| How To: Be a Race Fan 2.0 |
|
|
| Friday, 07 August 2009 | |||||||
|
Nothing beats actually sitting in the stands or in-field at an auto race. The sounds, the smells and the sights are a unique part of racing. Short of being there, there have always been other ways to get a “race fix.” Newspaper box scores and articles, as well as enthusiast and sports magazines provide post-race coverage, while TV and radio gives us various ways to be around the action. As a young fan, I didn't care that my dose of Monaco TV coverage was actually delayed several hours or even days. My father bought a 12” vinyl record of the coverage for the 1959 12 Hours of Sebring race. The recording included highlights for the race, interviews with drivers and the pure, unadulterated sounds of the cars. The practice sessions were all rain soaked, and much of the race was run under rain. The skies cleared toward the end of the race, though. I listened to the album a couple years ago when the weather at the current 12 Hours of Sebring eerily resembled that of the recording.
The Web has had a profound effect on race fans, as well as on much of our culture and commerce. The basics of video and Web pages provide a good foundation for keeping on racing. The addition of new services, like Twitter and Facebook, provide the enthusiast with a Web 2.0 experience. I've pulled together some tips for making the most of the Web and social media to follow racing. For a basic primer on auto racing, check out my previous article “How To: Be A Race Fan” by clicking here . Live TimingThe Web ushered in a new era for all media, and racing has fully embraced it for many years. For six or seven years, several racing series have offered “live timing” features, using the telemetry data gathered from sensors in the cars and around the tracks. Early on, live timing gave hardcore fans a way to follow races that never got airtime. Basic information like position, lap speed, top speed, gap to the leader, number of pitstops and current driver (in multi-driver series) are kept up-to-date throughout events. An early Champ Car system tracked the progress of a driver through the pack, using colored lines that rose as the driver gained position and fell as he dropped. The resulting chart was a great visual representation of activities throughout the race. IndyCar and American Le Mans Series both offer live timing pages. These are typically organized by the current race or running order, and show the information listed above. You can also see as cars go into the pits, and when a caution flag is displayed on the course. IndyCar also makes this feature, though a little limited, available on mobile devices like BlackBerrys. Web VideoWeb video feeds gave us even more ways to follow far-flung races. Reliability was the original downfall of streaming media; either connections at home were too slow or the supply was bad. Over time, the video became more reliable and sophisticated. In fact, I remember watching the closing laps of the 12 Hours of Sebring as two GT2 class cars duked out clear through to the last turn of the race. The video feed from your favorite series may or may not require a membership or fee to view it. In the case of the IndyCar Series, they provide their Race Control video and live timing free, but require you to sign up for it by creating an account.
Understand that the video in this case is limited to live views of the race from both static and aerial cameras. There's no fancy cuts between cameras as color commentators describe the action, and there's no instant replay. But there are also no commercials, even when the accompanying radio broadcast takes a break. Enter TwitterRacing started to dig into Twittter in 2009. Just before the IndyCar race at Kansas Speedway, a blogger/tweeter I follow posted about a Vision Racing team member who had a habit of tweeting from the pit wall during each race. I immediately followed and was hooked. At the time, Pat Caporali, Vision's media and communications director, would tweet action from the team. Messages like “Ed [Carpenter] says heavy understeer” and “Taking more wing on next stop, 2 laps” brought the race action to my BlackBerry while sitting in the stands at the track. She provided a behind-the-scenes look at the team, much in the same way track radios provide an ear into the driver/team communications. But tweeting goes way beyond race time. After the Kansas race, I began following several teams, commentators, even drivers. And it was the non-race tweeting that provided the greatest insight. Former champ Tony Kanaan and ever-hopeful Sarah Fisher peeled back the covers on the lives of drivers. As Fisher prepared for a run at the Indy 500, it became evident how relatively normal her life is.
And, after the big race:
It was fun to get a true look into Fisher's life and make her efforts more personal. On the other hand, Tony Kanaan's like seemed to be spiraling as he tweeted through the late spring and early summer. Much of his tweeting has been centered on his long travels between races, returning to Miami and Brazil regularly to see his family. In particular, he regularly lamented missing his young son. All this was in the midst of a horrible racing season for him. He's had several accidents (as I write, he's just been cleared to race in Kentucky after a nasty pitlane fire in Edmonton) and hasn't shown well in races. It's been fun to watch Vision's Pat expand her use of Twitter. Through tweet conversations, a buddy and I were treated to pit passes for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 in June. We hooked up with Pat just before the race on Sunday, after spending the entire previous day in the pits and garage. It was clear from our brief chat with Pat that she “gets it” how Twitter can be used to involved fans in racing, and she continues to develop ways to reach fans at the venues, too. A couple races after Iowa, Vision hosted at tweet-up (a meeting of Twitter users scheduled using, well, Twitter). “We've had a goal this year to to talk directly to fans,” Pat said. “And we want to have an on going dialog with them directly through the website and our use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The idea to do it in this way reflects what the team is about. We have nothing to hide. We work hard and work on a minimal budget. The team does NOT have the budget or success level of a Penske or Ganassi or even AGR, but what they do is work hard and share that with their fans and sponsors directly.” There are many ways to follow Twitter feeds, ranging from standalone programs to Web browser extensions. You can also use your phone or smartphone to follow. Standard phone users can follow through text messaging. My favorite way to follow on the desktop is through a Firefox browser extension called TwitterFox. This adds a panel to your browser that rides “above” the Web pages you're viewing, so we can browse and follow at the same time. TweetDeck provides a standalone application through Adobe Air and lets you customize what you're seeing. I found TweetDeck to take a lot of memory, though. For the BlackBerry, I'm a UberTweet fan after converting from TwitterBerry. Both provide a good way to keep up with incoming tweets, as well as post your own. Who you follow also helps make the experience more enjoyable. Here's a list of the drivers, teams, tracks, series, reporters, bloggers and commentators that I've followed at one time or another. Drivers and Teams
Racing Series and Venues
Reporters, Bloggers, Contributors
Creating an Awesome At-Home Fan ExperienceIndividually, live timing, Web video and Twitter are great ways to keep up on a race, a series or the personalities behind them. The three can be combined for a totally immersive armchair fan experience. The list of tools include the following:
A short time before the drop of the green flag, I log into Race Control. The system features a video feed, audio feed from IndyCar Radio, live timing and position chart, in-car cams from assigned drivers and telemetry from drivers you choose to follow. The audio portion is provided by the great guys at IndyCar Radio, led by Mike King, Kevin Olson, Davey Hamilton and more. The main video window lets you switch between the main camera, and individual in-car cameras. At the in-car level, you also get to listen to the crew radio and in-car sounds. You can also track up to 4 in-car cameras while watching the main video. How good is the experience? During the one of night races earlier this year, my buddy was watching the race coverage on Versus while I was watching on the Web. He messaged me complaining about the constant interruption from ads. I “saved” him by providing updates by text message during the commercials.           |
|||||||
| Next > |
|---|
