I HATE WILL BUXTON

I like Will. Did you hear his interview during the race with MS (I think) after his car broke? I like him even more now.

 

I met him a few times in real life. He's a really nice guy.

 

Wow - +.... uh I don't know...1000000....zillion

 

The two guys I've met personally are Varsha and Hobbs. Bob lives in this area and I've met him a couple of times, and he has more wit, knowledge and enthusiasm than he sometimes shows in the broadcasts. And I met David in Seattle where he was covering the end of a Great Race; he is as delightful in person as he is on the broadcasts.

Will Buxton's enthusiasm sometimes gets the better of him but he is a first-class pit reporter, and with him as the only member of the team on site, that is important.

I still say that all you guys are spoiled, as you don't remember the days when F1 wasn't even on American TV, live or otherwise!

 

They were ridiculous, and I usually enjoy them.

Say what you will about Will (lol), but he bags some legit interviews. Kimi after the qualy debacle and Fernando after the spin into the gravel. Those drivers were not happy and known for being difficult to interview (particularly Kimi). Then he got one with Michael during the race after his retirement.

It sure beats Windsor the Unflappable Liar getting a few short words out of Scott Speed and Rubens or some crap...

 

You didn't like Schumacher as Pegasus?

 

Back then if you relied on TV for Motorsport coverage you'd think that Islip Long Island was the epicenter of racing.

 

+1

 

you mean it wasn't?

 

I agree with you, but I also learned long ago: you are wasting your breath here, most of these guys think something has to be 'this way', or 'that way', they cannot seem to comprehend that different TV folks have different styles.

 

Turns out they were doing a bit of racing in Europe.
Who knew?

 

Posey is great and Buxton is tolerable.

 

You get a real appreciation for these guys when you compare the alternative. I remember the US GP that Mika Hakkinen won. Mika was on a one stop strategy. After he pitted 12 to 15 laps after everyone else, Eddie Cheever was saying "Hakkinen will have to give up the lead to pit!" He never once talked about tire strategy or the fact that all others would have to pit again. He never talked about taking on a lot of fuel to make race distance. It was just another pit stop. At the end Rubbens was on fresh tires and chasing down Mika--and Cheever never mentioned how bad the tires were worn.

Gotta appreciate people who know about the "game."

 

Sam Posey's last Perspective jumped the shark.

 

I agree, that one was pretty lame. I think he may be listening too much to the producers at Speed, eager to use all their computer generated effects gear....

 

^ maybe this is what happens when posey's perspective is no longer his perspective.....
Ed

 

I think the point is really that today we are blessed with so much more coverage that its hard to look a gift horse in the mouth..... kinda thing.

I remember that race - I was at Long beach & watkins glen that year as well. Back then Autoweek was about the only place to get up to the min/ weekly racing news... Road & Track kind of like to day would report on stuff that was 2- 3months old. My Godfather used to get Italian news papers and they would cover Ferrar - but it was all in italian.. so not as easy to read... As for Varsha, I like him, he 's a good guy, I he makes mistakes - sure, but is still knows the sport better than many on this board... and you all try to talk for 2 hours about racing while watching TV feed and make it interesting - not so easy.

 

Possibly. They in some ways are at a disadvantage by all the resources they have at their disposal. One example is McLaren pulling out of the pit box with what clearly we can see as white letter tires, yet Matchett doesn't know and implies that he needs to see the car to determine what tires it is on. Apparently he is looking at something else and it isn't the race itself; probably timing and scoring, or the cooler And we all know the SPEED commentators are seeing the race before we do (delayed by a few seconds). Its this kind of situation that makes some of us feel their best isn't good enough.

 

At least Buxton is enthusiastic and has a fair amount of knowledge. Some of you guys should have watched the Monaco Grand Prix on Wide World of Sports in the 1960's. We have it very good now.

 

Yup.
And road cars are better too.
But some are still better than others.
Now that PW is off air I find the SPEED broadcast more than acceptable (and certainly better than nothing) but having seen what other countries can produce I know that they can do better.

 

Peter Windsor, is that you? Didn't know you joined Fcaht...

 

Knowing Varsha personally, I'd be happy to pass on any suggestions but with small - limited sponsorship and no money to really do anything kind of hard to figure out what they can do better... unless we just get the BBC's coverage.

 

Autoweek was still "Competition Press" and was in newpaper format. The Road and Track coverage was much farther behind than Motorsport, but I had wait to read what happened in both since Motorsport had to be airmailed. Having attended Watkins Glen in 73, 74 and 76, (yeah, I missed Lauda's win in 75) it was very exciting to see the Long Beach Grand Prix on Television. If I recall, Monaco would be covered on ABC.....those were the bad old days for F1 coverage in the US.