63 replies to this topic

[Paul Taylor]

What is the oldest motor race you have recorded on video tape from the television?

The oldest VHS tape I own contains the 1997 Monaco GP (not very old, I know). My best friend's dad has some Grand Prix from 1990 on a few VHS tapes in his cupboard.

[gary24fan]

I think my oldest VHS is the 1994 Brickyard 400.

Gary

[Rob G]

I still have two races from 1987 on VHS, the Indy 500 and the Detroit F1 race. Even though I haven't watched either one in at least a decade, I wish I had more old races on tape.

[Milan Fistonic]

My earliest video is the 1984 German GP.

There's a spectacular shot of Senna appearing in the Toleman minus rear wing and whacking the barrier.

Must dig it out and have another look.

[Buford]

My earliest is a SCORE off road race from 1978 when the tapes were $32 each.

[lil'chris]

I reckon it's the 1988 Elkhart Lake Indycar race. ITV used to show 2 hour programmes at 3 am or so on Monday mornings and I'd generally sit up & watch them, video them or both. Used to be absolutely knackered at work 4 hours later though

[Gary C]

I have some stuff from BBC 'Grandstand' from about 1983 where James Hunt visited an HSCC meeting at Brands. He was re-united with his M23, now that WAS class stuff!

[JB Miltonian]

My brother recorded the 1980 Long Beach Grand Prix for me on his early recorder, I still have it.

[Andrew Kitson]

1983 FF1600 & FF2000 from Brands.

[RTH]

What would be interesting is .... have a look now at those VHS recordings made something like 25 years ago and in all honesty , has there been any deterioration in either the picture or sound quality ?

What sort of conditions have the tapes been kept in in all that time in the dark ? in dry stable temperatures ?

We are constantly told degradation occurs with time on magnetic video tape but I have yet to really notice it even on recordings of this age.

[Buford]

I agree - I was told in 1978 they would last 10 years. It is now 30 years and they are fine. Well not 21st century digital quality, but I don't think they have deteriorated hardly at all. I have over 4000 hours from 1978 to present tho I stopped recording EVERYTHING after mid-90s and the Indycar split when I soured a lot on racing. I probably should give them to the Watkins Glen International Motor Sports Research Center.

Don Capps if you read this tell them to send me the postage and I'll pack them up and sent them about 600 tapes. I will never get around to transferring 2500 hours to DVD.

[Rob29]

Aquired first VCR late 1981-first thing I still have and still viewable last time I looked was a meeting from Dubai.

[Zippel]

I have about 20 minutes of the start of the 1994 Monaco GP I unintentionally taped one day (was taping a movie on TV and forgot to turn the VCR off).

[COUGAR508]

I still have some tapes of BBC/Eurosport coverage from 1989/90. Some of them are highlights from BBC "Grand Prix", but I also have some full races.

[Phil Rainford]

Just checked the loft and the winner of the my first motor racing recording is the 1985 British Rallycross GP won by John Welch in his XR3 4x4.

Kind regards

Phil

[Odseybod]

Being a bit anal, I seem to have all the Grand Prix highlight programmes from the 1984 season to date, plus assorted Formula Fords, F3s, Indy 500s, motoring-related Horizons and Equinoxes, etc, etc.

What with all the books and mags, small wonder there's no room for yooman beans in this house.

[Fubar]

I bought (sorry, rented) my very first Sony Betamax recorder in 1980 and recorded all the British Rally Championship events which were broadcast on World of Sport on a Saturday. When I moved onto VHS I re-copied them onto suitable tapes and I still have them in a box but God knows what the quality will be like! I should really see if they are worth copying over to DVD just for posterity if nothing else.

[Paul Taylor]

I recorded programmes onto video tape up until 2006, when I bought a DVD recorder.

The footage I recorded in 2005 is awful quality compared to my older tapes from 1997, 1998 and 1999. I'm not sure whether it was because I was recording a digital picture onto an analogue tape, but it seems to me that the VHS tapes themselves aren't as well made as they were back maybe 10+ years ago.

