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29th November 1975


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#51 paulsenna1

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Posted 29 November 2012 - 15:30

As a 15 year old at the time of the crash .......I remember the loss of Tony Brise hit me extremely hard.

I was two years away from attending my first Grand Prix; so was yet to appreciated the full impact of the tragic loss of Graham Hill and his team

I had however devoured all aspects of British Club Racing at Oulton Park during 1974 and 75 and Tony Brise was my first motor racing hero.

Potential World Champion?

Of course: but he joins a long list of drivers who are on that list.

37 years on: but I can see as clear as day Tony Brise in his orange Formula Atlantic Modus leaving the opposition in his wake :cry:


PAR


This ties in with my memories of those times at Oulton too. Wonderful to remember, sad to reflect on what happened on this day.

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#52 Arjan de Roos

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Posted 20 March 2013 - 20:32

They are always in our thoughts.


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I wonder who are among Hill's mechanics here? Tony Alcock, Terry Richards, Alan Howell, Preston Anderson, Steve Roby, Alan Turner, Jerry Bond, Gerd von Aachen or Malcolm Allen?

Edited by Arjan de Roos, 20 March 2013 - 20:33.


#53 Vitesse2

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Posted 28 November 2015 - 18:59

It's still November 28th here as I write, but tonight is the equivalent Saturday to November 29th 1975. Unlike 1975 the south of England is not under a blanket of fog - it's cold, wet and windy. For those of you reading this Down Under or in the Far East it's already the 29th. Earlier today I took a look at some news archives. This article was the lead news story on the front page of the Sunday Times, i/d November 30th.

 

STHA-1975-1130-0001-_F.jpg

 

I also looked out the front page of The Observer, but it was so poorly reproduced that it really wasn't worth copying. However, one item which did stand out in an article from the next day's Guardian - which was mainly speculation about the cause of the crash - was a comment from a representative of the Disabled Drivers' Association that Graham had paid their phone and photocopying bills out of his own pocket.

 

There were fulsome obituaries in both The Times and The Guardian on December 1st:

 

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The Times also published a brief obituary for Tony Brise:

 

Brise_Obit.jpg

 

But let's not get too morose. Here's Graham's near-impossible win at Monaco in 1965. No sound, unfortunately, as it's unused footage.

 

 

In hospital after his US GP crash in 1969.

 

 

And talking us through a slow practice lap of Monaco in 1970:

 

 

I'm not sure if these BBC links will work outside the UK (or without the aid of a proxy or VPN  ;) ) Here are Graham and Jackie at the 1969 Sports Personality of the Year:

 

http://news.bbc.co.u...ear/7703122.stm

 

This is a podcast of a discussion featuring Graham's daughter Brigitte, Murray Walker, Jackie Stewart and Nigel Roebuck, broadcast earlier this week on 5Live:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...rammes/p038mf0w

 

It's hard to believe that Graham, Tony and the others left us forty years ago, but somehow it still feels like yesterday. :cry:

 

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Vale.



#54 TFBundy

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Posted 29 November 2015 - 12:07



It's hard to believe that Graham, Tony and the others left us forty years ago, but somehow it still feels like yesterday. :cry:

 

 

It means that it's 40 years to the day, since I got up early on a Sunday in my University Hall of Residence [the only time all year] to compete in Britol University Motor Club's autotest on a corner of Filton airfield. I turned on the radio and heard the news

 

Valete, indeed :cry:  



#55 retriever

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Posted 29 November 2015 - 12:36

There is a rather poignant picture in the current issue of Motor Sport of Tony Brise and Graham Hill walking down the pits at Watkins Glen in 1975  Brice retired at that race but great things were surely to come for the team in 1976.  However by the end of the following month both they and the majority of the team would be gone.

 

Today is an appropriate time to re-read Paul Fearnley's recent article on the man's achievements 'Master of art and graft' in Motor Sport's November 2015 edition which starts off with the sentence 'He wasn't a natural - or so they say.' 



#56 Nick Planas

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Posted 29 November 2015 - 18:15

This day gives me a similar "shiver" as 7th April.



#57 Dick Dastardly

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Posted 30 November 2015 - 16:35

I had however devoured all aspects of British Club Racing at Oulton Park during 1974 and 75 and Tony Brise was my first motor racing hero.

Potential World Champion?

Of course: but he joins a long list of drivers who are on that list.

37 years on: but I can see as clear as day Tony Brise in his orange Formula Atlantic Modus leaving the opposition in his wake :cry:


PAR

 

Tony was a driver I rooted for in Formula Atlantic...he was my 2nd favourite F1 driver, after Ronnie.....I also remember his orange Modus, having marshalled or spectated at several rounds in 75. Maybe I rooted for him because I had a Brise Invicta Kart [manufactured by his father, John] given to me for passing my 11+....he was 18 months or so older than me, doing a similar degree course to mine albeit at different colleges...I wondered how he could afford to race when I couldn't !!!

I remember late that Sat night, heard the news on TV or Radio then in the Sunday papers..... ):

If he hadn't been taken from us, I could see him winning the 1980 WDC in the Williams instead of Alan Jones.....

Several years ago at an autojumble [probably at Race Retro], I purchased a scrap book on him....it is somewhere amongst all my stuff in boxes / packing crates, must rake it out when I get the chance. 

 

I do recall wondering at the time that, as we knew Hesketh was on shaky financial grounds, whether Embassy would switch their sponsorship to that team. Of course that never happened....probably a good thing as if it had done, Hunt wouldn't have gone to McLaren and become WDC....


Edited by Dick Dastardly, 02 December 2015 - 17:16.


#58 E1pix

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Posted 30 November 2015 - 17:22

As others have noted, this thread can and does drive one's tires to wets. Thanks to everyone, far too many great posts to single any out and quote them.

Like Phil Rainford, I was 15 when the powers that be took the wrong players from us. I'd read with awe Tony's speed at the first Long Beach "Grand Prix" (F5000) before the crash, and later his first drives in F1, clearly a Champion-to-be.

In the spring of 1976, I created a 24-page racing magazine, and was down to pasting up the final mockup page using copies of the raw typesetting. It suddenly occurred what needed inclusion, and that was select drivers lost in 1975: Graham Hill, Tony Brise, Mark Donohue, and BJ Swanson.

It wasn't much, but all I could do at the time. RIP.

#59 Vitesse2

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Posted 29 November 2016 - 07:02

Another November 29th ... :(



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#60 Vitesse2

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Posted 29 November 2017 - 08:09

An article from The Daily Telegraph, December 1st 1975.

 

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I had forgotten Graham's description of those awful 'invalid carriages'. But if anyone knew what driving a motorised bathtub was like, it was surely Graham!

 

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There is, incidentally, Pathé News film of said bath being driven from the city of Bath to London on the A4!



#61 Nick Planas

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Posted 29 November 2017 - 13:37

I forgot the date until I was writing in into a student's practice diary... then I got another shiver. Oddly, I remember this date (and 7th April) more than the demise of my own parents...



#62 retriever

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Posted 29 November 2017 - 18:45

Thanks again to Vitesse2 in rightly bringing this topic back to page 1 on the TNF. The 29th November 1975 is a date that resides permanently in my mind.  As does 3rd February 1959 - another day when the music died.

 

Hopefully there will be a few more postings today before it gently slips back down the listings.