BBC NI | NW200

Montage Time...yes already.

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:16:58 +0000

I know, any excuse. Well it's hard to resist a montage when we have all this great bike footage and our choice of rock music to lay over it. This is another example of how mad/brave/skilled the riders are, to hurl their machines around the B roads of Northern Ireland each May.

2010 NW200 clock is ticking

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:41:04 +0000

Well here we go again, it may be over 3 months away but you can almost feel wrenches starting to tighten nuts all over the country...eh ....well... you get the idea.

BBC NI will be confirming their line up and content available during race week next month, so I thought it was time we dusted down the blog keyboard and began to salute the two-wheeled heroes who fling themselves round the triangle circuit each May.

But before we start lets make a cup of tea......Guy Martin style....with science.

Coatesy on Grid Gripes

Fri, 15 May 2009 17:39:52 +0000

Last night as you are probably aware, was a bit of a damp squib. The 125 and 250's got the first half of their session in the dry, cold and dull conditions. Then came the rain. It wasn't heavy to start with and not even covering the whole track, but it was heavy enough to mean that the riders' weren't able to improve on their lap times.

By the end of the evening clerk of the course Mervyn Whyte had to call a halt to proceedings, as conditions eventually got too wet and too dull to continue, and that meant the Supersport 600 riders didn't get to go out at all, which leads us to the question of where, or even if, riders who didn't qualify on Tuesday night will be placed on the grid.

You may say tough luck, if you didn't qualify... you can't race, but we're talking about people like Conor Cummins, John Burrows, Alistair Seeley and Michael Rutter amongst others and these are the guys who people are coming out to watch, so some special dispensation will have to be given. The next question is where exactly do you fit the guy who finished second in last years event, without upsetting people ??

I'm glad I'm not in Mervyn's shoes today !!!

Mobile Magic

Thu, 07 May 2009 22:44:20 +0000

The NW200 web team thought it was about time you lucky people had the chance to sample some screaming bikes on your mobiles. Our NW200 mobile site already offers onboard video downloads direct to your hand sets, but now you can have a Seeley throttle throb or the dulcet tones of race commentary legend Keith Huewen, ranting about slip streams.

To sample our audio downloads you can either type http://news.bbc.co.uk/mobile/bbc_sport/nireland/nw200/ into your mobile browser or text NW200 to 60011 and we'll send you a text with the link included. (texts cost between 10-15p).

And while you are up at the circuit you can send us your thoughts and questions, pics or even short videos. Simply text MYNW200 followed by a space and then your contribution to 60011 (texts cost 10-15p).

You may want to send us a text with a question for the fans forum live web stream which is also available behind the red button. Hosted by Stephen Watson and Steve Parrish a panel of riders and officials will answer your questions on Wednesday 13th May at 7.00pm.

To send pictures and short videos (up to 50MB in size) via MMS. Simply ensure that MYNW200 is the first thing in the text component of your multimedia message, then send it all to 60011 (multimedia messages cost 20-65p).

Why not send us a pic of your pride and joy on two wheels or a snap of you and your mates at your favourite NW200 spot.

The McCann Diary

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:05:16 +0000

Last year we followed the TAS Suzuki outfit as they prepared for the NW200 with behind the scenes reports and video packages. This year we turn to Ballymoney rider James McCann who is very new to the sport and was a road bike virgin before racing machinery in anger.

With a small set up James will show how the "white van men" of the sport compete with the big boys at International races. Each day during race week at the NW200 we will film James as he prepares to race in both Supersport and Superbike events.

more info >>>

BBC Blackstaff Studio launch

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:08:00 +0000

We invited the good and the great to the Blackstaff studio this week to offically launch the BBC's media commitment to the NW200 for this year.....and beyond.

BBC Sport Northern Ireland has signed a new deal to continue broadcasting the North-West 200 International road races, one of the most famous and prestigious motorsport events in the world. The deal - for the next five years - runs from 2010 to 2014.

Coverage of the NW 200 festival on TV will include preview and highlights programmes, live reports from the circuit each night on BBC Newsline and enhanced onboard and road-side footage.

BBC Radio Ulster will continue to have live coverage of the main race with features, build-up and live reports on everything happening during the festival on a number of programmes throughout the week.

Shane Glynn, Editor of Sport says: "When we secured the rights to the North West 200, we pledged to provide fans with the most innovative, creative and in depth coverage of the races and the week leading up to them. I hope we've delivered on that promise. Our partnership with Mervyn Whyte and his team is very strong, and we're looking forward to working together at the North West until 2014, and hopefully beyond.

The profile of the North West has risen tremendously, and we're delighted to be involved in what has established itself as one of Ireland's top sporting events. We will be working hard with Mervyn to see how we can further improve and develop our coverage."

Mervyn Whyte MBE, Clerk of Course says: We are completely delighted that we have been able to secure a further five years with BBC Northern Ireland. We have achieved so much over the past three years together and to be able to continue this relationship is the icing on the cake for the competition.

The coverage across TV, Radio and online has been second to none and the NW200 are excited about the relationship going from strength to strength in the next five years."

New for 2009 - Grid Vids, Tweets and Flickrs

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:20:35 +0000

As the NW200 begins to loom on the horizon the BBC NI Sport team add a few props to highlight this year's 80th Anniversary of the event. Stephen Watson, below right, has been likened to the Crazy Frog character who terrorised our music charts a few years ago, after this snap was published !

The NW200 blog will feature all the latest news and views as the days and weeks pass untill race week, May 11 - 16 2009.

We will have Adrian Coates and Phillip McCallen back again to give their inside knowledge on the riders and paddock gossip. Stephen Watson will tell us what it's like having to work on the event when he'd rather be a bike fan sitting on Juniper Hill. Plus a few guest bloggers will dop in during race week to add their comments.

We can now embed Flash video into our blogs. The one below shows the contrast between the bikes and course of the flat cap years to the fast and furious machines of the 21st century.

We will be making the most of social networking tools, working hard for you behind the scenes on the world wide web. We then force their results into a special widget which spits out all things NW200 to our site.

Sites like Flickr, Twitter and various Blogs all host wonderful content about the NW200, past and present which, when tagged with "NW200" will show up on our feed.

We have also been busy re-designing our homepage to give instant access to the best videos in a grid friendly style - coming soon.........

So Blog, Twitter and Flickr your heart out and you might find your content winding up here on the BBC NW200 site, soon...

Welcome to the NW200 Blog

Mon, 05 May 2008 14:12:28 +0000

Hello. We're the people behind the BBC's NW200 website, and we thought we'd let you know what the craic is with the NW200 Blog.

Phillip McCallen and Adrian Coates, two local biking heores, will be part of the BBC commentary team bringing you live streaming from the NW200, during both practice sessions and throughout race day, and will be around the paddock and the pit lane all week. They'll be letting you know their thoughts from behind the scenes, who they think will take the glory, any gossip floating around and basically whatever pops into their heads.

Watch this video of Philip and Adrian introducing you to the NW200 Blog...

The vid also features snippets of chats the boys had with John McGuinness, Cameron Donald and Steve Plater, and we'll be posting the full interviews in due course. Leave your comments and keep checking back here for the inside track on the NW200.