NEXTEL Fan Cam For F1?

i agree on F1 being a little too elitist at times. Drivers are in no way approachable and all the rule changes seem to be making it worse for the fan.

I grew up around NHRA and attended the USGP for the first time last year and was kinda disapointed. Being an engineering major, i really wanted to see the cars up close and the only things i could get close to were the Infiniti/Menardi and the BMW formula cars. Still impressive, but i wanted to see an F1 car up close. NHRA you can walk up to the pits of any of the cars and it's not uncommon (if you are there in the morning) to actually hold a conversation with one of the drivers. I kinda think F1 just doesn't understand this.

Also, along the same lines as the fan cam, NHRA has had 'racedata' data transmitters for a while where you plug a card into a gameboy and you can see the incrementals of the runs. Not nearly as cool as this fancam you're describing but it lets you keep up on what is going on and analyze the run a little better.

 

I'm not a fan of NASCAR but I do have to admire their success in marketing their product. Other race series could learn a lesson.
John

 

NASCAR broadcasts were revolutionized by the FOX network. The tech that FOX brings with their computer animations of the inner workings of the cars, and the tracking arrows with info bubbles, makes NASCAR races watchable and educational to the person who is new to the sport.

FOX raised the bar for network broadcasting of auto racing. They did it because there was competition among the networks. As long as we are forced to watch BernieVision, there will never be any dramatic revolutions in the way we watch Formula One.

 

Rule changes were a result of Ferrari dominating F1 for over five years straight. Races were pretty much pre-determined once Schumacher took the grid. F1 Fans were bored, as seasons were 'locked up' for Ferrari half-way through, and races toward the end of the season did not decide the outcome of the championship. Once the rules were implemented, Ferrari wasn't absolutely dominating the sport, and fans have gotten a chance to watch someone else win for a change. The connection might be a 'reach', but to the novice fan, rule changes worked (Indy being the exception). So they will be around for awhile until the other teams reach some financial/technical parity with the bigger teams.

F1 is healthy at pretty much every other venue except the US - there's a waiting list of countries who would like to host F1 races. It is still one of the most-watched sports on the planet, and still maintains one of the largest fan bases regardless of whether US fans are on-board or not. DO NOT expect F1 to shudder in fear because of the success of NASCAR here - only Americans like NASCAR. The Rest Of The World loves F1. F1 does not need to care about the shrinking US market - they have China, Russia, Europe, South America, Japan, and now the Middle East on their side of supporters. These countries represent the larger bulk of the world's population. The tail does not wag the dog.

 

I agree with most of your post. But don't assume only americans like nascar. There was a exhibition race a couple of years back in Suzuka and the Japanese loved it. It is also growing steadily in south america. If nascar were to really try to expand globally they'd do extremly well because of one simple reason. They put the fans first. F1 is very closed off and when fans elsewhere see how open and fan friendly NASCAR is they fall in love. Is F1 under any real threat right now? No but NASCAR is expanding and can't be written off too easily.

 

They also had a race in Mexico last season and that went over very big. I can't remember if it was Busch series or Nascar though.

Um... yeah, a little of a reach considering they changed a ton of rules this year and Ferrari was far from dominant. You could almost say the rule changes are to HELP Ferrari back into dominance but we'll see. Let's just say the FIA is not going to hurt their golden boy Michael Schumacher unless it gets too extreme.

And the US is a very big market from the standpoint we have a ton of money to throw at a sport to buy it if we like it. Drifting is a good example of this. Our D1/Formula D series is already close to the size of Japan's and it's been going for 2 years. We have 2 open wheel series already that are based in America. Trust me, F1 wants the US market. If not they would of thrown in the towel after the latest USGP debacle and turned their back on the US.

 

I think ChampCar is an interesting "case study". They seem to be follow the fan-friendly approach of NASCAR.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the USGP has among the top 5 attendance for the races. I heard something similar to that on the radio while waiting for the 'race' in 2005. Does anyone know of lists of official attendance?