17 replies to this topic

[tonyed]

I think it is time to stop pedaling the car series, F1, as sport and rebrand it as a 'Reality Show'.  

Seems to me it has more in common with the crap pedaled to the 'plebs' such as 'Love Island', 'Get yer kit off I'm a moron', 'TOWIBI - The Only Way Is Baffin Island', 'Pro-Celebrity Bitching' etc.

Instead of sitting in computer controlled Scalextric cars the contestants could lounge around a swimming pool in Monaco (I thought that is what they did anyway), dripping in cheap jewelry and their sponsors products (tat), and call each other derogatory names and then have a panel of 'elder peers' slagging them off to the point where violence breaks out and the handbags fly.

The winner would be the one Bernie Ecclestone likes (at that moment in time) or whose ever rich dad bought them the biggest seat.

Save all that noise and pollution.   and make great TV on a Saturday night when Ant or Dec aren't on and Simon Cowell doesn't know he's on TV because he's got his head up his arse.

In the winter they could repeat it 'on ice' 

Each week the punters could vote one of them off or vote that they go and get a 'real job' in the 'real world' and then they would be replaced by another rich daddies boy. 

Just a thought

Edited by tonyed, 02 July 2022 - 22:52.

[Robin127]

Can't wait until some of the people on other boards of this forum get wind of this post

[tonyed]

They must all agree 

Or are too embarrassed to reply 

Don't care 

Still watching the replays of the 'exciting' F1 season or the 'notebook' of Theodore Joseph Nathaniel Slotover revisiting (ad nauseum) the 1894 Paris-Rouen Rally on Sky F1 (the channel that keeps 'Groundhog Day' alive) 

Still trying to get out of Silverstone 

Edited by tonyed, 05 July 2022 - 13:34.

[Michael Ferner]

I think "Don't care" probably comes closest. In fact, if I wasn't that bored (at work, oops  ) right now, I wouldn't even have cared enough to not care.

[brands77]

I hate to say it, but I can see parallels in MotoGP.

 

The amount of stuff that M Marquez gets away with - "rubbing", cutting across under braking and the blatent seeking a tow during qualifying has many similarities to what Senna, Schumacher and now Verstappen were/are allowed to get away with in F1 - all supposedly in support of "the show". I can't think of another rider, especially a champion, given that much leeway. Yes, I heard Nieto wasn't pleasant to ride against, but don't know too much about him. Capirossi and Spencer both barged their way to titles, but outside of there were not consistently accused of dangerous riding. Well I never really heard much in the press, which was my only source - maybe the press of old were different and more deferential - but some of the old hacks are now a bit less circumspect when they report on the old days and I figure some of it may have come out now. Perhaps that might be a good thread here! And Rossi had his moments with Gibernau and Stoner.

 

Rossi and Sheene were pretty rock star in their days, although personally, I have no problem with the way they were.

 

We do now have a Netflix series too, where certain riders ham it up for the cameras! And we are treated to the delights of riders walking their dogs and eating breakfast - rivetting stuff.

 

Not saying it is as bad, but we might be getting there .....

Edited by brands77, 06 July 2022 - 09:07.

[tonyed]

I hate to say it, but I can see parallels in MotoGP.

Not saying it is as bad, but we might be getting there .....

Bit like the USA and the UK really. The UK is only the US but a couple of years behind.
Sad really as both 'sports' have just become 'big business's'
Can't agree about Fart Fartez though, the mans never ridden with anything but good grace and fair sportsmanship
Talking of 'Barger' Spenser it is he that has given Quartararo a pit lane penalty for one misdemeanor. Can't remember him penalising FF for his 'roller derby' riding

[Michael Ferner]

I was a big fan of Sheene (when I was a wee bit younger), but Rossi's "personality" turned me off motorcycle racing indefinitely, I must say. That means, I'm not really up to snuff about today's racing etiquette, but wouldn't be surprised if there are parallels to F1. Society has changed, the media have changed. F1 is a joke in many ways, and if bike racing isn't yet they've probably just succeeded in buying some time.

[tonyed]

I was a big fan of Sheene (when I was a wee bit younger), 

I raced in the Sheene era and on one occasion qualified for the final from the same heat when he failed to do so. 

Sheene was good for the sport in many ways bringing the sport to the attention of the plebs through his life style and publicity (the Sun loved him) but was a narcissistic entity who was only interested in the sport for his own ends. 

His self interest ensured that his 'works' Suzuki team mates didn't get the same equipment or opportunity. He was lucky to get a second chance at Yamaha after slagging them off originally, and then winged about the equipment he got.

Kenny Roberts had him sussed from the start, with Bazzas' refusal to use a slick front tyre. 

Between him and 'Our Henry' I spurned the use of 'Splash it all over' Brut and stuck to 'Old Spice' despite smelling like a tarts boudoir rather than 'A Man'. 

RIP Bazza 

[tonyed]

In F1 (Fart #1) they have a thing called a 'cooldown room', where presumably the F1 car passengers (drivers is a bit of an exaggeration) can gather their wits ( ) before the official handbags throwing commences.

What a 'wunch of bankers' as they say.

