressure was OK and I want it to stay that way !

[john aston]

Well, Amanda is (or, at least, was) a pretty useful racer herself, in some quite serious machinery (GTs, LMP2). Wasn't she previously married to Martin (and kept the surname after splitting up)? I *think* she is now with Bob Berridge - racecar prep man and HGP racer.

Yeah- she is with hard as nails tough guy Teessider Bob Berridge. I interviewed  Bob a few years ago and can now confess I was hoping that Amanda was going to be mine hostess but she was out with the kids. Even easier on the eye than the lissom Julia.  Great stuff in Bob's garage -a Peugeot  905, a Sauber  C9 , a Spice C2 car and an F40 .  

[PRD]

The ITV coverage was dreadful.  Apart from the ever wonderful Julia Bradbury, it had nothing to commend it at all.

 

My brother worked with her on Countryfile, "ever wonderful" isn't how he'd describe her

[BRG]

My brother worked with her on Countryfile, "ever wonderful" isn't how he'd describe her

Funny, because she always speaks well of him....

[exhillclimber]

Yeah- she is with hard as nails tough guy Teessider Bob Berridge. I interviewed  Bob a few years ago and can now confess I was hoping that Amanda was going to be mine hostess but she was out with the kids. Even easier on the eye than the lissom Julia.  Great stuff in Bob's garage -a Peugeot  905, a Sauber  C9 , a Spice C2 car and an F40 .  

No she isn't, she dumped him some time ago.

[exhillclimber]

I watched ITV4's second programme from the FoS and it was marginally better in content than the first however, David Green was again making stuff up as he went along and the dolly bird didn't appear to know that it is W.O. Bentley not W.A.! As for the "shoot-out", God give me strength! What an appallingly poor display, no wonder the FoS may be coming to an end after all "You can fool some of the people some of the time …………"

I'm sorry Steve but I don't think you are right about "FoS Coming to an end". I agree with you about the ITV programmes, but they are not aimed at the likes of you and me. FoS is not about passionate hillclimb fans, we go to genuine hillclimbs, nor is it about  historic racing, there's plenty of that about. It's about iconic cars that you will never see anywhere else except perhaps dormant in museums, and it's about the industry and its future. That's why it has become Europe's and possibly the world's major motor show, and why so many manufacturers choose it as the place to launch their new models. If you were to come, and visit FoS Futurelab you would be blown away by the ideas that are coming for the future of travel and the planet, and the spin-offs from the automotive world into so many areas including medicine.

With over 150 million viewers of the live stream it's going from strength to strength and I feel privileged to be a small part of it.

[bradbury west]

I always understood Amanda's motor sporting heritage to be spot on as she is the daughter of the late Terry Cohn, whose credentials never required burnishing, ISTR. One of the good blokes, qv the programme about his efforts to secure one of the pre War German silver cars, not to mention his other car exploits.
Roger Lund

[Gabrci]

Good lord (or now duke), I'm just appalled by some of the cringeworthy comments here. 

 

I was standing next to Emerson Fittipaldi as he was trying to hold back his tears when reunited with the chassis that made his career, there was that wonderful moment with the Stewart family, Mika Häkkinen talking about his rivalry with Schumacher on the McLaren stage, Jacky Ickx happily chatting to anyone who wished to chat with him, Sir Stirling's Monaco winner with the sidewalls off, Ickx and Oliver sitting together in that very GT40, 7 or so current F1 drivers driving cars from Can-Am to modern F1, the Solberg family putting on an awesome show, multiple world rally champions like Kankkunen or Biasion walking around almost unnoticed, Damon Hill driving Schumacher's Benetton, that unprecedented collection of Schumacher's cars, Giacomo Agostini on the MV Agusta, Barrichello in the Brawn, Stig Blomqvist cheerfully having a beer next to his Audo Quattro having finished for the day, Tom Kristensen in an Audi, Mick Doohan on a Honda, Senna's McLaren brought over by Honda with proper Marlboro livery, Riccardo Patrese in his Benetton, etc, etc... - for me this is the definition of heaven, but if it's not good enough for you and you even brag about not being interested or leaving as soon as possible, maybe it's better for everyone. 

 

Yes there are other aspects of the Festival that are not so interesting or not perfect. I'm not really interested in supercars either, so I spent 15 minutes walking around that paddock, it was 15 minutes well spent. The commentary was indeed very poor at times (English is not my first language by any means but... laptime?) and I also agree that there are two particularly lame aspects. One is the theme (speed kings, unbeatable kings, record kings, ...), though in a way it's respectable how they are able to come up with yet another totally meaningless wording of the same thing every year. The other one as someone has already mentioned is the hillclimb record, that I tend to agree is embarrassing. To start with, wonderfully spectacular as Heidfeld's run was, it was beaten only three years later by Allan McNish, then again by Kovalainen another few years later, and now Dumas had to back right off not to beat it too early, and when he did the commentators were like 'ehhhm, well, it's not really THE record because this is only a practice session, so let's call it the fastest time'. Uh. But when I am having the time of my life witnessing all those amazing moments I listed above, I'm perfectly happy to ignore supercars being displayed 200 meters away or a meaningless hillclimb record being talked about. 

 

Another unpopular thought: I have always found it so funny when people make derogatory comments about modern F1 cars, drivers and fans, I assume thinking that it will make them come across as some kind of a true artist in the know of the ultimate truth. Well, those cars and engines (as much as I don't like the hybrids either) are by far the most sophisticated racing machines ever created and the drivers are by far the most brilliant and complete racing drivers ever lived, so instead these comments will just demonstrate the the world has passed you by and you have been unable to keep up. Sorry to bring the bad news. 

[sabrejet]

Sir Stirling's Monaco winner had its sidewalls off? It was driving OK when I saw it! (it's a Lotus 18 by the way, even if its tyres are a bit dodgy)

[Gabrci]

Sir Stirling's Monaco winner had its sidewalls off? It was driving OK when I saw it! (it's a Lotus 18 by the way, even if its tyres are a bit dodgy)

 

I'm sorry if that's not what they are called, English is not my first language as I said - side panels? 

[Tim Murray]

Side panels is more correct, Gabrci, but we all knew what you were referring to anyway. We can only assume that Sabrejet’s Hungarian is better than your (excellent) English, so he would not make the same very minor mistake if your roles were reversed.

[sabrejet]

My attempts at humour are rarely modulated by the target audience! That may explain a great deal.

 

[Gabrci]

Nono, thanks, I'm all for humour and I also appreciate being corrected as that helps me improve my English - sabrejet, I would have appreciated your comment for both if I had understood it