oust varsha

I like Bob Varsha and the Speed gang. Just keep the trio plus Peter. As for mistakes well Murray Walker started as a motorsports announcer in 1948. He made lots of mistakes along the way and he still had a job until 2006. Commentary mistakes mean sfa.
I get lots of choices though with SpeedTV for practice and the BBC coverage for saturday and sunday.
CH

 

Now I remember who I was talking about - Ralph Shaheen !!! Now there is a commentator who could get you to stop watching motorsports. The guy yells all the time.

For those of you on the other side of 45; dare I say 50(?), do you remember Larry Nuber doing the ESPN F1 events?

The worst is that ********* Jack Arute. They guy should just go somewhere and retire already - he was NEVER good. Varsha isn't that bad after all.

 

Yes Larry Nuber teamed up with Bob Jenkins doing the NASCAR and Indy stuff. Another old guy is Paul Page who got a new life over at NHRA...

I agree about Jack 100%
CH

 

Geez - you guys are rough. Ever watch the Nascar folks when those guys are on a road course? Compared to that, the Speed F1 guys are geniuses. As far as Varsha goes, I like the guy. Sure he makes a few mistakes, but let's remember that part of his job is to "dumb it down" in the hopes that there's an American out there that might watch this F1 thing and pick it up as a new fan. I'm just glad we get all three days of coverage now.

 

That guy scares me. Watch his eyes next time you see him. Looks like a psycho!

 

Does the BBC crew typically do their broadcast out of a remote studio like the SPEED crew does? Or are they typically at the track?

You complainers are all spoiled. I remember the days when races weren't on TV at all and you often had to wait until the next week's "Autoweek" came out to find out who even won the race!

 

He and Sam Posey both suck. Those stupid dramatic intros they do before races with Posey's voice are horrible, especially when Posey can't pronounce the names of half the drivers on the grid ("FALEEP Massa")

 

Actually, Posey's pieces are some of the best on TV. You don't know much about him, do you?

Speed has far worse program issues than the F1 announce team...for instance all those crap shows like Pinks. The smaller HD networks are putting them to shame with shows like Isle of Man TT, Goodwood Revival, Twist The Throttle, GT-Racer and the Bonham's retromobile auction.

 

It doesn't take an intimate knowledge of the guy to form a negative opinion about those little bits he does before races.

 

True...and you know what they say about opinions....

 

Better commentators on the sportscar races on Speed.

Gotta be more out of work Euros that can talk F1. These current ones are not going to attract new fans, neither is cable coverage. the networks should broadcast the Beeb on a delay (oh Fox tried that, but they used the Speed announcers and too many commercials....)

notice how varsha catches onto things about a race after 'Obbs or Match mentioned them, like some puppy dog.

now he's trying to squeeze in mentions of as many US kids over there as he can, that'll help their CVs.

 

BBC guys go to the track I believe. They mention stuff like asking Ross Brawn something at dinner last night and DC was (is?) the back up driver still for the team so he automatically goes to all the races.
CH

 

I believe John B moved back to europe, he ran catering deals for few of the F1 teams. He may have retired with his gorgeous swedish(?) wife. The FI deal started with John and Brian kriesky selling it to Speed, they were live at the events then, Brian died when his plane crashed during take off a few years later.

FYI, I ran John in Formula Three early 1972 in a Martini chassis with L&M and Holiday Inn sponsorship, he had some connection to both IIRC.

I have been watching and /or a part of F1 since about 1959. The Beeb was only thing those days, later years we would do the GP, fly back on a charter and watch the race later that night (with the great intro music, 'Chains' by Fleetwood Mac). fortunately never dealt much with ITV as the satelite could get the whole Bernie broadcast commercial free, shots of topless babes on boats etc. Unfortunately also showed more details of crash than were broadcast, sennas especially showed the helmet from a helio.

 

First of all I have no real problem with the SPEED team. Matchett is a good resource for tech info and Hobbs is - well, Hobbs. Varsha is doing what he is told - keep it simple and try to explain to gain more viewers. I would like to have a more recently retired driver give some color, though.

I saw a note that Bisignano was reporting at the SCCA runoffs, so at least he is still around motorsports. How much he could contribute to an F1 broadcast now is questionable. Of course his delivery of the same Varsha-esque dialogue might be accepted better by some. I only seem to remember a turned up collar on a polo shirt when he was on ESPN - though that was the 80s...

Johnstone never did anything for me during his brief stint behind a microphone.

 

+1 on your comments

Steve is cool and has had some very insightful "Per Matchett" episodes this year.

 

I'm ok with the trio as long as they report on Speed.

When they do the same on Fox they are utterly useless: They dumb down the level of reporting to 5 year olds. Just horrible.

That said, Euro commentators are better, but hey, at least we see the races here.

Windsor is a tool. Should be interesting to see that bag of hot air "run" a F1 team...

 

Varsha is absolutely the best US F1 announcer I've heard. Need I remind anyone of the HORRID apparent monster truck announcers CBS and Fox hired for their F1 races in recent years?

 

Good point. Just wondering how many of the Varsha detractors here have only seen him cover F1 races on Fox? The Fox coverage is geared towards NASCAR fans and four year olds, or vice versa ;-). When watching him on Speed I find him to be extremely knowledgeable.

 

When Varsha pronounces Ayrton with three syllables it's grating on my ears and he makes it sound like he wants to spit it out. Whether he thinks he's right or not, the entire rest of the world pronounces it "air-ton". Don't abuse the name of the best that ever lived.

 

100, million % agree. I know Bob, he is a true enthusiast and knows a lot of what is going on! dont like it dont watch. tune in to BBC on line.

 

Actually, it is in Charlotte. I ran into Hobbs in a local bookstore and he told me that they call the races from Charlotte. They have all telemetry, and a dozen screens at their disposal.

Hobbs is pretty cool. Don't like Varsha. The watch thing was just plain stupid.

 

I agree 100%. They have way more character when broadcasting on Speed [compared to BBC/ old ITV coverage] ; and IMO do a fantastic job of it. In August, I met the two of them, and they are both very humble people who truly love what they do. I wish them both the best

 

If I remember correctly, he was friends with "Ayrton"...lost a ton of memorabilia in a house fire including a helmet Senna gave him

 

Definitely, Charlotte...I sat in on a few races when I lived there.
Love em or hate em, they were the guys in town that I could talk F1 with for years....of course, I go and leave for LA and USF1 moves to Charlotte.
(15yrs with "F1" as my NC license plate and only two people inquired if I was into Formula 1)

 

Love Varsha, love Hobbs, I think the 3 have a great, relaxed chemistry on the broadcasts. I just wish Matchett would stop calling every car a SHASSHEE! Just call it a car once in a while, jeez....! Seems a little contrived, like he's trying impress us all with his intimate knowledge of F1 cars.

Greg