At the start of 2011, I thought I was making some decent progress with this commentary lark. At the start of my second season, I had a handful of dates lined up to do the public address commentary at club events across the UK, and was scheduled to work with my good friend Ian Sowman on some post produced Ma5da Mx5 racing TV coverage. But my year, and arguably my career, was about to take a huge turn.
On the 4th April I was at Luton Airport with my girlfriend, heading off for a few days skiing in France. Having just put my liquids in an appropriate clear, resealable bag, I was standing in the slow moving security queue when my phone rang: “Hello, is that Jack? It’s Jonathan Palmer here, chief executive of Motorsport Vision. I’m wondering if you want to do the live TV commentary for the FIA Formula Two Championship at Silverstone in a few weeks?” Initially, it was quite hard to fathom what was going on. My first season of watching Formula One was 1996, when Jonathan commentated on Damon Hill winning the world championship, alongside my biggest hero of all, Murray Walker. The fact that he was now on the phone, asking me to be a live motorsport TV commentator, was quite surreal. Needless to say, I agreed in an instant.
There was not one day, possibly not one hour, between that moment and the race at Silverstone that I did not think of Formula Two. If only I could apply myself half as much to my degree as I did to my preparation for that weekend. I rocked up to Silverstone on the Friday, where I spoke to the drivers and main F2 personnel. For the 45 minute practice session, I nicked a chair from one of the catering units by Stowe corner and sat on the bank with my notes, shouting each driver’s name and vital statistics every time he went past. I knew everything I could about the cars and drivers, it was just time for the race. My co-commentator was Jolyon Palmer, who had finished runner up in Formula Two the year before, but was also a live TV newcomer.
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| The FIA Formula Two field at Barcelona |
I have never experienced nerves like I felt during the 30 second countdown to live. It’s very difficult to describe, but it was as though my brain filled with cotton wool, and it became impossible to consciously think anything other than “Goodness gracious, this is live television” (or words to that effect). Luckily, the subconscious took over, so for the first few minutes I was on auto-pilot. Once I calmed down a bit, everything settled down and it became like any other commentary, and Jolyon was excellent. The great news was that Jonathan was impressed enough to offer me the rest of the season, which has too many fantastic memories to fit in to this short blog. Indeed, there are too many people in F2 that I have had the pleasure to work with this season to name, but working with Tom Phillips, James Gornall and Jonathan Kennard have been the highlights.
So Formula Two had become a mainstay for me, which combined with the club racing work I was doing kept me busy. My next big adventure was covering World Series by Renault for Eurosport. It was the first time I had done live off-tube commentary, which basically meant I wasn’t in Hungary where the racing was, but in a studio in London. It was very odd to be commentating on something live, but not being there and being able to soak up the atmosphere. Luckily, my co-commentator was Tom Gaymor, one of the best around. He knew exactly what was going on in terms of both Eurosport procedures, and the on-track action, and being broadcast on the biggest pan-European channel was a real buzz.
My final adventure of the season was a biggie. The FIA GT1 World Championship were looking for a commentator whilst Ben Edwards was otherwise engaged covering the British Touring Car Championship. I got the call, and was told to get down to London tomorrow to apply for a Chinese Visa. In April, I was excited because I was going to be commentating at Pembrey for the first time, now here I was in August going to work in China. The excitement was astronomical, and only increased when I was told my co-commentator would be five time Grand Prix winner John Watson. It was the most incredible weekend. I flew out to Beijing alone, before meeting up with a few of the production team for the onward flight to Ordos. From the moment I met those guys in the airport, the whole GT1 team were amazing to work with. The actual races were fairly entertaining, and working with Wattie was exactly as you’d expect, ridiculously fun. Again, the team were pleased with my chatting, and I was able to work for them again at Silverstone and Zandvoort before the end of the season.
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| Vergne racing in World Series by Renault in Hungary |
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| The FIA GT1 Championship in Ordos, China |
It’s a shame in some ways that I’ve tried to keep this blog short. There is so much more I could write on all these experiences, but I just wanted to give you an overview of 2011 from my perspective. Without sounding cheesy (but it will), it’s been the best year of my life, and has completely changed my career.
One man who hasn’t cropped up in my musings so far is Chris Hartley. This was the man who gave me my first chance to commentate on motorsport, at Mallory Park in 2009. It was my then girlfriend’s 19th birthday, but I knew I could not let this opportunity pass, so thanks to you too actually Maddy! Chris was nothing but encouraging, and I owe him a lot.
For 2012? Who knows. We all know the musical chairs that go on in the winter, this year more than ever, but if I can have as much fun as I have had in 2011 then it’s going to be a good old year.
