285 replies to this topic

[dolomite]

Set your videos folks, looks like this should be good!
5 part series starting Mon 18th March at 8.00pm

Motor Racing at the BBC

Edited by dolomite, 11 March 2013 - 16:31.

[arttidesco]

Sounds good

[Bloggsworth]

As long as they don't concentrate on F1. They used to show Boxing Day Brands & other club races.

Edited by Bloggsworth, 19 March 2013 - 08:55.

[Nigel Beresford]

"The glory days of British motor racing are celebrated in this sleek archive series, which buffs up some of the BBC's most memorable coverage from the sport's earliest days. The opening programme concentrates on the 1950s, when British drivers Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn took on the dominance of the great Argentinian driver, Fangio - all presided over by the chummy commentating presence of Raymond Baxter, fresh from a fight of his own as a Spitfire pilot in World War II. From track to paddock to a changing Britain beyond, and driven by a powerful period soundtrack, this is Formula One's 'Rock 'n' Roll Years'"

[alansart]

I get the impression that the recent racing programmes have been quite well received - well they seem to have been given a general thumbs up from most us - if you take out the celebrity bit that they seem to have to include.

This sounds good if they get script right. There must be a pile of stuff in the vaults waiting to be shown again.

[MCS]

I get the impression that the recent racing programmes have been quite well received - well they seem to have been given a general thumbs up from most us - if you take out the celebrity bit that they seem to have to include.

This sounds good if they get script right. There must be a pile of stuff in the vaults waiting to be shown again.

Without wishing to sound too negative, how much have they actually kept (as opposed to thrown away)...?

[alansart]

Without wishing to sound too negative, how much have they actually kept (as opposed to thrown away)...?

No idea, but a few on here may know.

[MCS]

No idea, but a few on here may know.

The potential for it to be really something is huge - let's hope we get a series we can all enjoy (as opposed to all the stuff that's been on YouTube for years)...

[Vitesse2]

Without wishing to sound too negative, how much have they actually kept (as opposed to thrown away)...?

Not a lot.

http://wipednews.com...sports-footage/

[Gary C]

LOL!! That piece at 'Wiped' is about me !

[Bernard]

The potential for it to be really something is huge - let's hope we get a series we can all enjoy (as opposed to all the stuff that's been on YouTube for years)...

But the bonus of the wonderful voice of Raymond Baxter if the previews are to be believed

[mscheeres]

Considering the ITV archives own the full broadcast of the 1968 British GP, who knows what else is going to be shown? BBC does have Spa 1966. And the original broadcast of Aintree 1961 still exists too.

[pete53]

Yes, let's hope they have unearthed something we haven't seen before. I wait in anticipation.

[bill p]

What about Boxing Day Brands Hatch, Crystal Palace, Easter Monday F2 Thruxton etc etc ??!!

[RTH]

Yes, let's hope they have unearthed something we haven't seen before. I wait in anticipation.

That would be nice.

[Stephen W]

It says in my TV listings that it is "Archive footage of major motor racing events from the 1950s".

Also I noticed that Raymond Baxter was mentioned on the BBC website.

[Suzy]

I like the sound of this series (five programmes in total). Hope it shows some brand new old footage (if that makes any sense) - especially for those of us who weren't there the first time round.

[sparkedout]

Set your videos folks, looks like this should be good!
5 part series starting Mon 18th March at 8.00pm

Motor Racing at the BBC

What's a video ?

[Rob29]

What's a video ?

Guess he means a VCR? I still have one that works though have some trouble finding any fresh blank tapes

[ewanarm]

Just noticed these archive photos on the BBC website too!

http://www.bbc.co.uk...ctures-21740060

[Alan Cox]

Just noticed these archive photos on the BBC website too!

Yes, all from the excellent Mike Hayward website: http://www.mikehaywardcollection.com/

[Nigel Beresford]

Presumably the BBC made up their own captions, especially the one showing water being added to Hailwood's M23, with the caption saying it shows how "a mechanic refuels his Cosworth V8 from a watering can".

