Note the nice new towers and finish gantry (left). Problem number one to overcome was me squeezing into the centre of the towers to fix the cameras. Good job I don't eat much!

Next problem was the fact that part of the sponsorship contract required T-Mobile banners to be placed on the inside faces of each tower, i.e. facing the road. This meant that if the cameras were to see anything they would have to be located lower than usual. It was a case of 'suck it and see' at the Manchester finish and we would review the arrangements after that stage. As it turned out the pictures from Lynx were acceptable although if I had not had two cameras available things would have had to change. We decided that we could safely operate this way for the whole of the race.

Here's how I had to fix the cameras (2 pictures below). A length of aluminium angle clamped to the towers. It looked a bit unwieldy but worked OK. One thing to bear in mind with a major event is that the photofinish and TV cameras must not be visible to the outside. On most days Venner TV placed one of their cameras underneath ours as their version of photofinish.

Our cameras took quite a bit of lining-up. Normally it's a fairly quick process but with using one on each side it would have been obvious if they were not both aligned to the same point. A piece of string stretched across the road worked a treat, although there simply wasn't time to make a perfect job of it. Some days were more precise than others.

This was our working area (the 2 pictures below). The vehicle was situated right alongside the finish line and was home to photofinish and results. It was more roomy than the pictures make it appear, but the only problem was the fact that there were no blinds and that made it difficult to see the screens on the bright days. It was also hot inside and we had to shut the windows for the finish as the commentary from Messrs. Porter and Duffield was a bit overpowering. Well, it was a lot overpowering actually!

The picture on the right shows the inside layout. I had the end of the unit with the laptop, hub and large monitor. For the finish of the stage I was joined by the Chief Judge who would agree (or not) with my identification of the riders. The process was slowed quite a bit by having to continually switch between cameras due to the low filming angle, but we were pleased that we managed to identify every rider on every stage. That's only happened to me on few occasions. On the right of the picture is the results section manned by Seamus Shortall. He provides the best results operation I have ever seen at a bike race, and you can just make out Seamus peering out of the window in the external view on the left.

The Timing Operation

Pictured below left are my timing colleagues. Michael on the left and Leo are from Ireland and were contracted to supply the timing clocks which hung from the gantry. My initial thoughts before the race was that they were only providing a service which we could have done with our own Omega equipment. I changed my mind after seeing their operation close-up. One thing I did like were the small boards which were very effective and more manageable than our own monsters. The same boards could also double as a lap board as shown in the picture. Leo also operated the Lynx capture button for me and we made a good team.

They are much smaller than our Omega timing computer, but the picture (above right) shows the handheld timing units which Leo and Michael used. Quite neat really and very versatile.

So what does the finish area look like? Well, here's a view (left) taken on the final day on Whitehall, London.

It's not the best photograph as it was taken early in the day and the shadows are quite long. However you get the gist of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob joined me at the Nottingham finish, and he added to the photo collection. On the right you can see more clearly how the T-Mobile banners affected my positioning of the cameras.

Still, without T-Mobile there wouldn't have been a Tour of Britain, and the resulting Lynx images were quite reasonable.

And finally..

Bob spotted the Chief Judge's guide dog (complete with ToB pass). Sorry Trevor, but the old jokes are the best!