67 replies to this topic

[shellsport271]

I was at the race pictured by Steve above, IIRC there was a furore in the comics the week after, about the standard (or lack of ) driving of the invited guests. I cannot remember the outcome of the race, but Cozee Powell was a bit rapid. These of course were the Shellsport cars, so were as the good lord Ford A.V.O had intended them, with silencers and road tyres (SP41s?)

Hi

They did have Safety mods, thank goodness for that!, but were otherwise virtually standard
They had Bilsteins fitted and the tyres were Avon Wide Safety G.T. crossplies inflated to 45 p.s.i. which may explain some of the unusual driving

Shellsport271

[Cam2InfoNeeded]

Does anyone have photos from the pro/celebrity race at Ontario Motor Speedway (California) back in 1970. ? They raced Porsche 914's.

Thanks.

[shellsport271]

Steve Thompson on the grid for an Escort Mexico celebrity race at Snetterton, October 1973. This appears to be the only photo I have ever taken of any celebrity event!



Graham McRae was also in the race, having spent the day in the bar after being unable to get his F5000 car started in the morning...

Hi

I was really hoping to find out that you had shed loads of photos of the Mexicos Twin Window but its always good to find any especially colour!
Is this the entire photo or cropped?
If the latter, any chance of the bigger picture?
Any memories or notes from that race?

Shellsport271

[Twin Window]

As I said in my original post, sadly that seems to be the only-ever pic I took of a celebrity race!

And no; that's the entire pic - ie it's not cropped.

Again, in my original post, I recall that a certain driver/team-owner - who hadn't been able to fire-up his F5000 car for the main event - subsequently spent the entire day in the bar yet also took part in said race...

T'was quite a shock that he did so to this then sixteen year-old lad!

[Giraffe]

16 in '73??? Well you've aged rather better than me Stuart, although I was 19 by then.... However, it was great to see both Steve Thompson and his brother-in-law Alan Rollinson at the F5000 re-union at the Gold Cup this August Bank Holiday....



By giraffe138, shot with EX-M2 at 2009-08-30

[David McKinney]

it was great to see both Steve Thompson and his brother-in-law Alan Rollinson at the F5000 re-union at the Gold Cup this August Bank Holiday....

Weren't Thompson and Rollinson cousins?

[Morris S]

I do remember meeting the late music impresario and Granada TV presenter Tony Wilson at the Oulton Park round of the celeb Mexico race, no pic though sorry, just an autograph !

[Giraffe]

Weren't Thompson and Rollinson cousins?

Yes David, checking my records I see that you are quite correct (yet again!) They are indeed cousins.

[shellsport271]

Does anyone recognise the guy giving advice re lines and braking points to ELP in the DVD at the start of this topic?
If it helps, its from 'Beyond the beginning' a double music DVD of ELP although the film is on 'you tube' approx 8 minutes and it's a bit of nostalgia and well worth a view IMO

Edited by shellsport271, 19 November 2009 - 22:46.

[shellsport271]

3000E Capris!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had one as a company car, ill-handling as a term doesn't do it justice! Way to much weight over the front, and rear wheel drive, and I had it over the winter period, now I know why I am going grey!

I had one out in the heavy snow on New Years eve 1979 on chains and Iv'e never been so sideways before or since

Edited by shellsport271, 19 November 2009 - 22:55.

[Frank S]

Does anyone have photos from the pro/celebrity race at Ontario Motor Speedway (California) back in 1970. ? They raced Porsche 914's.

Thanks.

This is the best I can do:
OMS with PLN

There was a contemporary magazine article, but I have no reference to it.

[Cam2InfoNeeded]

Frank,

Thanks! I hadn't found this video before. I found I think what was the raw footage over at http://www.wpafilmlibrary.com/ but it isn't edited together, has no sound, and no great voice-over with PLN. Those little 914's were really buzzing (and not it a complimentary way) down those Ontario straightaways. I'm surprised only Paul's car died before the finish.

doug

PS I'm sure glad we have a medium (DVD's and digital mass storage devices) that should capture video and not degrade over time as the film versions did (I know even digital copies on laser written disks have an undetermined lifespan, but it's a big improvement on chemically based video tape).

