Comments on: What do US F1 fans think of Speed?

By: Schumi Boy

Schumi Boy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:55:30 +0000

I do agree!SPEED predominantly caters with NASCAR.They should air F1 live during qualifying and race day.Live coverage is definitely much better.

By: DJ

DJ — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:01:51 +0000

Matchett talks too much? Hummm . . .

Aside from Windsor, I’ve always thought Steve Matchett was the least vocal amongst the remaining three. And that’s too bad because I really enjoy Matchett’s comments!

I must also say that Bob Varsha does a fantastic job as well. I think I slighted him, a tad, in earlier comments, without intending to do so.

Varsha is the “glue” which holds the F1 Speed team together. It’s one thing for Hobbs and Matchett to pipe in when they wish. But it’s another thing to be the “host” where you welcome the viewers, explain things, try to sound interesting as you attempt to prevent dead air, exit for commercials at the proper time, etc. Not an easy job!

Varsha also has a wealth of F1 knowledge and is clearly a passionate F1 fan.

It’s just that I prize the perspectives of Matchett and Hobbs because they have been there — they are ex-F1 people.

Long Live F1 on Speed!

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:09:21 +0000

I Love Speed’s F1 coverage, except Matchett talks too much. LET US HEAR THE CARS, YES!

By: Ed P

Ed P — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:29:09 +0000

Speed’s coverage was good until this weekend when they put themselves out of business by restricting the use of video recorders. If I cannot watch it at my convenience, I will not be watching it at all.

By: Rick DeNatale

Rick DeNatale — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:31:49 +0000

For about four races, starting with the last race in Turkey, the actual race coverage is on the Fox Network and not live.

So check your local Fox station.

I my case (in the Raleigh NC market) the local channel didn’t cover Turkey, and doesn’t look like it’s carrying Silverstone either.

Speed will show the race later this week, either Monday or Tuesday. I can’ remember which.

By: iann

iann — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:29:38 +0000

you know, I’m watching F1 Silverstone right now, or supposed to. I don’t understand why SPEED broadcasts the Saturday Qualifying LIVE, while probably the Sunday Race isn’t going to be broadcasted.
Are they showing Raceday on a different channel?

By: LovesF1

LovesF1 — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:45:47 +0000

Gotta agree with Viktor — not that I hate the Speed-TV team, but they are past it. With the pre-Senna era war stories and the British jingoism, it comes across as a bit of an old boys club. Windsor’s pre-race walks are often embarrassing since people just ignore him, whereas Brundle — a still respected driver — muscles right in and gets the interview. Windsor is just too busy being polite and not offending anyone. Now that we in Canada get a choice between coverage with the BBC commentary or coverage on Speed-TV, we always watch the pre-race on Speed, then switch to Brundle and Co. as soon as their coverage starts up. Brundle is the best F1 commentator, in English at least, around at the moment.

By: timmyM

timmyM — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:59:32 +0000

bit late to this one but…

don’t know about speed TV but i really enjoy the website.

for a motorsport fan that is not only fanatical about F1 but has become rather fond of NASCAR and IndyCar, its a really good read.

when I visit the US next year I should be able to sample how its done over the water, so that will be interesting too.

By: DJ

DJ — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:08:20 +0000

At the end of the straight sections on most circuits, top speeds are in the neighborhood of 300 kph. Speeds on some of the faster circuits can reach 330 kph, while sppeds on “slower” circuits, like at Monaco, are in the 280 – 290 kph range.

What always impresses me is how quickly an F1 car can reduce speed! I’m always amazed the brake discs don’t disintegrate after just a few laps. . .

By: myanmar

myanmar — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:52:16 +0000

Let me Know? How many kph in racing (F1)
for example (nearly 200 kilometer in hour) or Something

By: Woofydog

Woofydog — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 03:00:20 +0000

It’s actually called “Formula 1 Debrief”. In addition, the other F1 shows on Speed are “F1 Practice” which is session 2, “Inside GP” which is a tour around the race track and a bit about the culture of the area, “F1 Qualification” which includes Q1 Q2 and Q3, and of course the “F1 Race” which includes the 1/2 hour pre-race show and the post race interviews. All in All, it is terrific coverage evan though I have to record most all of it at the wee morning hours and play it back later.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:01:01 +0000

I would agree with you. Although there are certainly areas we could all find that could be improved, overall this is by far the best coverage we have had in the U.S. in the 20+ years I have been watching F1 on the various U.S. media outlets. My biggest beef is not liking Windsor (looking at him with those huge headphones, etc during his pit walks reminds me of Les Nessman on WKRP). Thankfully, for me, this should be his last year, if USF1 launches as planned. I wish they would replay the qualifying sessions later in the day, as they do with the actual races, but at least they show them. No other network was willing to devote the time to do that. Also they don’t edit and shorten down the race rebroadcasts (aside from the edits this year in Malaysia when they cut out a lot of the time when everyone was just sitting around, with their cars parked, waiting on the rain, before the race was called).