[chrisj]

The oldest thing I have from TV is the 1982 Las Vegas Grand Prix. I foolishly taped over a lot of early 80's stuff, but the quality of what I have is still as good as when it was recorded.

[MLC]

I started taping the F1 races off of TV in the mid 80's, but I used to tape over them when I couldn't find a blank tape. Nevertheless, I have uninterrupted races from the 1988 Portuguese GP through the end of 1997.

[Dennis Currington]

I got my first VCR in mid 1983 and recorded 100s of races on TV for the next 25+ yrs. I recently dug out all the tapes and started going through them and indexing them so I could copy them to DVD. This is going to be a BIG project. My wife threatened to throw all the tapes out so that is my main reason for transferring them. So far, all the tapes are in remarkably good condition and copy in the same quality (?).

[HiRich]

I have most of the 1982-83 editions of "Grand Prix" (plus odds & sods like the Chapman obituary, a Le Mans 1981 documentary, and a documentary on Dick Seaman), which proved very handy a couple of years back, when a week of flu left me short of things to watch. Somewhat difficult to judge quality, given that the original broadcasts seem to have been done from a telephone kiosk. I was certainly surprised by the qulait of the actual racing.

It probably is worth digitising your old footage if you can - when I recently digitised my music cassettes (both bought and home-recorded) I found many were very badly damaged.

[Formula Once]

I have about 600+ motorsport tapes and DVD's bought all over the world over the last 20 years and this includes anything from 1950's live footage/documentaries/films/TV specials, etc. onwards, for example much live footage of 60's, 70's and 80's races from private collections. The (entire) 1973 German GP with original sound and no commentary is simply fantastic! Anything on Betamax and the Philips 2000 system is still very good visually (as long as you still have a good player), while VHS tapes need a bit more care and a lot of rewinding and FF-ing once in a while, but I am copying everything onto DVD anyway, just to be safe. In general the quality of the images is of course a bit poorer compared to today's standard, but hey: I'd rather see a Lotus 72 racing a McLaren M23 on VHS than any of today's GP's in HD...

[Brynmor]

I have 1985 RAC recorded from Grandstand, Murray Walker with a house sized mobile phone!!

Also 1985 Le Mans 24hrs also from grandstand , with a classic interview with Mr Redman, driving a Spice iirc?

Further to that most of 1986/87/88 British Rally championship and various Lombard Rac rallies from around that time....

[vashlin]

In 1983 I recall the Belgian GP was going to be on US TV.(Not many races were in those days). Gary was out of town on business when I broke down and bought our first (of MANY) VCRs. I recall it cost over $500. Was built like a tank, tho', as we found out years later when our daughter crashed into it while trying out gymnastics moves.

I was up till after midnight trying to figure out how to get the thing to record.

I did get it figured out in time and our first race was recorded. We even had friends come over to view the race on tape as they didn't get cable. Had a little race viewing party, as I recall. It all was a bit of a big deal then.

Really must get all those years of racing transfered from tape to digital. Haven't viewed them in years. Hopefully, they will be okay.

LinC

[Collombin]

Started taping races from 1984 onwards, gave up about 8 years later.

Did tape a Frank Bough documentary about the Monaco GP sometime in 1983 which is still around somewhere.

Watched one of the 1984 races again recently, still in very good condition. I used TDK tapes.

[Dave Ware]

I think my oldest is the Mid Ohio Cart race in '86. Things were different then. They talked about the radios not working on the far side of the track, and at one point Mikey came into the pits - the though he had been called in and he ended up doing a drive through. Rahal was interviewed while holding his daughter. He had driven to the track in his motor home. Quaint stuff.

I watched the '93 Long Beach Cart race recently. There was passing, and local yellows! Just like the old days! (Well, it was the old days...)

Dave

[Arjan de Roos]

Brazilian GP 1983. Carried on until I only taped a red/white car with inside a yellow helmet for years.

