[Mpower]

I've heard this logic of A1GP and how different countries fighting will make it more interesting. But tell me with 21 cars on the grid where is the cameraman going to focus, as usual the top 3 cars.
So, if your country's driver is lying in 12th or 13th forget about ever seeing him on TV.

I mean......I was excited about NK driving for Jordan, but other than when he is qualifying or being lapped I never see him on TV.

OK, so all the cars are equal performance, but so was the "World Series by Renault" and British-F3 where our man KC was driving. He barely made it into the top 10 and again the camera was never on him....so as an Indian why should it specially interest me ??

I have a feeling this is going to be a fight between European and South American drivers who have a lot more background in top level open wheel racing than India or Pakistan or Malaysia. Sorry, Mr. Sheik Maktoom but I am not expecting anything great from this. Lets wait and see.

[amitverma]

hate to admit it but this may be true....but as far as A1 is concerned, I am more looking towards it as a new form of publicity for motorsports in India.

[Gordon]

I've heard this logic of A1GP and how different countries fighting will make it more interesting. But tell me with 21 cars on the grid where is the cameraman going to focus, as usual the top 3 cars.
So, if your country's driver is lying in 12th or 13th forget about ever seeing him on TV.

Not always true. When any driver is fighting for any position, he draws attention and comes into the picture. Camera's are then switched to these guys no matter what position.

I mean......I was excited about NK driving for Jordan, but other than when he is qualifying or being lapped I never see him on TV.

Seriously, how many times has he made some position fighting with anyone?! When he does, he's on screen.

OK, so all the cars are equal performance, but so was the "World Series by Renault" and British-F3 where our man KC was driving. He barely made it into the top 10 and again the camera was never on him....so as an Indian why should it specially interest me ??

Maybe the difference lies in the nationality of the whole team.

Lets wait and see.

Thats all we can do. 25th September, 2005.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Seriously, how many times has he made some position fighting with anyone?! When he does, he's on screen.

Well he gets more screen mileage on account of the blue flags.

Originally Posted by Gordon

Maybe the difference lies in the nationality of the whole team.

Yes. I think thats going to make all the difference - see how the whole nation gets interested in tennis when we have a Davis Cup match on? At least that was the case in the Pre-Sania era.

Plus, you can count on our Yellow Newspapers like TOI to keep drumming up the hype. They'll even put it on the ET front page, if they could.

[mclaren1885]

well i dont think ones got to take the A1 series purely based on the fact that india is participating and so if we dont compete well its a flop logic that team india or any other team wont get enough tv coverage..good performers will get their show on screen,y would any tv presenter want to show a bunch of cars doing runs without any excitement,unless he wants to put all the viewers to sleep..i know a lot of us love watching narain karthikeyan race for the jordans but is that the only reason why we watch F1/???..nope we dont watch it only for him but to see the mclarens,renaults,ferraris,kimi,JPM,alonso,trull,M S and the kind to perform well and not look at NK alone as the vested interest in viewing..so even if team india or any other team for that matter doesnt get enough coverage so what all that we are interested is in a good fighting and exciting race no matter which position of the grid it comes from..so we ought to enjoy the game alone and not look at vested interests in a particular team..knowing the car freeks that we are all that should matter is a good race to entertain thats it..

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

nope we dont watch it only for him but to see the mclarens,renaults,ferraris,kimi,JPM,alonso,trull,M S and the kind to perform well and not look at NK alone as the vested interest in viewing..

See now you're comparing F1 to A1 .A1 GP cannot compete with F1 on a technology basis. If we are just interested in a good race, then we would be watching GP2, World Series etc, but we dont.

You have to look at the basis for starting A1 GP. It was started because no other global cirruit racing series came close to F1 TV ratings even by a country mile. Also it gives a chance for people to root for their countries and not get bored in the winter.

GP2, WorldSeries, CART, F3, F-BMWAsia, ETCC, DTM..........all of these are high tech series with close racing and are run globally with global participation but not many follow them. They merely function as a ladder series for drivers to work up to F1. Kinda like our Ranji Trophy. Hope A1 dosent end up like them.

