Sian Williams
Robot Wars and F1!?
Call me crazy but I had an idea today. I was catching up on Sunday nights robot wars and one team had smaller robots as well and that put an idea into my head. What if all F1 teams came up with robots and then they all battled to be the best?
Get a small team of four, a driver, an engineer, a mechanic, just four people from a team and their aim is to build what they think is the best robot. To watch the design process and thought behind what weapon they want, shape and size. They would have so much to think about. They would probably have a strategy for the battles too! Whether they want to hunt or be hunted and we would be able to see their raw reactions as it happens.
It would follow the Robot Wars set up and start off with two big battles taking people out from each round. Be finding the best of the best and how quick they can actually repair the robot. Although a one-off massive battle with all teams would be quite fun as well, last man standing.
I think if this ever happened (i'd want an invite) but it could just be a fun end of season thing everyone does. One way it could include fans is to make it a charity event type situation. Sell tickets for fans to come and see it live. Run competitions, winners get to control the robots in a fan battle. Could sell merchandise for their robots or the teams. It would be a really fun interactive day and raise money for a charity. Just do it all for a good cause that everyone can come together for because we are one big family.
I think it would test all the teams. Robot Wars is a long standing TV programme, its target audience is the young and old. I remember watching it as a kid and playing it on Playstation! It targets everyone and the prices don't need to be expensive as this has appeal and would be a sell-out. Just have one basic price and make everywhere accessible. It would be a show but it doesn't need the price tag. F1 needs to widen its audience and something like this for everyone that is reasonably priced would be insane.
I know this is just a theoretical idea but I just thought I'd' share it with you! So let me know what you think and what your idea would be.
Behind the tyre barriers: 'it can be mentally tiring'
Being a marshal takes a lot of sacrifice, takes up a whole weekend, can be any weather and you don't know how the day will go. But most importantly a marshal needs to be passionate about it and a lot of commitment and I believe every marshal has that dedication. However, it could be easy to forget how physically and mentally draining it can be.
The obvious physical aspect is the fact that a marshal predominately stands all day in all weather conditions which can vary. I cant imagine it is not much fun to stand in 25 degree heat all day in fire proof overalls and steel capped boots! I definitely couldn't do it!
Kac said one mentally challenging part of being a flag marshal is trying to keep track of who is where and who to show what flag, especially when someone is a lap down etc. Marshal's have to 'keep on top with each drivers positions' and knowing who is who from a distance. Apparently, the trick was to look at wing mirror or any strip colours, good idea!
It c…
A Marshal's motivation: 'I wanted to give something back'
Welcome back to part 2 of my marshal series, so glad you all liked the first part!
One thing I found quite interesting when I was reading peoples stories was their motivation for joining in the first place. It wasn't always a case of wanting to get closer to the action (although that's a bonus) but to immerse themselves into something new to escape the stress and chaos of everyday life.
Most people did say their love of motorsport and desire to be involved is what motivated them to train to be a marshal which I can completely understand. As one marshal Joe explained to me his motivation for continuing is that 'its a hobby that I enjoy immensely' and that's his motivation now which has changed from when he initially started from his desire to become more involved and 'the ability to let both fans and drivers continue to do/see what they love' I felt this statement is so important and reminds us how important a marshal role really is. Without them at their p…
Marshal series: In rain or shine!
As a motorsport fan I know we are all so happy to wake up early and get going to a track to spectate but a marshal gets up even earlier and has a more tedious day ahead than us.
Andy told me he gets up between 5.45 and 6am so he can wake up, have a brew and breakfast and then head to sign on. You can sign on around 7-8am. Someone else said the sign on time can vary but they normally aim to sign on around 7:30am so they get up at 6:30 to get ready and make lunch etc. Gosh I'm not sure I could ever do that, I dont even wake up that early for work!
During signing on you find out which post you are going to be on for the weekend. Someone said saturday is 'always a guessing game of which post we will have this weekend?' Lewis is in charge of track marshal's at Knockhill and he said they spend a lot of time doing post briefings and making sure everyone knows hand signals, escape routes etc so everyone is on the same page. Andy said he does general checks of the post and whe…