27 replies to this topic

[Ray Bell]

I tried a search because I was asked the question... surprisingly I didn't find an answer...

What year did the BBC refuse to televise a race because of John Surtees' Durex sponsorship?

I'm not sure if it was the British GP or a minor race... maybe we could get an answer to that too?

[maxie]

I kind of remember from murray walker's autobiography, he said it was the British GP and the BBC requested Surtees to remove the Durex logos from his cars. But Surtees refused to do so and so BBC decided not to broadcast the race.

[Ray Bell]

Thanks... now what was the year?

This is the critical question...

[Scoptt Campbell]

I think it could possibly be during the 77 or 78 season as I remeber Larry Perkins driving it at one stage.It was advertised as the small family car and durex advertising on it.

[Ruairidh]

Well the Durex Surtees first appeared in 1976. A certain Mr. A. Jones at the wheel. At that time UK TV coverage of GP was poor - you might get highlights on "Grandstand" but precious little else. I think however (IIRC) that it was the 1976 Race Of Champions that the Beeb refused to cover.

Incidentally Surtees were not the first team to wear the Durex logo - a Lola (again IIRC) in F5000 had the same sponsorship in 1975 and I think there was a similar TV debacle - god how times change.....

[Ray Bell]

Thanks for rushing in to register to answer this, Scott... hope you can get that typo in your user name fixed... just PM Don Capps or bira and they should fix it for you... and thanks to you for your contribution, Ruaridh... I thought it might be a minor race too.

Still a little uncertainty here... hope there are more replies that get us a definite answer.

[Ruairidh]

OK OK, you want definitive it was the 1976 Daily Mail Race of Champions at Brands Hatch.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Ruairidh
OK OK, you want definitive it was the 1976 Daily Mail Race of Champions at Brands Hatch.

Thank you very much...

[Ruairidh]

Per Barrie Gill in "International Motor Racing 1977" (well what do you expect at close to Midnight EST )

There were just two non-Championship Formula One races held in 1976 - both of them in Britain. And they couldn't have been better timed to boost the morale of British enthusiasts in general, and one James Simon Barnes Wallis Hunt [wot a moniker ] in particular. For the two races stemmed for a moment the flood-tide of Ferrari victories and gave McLaren's new boy his first taste of triumph in the M23. .
Traditionally, the 'Daily Mail Race of Champions' gives Europeans their first glimpse of the new cars and, as the famous Kent circuit was the venue for the year's British GP, there was very fair turn-out.
Niki Lauda arrived with the very new 312T2 Ferrari with the low line airbox which would be compulsory for all cars by the time the Spanish Grand Prix came round. But on Saturday morning, the headlines belonged to an even newer car: Alan Jones' Durex SurteesTS19. It hadn't even sat on its wheels before, but once Alan Jones started them in earnest it was obvious that the Surtees' fortunes were in for an upturn.
Unfortunately, the British Broadcasting Corporation didn't share John Surtees' enthusiasm for his new sponsor. Or, in fact, the other sponsors whose names are writ so high, wide and handsome on modern racing cars. Despite a voluntary offer by Durex to cover up their name, the BBC insisted that their objections had nothing to do with any one brand-name. "There is a generally unacceptable volume advertising on racing cars" they declared, and the cameras were taken away never to return until the Hunt v Lauda Japanese joust forced the sport back onto the screens.
On this occasion, the viewers were certainly the losers. For they missed one of the very best of the Brands battles. Jody Scheckter dominated practice - the Tyrrell tyres seemed to warm to Brands than their rivals - and Jody took pole with a time two seconds quicker than Niki Lauda. Nilsson and Ickx were on the second row with Jones on the third.
The start was electrifying. Gunnar Nilsson rocketed into the lead only for a plug lead to come off. Alan Jones zipped past Lauda and there was the new Durex-Surtees leading its first race. Within a mj nute there was more drama: Jody Scheckter hurtled off at Dingle Dell on his cold tyres. Now it was Jones, Hunt, Lauda and Watson. But not for long Watson spun into the catch fence and he was out too. Lauda was the next of the retirements. A fracture in the braking system halted the Ferrari. Now it was Jones v Hunt. Surtees v McLaren. And the crowd didn’t know who to cheer.
James managed to squeeze by in a fairly desperate manoeuvre and that was that. Britain's new hero had won the third F1 race but Jones and Surtees shared his glory.

[lynmeredith]

Ray, as you know the name Durex is commonly used in Australia for 'scotch tape' or 'sellotape' which is somewhat different from its meaning to people in the UK (I don't know about elsewhere). On my very first day in the office after emigrating to Australia our secretary asked me if I had any durex? I was flabbergasted. I'd heard this was the land of opportunity but...

Lyn M

[Rob29]

Originally posted by Ruairidh
Well the Durex Surtees first appeared in 1976. A certain Mr. A. Jones at the wheel. At that time UK TV coverage of GP was poor - you might get highlights on "Grandstand" but precious little else. I think however (IIRC) that it was the 1976 Race Of Champions that the Beeb refused to cover.

Incidentally Surtees were not the first team to wear the Durex logo - a Lola (again IIRC) in F5000 had the same sponsorship in 1975 and I think there was a similar TV debacle - god how times change.....

