82 replies to this topic

[Doug Nye]

Best wishes everybody, for a very Happy Christmas and an enjoyable, fulfilling, healthy and safe New Year...


1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9


10


11


12


12B


...and does anybody know where you find the brake pedal on a sledge?

Photos Strictly Copyright: The GP Library

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 24 December 2011 - 22:48.

[Tim Murray]

1. Eddie Cheever - Project 4 Ralt RT1-BMW at an F2 race in 1977.
2. Mika Hakkinen - pre-season testing of the MP4/12 in early 1997 before the black and silver West livery was finalised.

[Vitesse2]

9 Raymond Mays in R4D. Post-War picture - Shelsley paddock, I think. Did the other one shrink in the wash>

[LittleChris]

And the same to you Doug.

A few guesses:

1 - Obviously Eddie Cheever driving, 1978 Mugello ?
2 - Mika Hakkinen, Jerez ? Testing the never raced Mclaren ( MP19 ?)
3 - James Hunt, one of the Birmingham SuperPrix events. Is that Wee Jackie behind ?
5 - Not really Ian Scheckter is it ?, background ie sleepers with low single layer armco looks like Silverstone but far too much foliage. Could it be somewhere in South Africa ?
6 - Snetterton circa 1975 ?
7 - Mallory Hairpin, presumably not Ray Mallock !
8 - DSJ somewhere in a Germany speaking country - Back of the old main grandstand at Nurburgring ?
9 - Raymond Mays, ERA, Isle of Man ?
11 - Oulton, Aurora, Kennedy, Wilson ?
12b - Shape looks like the Spirit 101
13 - Used to chuck myself off a la Masten Gregory !!!

[small block]

5 - Ian Scheckter March 771 1977 British Grand Prix Silverstone

[small block]

12b - Gordon Coppuck working on the wind tunnel model for the Spirit Honda turbo F1 car

[ensign14]

5 is definitely Ian Scheckter, presumably in his one works March season.

6 is presumably a Group 8 race, which would make it 1976, probably Snetterton, John Cannon in 99, Damien Magee in 3, can't see who's in the Wolf-Williams. Wouldn't be Brian McGuire, would it? Black helmet, so possible. Can't see the 15 either, would it be Val Musetti?

12 did immediately bring the Spirit 201 to mind, between its non-title white paint job and its later World Championship red white and blue.

[arttidesco]

I don't think John Cooper or March 792 is applicable to any of these, but looks like Kennedy and Keegan in the Wolf and Arrows at Oulton :-)

I'm fairly certain that's not the Harrier that blew everyone away at Brands during the GP meeting in 1980.

[fuzzi]

No.4 Avro Shackelton (sometimes called 50,000 rivets in loose formation) one of my favourite aircraft - what a low pass!
A great Christmas treat.

No. 9 is Raymond Mays in ERA R4D and Lawrie Bond in his 500cc car. In the paddock at Shelsley Walsh

Edited by fuzzi, 25 December 2011 - 06:30.

[E1pix]

No. 11 — Don't know the drivers, but a '77 Wolf leading a '78 Arrows — best guess is the 1979 Aurora AFX Series. [ anyone have an image of Gordon Smiley from '79 AFX? (a childhood mentor-friend of mine). ]

Apologies for the dumb question... but what's "WOEIT" mean? Obviously everyone else knew to identify the images, not an acronym I know "over here."

Great Thread, Doug, very cool! (I particularly love the J. Hunt image!)

Edited by E1pix, 25 December 2011 - 07:23.

[RTH]

Great pictures, any stories or explanation around some of those gratefully received.

[Tim Murray]

Apologies for the dumb question... but what's "WOEIT" mean?

It means 'What On Earth Is That?' Doug has been running them regularly for our pleasure for many years, but with an unconventional numbering system, so this probably isn't the 11th in the series.

[Doug Nye]

Great pictures, any stories or explanation around some of those gratefully received.

Err well - it was Christmas Eve... Aircraft pictures were taken at the 1981 International Air Tattoo. 'Sledge' photo taken last winter, careering around our lanes.

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 25 December 2011 - 09:50.

[Ted Walker]

No7 is Ray Mallock in F Atlantic Lola at Mallory.

