A few words on Le Mans.
I'm still grumpy today about the result, I've witnessed some cruel things over the years but that takes it to the extreme. At the time I took it on the chin and just thought that’s racing, as the hours have since ticked by I’ve been finding this growing sense of injustice and anger welling up inside me about it. To not have the car even classified is beyond harsh (cough cough…. Peugeot 2007).
I had no problem with the RLM streams over the weekend, they were reliable and buffering wasn't a problem. I started the race watching the main ES feed with a bit of live timing and onboard's around me. It was a shame the onboard’s for #5, #6, and #7 were dead from the start, I was loving the Toyota's hunting the Porsche's in the early stints. The adverts on ES soon got to me though. I spent the next few hours faffing between differing setups.
I had quite a few issues syncing everything up together between the differing apps, the WEC stream was my preferred choice but there was no natural sound feed and the two commentators were dull as dishwater. I can't understand why the Eurosport Player provides a natural sound feed yet the official app doesn't. Anyway by midnight after trialling a few different combinations I found my perfect setup.
Laptop plugged into TV with two internet tabs open, Radio Le Mans youtube broadcast in one tab, and Eurosport Player on the other (set to full screen). The Eurosport feed was set to the 3:1 view (main, pit lane and onboard). I typically found Eurosport Player around 15 seconds behind RLM but syncing was a doodle. The WEC app feed wandered between 30-45 secs out of syncing with live timing and the commentary. I put the WEC app on a separate laptop and treated it as the GT class coverage with rotating onboard's between the top GT cars. I used a couple of other tablets for live timing, P2 onboards, and lap tracker. My setup >
https://i.imgsafe.org/7d20dbc8ec.jpg
Commentary
ES – The commentary team are ok, they do a good job given the restrictions they have. I love Jeremy Shaw, Damien Faulkner and kinda ambivalent towards Martin Haven. I quite like Liz Haliday even if her pit interviews amount to confirming night follows day. The adverts on ES were a welcome break to begin with but soon become massively annoying and I didn’t watch anymore ES (ES1 feed) from around 9 hours into the race. I’ve got the whole 24 hr recorded on ES1/2 and will rewatch over the next few months (it’s my default ‘moving wallpaper’ on the tv when nothing’s on).
WEC – Coma inducing, although informed it just seemed sterile with two fans commentating.
RLM – The clue is in the title, by far the best of the teams. I did miss Hindy and Goodwin commentating on the main TV feeds (to me Hindy is the voice of Le Mans) but got my fix dialling up RLM. It’s the first year I’ve properly binned off the ES main commentary and I didn’t look back. I don’t understand why the two teams can’t be combined. It seems wrong to have Jeremy Shaw and Graham Goodwin commentating ‘against’ each other. Spoilt for choice in one respect but not a choice I think we should have to make. Shea was solid enough in the pits even if the drivers do refuse to answer anything overly probing (too much ‘it’s a long race, we’ll wait and see’ talk). It’s rubbish logging into work this morning and having no live stream to dial up. I did find Paul Truswell’s mic quiet and hard to hear at points.
ES 24 Minutes – I like the little excerpts but don’t really see the point in it, to me it got in the way of the main coverage. I’m not sure who it’s aimed at, casuals won’t seek it out and anybody watching the race will already know what’s happening. Funny seeing the host and TK getting drenched before race start. The host was visibly straining to keep in the ‘FFSakes’ at the weather.
Road To Le Mans Support Race – No TV coverage this year I could find, found a link direct from the ACO Le Mans website a few min before lights out.
The Good
Being left to watch a 24 hour race uninterrupted (my OH disappeared out for the weekend)……
Sky Fibre – Can’t complain after having up to 6 streams all running between 720p and 1080p without streaming issues or connection drops
The Mountain of snacks I consumed guilt free
Differing feeds, F1 should take note!!!
Watching Eurosport Player in the shower (waterproof phone), a few years ago it was one tv feed buried on MotorsTV, times have changed. It’s great to see LM in ascendency and embracing differing platforms.
Visiting Le Mans a few weeks ago, it really helped appreciating the scale of the place. I found myself looking for off track oddities I remembered and it brought back very happy memories.
RLM/Community – It’s not just about this race, but in the months after/leading up to LM I listen to Midweek Motorsport and love the community aspect of it all. In the darkest depths of December you’ll see a tweet from someone in the sport or from the collective and it puts a smile on your face. I don’t get that from F1 anymore, just witness endless tribal debates and fandom.
Frederic Sausset – How inspiring, just wow.
The Bad
Inability to pause and sync WEC app.
Unable to run two PC streams from Eurosport (but it does permit one PC and multiple tablets/phones)
My cats bringing in frogs throughout the night as a warning for some attention.
Frequency and repetition of ES adverts
It’s all over for another year and returning to being a Le Mans Loner
Driver Tracker – It never seems to run smoothly for me on the WEC app, the cars are often so far removed from their real time position it’s pointless.
No qualifying 2 on ES
Formula 1
After the unbelievable events at the end of Le Mans I was not in the mood for F1. I had planned to pause the start and turn over 15 min into the race and quickly catch up to the live timing/broadcast. I think it was around 9 last night I was finally able to sit down and watch it, I didn’t miss much.
I thought the track looked fantastic, it looked like a giant Formula E track on steroids. Some of the camera angles were fantastic and really conveyed the speed. The race left me a bit cold though, soon as Nico disappeared at lights out it was a foregone conclusion the result and I found it all a bit dull. By halfway through I was bored rigid and starting wishing away the laps. Only saw it on SSF1, can’t say nothing overly critical of PDR, for someone who is usually dull he was ok in the comms box. Crofty….I just don’t know how I feel about him these days. When he was on BBC Radio 5 he was excellent, him and Ant Davidson were the hidden gems in F1 coverage, widely loved by the viewers. Now he’s on Sky I don’t know what’s happened, it’s all a bit too predictable and cliché ridden. He knows his stuff but you don’t hear that anymore. Maybe I was just jazzed after LM but Baku did nothing for me at all.