BBC Rewind Archive - please add your finds here!

As part of their centenary celebrations, the BBC have put a large number of previously unavailable old television reports online at BBC Rewind, most of which seem to come from their regional news programmes so won't have been broadcast outside those areas at all and in any case probably haven't been repeated since.

Search is a bit hit and miss and just seems to rely on hitting the right keyword as a generic search for motor racing also brought up stuff about pigeons! There seems to be a rich vein of reports from BBC Northern Ireland in particular, with quite a bit on rallying, but I also spotted some interviews with a couple of young chaps called Martin Donnelly and Eddie Irvine - I wonder what happened to them?

This is something of a gem, though, a February 1968 report from BBC South Today on the forthcoming establishment of the new motor racing circuit at Thruxton. An Alvis negotiating the circuit - driver and passenger both with lit ciggies! - and an interview afterwards:

https://bbcrewind.co...r sport&size=45

No commentary on these two, but here's Stirling's Cooper being fettled in Rob Walker's garage in 1959 - Rob himself in the background:

https://bbcrewind.co...ng moss&size=45

And Stirling taking his IAM Advanced Driving Test, also 1959:

https://bbcrewind.co...ng moss&size=45

Preview of the 1953 TT from BBC Newsreel - Raymond Baxter at the microphone, interviewing Moss, Wharton and Parnell:

https://bbcrewind.co...ng moss&size=45

And the race itself - again no commentary, but filmed all round the circuit:

https://bbcrewind.co...ng moss&size=45

Graham Hill and Paddy Hopkirk (plus showjumper David Broome and 'Lord Ted' Dexter) in Northern Ireland in 1973:

https://bbcrewind.co...4?q=graham hill

Preview of the Birmingham Parade, Midlands Today, October 1978 - interview with Martin Hone, who does a lap of the course in a D-type. Plus a rather sceptical senior police officer who doesn't think cars will ever race on the streets of Birmingham:

https://bbcrewind.co...?q=motor racing

Feel free to add any others you find below - happy hunting!

The new Ingliston circuit, 1965.

https://bbcrewind.co...d26?q=formula 2

Thanks for tip Richard. Lots of interesting things!

Jet 1 Rover at Silverstone, 1950.

https://bbcrewind.co...rstone&size=120

Formula One Mum...!

https://bbcrewind.co...89d8800210477ec

This content is currently only available to audiences in the UK.   
 

Motocross at Brands Hatch, 1949:

https://bbcrewind.co...?q=brands hatch

This content is currently only available to audiences in the UK.   
 

*cough*proxy server*cough*

Stirling and some Ferraris arrive in Belfast for the 1954 TT:

https://bbcrewind.co...8ef77?q=ferrari

Race report:

https://bbcrewind.co..."Stirling Moss"

Britains new grand prix winner  - December 1949

https://bbcrewind.co...b7?q=car racing

Back to Brum: Patrick Nève testing a possible circuit in 1976.

https://bbcrewind.co...9c?q=grand prix

This content is currently only available to audiences in the UK.   
 

Well, we DO pay for it after all...

 

 

 

No commentary on these two, but here's Stirling's Cooper being fettled in Rob Walker's garage in 1959 - Rob himself in the background:

 

https://bbcrewind.co...ng moss&size=45

 

 

The Cooper-BRM!

What a fab resource!

https://bbcrewind.co...la 3000&size=45

James Hunt racing in N. Ireland in 1971

https://bbcrewind.co...la 3000&size=45

Derek Daly and Tyrrell in 1980

https://bbcrewind.co...la 3000&size=45

Jenson Button joins Williams in 2000

https://bbcrewind.co...la 3000&size=45

A Birmingham Grand Prix... In 1976!

Britains new grand prix winner  - December 1949

 

https://bbcrewind.co...b7?q=car racing

It's interesting that the car has a full set of instruments, unlike the minimalist, and probably unreadable, ones fitted later.

Interview with JYS after winning his first World Championship.

https://bbcrewind.co...186a270?q=lotus

Working Lunch: Rockingham Motor Speedway.

https://bbcrewind.co...bd?q=rockingham

That worked well then ...

The new Ingliston circuit, 1965.

 

https://bbcrewind.co...d26?q=formula 2

Very posh narrator, I kept doffing my imaginary cap. Did you spot the keen young chap among the spectators at 2:19?

Preparing a Lotus Cortina for the 1968 London-Sydney:

https://bbcrewind.co...b?q=monte carlo

Our Noige, World Champion:

https://bbcrewind.co...8e4ec?q=mansell

RAC Rally, Goodwood, 1956. The Appleyards in VUB140 first crew through the control:

https://bbcrewind.co...40f2?q=goodwood

Newsreel report on the death of Malcolm Campbell, including part (?) of a 1946 interview:

https://bbcrewind.co...892e?q=campbell

Donald Campbell and Leo Villa, December 1966:

https://bbcrewind.co...8948?q=campbell

Very posh narrator, I kept doffing my imaginary cap. Did you spot the keen young chap among the spectators at 2:19?

Young Jackie!

I'm not sure whether, a couple of shots later, that's a youngish Graham Gauld watching from the stand.  2.27, shielding his eyes.

How dare the BBC call its program „Rewind“ without my consent?

Working Lunch: Rockingham Motor Speedway.

 

https://bbcrewind.co...bd?q=rockingham

 

That worked well then ...

Waiting for the warts and all history of Rockingham ...

Great stuff!

Coventry Climax Racing Engines to be Withdrawn - February 1965

https://bbcrewind.co...Formula&size=30

Embassy Grand Prix Powerboat racing in Bristol Docks - June 1975

https://bbcrewind.co...er boat&size=90

Edited by dolomite, 19 July 2022 - 22:37.

Working Lunch: Rockingham Motor Speedway.

 

https://bbcrewind.co...bd?q=rockingham

 

That worked well then ...

With five-times hillclimb champion, David Grace, interviewed as the CEO.

(I believe he'd previously held an executive role with a major brewery and pub chain. ( No jokes implied here - on my few visits to Rockingham, I concluded that it was better organised for spectators than many a UK circuit at the time. It was a shame that the infield circuit was so distant, dull and uninvolving to watch from the stands.)

Edited by 2F-001, 20 July 2022 - 05:55.

Hilary Musson, TT racer, at Cadwell in 1978.  ( Sad to learn that, after retiring from racing, Hilary was badly injured while marshalling on the IOM in 2007)

https://bbcrewind.co...6f8d1?q=cadwell

An interesting early hybrid - probably not an immediate threat to Tesla.

https://bbcrewind.co...f34c?q=car show

Beaulieu & Woburn  1956

https://bbcrewind.co...027a651e8?q=BRM

Edited by john winfield, 20 July 2022 - 11:46.

Not directly related to motor sport, but here's the story behind BBC Rewind, which is still very much an active project:

‘The cultural memory of the UK’: unearthing the hidden treasures of the BBC archive

Not directly related to motor sport, but here's the story behind BBC Rewind, which is still very much an active project:

 

‘The cultural memory of the UK’: unearthing the hidden treasures of the BBC archive

I don't accept their terms of use, mainly because they don't publish them...

Edited by Bloggsworth, 08 October 2022 - 18:00.

I use to draft small print rubbish like that  as part of my  day job  - you must the only person alive who wants to read them . I certainly don't - shudder...