[Ted Walker]

No 1 is Cheever in F2 RT1 at Thruxton.

[arttidesco]

5. Ian Scheckter at Zolder, was my first guess or possibly Sweden, but then I noticed the Castrol stickers on the nose in place of the Valvoline so I'm wondering was this a test session ?

[alansart]

5. Ian Scheckter at Zolder, was my first guess or possibly Sweden, but then I noticed the Castrol stickers on the nose in place of the Valvoline so I'm wondering was this a test session ?

.......at Silverstone?

[arttidesco]

.......at Silverstone?

My image of Silverstone circa 1970's has been severely interfered with during recent visits cannot imagine where on the old Silverstone the trees were that close to the circuit ?

[john winfield]

My image of Silverstone circa 1970's has been severely interfered with during recent visits cannot imagine where on the old Silverstone the trees were that close to the circuit ?

At Becketts perhaps?

[E1pix]

It means 'What On Earth Is That?' Doug has been running them regularly for our pleasure for many years, but with an unconventional numbering system, so this probably isn't the 11th in the series.

Thanks, Tim... and Merry Christmas to you as well!

Per #7 Mallock Atlantic car, "our" Lola T460s and T560s didn't have the bulged side panels, curious... fuel tanks?

[Macca]

10 is a Sea Harrier in pre-Falklands colours...........actually it's one that fought and was lost there.

Paul M

[alansart]

My image of Silverstone circa 1970's has been severely interfered with during recent visits cannot imagine where on the old Silverstone the trees were that close to the circuit ?

I was thinking Copse.

[Doug Nye]

10 is a Sea Harrier in pre-Falklands colours...........actually it's one that fought and was lost there.

Paul M

Quite right - the aircraft in which, on May 6 1982, Lt Al Curtis disappeared simultaneously with wingman Ltd Cdr John Eyton-Jones in a sister SHAR while investigating a possible contact near the burned-out but still floating hulk of HMS Sheffield - the assumption being that they had collided in cloud that night. No trace of the pair was found. Somewhere today on the bed of the South Atlantic...

I didn't realise it was this aircraft at the time I posted the photograph, nor - sadly - did I appreciate that the wonderful Shackleton MR3 shown also came to a tragic end, being the aircraft which hit high ground in cloud just south of Tarbert, on the Isle of Harris, Scotland on April 30, 1990. The entire crew of ten were lost in this second disaster.

And they say motor sport is dangerous.


DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 25 December 2011 - 23:21.

[RDV]

One couldn't opine knowledgeably about most of the daguerrotypes displayed, but given ones role in certain departments of HM Civil Service, of which one cannot speak about, one can throw some light on exhibit 9, that portraits a little known incident in the Balkans in the thirties.

At that time, the FIA rules were binding only in the French version. which caused serious problems when the English assumed the dimensions stated in the rules were in inches, not centimeters....

The resulting confusion as the Threpplewhyte Special (n.45 in this daguerrotype) driven by the Honorable Cedric Bayswatter-Ffiphe turned up for the 18th Coppa Dalmatia (Kup Dalmacije), run in Bosnia-Herzegovinas only tarmacadamed roads between the towns of Bibinje, Zemunik Donji and Skabmja can only be described as a klastera zajebavati.
( And was indeed in the local press, who said amongst other things, and one cites: Prisutnost britanskih Racing Team, prouzročio je mnogo veselja zbog svoje idiotske čitanjapravila, čime je mučko Albion osujećeni , but we digress..)

The gentleman with his back to the camera is the chief designer of Thepplewhyte Horseless Carriage Manufacturers and Fettlers, Stan Still MMEng.PPTe, BSc, here contemplating doing the right thing and honorably quitting this mortal coil, as he surely would get the cut direct when returning to The Sceptered Isle after this debacle.

( Car n.8, incidentally, was the locally built Hrom puž, driven by Captain Bakir Izetbegović of the Fifth Bosnian Light Bicycle Brigade, who sportingly did not protest the disparity in cubic capacity, although he did warn The Honorable Cedric that the use of both their trouser belts on The Honorable Cedrics Thepplewhytes bonnet was hardly cricket, but as all the British contingent surrounding the car did not have mustaches, he, as the only Bosnian not to have one (It having been ripped off in an unpleasant incident when dueling at Universität Heidelberg, but as not germane to this tale we will elide the details.), in the spirit of comradeship would demand no handicap.
The rules on belts and straps have been unclear ever since, and played no small part in the louche stories about Mr. Mosley in future years.