There are some great pics too, including a very young looking Herbie Blash refuelling a Lotus 49B.

Edited by Nigel Beresford, 14 March 2013 - 17:53.

[alansart]

Presumably the BBC made up their own captions, especially the one showing water being added to Hailwood's M23, with the caption saying it shows how "a mechanic refuels his Cosworth V8 from a watering can".

That came some years later at Tyrrell ;)

Joking aside. Great pictures and I hope the programme can compare favourably.

[dolomite]

Guess he means a VCR? I still have one that works though have some trouble finding any fresh blank tapes

Well I guess I meant 'TV recording device' of whatever flavour you prefer to employ. In my case I have Tivo box for general timeshift recording, plus a dedicated PC that records cable TV direct to hard drive for stuff that I want to keep and/or transfer to DVD. I also do still maintain a couple of VCRs that are gradually being used to transfer my collection of old videotapes to the computer.

[Macca]

Presumably the BBC made up their own captions, especially the one showing water being added to Hailwood's M23, with the caption saying it shows how "a mechanic refuels his Cosworth V8 from a watering can".

And the Rob Walker 'Lotus' is a Cooper....

Paul M

[bradbury west]

Guess he means a VCR? I still have one that works though have some trouble finding any fresh blank tapes

I get mine from Tesco or Asda.
Roger Lund

[Nigel Beresford]

And the Rob Walker 'Lotus' is a Cooper....

Paul M

I see the caption on the Hailwood McLaren picture has been corrected, but then again that was a far more obvious error than the one you spotted, which remains unchanged.

[Paul Hurdsfield]

I enjoyed that we need more programs like this on the telly.

[David McKinney]

Apart from the fact that it was mis-titled - it was as much about general motoring as motor racing - and that they don't know the difference between a race and a rally.

I'll forgive the use of footage from the wrong races at several points, under the heading of "journalistic licence"

[mscheeres]

Good to see these all being original broadcasts from the 50s!

[cpbell]

Bit of a missed opportunity, IMO - the style of the programme was unlikely to attract the casual viewer, yet it was too short, not sufficiently focused, and contained too many errors and mis-labelings to satisfy the enthusiast.

[AAGR]

Dreadful. Where was DCN when we needed him ?.

It was about GCE O-Level TV training level, if you ask me ....

AAGR

[Vitesse2]

Bit of a curate's egg, I thought.

Jumped around all over the place, most notably the piece with RB on the Monte.

Nürberg

Shot of what was supposed to be the start of Le Mans 55 very obviously wasn't: no Mercs. Without checking, I think both that and the sequence up to the film of the crash was 1956.

The Mille Miglia wasn't a rally.

In the Nürburgring 1957 sequence there was also a shot of Fangio talking to Hawthorn. Graham Hill was in the background ...

Choice of music was, well ... bizarre. I'm sure e14 can give chapter and verse, but R&R in 1953? I don't think so. And as for Cliff Richard in German ... oh dear ...

[cpbell]

Shot of what was supposed to be the start of Le Mans 55 very obviously wasn't: no Mercs. Without checking, I think both that and the sequence up to the film of the crash was 1956.

Are you sure about that? I thought I saw Castelotti blasting away in the lead in the 4.4 litre straight-six Ferrari, plus the D-types in the head-on footage at the end of the pits straight appeared to have wrap-around screens.

[Kilted Wanderer]

Who was the first British driver to win a World Championship Race?

[Gary C]

'Bit of a missed opportunity, IMO'
over 10 years ago I approached the BBC with an idea of a 90 minute DVD of motor racing film from their archive ...'Treasures From the BBC'. Remember that I used to work for the BBC and have produced programmes / DVD's.
Through my contacts I spoke to the guy who was the head of '2Entertain' (I think it was then), the BBC's official programme releasing company. He was a guy I knew when I worked there. I explained what I wanted to do; would produce the whole thing myself, get someone like Murray Walker to do the links, interrogate the BBC computer system properly (rather than a 'researcher' do it for me) and thereby pull some un-seen gems from the archive and put it out.
His reply? It was too much like hard work for them. Even though I offered to do EVERYTHING for it! Oh well.............

