Now that Nascar has fired the opening salvo in its series, I suppose it's safe to say that the world's auto racing year has begun in earnest.
It is further safe to say that the Daytona 500 event of the Formula Gump series brought a lot of racing's peculiarities into sharp focus, and that prompted me to embark on this three-part look into the activity's most striking features.
Let's start out with the fact that people not directly related to the competitors actually watch racing, despite its best efforts to be boring and hard to follow. For a long time there were few sports less suitable to watching in the flesh or on television than racing.
While this is still true about watching racing live, technology is transforming the experience on the TV, as the "Great American Race" proved on Sunday, but only if the viewer is willing to spend extra money for the increased coverage.
The first big development in racing coverage for me was the creation of small cameras that could be attached to the cars or dangerous spots around the track.
This was followed closely by the move to larger screens, since the 27-inch box set was okay for close-ups of stationary faces talking almost into the camera but not for a panning shot of two high-speed vehicles vying to occupy the prime spot in a fast-approaching corner. Racing was also helped by the move to rectangular (the 16:9 ratio) screens from the nearly (4:3) square, since it's almost always a horizontal event.
In the last five years, three more quickly spreading technologies have upped the racing enjoyment ante even higher -- the internet, high-definition TVs, and improved sound systems.
Hi-def TVs in all their clear, multi-colored glory (LCD, plasma, DPL) along with stereo speakers and home theatres help the viewer appreciate that big time auto racing is more of a sensory event than can be appreciated on a small, fuzzy screen with tin can sound delivery. Get a 60-inch LCD screen hooked up to a home theatre with surround sound (especially over earphones) and you accelerate the racing experience tremendously.
Indeed, racing is the kind of programming (like hockey and football) that such systems were meant to deliver, and they upgrade the experience in ways that have to be experienced to be appreciated. All we need is smell-o-vision to bring the final facet of racing to the fan.
As for the internet, it can deliver more data before, during and after the race than can be assimilated by a sane person. But the net will be really helpful as the race progresses so you don't have to rely on the TV broadcast's announcer-cheerleaders for important information.
Which brings us quite nicely to the future of racing on television, in terms of content and technology. Let's consider the content first.
Not so many years ago there wasn't much racing on TV, and even that was packaged to fit into a small time broadcast window. The CBC showed 90-minute versions of each European F1 race at 11:30 p.m. Sunday night, for example, about 15 hours after they actually ended.
But the endless channel expansion brought specialty programming and lots of time to fill, so every major race is shown in its entirety (including the Le Mans 24-hour event) and all kinds of niche events get airtime. My favorite is European Touring Car on the Speed Channel, since those races use real cars in a format that promotes close and keen competition.
 |
Let's start out with the fact that people not directly related to the competitors actually watch racing, despite its best efforts to be boring and hard to follow. For a long time there were few sports less suitable to watching in the flesh or on television than racing.
While this is still true about watching racing live, technology is transforming the experience on the TV, as the "Great American Race" proved on Sunday, but only if the viewer is willing to spend extra money for the increased coverage.
The first big development in racing coverage for me was the creation of small cameras that could be attached to the cars or dangerous spots around the track.
This was followed closely by the move to larger screens, since the 27-inch box set was okay for close-ups of stationary faces talking almost into the camera but not for a panning shot of two high-speed vehicles vying to occupy the prime spot in a fast-approaching corner. Racing was also helped by the move to rectangular (the 16:9 ratio) screens from the nearly (4:3) square, since it's almost always a horizontal event.
In the last five years, three more quickly spreading technologies have upped the racing enjoyment ante even higher -- the internet, high-definition TVs, and improved sound systems.
Hi-def TVs in all their clear, multi-colored glory (LCD, plasma, DPL) along with stereo speakers and home theatres help the viewer appreciate that big time auto racing is more of a sensory event than can be appreciated on a small, fuzzy screen with tin can sound delivery. Get a 60-inch LCD screen hooked up to a home theatre with surround sound (especially over earphones) and you accelerate the racing experience tremendously.
 |
As for the internet, it can deliver more data before, during and after the race than can be assimilated by a sane person. But the net will be really helpful as the race progresses so you don't have to rely on the TV broadcast's announcer-cheerleaders for important information.
Which brings us quite nicely to the future of racing on television, in terms of content and technology. Let's consider the content first.
Not so many years ago there wasn't much racing on TV, and even that was packaged to fit into a small time broadcast window. The CBC showed 90-minute versions of each European F1 race at 11:30 p.m. Sunday night, for example, about 15 hours after they actually ended.
But the endless channel expansion brought specialty programming and lots of time to fill, so every major race is shown in its entirety (including the Le Mans 24-hour event) and all kinds of niche events get airtime. My favorite is European Touring Car on the Speed Channel, since those races use real cars in a format that promotes close and keen competition.