An Evening with 'Ask Crofty'

I do not have access to Sky Sport's coverage of Formula 1. My Dad refuses to indulge in pay per view television for the benefit of media tyrant Rupert Murdoch, and as a university student I cannot afford to fund it myself. But when a friend texts you to say he has won tickets to the live broadcast of 'Ask Crofty', as an F1 fan you don't say no, even if you have never seen the show before. But here is a brief recollection of my evening in the studio.

A little over two weeks ago I got the message to say my friend (and sole friend that is an F1 fan) had won tickets to be part of the audience for 'Ask Crofty'. So after no hesitation to take up his offer, a quick search on Youtube returned a small reflection as to what I could expect. The afternoon of the live TV broadcast soon came around, where to my delight, the confirmed guests were Williams F1 Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams, Chief Executive Officer of the revived Manor F1 Team, Graeme Lowdon, Lotus reserve driver Jolyon Palmer and The Sun's Ben Hunt- a Formula 1 journalist. And to the less astute, David Croft would host.

When travelling with a good friend, the journey is always an enjoyable part of the trip even if they ignore your directions and end up parking at the studios after the cut off point for arriving for the broadcast. But despite this we were welcomed and searched before being sent to the hospitality area for audiences. As we watched a replay of the closing podium celebrations of the Bahrain GP, to my friend's delight his question was chosen to be featured live on the show, and as his chosen 'plus 1' I had the added perks of preferential treatment without the fear of cocking up my words on national television.

Tony, the show's larger than life producer, despite being a short, plump man, positioned us for the broadcast right next to the main monitor and right in the line of the camera and Autocue. So no scratching or fixing my hair for a good hour. But after a quick hand shake and exchange of poor jokes with Crofty, he pre recorded the titles and welcomed the guests. And that was that, we were live on TV. Up until now the best I had been was a mere pixel at Villa Park on Match of the Day. The hour flew by, no major blunders or technical difficulties to report. The advert breaks filled with Crofty speaking to his producers through the ear piece and checking the Skype connections. The guests were diplomatic with their answers and there were no major controversies to report. But on live TV they were always going to toe the party line weren't they? The exception was Ben Hunt who refreshingly enough opted not to worship Lewis Hamilton as some sort of demi-god.

The soft spot for all things Manor grows ever stronger

After Crofty, signed off on camera we made our way to the foyer for a chance to get up close with the guests. Claire Williams unfortunately was unable to make an appearance, but Graeme Lowdon made, what seemed like, a Bee-line for myself and my friend. We exchanged a few questions in quiet. I asked about sponsorship, whether he had any job offers whilst Marussia appeared to be a thing of the past and so on. He was such a gent. All to happy to answer questions and engage with the fans, and lets be honest, us F1 fans are an odd crowd at best. Then of course, we asked for the obligatory photo. Crofty then appeared alongside Jolyon and they exchanged banter about Palmer's pursuit of a race seat, and again we were lucky enough to get a picture with the GP2 champion. And, as the blog may suggest, sports based journalism is a big interest of mine, so I stepped back just to ask The Sun's Ben Hunt for some advice. Once again, he was down to earth and offered sound words of wisdom for how to progress, all of which has been taken on board.

And that was it, we headed back to the car park after a truly fantastic and memorable evening. But naturally it wasn't quite enough for our motor sport fix without a Grand Prix running over the course of the weekend so we are off karting to enjoy some grass roots motor sport away from the complexity of F1. My closing thought? The camera really does add '10 pounds'.