A1 Grand Prix’s fourth season gets started in Zandvoort today.
Although there are some questions over the future of the series its fan base is developing and there was a decent crowd at Brands Hatch when I visited for the season finale earlier this year.
Next week they release their first DVD season review, covering the 2006-07 championship.
Has this fan-orientated championship made a better job of their official season review DVD than F1 usually does?
Regular readers of F1 Fanatic will know I find the official F1 season review DVDs an underwhelming product. They are the only legitimate ways of collecting footage of past Grand Prix seasons, but they are utterly characterless affairs.
I particularly object to the cheesy music played over the top of some of the footage, rather like those irritating Youtube F1 clips where the original commentary has been replaced by Linkin Park. Just as annoyingly, the commentary added to the discs is delivered in the present tense, as if the race were happening live, which it plainly isn’t.
The A1 DVD, like the F1 disc, features Ben Edwards, who also commentates on the Series on Sky Sports. Edwards is a first-rate commentator and his name was proposed by many F1 fans as a man to front BBC’s F1 coverage in 2009 (it now looks as though that role will be performed by Jonathan Legard).
When I first the commentary on the A1 DVD was going to be Edwards I assumed they’d just re0used his original commentary for Sky, which would have been an excellent idea.
Instead it seems they’ve got him to record new commentary while pretending the races are running live. Which, predictably, sounds just as false as it does on the F1 DVDs. I can’t understand the reasoning behind recording the commentary in this fashion (ideas, anyone?) but it sounds terrible.
Perhaps A1 is trying a bit too hard to copy F1 – the black, silver and red colour scheme on the box is very similar to that found on the official F1 season reviews.
However it does do some things much better than the F1 DVDs. For example, the review is spread across two discs, with all the races on one and special features on the other. This is definitely an idea F1 should mimic in the future with its discs.
The extra features are rather better than the F1 ones as well: plenty of detail on the tracks and drivers and some technical features as well. The latter surprised me given that A1 is a spec series –
The quality of the footage is generally very good, although some of the on-boards are a bit grainy. Of course this is A1, so the races tend to be a bit more incident-packed (or, if you’re being cruel, ‘amateurish’) than F1’s.
The narrative is lacking in places and I thought there was a bit too much focus on the British car – perhaps the DVDs vary according to region? Otherwise it’s a decent product and a thorough review of the season. At least there’s no annoying music…
Read the review of the official 2007 F1 season DVD here.
RaceFans rating
Released 13th October 2008
�19.99
2008
You can order “A1 Grand Prix Season Review 2007/08 DVD” via Amazon using this link or the box above. F1 Fanatic earns a commission on these sales but you are not charged any extra.
Robert McKay
5th October 2008, 12:42
What’s the point of getting Ben Edwards to do the world feed-type commentary and then redub it for the DVD? That’s a bit silly.
Still, Ben Edwards doing a slightly forced re-commentary is still got to be miles ahead of a live James Allen commentary :-D
Bruce Gigolo
5th October 2008, 19:45
hey, what about GP2 Series Season Review?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th October 2008, 20:16
I wish there was one, but…
ron
5th October 2008, 20:44
Hi Keith,
just saw the first A1 race, pretty good, but the soaked conditions made it seem more depressing than wet F1 races.
anyway, was watching a documentary about the rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. not one true video was showed. the incidents that took place betwen those two, were all Computer Generated. WTF??? how much is his berniness asking for to relelase these videos?
it hink something should be done. like someone should break into F1 HQ and steal the tapes or something, cause it’s surely not acceptable, for F1 to be the only one to re-produce these images, and when they do, they do it the wrong way. and hopefully A1 wont carry on commiting the same mistakes.
Ron
Jonesracing82
6th October 2008, 7:31
i have this DVD and love it!
aside from the 1st 2 rounds being out of sync the rest is fine!
i love the live commentary aspect as with some reviews i have found, well i’ll give u an example!
1991 review at suzuka, the bit where mansell went off at 1st turn while chasing senna!
the narrator says something like “nigel was chasing senna hard and then into turn 1 “nigel ran wide” 2 secs later they enter the turn and he goes off! i’d have preferred, “nigel is chasing senna hard and into turn 1 they go (shows him going off) and then commentator goes “and he’s off, can he get out of gravel? no he cant; he’s stuck, Senna is champion” or something like that!
i have mates who rnt as into f1 as i am and when i take the reviews over to watch them i think the live commentary add to the excitemnt for those that have not seen it all b4!
thats just my view Keith!
Jonesracing82
6th October 2008, 7:33
P.S i wish i could somehow get “F1 alzheimers” or something!
cos i have over watched the reviews and remember too well, so i know it all b4 it happens!
Twister27
6th October 2008, 8:45
I just wish F1 and other motorpsorts would release something in HD – I’ve got all this HD stuff but hardly any motorsport to watch on it!
If anyone knows of any HD stuff please let me know.
Jonesracing82
6th October 2008, 9:34
Twister, V8 supercars in HD as well as Nascar
F1 live live on HD in oz also! only races tho