Further embarrassment was providentially avoided as the Great Banja Luka Earthquake of 1938 (Бањалука velikog potresa 1938) destroyed the road between Zemunik Donji and Skabmja, so the competition was transformed into The First Drinking Coppa Dalmatia (Prvo piće Kup Dalmacije ), consisting in drinking the cups 4.5 liter capacity in Rakije in one gulp.

This played right into British hands, as, in the usual perfidious Albion ingenuous way, the teams timekeeper,Seymour Legg insisted the British, as guests, should avail themselves of a loophole, and take as a given that the afore-stated cubic capacity would be in the time-honored british pub pints ( 1 pt (Liq) = 0.473176 L) allowing the British team to be the only survivors of the contest.

For this he was knighted in the 1939 Christmas Honours List. No such pleasant destiny for the unfortunate Stan Still, as he was mauled by a bear at the inn he mistook for a game trophy, and unfortunately found himself dead when checking out. No sensible explanation for the presence at the inn of a member of the Ursidae family was given. ( There is some controversy if it was a Ursus rossicus or an Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca, although one would be very surprised to find an Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca in the region.)

Notable historians are still undecided if this incident eventually led to the break-up of the British Empire in the unpleasantness that followed when the Herzegovinian ambassador, a great friend of certain German politicians, secretly informed the 3rd Reich that he would release the aggrieved Fifth Bosnian Light Bicycle Brigade to aid and abet any military action envisaged by them.

One hopes one has been of assistance and remain, sportingly

Sir Julius Fflangg-Tylley

P.S.- Unattributed sources suggest that the Hrom puž (Chassi n. 001) was subsequently used as the basis for the unraced 1942 Pappamobile Speziale, seen in all its splendor at this years Goodwood Reunion. No trace was left of the Threpplewhyte Special last seen departing Cuernavaca in the Carrera Panamericana of 1947 with the brothers Bracegirdle at the helm, and disappearing during the race.

Edited by RDV, 26 December 2011 - 00:05.

[GMACKIE]

RDV Brilliant!!!!!

[petestenning]

Eddie Cheever at Thruxton i was there in the days when F2 ruled , ok i am an old fogey but the memories still linger on.

I would also go with David Kennedy & Rupert Keegan which was my initial thought.

Snetterton still with the S/F stand , there used to be a telephone box there once.?

[Stephen W]

No. 9 is Raymond Mays in ERA R4D and Lawrie Bond in his 500cc car. In the paddock at Shelsley Walsh

Beat me to it Fuzzi.

BTW am I the only one that thinks RDV has been at the egg-nog again?

[Roger Clark]

No 9 may be June 21st 1947. Iota wrote:

"Then came a really incredible car, manufactured and driven by J Bond. and surely this was the strangest that hard-bitten Shelsley had ever seen. To be honest, a large proportion of those who saw it could not believe that this was a serious racing machine as it appeared to be a child's toy, and it was in fact referred to as the "fair ground special" Completely unsprung and having front wheel drive, not more than 4-ft long and 2-ft high, it leaped up the hill in a series of hops to record 54 seconds dead. The scrutineers on the day previously, requested Mr Bond to go very slowly up the hill before his practice run was allowed, But to the astonishment of all but the driver and his wife, it performed all the functions required of it exceedingly well, and, of course, was accepted."

For comparison of Bond's time, Colin Strang was the fastest 500 at 49.43. Mays set FTD at 41.50.

[eurocardoc]

Ah, the 'Black Hole' Disney movie shown on Rupe's car. The beginning of a fun and thrilling season in Aurora.

Got to love the next shot. The brazed on makeshift handle on the toolbox, ashtray half full. true days of the "garagistes" and a far cry from the sterile life today.

Thanks Doug.

[Chris Townsend]

Thanks, Tim... and Merry Christmas to you as well!

