As I’ve mentioned many times before, we had a cliff-edge moment back in December of 2017…do we shut down Formula 1 blog or do we change our name, and all of the massive details that entails, and soldier on? Formula 1 forced our hand, understandably so, and we had a choice to make.
We chose to carry on but the only way we could do this is if we had your support. After 12 years of providing free content and buying the first round, we asked you if you could help us out by joining our Patreon account as a patron to help us keep going.
You answered and as I say on every podcast, we couldn’t be more grateful for your support and kind consideration. To those ends, I wanted to give something back to the supporters who support us.
I was backing up our server and I know that many of our old Downshift episodes cannot be found anywhere. Links to them are dead since we moved our site and changed out domain. I got to listening to them and to be honest, it amazes me that we got some of the interviews we did given we were nowhere near the size we are now. Just a testament to those who were willing to come on the show.
Open the Vaults:
So for all you Patreon supporters of $5/month or more, I have started uploading our old TPF Downshift Interview series podcast episodes and will continue adding new ones until I get to the current shows.
You can go back and hear Ari Vatanen when he was running for FIA president, Derek Daly, Brian Redman, Alan McNish and the Audi team and many, many more. I didn’t want to flood your RSS feed so I will slowly add them over time for your enjoyment.
Realize that these are older shows from way back when but while the audio may not be great or I may still sound like the dork I currently am, I think you may find some of the discussions very interesting now that you have the clarity of time to measure those comments by.
Listen to Ari Vatanen’s vision for the FIA and juxtapose that with what Jean Todt has done. Listen to Alan McNish discuss racing or better yet, listen gape-mouthed as Peter Windsor tells you all about his USF1 team and why it would be on the grid as signatory to the Concorde Agreement. Interesting stuff indeed.
Most importantly, thank you! Thank you for your continued support and while I read some of the comments from Patreon supporters who left, I understand not everyone can support or are willing to for whatever reason. I realize that a lot of creators on Patreon give away freebies or have extra content and I would love to do that on a regular basis. I am trying to find the time to do so.
In reality, with a wife, daughters, day job and travel, I am lucky to offer new content every day on the website and do weekly podcasts so please know that your support makes that all possible. What I can do is try to offer you some fun content that only you can get. I am trying to set up live chats and even have Patreon’s on our podcast so watch this space.
As for these TPF Vault interviews? Get ready, there’s over 80 of them!!
Todd.
I feel you do more than enough already. For the cost of some magazine subscriptions you offer a hell of a lot if content and informative insight.
I consider my $10 a month well donated and well worth it.
Keep up the awesome work.
On that we should ALL agree.
Thanks Richard, I appreciate that there are folks out there who truly understand the situation and what time it takes to create the content I dod on top of life and day-job commitments.
NC… I know I have asked before, but I want to post this to get others to comment…
I value the service and entertainment you provide. I signed up to Patreon and gave $10 a month for about a year… but the spam and solicitation from Patreon for other suggestions was an onslaught I cannot allow time for. So, I cancelled my Patreon contribution. What I ask, simply, perhaps for other people who truly admire the service and information you provide, is to find a different way to contribute. Can you use Amazon Pay?
Yeah, I checked Amazon but that’s a merchant feature. I would have to have an Amazon store with products to purchase in order to use Amazon Pay.
There is still the PayPal donate button on the right on the homepage and when you click through, there is an option to make it a monthly recurring payment. This is how mine is set up.