[bruce]

Originally Posted by Mpower

See now you're comparing F1 to A1 .A1 GP cannot compete with F1 on a technology basis. If we are just interested in a good race, then we would be watching GP2, World Series etc, but we dont.

F1 generates good amount of interest with the popular drivers they have in it & ofcourse the big names in Motorworld Mfrs (All at one race-best for showcasing themselves)
F1 generated interest intially through the hype... so we are sticking on to it...
A1 is slowly gathering attention because we now feel like we want a Grand Prix which is not as monopolized as F1 (Bernie, Max & Ferrari)....(After this US GP)

Since the Car-package is same to all, there would defintely be good competition.

Originally Posted by Mpower

I've heard this logic of A1GP and how different countries fighting will make it more interesting. But tell me with 21 cars on the grid where is the cameraman going to focus, as usual the top 3 cars.
So, if your country's driver is lying in 12th or 13th forget about ever seeing him on TV.

We cannot say the A1 system is flawed just because the Cameras are not on our country drivers...
even the people at the venue cannot see all the cars at the same time;

All we want to see is the excitement & challenge in the motor sports & the people who cover these irrespective of the type of Grandprix try to package it on the telecast. It's better watching motorsports on TV sometimes, you get to see a lot;

Bruce

[Steeroid]

In an era when we can judge the result of an F1 race from the qualifying positions, ANY race which features drivers representing nations and driving similar cars will attract attention.

All they have to do is to ensure that there is real racing - wheel to wheel - on the track. I'm sick of watching people go round and round for 50 or 60 laps, with no significant changes in the order - wouldnt it be great to just see people fighting for position and exchanging positions instead of driving in formation?

F1 currently resembles the Republic Day parade - you know the order before the parade starts and you know it will be followed with military discipline.

[AvinashKeezh]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

F1 currently resembles the Republic Day parade - you know the order before the parade starts and you know it will be followed with military discipline.

then why do jpm or kimi, even if they are demoted 10 places on the grid finish on the podium???
i know everybody has the answer to that one!!!
but the A1 is going to be much more of a level playing field and so we should just wait for a couple of races to see if that can match up with the hype that is F1 (IMO F1 or for that matter any motorrace is worth that hype)

ak

[2L8uLoose]

OK I have to agree with MPOWER....
If you want to watch racing other than F1 for the driver.. SEE DTM...
That has to be one of the best racing series of all time... and I think that A1 is going to fizzle out rather fast...
its going to be like the new clubs and stuff opening up all over the place.. people go there coz its new and then six months down the line POOF... gone

[papps]

i doubt A1 will fizzle out so soon, its main advantage is it runs when no other major motorsport event is on, so there wont be anythin else to watch apart from that after the F1 season, it starts this weekend and carries on till April 2nd... during that time all other major sporting events like the WRC, F1, Moto Gp and all is off...

so yeah people might just develop an interest for it and the whole thing about cheering your country will come into play... so should be good... well its starts this weekend so lets see how it turns out...

anyways Best of Luck to Team India

[2L8uLoose]

Originally Posted by papps

i doubt A1 will fizzle out so soon, its main advantage is it runs when no other major motorsport event is on, so there wont be anythin else to watch apart from that after the F1 season, it starts this weekend and carries on till April 2nd... during that time all other major sporting events like the WRC, F1, Moto Gp and all is off...

so yeah people might just develop an interest for it and the whole thing about cheering your country will come into play... so should be good... well its starts this weekend so lets see how it turns out...

anyways Best of Luck to Team India

People have suivived for so many years without any racing for the 4 months of the off season.... and Im sure that they can make it without a pseudo racing series

[karthik247]

guys, abt the engines. All cars will have the same type of engine from the same manufacturer rite. So what if sumtin goes rong with the engine in one car?

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by karthik247

guys, abt the engines. All cars will have the same type of engine from the same manufacturer rite. So what if sumtin goes rong with the engine in one car?

Simple - the same thing should go wrong on all the other cars too. So if one starts smoking or coughing like the McLarens occasionally did this year, all the others will start doing so, sooner or later.

[karthik247]

No i meant, just some malfunction with the electricals in just one car. All the engines cannot perform 100% identically can they. I mean while manufacturing, there can be sumtin different, hope ya'll understand