Per #7 Mallock Atlantic car, "our" Lola T460s and T560s didn't have the bulged side panels, curious... fuel tanks?

Ray Mallock, Shaws' Hairpin, 21 March 1976 at the latest, either practice or the warm up lap. The car was wrecked in a start line collision with Val Musetti and Mallock didn't race it again, selling the car to Adrian Russell and concentrating on his older March.
The car is a T450 F2 spec with a BDX Swindon engine, not an Atlantic T460.

Definitely Rupert Keegan and David Kennedy, Oulton Park. Easter 1979 I think, Keegan was sponsored for the race by a forthcoming Hollywood movie, "The Black Hole". [rats eurocardoc beat me to it!]

Edited by Chris Townsend, 26 December 2011 - 12:40.

[scags]

# 12 looks like Gordon Murray.

[Geoff E]

No 9 may be June 21st 1947. Iota wrote:

"Then came a really incredible car, manufactured and driven by J Bond. and surely this was the strangest that hard-bitten Shelsley had ever seen. To be honest, a large proportion of those who saw it could not believe that this was a serious racing machine as it appeared to be a child's toy, and it was in fact referred to as the "fair ground special" Completely unsprung and having front wheel drive, not more than 4-ft long and 2-ft high, it leaped up the hill in a series of hops to record 54 seconds dead. The scrutineers on the day previously, requested Mr Bond to go very slowly up the hill before his practice run was allowed, But to the astonishment of all but the driver and his wife, it performed all the functions required of it exceedingly well, and, of course, was accepted."

For comparison of Bond's time, Colin Strang was the fastest 500 at 49.43. Mays set FTD at 41.50.

21 June 1947 was wet - Mays' time compares with 37.69s in the September meeting - perhaps the photo was on scrutineering day.

Two notable debuts ... Murray Walker and Cooper car.

[RS2000]

...Shackleton MR3...
And they say motor sport is dangerous.
DCN

AEW2?
They also say racing car nomenclature can be complicated but it's rarely as complicated as that of the Mk3 Shackleton, with its "Phases" etc. that extended to "MR3Phase3(Viper)" being an official mark designation?

[Sharman]

One couldn't opine knowledgeably about most of the daguerrotypes displayed, but given ones role in certain departments of HM Civil Service, of which one cannot speak about, one can throw some light on exhibit 9, that portraits a little known incident in the Balkans in the thirties.

At that time, the FIA rules were binding only in the French version. which caused serious problems when the English assumed the dimensions stated in the rules were in inches, not centimeters....

The resulting confusion as the Threpplewhyte Special (n.45 in this daguerrotype) driven by the Honorable Cedric Bayswatter-Ffiphe turned up for the 18th Coppa Dalmatia (Kup Dalmacije), run in Bosnia-Herzegovinas only tarmacadamed roads between the towns of Bibinje, Zemunik Donji and Skabmja can only be described as a klastera zajebavati.
( And was indeed in the local press, who said amongst other things, and one cites: Prisutnost britanskih Racing Team, prouzročio je mnogo veselja zbog svoje idiotske čitanjapravila, čime je mučko Albion osujećeni , but we digress..)

The gentleman with his back to the camera is the chief designer of Thepplewhyte Horseless Carriage Manufacturers and Fettlers, Stan Still MMEng.PPTe, BSc, here contemplating doing the right thing and honorably quitting this mortal coil, as he surely would get the cut direct when returning to The Sceptered Isle after this debacle.

( Car n.8, incidentally, was the locally built Hrom puž, driven by Captain Bakir Izetbegović of the Fifth Bosnian Light Bicycle Brigade, who sportingly did not protest the disparity in cubic capacity, although he did warn The Honorable Cedric that the use of both their trouser belts on The Honorable Cedrics Thepplewhytes bonnet was hardly cricket, but as all the British contingent surrounding the car did not have mustaches, he, as the only Bosnian not to have one (It having been ripped off in an unpleasant incident when dueling at Universität Heidelberg, but as not germane to this tale we will elide the details.), in the spirit of comradeship would demand no handicap.
The rules on belts and straps have been unclear ever since, and played no small part in the louche stories about Mr. Mosley in future years.

