Sidepodcast

It was little more than a week ago that Stuart issued the Bob Constanduros Challenge, where we were encouraged to try and exceed the track commentator’s infamous 28 second “champaaagne” shout.

We had an unexpectedly high number of entrants, so much so that we didn’t get through them all during the hour long Parade Lap and bounced a couple onto F1 Debrief later in the day. Sadly, Bob wasn’t around at 23:40 when that one finished (the lightweight), so instead the shouts were judged and plaudits awarded on length alone.

For convenience, neatness and posterity here are all the entrants, arranged from best to worst longest to shortest.

Lou

The winning entrant, with a champagne time of 25 seconds was Lou from F1 Break. It took many of us a considerable part of the day to encourage the girl to make that call, but the result was absolutely worth it. 3 seconds shy of the legend’s best ever time is nothing to be sniffed at.

Champagne Time: 25 seconds.

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The trackside commentator at all Grands Prix is a certain Bob Constanduros, and lately he’s been raising his profile somewhat with long-play renditions of his trademark podium “champagne” call.

Stuart commented earlier today that Bob recently managed an astonishing 28 second performance without taking a breath. In the same comment, a challenge was issued to see if any of our brave listeners could beat it.

It’s possible that due to the incessant nattering of a certain ITV commentator, most people may never have heard Bob in action as the drivers cover each other with the bottled sticky stuff, so to give you a rough idea of how it works, Stuart offers up this handy example:

I clocked that effort as a meagre 15 seconds, but you get the idea. Short “cham”, big “aaaang” and a swift “ne” to finish off. After several attempts I haven’t actually been able to beat that attempt, but I just know someone can do better.

Can you surpass Bob C, the “other” voice of motorsport, and a man who’s being doing this for more years than I care to imagine?

Of course you can. Which is why we’re asking everybody to practice for a bit (don’t overstretch those vocal chords now), and either leave us your attempt via voicemail, or if you’re feeling really confident, during Sunday morning’s Parade Lap live on air. The voicemail number from any phone is +44 121 28 87225, or it’s free if you Skype us (just search for sidepodcast).

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