Time to draw a line and move onto a sport    

What would Daddy say    

[brands77]

The way the F1 title was manipulated last year, does seem to suggest that commercial interests now are beginning to get an upperhand over the sports side of things. Whether this was for "the show", was against Hamilton as he was winning too much, or for Verstappen as it was good marketing or a bit of all, I don't know. However, I can't think of any example where this has happened in bike racing - some body may be able to enlighten me here, but I have had a good think and I can't recall anything similar.

 

But, I think we are seeing a greater tolerance of marginal (to say the least) riding tactics, and not just from M Marquez, just as we have seen in F1 with Verstappen, to improve the "show"; and we are, as a result I think, seeing many more complaints about stewarding decisions from the riders, once again just like we are seeing in F1. I don't believe Freddie and his colleagues in the stewarding room, or where ever they hang out, are as incompetent as is being suggested, I think they, like in F1, are under pressure to let things get spicy so that the casual tv fan can see crashes, as well as controversy and possibly even injury, to draw them into watching MotoGP, instead of watching cats do boring things on Youtube or what ever is in this week.

 

Ezpeleta says he would never manipulate the championship like it was done last year in F1. I am not so sure, especially if the ratings went down ...

[10kDA]

The case could be made that the 1976 Formula 750 championship was manipulated. The decision to throw out the results of the second round certainly affected the outcome of the championship, and the reason for throwing out the results seemed to be to avoid having the FIM look bad. A consequence was that the protest that had been filed was never addressed. Not denied - it was as if it had never existed.

[Michael Ferner]

Well, they wanted everyone to forget that the event ever existed/took place Which is and was, understandable!

[brands77]

Yes, I had forgotten about that and Gary Nixon always said it robbed him of the championship. As I remember the Venezuelan round was sponsored by Venemotos the Yamaha importers and they wanted a Yamaha to win. Nixon thought he won on a Kawasaki, but Steve Baker on the Yamaha Canada OW31 was credited with the win. The round was made null and void and Nixon lost by 14 points to Victor Palomo in the final standings.

 

What would you chalk that one down to - local politics or corruption?

 

Incidentally there is a short video of the race here https://www.britishp...MILE/query/1976 - commentary is in Spanish though

Edited by brands77, 12 July 2022 - 22:18.

[MikeTekRacing]

F1 as a pure sport cannot exist - and audiences have been declining for a while. 
The concept has to reinvent itself. Now wether we agree or not with the direction is a bit irrelevant. 

There is a sporting element to it, and a business element of it. 

 

The moment sports become professional, with money, companies and sponsors it starts being a show

[Michael Ferner]

I blame it all on this teenage boy, Alberto Cecotto. If he hadn't suddenly won a world championship nobody in their right mind could have imagined going to Venezuela to race! Yes, the whole event was likely the brainchild of Andrea Ippolito, the Venemotos boss and jack-of-all-trades in Venezuelan motorcycle racing (I seem to recall he was boss of the national federation, too), and everything about it appears to have been amateurish. The way I alaways understood it, Nixon was officially declared the winner until Baker protested the results. In reality, I think nobody (least of all the officials) took any notice of the race standings as long as Cecotto was leading, but the naughty boy stopped a handful of laps before the finish because he was exhausted! Cue all-around panic! My impression is that most of the internationals thought Baker had actually won, having been docked a lap in the first heat, but it was probably a nightmare to reconstruct the standings from the official records. At some point, the FIM cried 'enough' and struck the event from the records entirely, although I think that was only late in fall, at the congress. By that time, most everybody had accepted that Baker had won, and second place would not have been enough for Nixon to clinch the title anyway.

[Michael Ferner]

 

What would you chalk that one down to - local politics or corruption?

 

 

Incompetence is probably the right word.

[brands77]

Looking at the video of the race the crowd control seems pretty non existent and it does look very amateurish.

 

Regarding sports becoming a show when money gets involved. Yes, that's very true. The problem is when the show takes over and the sport takes second place. I think that's when the long established fans become worried.  In F1 there has been a steady erosion of driving standards from Senna through Schumacher and now with Verstappen, in my opinion, because these drivers were popular, it's controversial and it gets newspaper column inches - so the show is taking over.

 

In MotoGP I can see the same thing happening. Marc Marquez, gets away with things that other riders in the past did not. Many of these practices are dangerous (contact with another bike to brake, swerving under braking...) and MotoGP is inherently more dangerous than F1, so that in my mind is concerning. In common with the drivers above, he is both popular and brilliant. He gets away with it and others copy and then it becomes endemic. We have seen an awful number of fatalities of younger riders last year and some pretty poor riding practices in the lower Moto3, Superbikes 300 and Junior GP classes.

 

Perhaps they are allowing it because we don't see the riders struggling to control the bikes the way it was on the 500c 2-strokes of the 80s and 90s, where a brutal high side was possibility almost every corner. So the show isn't so good for the casual fans on TV. Maybe this means we need to make the bikes more difficult to ride to get safer riding practices!

Edited by brands77, 13 July 2022 - 07:30.

[tonyed]

Lewis Hamilton believes Max Verstappen winning the Hungarian Grand Prix after starting 10th and spinning “says pretty much everything about his car”.

 

Of course when Hamilton was winning it was all about Hamiltons' skill NOT the superior car he was driving.  

Handbags at dawn and bring your own 'second'