Further embarrassment was providentially avoided as the Great Banja Luka Earthquake of 1938 (Бањалука velikog potresa 1938) destroyed the road between Zemunik Donji and Skabmja, so the competition was transformed into The First Drinking Coppa Dalmatia (Prvo piće Kup Dalmacije ), consisting in drinking the cups 4.5 liter capacity in Rakije in one gulp.

This played right into British hands, as, in the usual perfidious Albion ingenuous way, the teams timekeeper,Seymour Legg insisted the British, as guests, should avail themselves of a loophole, and take as a given that the afore-stated cubic capacity would be in the time-honored british pub pints ( 1 pt (Liq) = 0.473176 L) allowing the British team to be the only survivors of the contest.

For this he was knighted in the 1939 Christmas Honours List. No such pleasant destiny for the unfortunate Stan Still, as he was mauled by a bear at the inn he mistook for a game trophy, and unfortunately found himself dead when checking out. No sensible explanation for the presence at the inn of a member of the Ursidae family was given. ( There is some controversy if it was a Ursus rossicus or an Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca, although one would be very surprised to find an Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca in the region.)

Notable historians are still undecided if this incident eventually led to the break-up of the British Empire in the unpleasantness that followed when the Herzegovinian ambassador, a great friend of certain German politicians, secretly informed the 3rd Reich that he would release the aggrieved Fifth Bosnian Light Bicycle Brigade to aid and abet any military action envisaged by them.

One hopes one has been of assistance and remain, sportingly

Sir Julius Fflangg-Tylley

P.S.- Unattributed sources suggest that the Hrom puž (Chassi n. 001) was subsequently used as the basis for the unraced 1942 Pappamobile Speziale, seen in all its splendor at this years Goodwood Reunion. No trace was left of the Threpplewhyte Special last seen departing Cuernavaca in the Carrera Panamericana of 1947 with the brothers Bracegirdle at the helm, and disappearing during the race.

As a point of exactitude I have to bring to Sir Julius's notice that at the time stated Captain Bakir Izetbegovic, was adjutant of the 1st Bosnian Underground Balloon Regiment. He did not transfer to the Light Bicycles until the bubble burst.
Slobadon Matrowziz
(Archivist and Slivovitz Connisseur)

Edited by Sharman, 26 December 2011 - 20:53.

[RDV]

Dear Sir

One is eternally grateful for the pointing out the utterlly forgetfullness of this faux-pas concerning that detail, concise, straight to the point without any digressions! Were you in service, dear chap?

Digressions! How one abhors them. At ones assigned place of duty one has learned that in order to retain command of an audience and to keep them vitally interested in what one has to say, one must be simple, direct, and avoid any hint of digression! None of this personal chatter about cricket and the old school days at St. Barnaby's School for Willful Yet Privileged Boys. At least, one thinks it was at St. Barnaby's that one met Gilly. It may have been The Wildmoore Retreat for Intellectually Challenged Youth. One finds that with age, the memory begins to fade. And those several dozen schools one attended as a lad were all very much the same, in the end. Porridge for brekkers, polishing the boots of the boys in the upper classes, jolly pranks on the proctors. Then Pater would get a trunk call from the Headmaster and off one would go, one's ear in Pater's firm grasp, to another establishment. What happy, carefree days.

Digressions! Why, they are the very symptom of a mind so diseased, so cluttered, so void of self-discipline that it cannot, will not, and never shall. . . . One hopes that one did not leave one's readers with the impression that one has shut one's mother in an asylum, above. Such would be far from the truth. The dear old lady is allowed to do whatever she wishes, from knitting to indulging in quaint chats with her fellow inmates, to watching the telly, so long as it can be done in the confines of her room and as long as nothing can damage the rubber-coated walls. Why, one received a lovely balaclava of pink worsted from her just last month. It blazed beautifully in the library fire.

Digressions! In the yellow parlour just this morning one was saying to one's lady wife, Gwendolyn, "My dear spouse, do you not think that digressions are the very bane of civilized conversation?" One waited several moments in suspense for a reply, until one noticed that the Lady Gwendolyn, was critically gazing at herself sideways in the mirror. "My husband," she said at last, smoothing down the fabric on her abdomen. "Does one look fat to you?" One regarded her thoughtfully. "Not at all, my dear," one said at last. "That stomach pumping after Colonel Jambly's Annual Memoirs of the Raj Chutney Parade did you a world of good." The Lady Gwendolyn, bit her lip and ran from the room shortly thereafter, so one never received an answer to one's question.