By: Paige

Paige — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:31:31 +0000

I love the Speed broadcast team.

I hate the fact that they don’t go to the tracks, aside from Windsor.

I’d also like to see the return of Derek Daly to the pit. He was a quality member of the team.

By: DJ

DJ — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:03:16 +0000

As an American who loves F1, I’m very appreciative that Speed covers it. Mind you, I’ve not seen F1 coverage except on Speed. So you’ll have to take that into account.

The way I see it, Hobbs brings the driver’s perspective, being an ex-F1 driver. Matchett brings the mechanic’s/engineer’s perspective, being an ex-F1 mechanic. And Varsha is the Local (American) “broadcast professional”. Of the three, Varsha’s opinions rank the least important to me, while Matchett’s rank highest.

However, Varsha does a great job considering his specified role on the coverage “team”. He could, IMHO, dispense with trying to use “British English” sayings, though I’m sure it’s tempting for a Yank to do so. It comes off as being a bit awkward, at least to me.

I would miss Hobbs if he weren’t there. I love his dry humor and non-politically-correct “zingers” (which Varsha seems to bristle at and attempt to cover up!) He certainly knows a lot about racing and brings up interesting insights.

Matchett is my fave, simply because after reading his books and listening to him for years now, I find that his opinions, perspective, etc., seem to mirror my own. If I could pick a life to live in the world of F1, it would be in the garage, not the cockpit and certainly not in management! Matchett seems to be the most practical amongst the three. His comments are thoughtful and always interesting.

Peter Windsor is also a gem. I assume he’ll be replaced once his new F1 team is running races. Any guesses as to who will replace him as the track-side personality?

Anyway, Long Live F1 on Speed! This American is very thankful to have access to the live broadcasts.

By: WyF1Fan

WyF1Fan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:11:12 +0000

As an American I have to say I think we are lucky to have Speed doing the coverage. The quality, the time given, and the care that the broadcasters but into it is great. I’m always saddened when a race is broadcast on Fox, or the few time a race was shown on CBS. The coverage is terrible and no time is given for pre-race or post-race coverage.
I understand wanting to get to a bigger market, but when next to no time is given to show the uneducated what F1 is about, it does no good. All Nascar fans see is old looking cars turning both left and right and have no idea what is going on.
If Bernie really wants to get more Americans into F1 work needs to be done to have adequate coverage on all the channels they may be looking into. As it stands Speed has set a high bar that other channels are going to have to live up to.
I say thank you to Speed TV for what they do for American F1 fans.

By: Raceaddict

Raceaddict — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:23:38 +0000

To Jay and Chris etc…

I’ve just watched, for the first time, the BBC feed of today’s (Saturday’s) practice session online and now I know what you mean. Having Gascoyne there as talent, well, SPEED has no comparison to him. Brilliant.

(Why didn’t I do this before?)

By: carlos

carlos — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:40:30 +0000

myp2p.eu

you get all sports you want.just download sopcast as the player

By: carlos

carlos — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:38:34 +0000

Speed does a decent job considering there is no advertisement for f1 nowhere on TV. F1 will have a hard time appealing to the large male audience in the USA. They are hooked on Nassscaar:they go roun and round but the real kicker are the crashes.have very few spectacular crashes on Naaasacaarr and the whole enchilada will crash too as far as Tv is concerned.

By: Trey

Trey — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:54:49 +0000

iM AN American, so i watch SPEED
I dont know why all you other commenters from the US have to pay extra for SPEED, cause its free for me.
I do wish the SPEED team would go along with Peter Windsor to the races overseas.
Overall they are great but there could be a few more commercials they could get rid of.

ESPN, CBS, and those others arnt really F1 people. They dont have the years of coverage that the Speed team has.

I think Bob Varsha is okay (for 20+ years of covering F1). Steve machett is very knowledgeable, since he was a former mechanic for many years.
David Hobbs is hysterical with his random insults.
Overall my rating: A (just a little less commercials and it will be an A+)

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:47:37 +0000

Perhaps SpeedTV not re-upping with Bernie would be a nice way for MotorsTV to make an entry in to the N.A. market and save us all from the crap that SpeedTV pumps out.

Only problem here is that Speed is finally gaining a foothold in the cable tv world and is in more and more basic packages as the years go by. If this were the case, then we would all be back at square one. Most houses wouldn’t have MotorsTV with it being such a new network on cable. Keep with Speed, regardless of the coverage quality…just put more into making the coverage better.