It really is all to play for in this strangest of years…, Contribute to the running costs of Motorsport Broadcasting by donating via PayPal. For a better experience, keep your browser up to date. He started commentating on Thundersport club events in 2008. Day – 36 from Suffolk – used to race in Superteens and the British championship. MotoGP commentators Matt Birt and Steve Day on how paddock life has changed dramatically this year but the racing is as crazy as ever. The 2020 MotoGP NBC Sports schedule features five races live on NBCSN this season, and four more that will be broadcast on NBC. Despite the drawbacks of not being on-site, the consensus from many, including MotoGP lead commentator Keith Huewen, is that the Triumph setup has worked. And a lot of Covid tests!”. “Before the start of the [Czech Republic Grand Prix FP3] session this morning John McPhee sent Michael [Laverty] a voice message saying ‘we’ve been banned for the first 10 minutes the session, we’ve just found out.'”. Also, on show was plenty LED lighting and four state of the art 4K Ultra HD cameras, three for the main studio set and one for the touch screen further round the museum. Motorsport Broadcasting (motorsportbroadcasting.com) is unofficial and is not associated in any way with the Formula 1 companies. Travelling through Europe is no longer straightforward, with fewer flights, Covid spikes and quarantine rules changing all the time. In my view, there is no better facility than the one we’re working out of here,” he adds. Miller? Most different of all though is paddock life. But that’s not case for Dorna’s lead MotoGP commentators Matt Birt and Steve Day, whose job is to communicate the buzz of the paddock and pit lane to fans around the world. Is a long-term solution to production? No disrespect to the guy, because he’s a genius, but so much has happened that I’ve barely noticed he’s not out there.”, Covid protocols means each commentator gets his own mic/headphone set. And sorry about our accent!! ( Log Out / As mentioned by Series Editor Kevin Brown in our chat last month, only the key people who need to be in Hinckley are on location, again to reduce the potential risk. So we both went home and didn’t leave our houses for nine days before we went to Brno. 31. And we’re not allowed to hover around in the paddock, we’re not allowed down the back of the garages and we’re not allowed in the garages. “We noticed it most at Jerez, where our commentary box is right above the grandstand opposite the pits,” says Birt. Matt Birt and Steve Day – separated by Covid screen – in their Red Bull Ring commentary box. When you used to arrive in the morning you’d probably speak to 25 people before you even got to the press room – just a quick hello or whatever – but that’s all gone now.”. Historically, journalists and broadcasters have conducted post-session MotoGP media interviews from the comfort of the teams’ motorhomes, but Emmett believes that the COVID-19 pandemic may result in permanent changes within the paddock. “We are lucky in that when some of the riders do their Zoom media conferences in the media centre they walk past us and from a distance we can have a chat with them, but it’s not relaxed like it was before, so you’re not getting a lot of gold out of it. Huewen, who retired from racing and started his broadcasting career thirty years ago, knows many of the current riders’ relatives. We took what we had before for granted. F1, FORMULA ONE, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trade marks of Formula One Licensing B.V. Copyrighted material used under Fair Use/Fair Comment. “Usually it’s rammed with fans and there’s a really cool atmosphere, a really cool vibe of everyone getting into it. Many have taken the decision, voluntarily or not, to remain away from the paddock, reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission for everyone involved. “But then we were told that we could go home and travel again within the 14-day quarantine, so long as we self-isolated when we got home after Jerez. Teams are bringing their backdrops to the mix zone and putting them in, understandably they want the sponsor logos displayed. The two-wheel series takes a break until September 13th, with nine rounds in eleven weekends to bring the 2020 season to a conclusion. Change ). © Motorsport Broadcasting, 2012-2020. With no fans and fewer personnel on-site, Hodgson believes that there is little incentive for the team to head back overseas whilst the paddock is ‘still empty.’ In the longer term, however, Huewen believes on-site presence remains ‘critical’ to BT’s output. Changes will be made to both F2 and…, Valentino Rossi will return to MotoGP action at the European GP this weekend after posting a second negative Covid-19 test. Archived. Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic is (hopefully) temporary, many of the techniques BT Sport and other broadcasters have utilised over the past four months will remain a permanent fixture in the years to come, as broadcasting transitions to a remote, environmentally friendly, model. “One thing I’ve realised in this period is how different MotoGP is off the track but how it’s exactly the same on the track. Keith Alan Huewen (born 23 August 1957 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex) is an English former professional Grand Prix motorbike road racer, and current sports commentator with BT Sport where he primarily commentates on MotoGP. So far, project restart has gone remarkably well, with no flare ups causing significant disruption to major championships. ( Log Out / After a four-month hiatus because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the season finally began July 19 at the Jerez circuit. It helps us know what the lights, the sound, everything is going to look like.”. Quartararo? Julian Ryder is to retire from his MotoGP broadcasting duties at the end of the 2017 season, this site can confirm. It means that his commentary alongside Keith Huewen for BT Sport in Valencia, will be his last in MotoGP, for now at least. The MotoGP paddock has changed beyond all recognition since the global pandemic arrived. The three ‘bases’ Came here to find out who the new MotoGP commentators will be ... and one of them turns out to be a Kiwi! Stop 1: Qatar, MotoGP canceled (Moto 2; Moto3 support divisions raced), Stop 2: Spain (MotoGP winner: Fabio Quartararo), Stop 3: Andalucia (MotoGP winner: Fabio Quartararo), Stop 4: Czech Republic (MotoGP winner: Brad Binder), Stop 5: Austria (MotoGP winner: Andrea Dovizioso), Stop 6: Styria (MotoGP winner: Miguel Oliveira), Stop 7: San Marino (MotoGP winner: Franco Morbidelli), Stop 8: Emilia Romagna (MotoGP winner: Maverick Vinales), Stop 9: Catalunya (MotoGP winner: Fabio Quartararo), Stop 10: Le Mans (MotoGP winner: Danilo Petrucci), Stop 11: Aragon (MotoGP winner: Alex Rins), Stop 12: Teruel (MotoGP winner: Franco Morbidelli). “There’s only been four races but there’s been 40 races worth of talking points – it’s been nuts!” agrees Birt. “Normally there’s two headsets and mics that we share with Matt Dunn and Neil Morrison [Dorna’s Moto2 and Moto3 commentators] but now we each have our own microphone and headsets. A plethora of cables, laptops and generators sprawl the floor, all necessary for getting the show to air, a collaborative effort between BT Sport, MotoGP commercial rights holder Dorna, production partner North One Television and technology provider Timeline Television. , Keep an eye on the site for plenty of content over the coming weeks… pic.twitter.com/zO0rbDI9kb, — Motorsport Broadcasting (@f1broadcasting) August 8, 2020, “He probably wouldn’t have done that if we were there! I hope it’s something we continue in the future because it does help everybody. Fuckin awesome! From a facilities perspective, Huewen believes there is ‘no better facility’ than Triumph’s base, Huewen chatting to me in the Hinckley sunshine prior to MotoGP qualifying. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Motorsport Broadcasting (previously The F1 Broadcasting Blog) with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. “At the moment, we can manage as we are, but this is a short-term thing. Great morning chatting to the @BTSportMotoGP team at @UKTriumph HQ! The Triumph layout and how it has benefited the team… The world’s premier motorcycle road racing series announced July 31 that it will hold 15 events in the 2020 season, which will end Nov. 22 at the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal. It’s strange now, because we used to feed off the energy of the crowd, with everyone going nuts outside our commentary box. Usually there’s fans right in front of us with airhorns. Then we came straight to Austria, so it’s been a lot of time away from our families. There’s no doubt that the empty paddock does make life easier for MotoGP riders, teams and workers, because they can do what they’ve got to do without fighting their way through crowds of people. They are so focused on their work that they barely notice how things have changed outside their field of vision. “The riders have been accommodating on the other end of things by going to a position, and they can’t see me, even though I can see them and they can hear me, so having a fairly relaxed, normal conversation with them has been good.”, “The team managers are normally tied up with meetings on Sunday’s, whereas now they’ve been able to speak to Suzi [Perry] directly in the couple of hours before a race, which is really handy. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! When you watch football now it’s a totally different sport – it’s not so quick, because the players aren’t reacting to the crowd.”. We all know they’re speaking through a sock. “I have to say that, at first you do think, ‘ugh I’ve got to do it back in the UK’ rather than being at trackside,” he tells me. If anything, the commentary set up works better than your traditional on-site circuit set up. There may not be many things guaranteed in 2020, but with Marc Marquez out injured, 2020 will certainly see a new MotoGP champion. Matt Birt and Steve Day – separated by Covid screen – in their Red Bull Ring commentary box Matt Birt Author. Minute-by-minute commentary from the Autosport team, live from the paddock at motorsport events worldwide “Initially we weren’t going to be allowed to go home after Jerez, they wanted us to stay over,” says Birt.