Paddock Pass Podcast

After a tragic and emotional weekend at Barcelona, David Emmett and Neil Morrison sat down in David's hotel room to discuss the Grand Prix of Catalonia, as well as the test which took place on Monday.

Naturally, the first topic of discussion is the tragic death of Luis Salom on Friday, during free practice for the Moto2 class. Neil and David go over the sequence of events leading up to his death, as well as the aftermath, and how the series coped with it. We talk about track safety and how the track was changed, and how the Safety Commission came to its decision.

The latest episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast is something very special indeed. After the Austin round of MotoGP, David Emmett spoke to two of the finest photographers in the paddock, Scott Jones and Tony Goldsmith, about the challenges they face as motorcycle racing photographers.

It is a long and fascinating chat, covering a very wide range of topics concerning being a photographer in MotoGP. Scott and Tony talk about where their interest in photography came from, and how they ended up working as professional racing photographers. They talk about the technical challenges they face - not going into too much technical detail, so as not to confuse the photo-illiterate David Emmett - when shooting, such as dealing with the bane of the MotoGP photographer, heat haze.

As Tony has a long history of shooting at the TT on the Isle of Man, he explains the very different approaches and expectations of photography at the TT and MotoGP. Scott has spent some time shooting cars as well as bikes, and both he and Tony compare and contrast shooting cars and shooting motorcycles, and explain why taking pictures of motorcycle racing is much more interesting than taking pictures of cars.

As the motorcycle racing season heats up, Neil Morrison and Steve English bring a very timely edition of the Paddock Pass Podcast. Episode 27 starts off with the inevitable long look at the rider market, after the recent rash of official announcements. Steve and Neil break down the reasons for Maverick Viñales going to Yamaha, Andrea Iannone going to Suzuki, and Dani Pedrosa staying at Honda.

The latest episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast is something rather special. At Jerez, David Emmett spoke to Pippa Laverty, the wife and long-time partner of Aspar Ducati rider Eugene Laverty (and yes, that's Aspar Ducati, not Avintia, as I mistakenly said in the introduction). 

Pippa answers a range of reader questions and gives us a fascinating insight into the life of a rider's partner. She talks about the demands of travel, of the things she does to help Eugene relax during a race weekend, and how she copes with the stress of watching the man she loves doing something so dangerous, and something he so obviously loves. It is a great perspective, and a view which is not often seen by many. It was a wonderful conversation, and Pippa was generous and open in her answers.

The latest episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and it should be no surprise that the second seat at Yamaha is the main topic of conversation. Neil Morrison, Jensen Beeler of Asphalt & Rubber, and David Emmett discuss the stories that emerged around the second Yamaha seat in some depth.

The Jerez round of MotoGP left us with plenty to talk about, and so episode 24 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is a long one - even after the edits. Regulars Neil Morrison and David Emmett are joined by Jensen Beeler of Asphalt & Rubber to chew over the excitement of the race and the goings on behind the scenes, and at the test afterwards.

Obviously, there was an intriguing race with Valentino Rossi taking victory in barnstorming fashion. But the big news was Jorge Lorenzo's move to Ducati, which is going to have a major impact on who goes where in the rest of the field. We run through various scenarios of who we expect to move.

Episode 23 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is here. In the latest episode, Jensen Beeler of Asphalt & Rubber leads the conversation between Neil Morrison and MotoMatters.com's own David Emmett, in which we take a quick look back at Argentina and discuss the Austin round of MotoGP. 

In the midst of a massive software upgrade for MotoMatters.com, David Emmett took time out to record another episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast with Stephen English. Despite the absence of Neil Morrison, who is on his way to Argentina, and Tony Goldsmith, who was taking photos of other kinds of motorcycles, Steve and David managed to fill three quarters of an hour of chat about the upcoming racing this weekend.

The Paddock Pass Podcast reaches another milestone. If its twenty-one podcast episodes were years, then the Paddock Pass Podcast would be old enough to buy a drink once it hits town in Austin.

Episode 20 of the Paddock Pass Podcast has just hit the internet, just in time for the start of the 2016 season. As usual, there is plenty to talk about, and David Emmett and Tony Goldsmith grill Neil Morrison, who was at both the Qatar and Phillip Island MotoGP tests, and Steve English, who was at Phillip Island, about the progress made by the MotoGP teams in their preparations for the 2016 season.