It’s fair to say plenty of motorsport fans have listened to commentators on TV, radio or live streaming and thought: “I could do that… how hard can it be?”
The fabled commentators and presenters are the eyes and ears of millions of motorsport disciples across the globe and they have unrivalled access to the best views, the best drivers and the coolest racing machinery.
But it’s not as easy as you think…
Here’s some advice from some top commentators and presenters on how you can get involved.
Steve Parrish: Isle of Man TT/MotoGP/BTCC
When I started with the BBC, it was drummed into you what you needed to do. You’d have a producer shouting in your ear: “What do you mean by short shifting?!” But nowadays, you go into a booth or a box and you are left to do pretty much what you want.
What you say depends on your audience. If I am commentating for the BBC, I have a lot of people watching who might not know much about the sport, a more casual viewer, whereas if you are on Sky or Eurosport, you pretty much have the enthusiast on board.
Remember that you are the eyes and ears of the person watching and don’t assume that they know what you are talking about. I get stick all the time from keyboard warriors. When you have more than 200,000 viewers, like with the Isle of Man TT coverage, you have to assume a great number aren’t bikers, and it's easy to get into the slang, so try to explain things in a little more detail if you have time.
David Addison: BTCC/Blancpain GT/Formula One/Le Mans 24 Hours/British GT
Doing circuit commentary at Oulton Park was my way of getting into motorsport and it all grew out of that back in 1990. I used to help the main commentator, doing lap charts and seeing how it all worked, and I learned from that.
A lot of people come to me and say they want to be commentators because they watch all the Formula One races. Your options are limited in that world. I tell prospective commentators to send me a link of three or four minutes of race commentary and then 10 minutes to black screen. Just talk for 10 minutes to no pictures, because when you have long red flag periods or stoppages, you need to be able to deal with that and keep viewers entertained.
If you want to be a commentator, first of all ask yourself why. If it’s to do Formula One, you might be disappointed because there are a limited number of options. Get involved with club racing, do circuit commentary; it toughens you up and is a bit like doing Formula Ford for a few years as a racing driver – you learn how to produce yourself, how to cope with a bad view of that track, commercial obligations and things like that.
Liz Halliday: Le Mans 24 Hours/World Endurance Championship
I’d done a few bits and pieces of TV for fun while I was still racing in the USA. Then the guys from Eurosport asked my manager if I was interested in doing some commentary at Le Mans and one year became 10!
I’ve done lots of bits and pieces, working for CBS doing pit reporting. I guess I have the comfort level in front of the camera. I’m female – which sort of helps make it a bit different – but regardless, if people see you are comfortable with the camera, that is important.
Commentary is harder than pitlane reporting, as you have to know so much information. It's all about being prepared and knowing as much as you can about the cars and drivers. Le Mans is hard, but you just need to invest time in studying which drivers are in which car and which garage and then walk up and down and try and figure it out!
Mark James: World Rally Championship/TCR
Until I started doing TCR, I’d only ever worked on pre-recorded programmes – you have time to write a script, and if something doesn’t work, you can make it fit and trim words and think about how you craft things together. The way I approach live commentary is similar; less is more, so I don’t over-explain anything.
When I did live commentary for the first time, it was a bit of a steep learning curve, and I was fortunate that Formula One commentator Ben Edwards gave me a bit of advice: the key thing is do your research!
If you don’t do your research, in the back of your mind you will go on air on edge and you'll be anxious; then sure enough, a scenario will come up, a red flag period will happen and you will have time to fill but nothing to say! So you cannot do enough research on the track, the cars or the drivers.
Gemma Watson: Time Attack
I got into presenting when I graduated from university with a Journalism degree. My final project was a multimedia blog including interviews with a Time Attack driver and a former Formula One driver alongside other features.
The organiser of Time Attack saw my work and asked if I wanted to present their online coverage and from there it snowballed.
Attend every event you can, make the most of the opportunities that arise, be the one who is ready to hold the microphone for those interviews and know everything that's going on in paddock. You will get knockbacks but you're the only person who can make things happen.