I taped all on the Philips Video 2000 system or VCC. Could stuff 8 hours on one tape that was to be turned half way (just like the radio cassette tapes).

Wonder how they look like today but early on I noticed loss of quality, maybe also due to poor storage near the other audio equipment. At least Monaco 1984 was a mess, which is a pity as TV showed Bellof's charge quite well.

[Cirrus]

I didn't actually tape it myself, but I've got a copy of the 1981 Australian GP at Calder, won very impressively by Roberto Moreno (Ron T gave it to me before his return to Oz). I haven't watched it for a few years, but I remember thinking how low-key it all was. The ad breaks were hilarious!...

So much has been sacrificed at the altar of slick production.

Edit - I've just also found a U-Matic tape that Ron gave me about the Honda F2 programme from 1983 (Damn - how I wish I still had that BVU-800!). Interested, GaryC?

[TrackDog]

The 1987 Daytona 500...I have a lot of old VHS tapes of races from the late 'eighties and early '90's that I will NEVER erase. I have Dale Earnhardt's Daytona 500 win, Neil Bonnett's last race[2nd Talladega race in '93], Davey Allison's Daytona 500 win, Alan Kulwicki's championship drive at Atlanta in '92, the '92 wreckfest at Indy, memorials to both Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki, the first Brickyard 400; and, sadly, the 2001 Daytona 500, with the prerace clip of Dale Earnhardt and Terry Bradshaw...I've never been able to watch it, though...



Dan

[racer69]

The oldest one i have that i taped personally would probably be the 1990 Bathurst 1000. As a 7 year old i was up at 7.55am with three 4hr tapes ready to tape the days action, taking out all the ads and swapping tapes when necessary.

My family though had first got a VCR in about late-1983, and i've got (they were of course passed into my care) some British rallies from 1983 (ABC Sport showed the Scottish & Manx rallies) and Bathurst 1984.

The quality of these are still fabulous (particularly Bathurst 1984), but from the early 2000's onwards some of my recordings are quite bad, perhaps i started buying poorer quality VHS tapes in my time as a struggling student.

The last race i taped on VHS was Bathurst last year, bought a DVD recorder in the week following the race.

[RacingMonk]

I've recently finished the marathon of converting all my old VHS recording of the GP highlights programs onto DVD....they stretch back to 1979! Quality of the older ones is not exactly HD but it's watchable.

[Dennis Currington]

Originally posted by RacingMonk
I've recently finished the marathon of converting all my old VHS recording of the GP highlights programs onto DVD....they stretch back to 1979! Quality of the older ones is not exactly HD but it's watchable.

What device(s) did you use to do this? One of the tape-to-DVD machines or seperate? I have been experimenting with both.

[RacingMonk]

Originally posted by Dennis Currington


What device(s) did you use to do this? One of the tape-to-DVD machines or seperate? I have been experimenting with both.

I used a PC with a capture card to produce the raw MPEG file (a combination of an Adaptec USB VideOh and later a Hauppauge HVR-1300). This then allows the fancy menus to be created with DVD authoring software (TMPGenc DVD Author).

[Jim Thurman]

As soon as I got the VCR - as a gift in December 1984 - I hooked it up, did a quick test (on MTV, IIRC ) and then I taped an episode of ESPN's "SpeedWeek" in December 1984. I'm not sure the first race I taped, but it likely was a Western NASCAR race. I concentrated on getting telecasts of races from the Western U.S. since an obvious prevailing attitude of regionalism seemed to exclude them, and because of that - even at the time, I thought "I had better get these".

I'm like the other posters who have mentioned that there is no way they will get around to transferring everything.

[Paul Taylor]

Still very much interested in acquiring some race tapes of CART/USAC pre-1982 if anyone has them...

[martyk]

One of my earliest, if not the earliest, is the 1982 Indy 500 - Johncock edges Mears. I'll have to dig thru my "archives" to see if anything's older.

