Enoch Law and Jamie McGregor, in costume, for a live video preview of the 2011 Indian Grand Prix.Formula 1 is a circus unto itself, full of snobs and imagined drama even as it delivers the most-spectacular motorsports technology and highest-paid teams and drivers. So it's fitting that my favorite audio coverage of the sport comes from the two brilliant fans behind F1Rejects.com.
F1 Rejects is an Australian website devoted to the lesser-qualified but well-financed drivers and sorry teams who have peppered the series for years (who can forget Perry McCarthy, Jean-Marc Gounon and Andrea Moda?).
Other Formula 1 podcasts -- and there are at least a half-dozen professionally produced offerings -- range from the high brow (see Motorsport) to the bloated (Formula1Blog) to the periodically engaging (The Flying Lap). But none come close to the work of two Aussies named Jamie McGregor and Enoch Law (who, oddly, is of Asian descent).
They're bright bright, witty, quick on their feet, sometimes politicallly incorrect and have encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture and the depths of Formula 1's worst moments. All the while they're making fun of the sport they're celebrating the things that keep us all coming back race after race.
Unlike their more professional peers, McGregor and Law produce a podcast about once every four races. Their most recent installment is titled "Ausmalaychihrain" in summarizing the Austrlalian, Malaysian, Chinese and Bahrain grand prixs. Especially fun is their "Top 10 F1 Stories Ripe for Silver Screen Adaptation," a riff on three recent high-budget films on F1's past. Who's up for biopics on Luca Badoer, Roberto Moreno (with Danny Devito up for the lead role) or Jean-Denis Deletraz ("This one has Tom Hanks written all over it")?
F1 Rejects is a treat for the ears, whether you're a Formula 1 fan or not.