The decline of in car footage......

[Mattracer]

To be honest, the in-car coverage isn't faintly as interesting as in the late 80s/early '90s when the H pattern gearboxes/ no TC afforded some visual enhancement as drivers fought to control their cars with one hand on the gear shift and the other correcting power oversteer. I do lament its absence but it is not as good to watch now anyway for the lack of actual driving technique.

Originally posted by Mattracer
To be honest, the in-car coverage isn't faintly as interesting as in the late 80s/early '90s when the H pattern gearboxes/ no TC afforded some visual enhancement as drivers fought to control their cars with one hand on the gear shift and the other correcting power oversteer. I do lament its absence but it is not as good to watch now anyway for the lack of actual driving technique.

Ah yes, those glorious days when drivers used a foot clutch! Still, surely there is still some 'actual' driving technique left.

[Irv the Swerve]

Best bit of in car i've seen is when Berger came out of the pits sideways at Estoril in 93, slicing between cars that were topping out at the end of the straight, or when Hakkinen and Mick split Zonta at Spa.
Usually Martin Brundle does his lap of whatever circuit with an on-board lap from one of the cars - it usually seems to be Button. But everything is more boring these days anyway, the circuits aren't as exciting or the cars.

[paddywic]

Originally posted by Bononi
Tell him he must improve his italian, it is tifoso. tifosi is the term in the plural.

exactly

[wi11iamm]

Yeh?

See "How to make F1 fun for nothing!"

The effort he's putting in is minimal.

[Bononi]

Uhn...

[Bononi]

Are you trying to tell me something ?

[Chatters]

Who bumped this thread anyway?

[Splatz the Cow]

Originally Posted by speedbump

I love what CART has done with some of the onboard camers, full laps with top drivers and inside helmit cams. Some amazing views.
F1 should take note.

I seem to remember Paul Tracy had a camera inside his helmet, and we looked through the visor, as he does. What was so revealing, was that it demonstrated how little the driver can see of the track, as the foreground is the dash and windscreen, above is the fence and sky; the two areas are seperated by an inch of grey - the track - at which the drivers aims. The fact his head was shaking like a jack hammer over the bumps of the street circuit made it even more amazing that drivers could complete whole laps, let alone performs wonderous things along the way.

Originally Posted by speedbump

I think it's all to do with money.

Another area where CART took the lead; I believe it was Michael Andretti who often had sponsor stickers down near the gearlever, and across the other side by the anti-sway bars - Newmann Haas were taking advantage of the incar cameras for their sponsors' benefit.

I believe its the teams that don't want incar cameras in F1, as they fear some technology advantage might be lost. This excuse however, would count out Williams, Toyota, Honda, RBR, Super Aguri - infact everyone but Ferrari and Renault.

There's no doubt that having incar cameras makes fans feel like they are in on the action, and this makes watching F1 more enjoyable, and might boost the viewer numbers of F1.

[Knowlesy]

The helmet cams are gimmicky at best. I see no benefit in being able to see nothing of the race and being terminally bored.

[Bononi]

Agreed. It does have some fun with the feeling you are driving or playing a video game, but after seconds it becomes boring. I think it should be used with specific situations like a dangerous overtaking, a crash or being flagged... or if a driver choose to park in a sunny corner in Monaco...

[Teretonga]

Back in the late 80's and 90's in car cameras were a delight. Experimentation was rife and we got lots of interesting views. Since the late 90's and the tedium of the new millineum the coverage became tedious. The quality of all coverage dived and I stopped getting up at midnight and sitting up to 2 am just to watch so often. Now I don't get up at all and some mornings even forget to check the news to see who won. It seems I have missed nothing.
I had the 'golden era' when it was all wonderful fun. Maybe we will get back to some real racing and a fresh new era but I would agree that the coverage has become tedious and I really think money has become the be all and end all of F1,. It has lost it's sporting roots and the coverage reflects this. It's there with minimal effort and minimal concern for the viewer. F1 coverage is not for the benefit of the viewer anymore but the sponsor. The viewr is very much taken for granted and until we all refuse to watch nothing will change....

[Chatters]

I think the camera on top of the F1 is getting too repetitive. The Ferrari cameras on the mirrors? Who want, to see MS's face when there's a whole circuit and race going on?

We just need more diversity of the camera locations, I feel.

[wheadon]

on youube there is an in helmet cam of blundell round spa in 1994. good watch but eau rouge was cut down to a sharp chicane that year.