[Paul Taylor]

That would be fantastic, thanks

[Raging64]

I have the 87 Firecracker 400, I think it's 87, Ken Schrader in the Junie Donlavey Red Baron Pizza # 90 finishing on the roof. Straight from satellite unedited if you know what I mean.

[Lemnpiper]

I have the 87 Firecracker 400, I think it's 87, Ken Schrader in the Junie Donlavey Red Baron Pizza # 90 finishing on the roof. Straight from satellite unedited if you know what I mean.

Hi All,

Since getting my vcr in late 1978 i think the earliest racing related footage i have is an "edited" copy of the 1979 Daytona 500 . Since i was running out of room on the tape i was editing out a lot of the laps towards the end but got the white flag lap and the Donnie/Cale crash and the followup .
I have all the Indy 500's since 1979 but the 1/2 half of 1984 (i overslept that morning) and the last 5 laps of Rahal's win where i had too work that day the race actually got run.
Also there seem to be many snippets i recorded off Wide World of Sports or the CBS Sports Spectacular of various 2 & 4 events that they would show.(pre the cable tv explosion you never knew what those 2 shows would show)

Oddly enough i believe the "rarist" piece of racing video i have is of 2 (circa 1979ish) local news reports of the local motorcycle flattrack racing that used to run here on weds night from early 1970's to mid 1980's.
Maybe i should look into making DVD copies of some of this stuff and loading it up on you tube.


Paul

[chaparral 2k]

Can anyone help on obtaining USAC/CART indycar race recordings from 1978-82? I've been looking for years. Any kind of info or help would be more than appreciated.

thank you

[tom58long]

well, i have lots of those fantastic video tapes which feature 1962 rouen or nürburgring 1967 for nearly an hour. but the most exciting video tape i have is the full length tv coverage of the 1976 austrian grand prix.

during that time i always wanted to be an austrian: the fantastic year books of heinz prüller (which from my point of view became more and more boring thru the years) and the man himself on the austrian micro.

so the 1976 tape provides extensive stuff running the camera thru the starting grid and always long enough to look at the drivers and cars. not that fast and short views one can find i.e. in a series of films which covers the the seasons 1970 to 1979 for 30 minutes each. the 1976 thing is great stuff.

from 1977 on i have several live tapes of complete races, including that exciting jarama grand prix (1980?) with few cars within reach fighting for victory and the famous battle from dijon (1979?). very special are of course hockenheim 1980 - my first visit to a grand prix ever and some zandvoort tapes, where i always loved to go.

to funny things are zolder 1982 (not that funny in general) where i can see my friend and me on the hill beside the grandstand and spa 1993, where i can see me and my friend thru damon hill´s onboard camera.

i contacted the wdr cologne - responsible for the german grand prix coverage - in 197X in order to try to get a tape of the german gp of 1973 - my first tv-grand prix. they agreed, but wanted me to take part in the costs of production. Deutsche Mark 1.200 per minute. i declined :-(

i started taping each and every race in 1990 and stopped that during 2004 or so, as the races became more and more boring to me.

beside that i have some nascar-stuff from the early 80ies, recorded by a friend of mine. but due to the different tv-systems i cannot run them but only one (and don´t know why that one runs).

not so nice: the guy i have the 1976 tape from told me, that ORF had some cleaning the closet in the seventies and the cleaning included nearly all the old stuff. always wonderin which pearls from those early days of live coverage are still sleeping in the storages of U.K, italy, france or suisse.

as a summary i can say that i was really hardcore getting all these tapes together.

tom

Edited by tom58long, 14 June 2009 - 07:43.

[bigears]

Does anyone have any coverage of F3000 from 1986-1990?

When did the satellite channels of Screensport and Eurosport start boradcasting motorsport?

[Frank Verplanken]

Oldest VHS I taped myself is the 1993 CART season opener I think. But the oldest (home made) I own is the 1978 Austrian GP from the French TV broadcast.