Digressions! Why, one is reminded of a 'joke' one heard from Lord Frost of Locksley-Charmes this past week. A garlicky Frenchman, a stout drunken Irishman, and a 't-shirt' wearing American were trapped in a rowboat with a bottle of vinegar, a rosary, and a packet of erotic playing cards. There was more to it, but one has quite forgotten the . . . ah, it wasn't either St. Barnaby's or Wildmoore that one met old Gilly. It was at the Gloucester Experimental College for Kiddies. The infamous Guy Fawkes 'Bedchamber Bonfire Blast.' One never did understand what all the fuss was about. The sheep was not irreparably damaged, after all.

Digr . . . dash it all. One has just remembered that when one's wife inquires as to the state of her waist, one is obliged instantly to reply, "Wife, your hourglass figure is as shapely as the day you became my blushing bride." Which in the Lady Gwendolyn's case is certainly true. It is just that more than a few of the sands have fallen from the top half of the glass to the bottom, if one's readers understand one's implications. However, one should probably prepare some laudatory statements on her girlish figure and rush to utter them, before she orders the servants to put depilatory in one's hair lotion again. One had a devil of a time with tendrils of hair drifting down one's trouser leg into one's socks, last time.

Always logical, orderly, precise, and to the point, one remains for yet another week,

Sir Julius Fflangg Tylley

PS- Would you know anything about the Ursidae? Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca or Ursus rossicus? And the chassis n. of the Threpplewhyte Special?

Edited by RDV, 26 December 2011 - 21:56.

[ensign14]

I believe it is a tendency of Ursidae to perform defecatory activities in geomorphically dendric environments.

[RDV]

Quod Papa Catholicus ? Lorem periculose prope filum altum Jack...

[Doug Nye]

Meanwhile, back to the photographs, you might try...


14


15


16


17


18

All Photos Strictly Copyright: The GP Library

DCN

[Chris Townsend]

18: Hans Royer, Fred Opert entered Chevron B40-Hart 420R, Donington, October 1977

[my_own_shadow]

16: Peter Gethin, BRM P180/01, Jarama, 1 May 1972

[ensign14]

16 is Gethin in the BRM, given the low number is that the 1971 Victory Race in which poor Seppi was killed?

[MCS]

......6 is presumably a Group 8 race, which would make it 1976, probably Snetterton, John Cannon in 99, Damien Magee in 3, can't see who's in the Wolf-Williams. Wouldn't be Brian McGuire, would it? Black helmet, so possible. Can't see the 15 either, would it be Val Musetti?......

The side on view of the McGuire Williams is interesting, especially compared to the Cannon March in the foreground. Look at his helmet and then work out where the rollover bar is...

[D-Type]

#14 Something to do with the tea drinkers in the RAC MSA?

[longhorn]

Yes, along with SMBH aka Mike the Bike

[petestenning]

At first i thought the Rover is at Thruxton at the chicane due to the building in the background,. But if its not then Silverstone but i cant recall that building easily.?

[longhorn]

16 is Gethin in the BRM, given the low number is that the 1971 Victory Race in which poor Seppi was killed?

Gethin's Brands Hatch car was No 6, a P160 & sponsored by Yardley. As someone has already said, probably Jarama 1972 where Gethin's P180 carried No 8.

Edited by longhorn, 27 December 2011 - 18:03.

[RS2000]

17. Ron Carnell of Duckhams?

[RDV]

d-type-#14 Something to do with the tea drinkers in the RAC MSA?

Nothing to do with Lauda's quote about "even monkeys could drive todays F1s", rather Mike Hailwood with sponsors themed ad campaign.

[Michael Ferner]

Who's the lass with Hunt?

[Michael Ferner]

14 - Stanley Michael etc. etc. with the 1-2 finishers of the closing examn of his driving skool, Hailwood's Tutoring For Less. I think one of them had quite a career in F1, unless I'm very much mistaken...