I’m not much of a racing fan, or even a sports fan. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the skill of athletes, I do, but it’s never been my thing to watchsports. Though a few years ago I got hooked on watching the excellent Dakar Rally video coverage on sbs.com.au. At the end of each day in early January, I would watch all the SBS videos featuring the bikes, quads, cars, and trucks.
After two days of not being able to play the 2012 productions, a Google search indicates viewers from the United States and Canada (maybe others too) are not able to view these shows. 🙁
This is probably because another network has the rights to coverage for the U.S. and Canadian markets, but I’ve yet to learn the reason or a suitable substitute for the comprehensive SBS coverage. Maybe the videos will be viewable when the race is over?
Oh well, I guess it’s time get back to doing and not spend so much time watching during the first two weeks of the year. Thanks for the butt kick forward, it’s time to get back to working [playing] with trucks and motos.
RoadTraveler – Rolling Forward
Copyright © 2012 James Langan
Agreed. Last night I caught up on the past few days of Dakar racing on the official Dakar.com website. The narration voice on the short videos sounds like a computer translation, and the videos leave much to be desired compared to the SBS.com coverage.
SBS’s great platform-specific coverage would have been even more interesting this year, as I like that the Hummer team of Robbie Gordon and Nasser Al Attiyah are doing better. While not really a Hummer fan, I like that the 2WD underdogs have been doing better. As an American, it’s nice to see a competitive American team for a change. Seems like Nasser could do even better if his car was more reliable.
The lack of quality TV coverage of the Dakar really kills the race for me. I love endurance racing (be it sports cars or off-road racing) and wish for quality coverage of both the Dakar and Baja 1000.