I think I have some pre-1990 F3000 season recaps... somewhere... I'll try and check this out ;) .

[chaparral 2k]

Does anyone have any CART indycar recordings from 1979-1982?

[Lotus23]

Somewhat OT, but earlier mentions of magnetic tape degradation jogged my memory: I still have some old 3" reel-to-reel audio tape I recorded from the stands atop the pits at the 1961 LeMans. Much of it is commentary from my Army buddies (many of whom are sadly no longer around), but there are the sounds of the Ferraris wailing past as well.

Last time I played it was several years ago, but its quality was just fine.

[Rob29]

Does anyone have any coverage of F3000 from 1986-1990?

When did the satellite channels of Screensport and Eurosport start boradcasting motorsport?

Earliest ones I recall were 1989.

[Geza Sury]

Does anyone have any coverage of F3000 from 1986-1990?

I'm a big F3000 fan and I'm trying to collect as many races as possible from my favourite period. (1985-1993.) This is what I have at the moment:

1986 3/11 Spa Full Race RTBF French 92 mins

1987 8/11 Birmingham Full Race BBC English 93 mins

1988 3/11 Pau Full Race La Cinq French 115 mins
1988 7/11 Brands Hatch Highlights Screensport English 44 mins
1988 8/11 Birmingham Highlights English 25 mins
1988 10/11 Zolder Full Race French 102 mins

1989 1/10 Silverstone Highlights Screensport English 49 mins
1989 2/10 Vallelunga Highlights Screensport English 54 mins
1989 3/10 Pau Highlights Screensport English 57 mins
1989 4/10 Jerez Highlights Screensport English 54 mins
1989 5/10 Enna-Pergusa Highlights Screensport English 54 mins
1989 6/10 Brands Hatch Highlights Screensport English 49 mins
1989 7/10 Birmingham Highlights BBC English 56 mins
1989 10/10 Dijon Highlights Screensport English 53 mins

1990 1/11 Donington Park Highlights Screensport English 51 mins
1990 2/11 Silverstone Highlights Screensport English 53 mins
1990 3/11 Pau Highlights Screensport English 46 mins
1990 4/11 Jerez Highlights Screensport English 53 mins
1990 5/11 Monza Highlights Screensport English 52 mins
1990 6/11 Enna Highlights Screensport English 53 mins
1990 7/11 Hockenheim Highlights Eurosport English 51 mins
1990 7/11 Hockenheim Highlights Screensport English 53 mins
1990 8/11 Brands Hatch Highlights Screensport English 52 mins
1990 9/11 Birmingham Highlights Screensport English 53 mins
1990 9/11 Birmingham Full Race BBC English 94 mins
1990 10/11 Le Mans Highlights Screensport English 53 mins
1990 11/11 Nogaro Highlights Screensport English 51 mins

[malvi]

Does anyone have any CART indycar recordings from 1979-1982?

From 1982 i have Cleveland, Milwaukee(T.Bettenhausen 200) and both Michigan races in DVD format. As well i`m sure there were no broadcast from Atlanta(delayed race). PM me if you are interested.

Edited by malvi, 30 June 2009 - 07:12.

[pitflaps]

In writing this I've suddenly realised how shockingly anally retentive I've been but anyway.

Don't blame me, blame my mate who used to record ALL the highlights over the year in order that he could watch them over and over again. I finally caught on but - probably unlike him - kept going. I therefore have:

1992, 1996 and 1997 COMPLETE seasons in complete BBC/ITV highlight form. The last time I checked, (about 4 years ago) the 97 tape was fine.

Also bits and bobs from years since.

Most cherished tape however is Grand Prix 500, the one-off - and as far as I know one time only showing - of the BBC's tribute to F1's 500th Grand Prix. It has Nigel Roebuck'ssonorous mumblings over the top of it but aside from that it's great....I think: haven't seen it in 10 years probably but it's there at the back of the TV stand, collecting dust and recalcitrance.