[pete53]

I rather got the impression that a lot of that footage was contemporary newsreel recordings rather than the BBC's own coverage, with Raymond Baxter just being thrown in to give it the stamp of the BBC. The non motor racing bits might have been okay if the programme was an hour long but as it was only 30 minutes I felt a bit deprived.

[cpbell]

'Bit of a missed opportunity, IMO'
over 10 years ago I approached the BBC with an idea of a 90 minute DVD of motor racing film from their archive ...'Treasures From the BBC'. Remember that I used to work for the BBC and have produced programmes / DVD's.
Through my contacts I spoke to the guy who was the head of '2Entertain' (I think it was then), the BBC's official programme releasing company. He was a guy I knew when I worked there. I explained what I wanted to do; would produce the whole thing myself, get someone like Murray Walker to do the links, interrogate the BBC computer system properly (rather than a 'researcher' do it for me) and thereby pull some un-seen gems from the archive and put it out.
His reply? It was too much like hard work for them. Even though I offered to do EVERYTHING for it! Oh well.............

Thank for trying, anyway.

[IanG]

How can we believe anything the media tell us when they continually have us believe that the first motorway in Britain was the M1.

[elansprint72]

How can we believe anything the media tell us when they continually have us believe that the first motorway in Britain was the M1.

Proud Preston.

[IanG]

Proud Preston.

There's a man who knows the truth. Good man Pete.

[RS2000]

Never mind Cliff Richard in German, he's clearly been around much longer than we thought: he had hits at the time of the 53 French GP...

What is it with TV people and "popular music"? Are there any examples of them trying to fit a soundtrack that PRE dates the action shown, instead of the many examples, in all sorts of programmes, that post date it?

[JtP1]

How can we believe anything the media tell us when they continually have us believe that the first motorway in Britain was the M1.

Because they appear to have disposed of the memorial block at the side of the first motorway when it was rebuilt.

[JtP1]

Never mind Cliff Richard in German, he's clearly been around much longer than we thought: he had hits at the time of the 53 French GP...

What is it with TV people and "popular music"? Are there any examples of them trying to fit a soundtrack that PRE dates the action shown, instead of the many examples, in all sorts of programmes, that post date it?

Well it just shows that BBC motor racing music selection has always been bad. Were most of them on holiday when they picked the chain?

Harry was 12 when Hawthorn won.

Strange that the first person that spoke intelligiable english was Greek.

Edited by JtP1, 18 March 2013 - 22:41.

[Macca]

The Le Mans start that was supposedly 1955 looked liked 1954, with Ferrari 375s and early D-Types, but then the footage changed to 1955.

When the caption said Reims 1953, they showed 1954.

They completely ignored Jaguar's wins at Le Mans in 1951 and 1953 when talking about success abroad.

And the music spoiled it, as usual.

Paul M

[Vitesse2]

Because they appear to have disposed of the memorial block at the side of the first motorway when it was rebuilt.

It's a long time ago, but I travelled that bit of the M6 only a couple of days after it had reopened when they widened it to four lanes in the early 90s and I'm pretty sure it was there then. Alongside the northbound carriageway IIRC.

[Bloggsworth]

Stirling Moss completes a 1000 mile rally across Italy... Nuff said.

[pete53]

Stirling Moss completes a 1000 mile rally across Italy... Nuff said.

Yes, you do wonder why when they produce something like this why they can't just pass it under the nose of an "expert" who could then correct/scrub out obvious errors - it would be so easy. It is just sloppiness.

[Roy C]

Yet another example of the BBC's Wikipedia/Google level of research.

Mks u prowd 2 b Brittisch.

[Paul Hurdsfield]

How can we believe anything the media tell us when they continually have us believe that the first motorway in Britain was the M1.

Yeah I picked up on that too.
When we first started driving back in the sixties we would drive up over Belmont to the Preston by-pass, just cos' we could

I look at these kind of programs like this, it all your going to get, so make the most of it!