Actually the first team to be sponsored by Durex was a a Formula Ford Elden team of Tiff Needell & Frank Bradley which first ran in Durex colours at 1974 FF festival at Snetterton.
As to the Surtees debut at Brands the joke at the time was that as the BBC only ever showed the leaders,they need not bother about the offending logo appearing on screen. However,I seem to remember Murray screaming into the microphone-'the Durex is in the lead!'

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
I tried a search because I was asked the question... surprisingly I didn't find an answer...

What year did the BBC refuse to televise a race because of John Surtees' Durex sponsorship?

I'm not sure if it was the British GP or a minor race... maybe we could get an answer to that too?

"The small family car" as they called it ;)


pete

[Ross Stonefeld]

Originally posted by Rob29
Actually the first team to be sponsored by Durex was a a Formula Ford Elden team of Tiff Needell & Frank Bradley which first ran in Durex colours at 1974 FF festival at Snetterton.

Snetterton seems to be some sort of burial ground of cheeky racing.

[David M. Kane]

An ex-Surtees mechanic told me that they use to trade condoms for wheels of
cheese from the Ferrari mechanics.

[Ruairidh]

Originally posted by David M. Kane
An ex-Surtees mechanic told me that they use to trade condoms for wheels of
cheese from the Ferrari mechanics.

..........the version I heard had them trading the extra small ones to the Italians!!!

[dmj]

Originally posted by Ruairidh


..........the version I heard had them trading the extra small ones to the Italians!!!

Ooops... I am suspecting we'll have an interesting OT discussion here when our Italian TNF members read this...

[Joe Machado]

Originally posted by lynmeredith
Ray, as you know the name Durex is commonly used in Australia for 'scotch tape' or 'sellotape' which is somewhat different from its meaning to people in the UK (I don't know about elsewhere). On my very first day in the office after emigrating to Australia our secretary asked me if I had any durex? I was flabbergasted. I'd heard this was the land of opportunity but...

Lyn M

Same in Brazil. The famous tape by 3M is called "Durex".;)

[anjakub]

other sponsorship in 1995

Ultrafilter International Formula Renault Sport

[Lutz G]

Originally posted by lynmeredith
Ray, as you know the name Durex is commonly used in Australia for 'scotch tape' or 'sellotape' which is somewhat different from its meaning to people in the UK (I don't know about elsewhere). On my very first day in the office after emigrating to Australia our secretary asked me if I had any durex? I was flabbergasted. I'd heard this was the land of opportunity but...

Lyn M

About BBC refusing to broadcast the race:

That sounds like stoneage to me - hey we're talking about 1976 and not 1901. I wonder if german tv was also that "pruede". What about the other countries in that year?

Lutz

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Lutz G




About BBC refusing to broadcast the race:

That sounds like stoneage to me - hey we're talking about 1976 and not 1901. I wonder if german tv was also that "pruede". What about the other countries in that year?

Lutz

That was a good 8 years or so before condom adverts were allowed on television here though.

(and even then, condoms were sold largely as something that would prevent you from dropping dead of AIDS if you contemplated sex outside marriage - oh, our lovely Tory government of the 80s and its "family values"...)

pete

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by lynmeredith
Ray, as you know the name Durex is commonly used in Australia for 'scotch tape' or 'sellotape' which is somewhat different from its meaning to people in the UK (I don't know about elsewhere). On my very first day in the office after emigrating to Australia our secretary asked me if I had any durex? I was flabbergasted. I'd heard this was the land of opportunity but...

While I do recall hearing that term frequently in my youth, it's not often used today...

Maybe your secretary was one of the older variety?

Good quip there, Lyn... was that at Matich's?

[lynmeredith]

Originally posted by Ray Bell


While I do recall hearing that term frequently in my youth, it's not often used today...

Maybe your secretary was one of the older variety?

Good quip there, Lyn... was that at Matich's?

Yes it was. I've heard the term used in Australia quite often but perhaps as you say by more mature (perhaps) people. But the lady in question was young and red-headed. Interesting to know that it's also used in Brazil.

[Vitesse2]

An Aussie I shared a flat with back in the 70s had the opposite experience, innocently walking into a stationer's and asking for Durex ....

[LittleChris]

I still think it was Richard Scott in the 70's :

[fines]

Originally posted by LittleChris
I still think it was Richard Scott in the 70's :

Yes it was, Richard Scott and his F5000 Lola (?) in around 1974. There was a pic around here somewhere, maybe you can find it using the search feature.

[FlagMan]

IIRC - after the BBC TV crews left the circuit, the control van (or it may have been the BBC radio control van) remained in the paddock.

Overnight someone managed to get hundreds of stickers printed - with the slogan "Durex Surtees - Auntie wouldn't like it' - by the next morning the normally dark green BBC van was covered in these stickers.

[Rob29]

Originally posted by fines

Yes it was, Richard Scott and his F5000 Lola (?) in around 1974. There was a pic around here somewhere, maybe you can find it using the search feature.

Was 1975. At that time of course, the leading F5000 cars got to run with the F1s in the Race of Champions,so that may have been the first time it came to BBC notice.

[Lutz G]

Originally posted by petefenelon


That was a good 8 years or so before condom adverts were allowed on television here though.

(and even then, condoms were sold largely as something that would prevent you from dropping dead of AIDS if you contemplated sex outside marriage - oh, our lovely Tory government of the 80s and its "family values"...)

pete

I see..

And what about this "naughty" car? (Hesketh, 1977)

Did they pull the plug too?



BTW: The rendering is by Perran

http://www.simmods.c...=ST&f=38&t=6449

Lutz