Posts tagged cars

BMW’s fabric car

I don’t have a car, but I’ve always been fascinated by cars.

I don’t need a car where I am in London, with its comprehensive public transport infrastructure, and I find cars a pain clogging up the streets and obstructing me getting from A to B.

But I still find cars fascinating.

BMW has always been a company I’ve admired for their design and engineering skills, and their GINA concept car is fascinating.

UK F1 TV rights change

Another good Grand Prix at Malaysia during the weekend.

Not as many thrills and spills as Australia but this was expected as the Malaysian track is a more conventional modern configuration.

The ITV streaming this time was the correct aspect ratio - not surprising since the coverage was 16 by 9 which was displayed in a 16 by 9 box on their website!

Shock announcement on the UK television coverage rights, moving from ITV to the BBC two years before the end of the current contract.

This is good if, for nothing else, there will no advertisements intruding into the coverage.

Bernie Ecclestone gives some background and there’s interesting analysis in The Guardian on the reasons behind the rights change.

Thrills and spills in Australia

I’ve been watching the live streaming feed of the opening Formula One race of the 2008 season on ITV.

The deal with Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Management, includes coverage of practice sessions, and is understood to be initially for a year.

From my connection to the net the feed was struggling at times - not surprising given the speed of the cars resulting in plenty of changing picture data.

It was disappointing the original 4 by 3 aspect ratio of the pictures from Australia had been ’squashed’ into 16 by 9 on ITV’s site.

The race itself showed the dramatic effect of the 2008 rule changes, particularly the removal of traction control - only seven cars finished, the lowest number in the history of the Melbourne race.

The race was certainly one of the most unpredictable and exciting Formula One race I’ve seen for a number of years and show the rule changes have put more emphasis on driver skills.