# Pro cycling goes NASCAR style?



## roadie92 (Jan 21, 2008)

So I was scrolling through Twitter and saw a pretty interesting tweet by Lance. It was: "Watching some NASCAR. Know what I think? I think cycling outta make race radio communication public (and on tv) like this." 

I think it's a pretty cool concept. What do y'all think?


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## lemonlime (Sep 24, 2003)

I think it'd be interesting if the mic'd up Jens. 

And maybe Lance's discussion with Simoni.


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## tethernaut (Dec 11, 2008)

I've been thinking it would make it a a little more compelling if they showed graphics to indicate the slope and the W/KG the riders are putting out.


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## waldo425 (Sep 22, 2008)

I think that it would be pretty cool.


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## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

I think that most of what is getting said between the teams and riders in the peleton isn't in English and that simultaneous translation is $$. Plus, the trend will be away from race radio robots to no radios...:thumbsup:


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## roadie92 (Jan 21, 2008)

Well one things for sure it would make those flat Tour stages more interesting.


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## Doctor Falsetti (Sep 24, 2010)

There are two types of radios used, Race radios and team radios. The race radios are used to relay race info to the teams, crashes, wheel changes, service needed etc. Some races actually broadcast this channel on the internet, but it is closed to media only. It is pretty boring stuff "shunt #123" etc. 

As team radios are gradually getting phased out not sure if this would ever happen.....besides mostly you would hear "Move to the front" over and over


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## nate (Jun 20, 2004)

philippec said:


> I think that most of what is getting said between the teams and riders in the peleton isn't in English and that simultaneous translation is $$. Plus, the trend will be away from race radio robots to no radios...:thumbsup:


The vast majority of fans' don't use English as their first language since the USA only makes up a small segment of pro cycling fans. It may not help so much in the USA market, but don't you think European fans would enjoy this? I have no clue. Most of the team radio chatter may be completely inane and uninteresting for all I know.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Agreed on the lack of English. Plus, with guys like Cav being one of the few English speakers, do you really want to listen to him complaining the whole time?


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## hawker12 (Oct 19, 2003)

If you really want to follow NASCAR...put some form of bike racing in a stadium or some type of setting where spectators can see all (or most) of the action all the time. I think that is one of the reasons Crit racing became more popular to American audiences. We are used to seeing mostly non-stop action...not road stages that give you a twenty second glimpse after waiting on the road-side for several hours.

I wish we could enjoy the sport the way Europeans do...but like soccer, it's just not going to happen in the USA. So..how about something a bit more creative that would appeal to American audiences and maybe add a new element to the sport?


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## alexb618 (Aug 24, 2006)

hawker12 said:


> If you really want to follow NASCAR...put some form of bike racing in a stadium or some type of setting where spectators can see all (or most) of the action all the time.


i know this might sound wacky but how about build a very short nascar type oval track from wood with banked corners for bikes to race on, with no brakes and a fixed wheel??? i think we could get at least 15 or 20 spectators out to this on a weekly basis.


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## teoteoteo (Sep 8, 2002)

Having ridden in my share of team cars I can say that it wouldn't be horribly interesting, it would add another element, but sometimes the radio convo's aren't great. They still struggle to hear each other and speak, some of it becomes painful, simple things become not so simple. All of the best stuff comes when a rider is in a break and he comes back to talk through the window, if they had a fixed camera for that stuff it would be good for viewers.


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## crumjack (Sep 11, 2005)

The edited bits from the cars that Versus has shown during past TdF broadcasts were good. The "live, spontaneous" bits always seemeds awkward and at times when the directors wanted no one to know what was being said.


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## moabbiker (Sep 11, 2002)

It would work well with internet broadcasts since you could just click buttons to get different audio feeds. Would stimulate what is otherwise a lot of boredom on the beginning and mid stages of a race where the pace is slow. 

But heck, Versus struggles just to get the video playing and had NO audio from the race itself.. I think they need to work on the crude basics first. Try again in say, 5 years.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

alexb618 said:


> i know this might sound wacky but how about build a very short nascar type oval track from wood with banked corners for bikes to race on, with no brakes and a fixed wheel??? i think we could get at least 15 or 20 spectators out to this on a weekly basis.


