March 11, 2008

Tiff does NASCAR

Tiff's NASCAR love? Well, maybe it has to do with UK's channel Five carrying the races on Tuesday nights, but the Fifth Gear crew certainly looks amused, at least by Montoya's now standard answer as to why he left Formula 1 ("...you pass more cars in one race than in a whole F1 career..."  right, more passing and more burgers,  gotcha Juan!).      

In the end though, this is the best piece on NASCAR I have ever seen,  it almost makes you want to watch.  It certainly points out precisely what NASCAR has and Formula 1 seems to be trying it's best to completely lose: contact with the public.   

Say what you will about the Viagra pushing left turners but they don't apologize and they most certainly have no guilt feelings, no biofuel hybrid requirements there.... and for all their lardy low tech race barges they have high tech services for fans,  on demand internet feeds,  rental close circuit multichannel personal screens at the track...  huge access.   
F1 could certainly learn a thing or two there don't you think?




Tiff does NASCAR from Axis of Oversteer * on Vimeo.

13 comments:

  1. I agree about F1 loosing the plot but a race where everyone is drafting around and around until the guy who happens to be leading at the end wins ?

    I could never watch it.

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  2. I've tried to enjoy nascar races, and i just cant. The few tech shows they do in the coverage are great, and racing a big tubeframe v8 car does not have to be boring, or techically simple for that matter. The spec chassis makes the show pretty dull though, and racing around a circle just isn't exciting, the cars seem dynamically dead compared to F1 cars, or even speed touring car series. I'd watch he road races, despite the slowness of these big heavy cars, but the coverage is wholely dedicated to a cult of driver personality and sponsors. Its just not enough about racecars for me, it seems to be more of a WWE event or soap opera. Its easy to discount nascar by saying its just driving in a circle, but I want to enjoy it (because its almost the only racing on tv in the US) but cant because in the end the show is not at all about racing but about driver love and drama.

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  3. Completely agree with the above two comments. And Montoya's repeated ad nauseam excuse for leaving F1 (if you check, he repeated it again yesterday talking about how Piquet Jr will have a hard time with Alonso!)is taylor made for the lowbrow wrestling fan which now apparently constitutes his base.
    Imagine that, there is more passing when you have 43 spec cars with fenders on a track that is 50 feet wide or more and where the organizers might manipulate yellow flags to bunch up the field if things are not "exciting" enough...

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  4. Wait, so you mean to tell me the best chance I could get to meet Tiff would be at a freaking NASCAR race?????????????

    -Freep

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  5. I somehow doubt he will be a "regular"...

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  6. Yes he looked like he was holding back a few thousand tongue in cheek comments.

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  7. if not him, for sure Vicky at the end could barely keep a straight face...

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  8. I think Five TV is just trying to syndicate the show in US cable...

    What a bunch of sell-outs!!

    BTW, does anyone know what's going on with the production of TopGear's american version? (w/o Clarkson and cheeky english humor is just won't be the same, plus replacing all the Euro-only track/supercars with Vette's won't make it any better)

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  9. A US produced Top Gear would resemble that episode of Seinfeld with the bizarro Jerry, Kramer and George.

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  10. i hear adam corolla is gonna be hosting US topgear...oh boy.

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  11. Just the fact they are even considering a host named after a Toyota tells you all you need to know! :o)

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  12. It almost convinced me to watch a nascar race as well... until i rememebered the last race i tried to watch. Three hours is too long, and there is a fundamental disconnect between myself and oval racers. The Infineon and Lime Rock races are actually pretty interesting though.

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  13. I don't agree that all of the "hucksterism" so rampant in the marketing of NASCAR is the missing ingredient in F1. To the contrary, I feel motorsport has been hijacked by this sort of mentality . . . F1 has already suffered enough. NASCAR remains a BLIGHT on the whole of motorsport. It is nothing more, and certainly a whole lot less.

    Montoya is such a self absorbed centric that he'd say the same thing about driving a bus. He failed F1, not the other way around. Simply put, he met his match in F1 and his ego could not accept it.

    Watch NASCAR all you want. I'd rather clean the garage.

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