Ya mean somethin' like this? -


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## heathb (Nov 1, 2008)

hawker12 said:


> I wish we could enjoy the sport the way Europeans do...but like soccer, it's just not going to happen in the USA. So..how about something a bit more creative that would appeal to American audiences and maybe add a new element to the sport?


I'd like to see a technical short track that could be made big enough for crit racing in every city. It would provide a great place to train at night. And as more people in the US got into it there would be a larger pool of talent to compete internationally.

These things could be done, it just takes a lot of organizing. Skateboarders accomplished this and they finally started spending millions building cement skateparks all across the US, but it took them years of destroying public property and pi$$ing off everyone to get it done. I don't think most cyclist got it in them.


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## skizzle86 (Apr 15, 2010)

When watching formula one racing they show RPM data, KERs data and sometimes a g-force diagram that is in real time with a specific car. LIke Tethernaut said power data would be useful for spectators.


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## perttime (Jun 27, 2005)

heathb said:


> I'd like to see a technical short track that could be made big enough for crit racing in every city.


Like a Karting track?


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## old_fuji (Mar 16, 2009)

It would be interesting to see a bike race on a track like Talledega or Bristol.


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## tom_h (May 6, 2008)

old_fuji said:


> It would be interesting to see a bike race on a track like Talledega or Bristol.


I believe the Sea Otter Classic (4 days of Road & MTB racing) stages the circuit race on the Laguna-Seca race course.


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## Nazz44 (Jun 26, 2003)

*Plus...*

What's missing is the sound of NASCAR. A cheap fix...cards in the spokes! Imagine the sound a full peloton would make blast past at 29 mph.


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## old_fuji (Mar 16, 2009)

tom_h said:


> I believe the Sea Otter Classic (4 days of Road & MTB racing) stages the circuit race on the Laguna-Seca race course.


I thought there was one at Infineon as well, but to me it would be cool to have like a super-velodrome on a half mile or longer track.


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## Big-foot (Dec 14, 2002)

*5/8 Mile Banked Oval*

The Redwood Acres Criterium in Eureka, California is held on the paved car-racing oval at the fairgrounds. It's fast, smooth and the racing action is always close. AND it's great for specataors----they can see the entire course from the grandstands.

There will be at least one race in Sept. of 2011, and maybe a couple more weeknight events under the lights through the season.

www.teambigfoot.net


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

and here I thought it was impossible to get less technical crits than socal has.


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## cydswipe (Mar 7, 2002)

Big-foot said:


> The Redwood Acres Criterium in Eureka, California is held on the paved car-racing oval at the fairgrounds. It's fast, smooth and the racing action is always close. AND it's great for specataors----they can see the entire course from the grandstands.
> 
> There will be at least one race in Sept. of 2011, and maybe a couple more weeknight events under the lights through the season.
> 
> www.teambigfoot.net


I see you there.


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## tommyrhodes (Aug 19, 2009)

We have a dedicated crit course here in rhode island. Through the season there is racing every wednesday night and a few scattered weekend races. It used to be a landing strip (coincidentally, its where bush sr. Was stationed in world war 2). 
Its the safest course I've ever seen despite being fairly technical with 7 turns on every .8 mile lap. But its a dedicated bike course, no cars (or planes) allowed. 
Anyway, at this course you can see every inch of track from the start line (minus 2 corners due to trees). There are always spectators and many nights the home stretch would be literally packed with people. It became an event for me and my gf. We'd sit for dinner and watch whichever race I wasn't in. I think THAT is what U.S. Cycling needs. More spectator friendly racing.


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## RRRoubaix (Aug 27, 2008)

tom_h said:


> I believe the Sea Otter Classic (4 days of Road & MTB racing) stages the circuit race on the Laguna-Seca race course.


OBRA has races 2X a week for 5 months at our local road course- Portland International Raceway.


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## loubnc (May 8, 2008)

old_fuji said:


> It would be interesting to see a bike race on a track like Talledega or Bristol.


How about this? http://www.carolinatt.org

Not technically a "race", but man is it fun to ride on that track.:thumbsup:


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