Edited by Cam2InfoNeeded, 20 November 2009 - 06:12.

[B Squared]

Does anyone have photos from the pro/celebrity race at Ontario Motor Speedway (California) back in 1970. ? They raced Porsche 914's.

Thanks.

No photos, but there is this account of the race from Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence At Speed by Michael Argetsinger, page 189.

In the week between the Canadian Trans-Am and the round at Watkins Glen, Mark was one of the featured drivers at a Pro-Am race at Ontario Motor Speedway in southern California. The much anticipated facility was just two weeks away from opening day for its inaugural 500 on Labor Day. The publicity-driven Pro-Am event featured a variety of celebrities, including Kirk Douglas, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Robert Wagner, Pancho Gonzales, Pete Conrad, and Wilt Chamberlain, with each one driving in tandem with a top race driver. Mark was partnered with Hugh Downs, host of NBC television's the Today show, with whom he finished fourth. The erudite Downs was a consummate gentleman and a genuine race enthusiast. Downs explained to syndicated racing columnist Bob Cochnar why he and Mark were chosen to race together. "We were paired because of compatible size and emotional temperament, which is quite a compliment to me." The winners were Bobby Unser and comedian Dick Smothers, who might have qualified for either category. Smothers was a better than average race driver, experienced in powerful cars.

Brian

[Auroraf1]

Mayhem at Druids in the 1986 Celebrity Race at the FF Festival........








PAR

Hi Phil, I believe you have managed to catch a youn(ish) me in the background. Red jacket, with black and white stripes (it was my LEP racing jacket, I scrounged off Alo Lawlers team). Before Diz says anything, no I am not standing in a hole. The other guy is called Noel and is very tall!

[shellsport271]

I did a search and didn't find a thread specifically for celebrity races and thought I'd start one.

I recently got a DVD documentary on Emerson Lake and Palmer and there's a short bw film of them participating in a celebrity race. It took place at Brands Hatch in 1973 and they raced tin tops (Lotus Cortinas?). Ronnie Scott was announced as the winner with Greg Lake taking second, Brian Gibson in third and Clive Scott in fourth. It's not terribly clear but the announcer seems to indicate Keith Emerson ran out of gas and I believe Carl Palmer spun.

Anyone remember (or was present) at this outing. Surely it was a support race for some headline event.

Also present were Suzi Quatro who was scheduled to race but didn't being unwell, and Olivia Newton-John ( you can almost hear Eric Morecambe ) who was spectating.

Has anyone got anything else to recall or show re the shellSPORT Mexicos?
surely something Moneypenny.

Edited by shellsport271, 17 December 2009 - 13:02.

[Chris Witty]

Hi Shellsport 271.

Do you still own XNO 271L and, if so, may I become reunited with 'her'? The reason being this was the car in which I won my first ever motor race when I was Sports Editor for Autosport back in 1974 (I think). I have some photos of me and the car in action.

Drop me an email to chris@wittyassociates.co.uk.

Regards, Chris W.

Hi

I wasn't there but my car was !

I own one of the Shellsport Mexicos from those days, XNO 271L, and they certainly had a tough life
It's the yellow over red car seen on the programme cover on the Radio Rewind website, and I'm always interested in finding stories, photo's etc

I have owned the car since 1981 and finally stumbled across the ELP 'film' this year.
That's the first ( and only ) time I've seen the cars moving !

Anyway, 12th of August 1973, Radio Luxembourg race day. Apart from the Pop stars and D.J.'s race there was another at the end of the day for 'real' racing drivers including David Purley (winner),Nick Whiting,Tom Belso, and Tony Trimmer.

Many meetings had two races , one for anyone the public would recognise and one for that meeting's racing drivers.

So obviously I really like this thread and if anybody has anything on the Shellsport cars,please let's see it.

Thanks

Shellsport271

[WonderWoman61]

Was there a Celebrity Race in 1987 where Daley Thompson was one of the competitors?
https://www.gettyima...hoto/1493218907

[LOTI]

Getting old is not fun! Having read the above threads I couldn't remember the details of the celebrity race that we put together for the Carol Hazell Appeal back in 1981, I can't even put a date on it although I know it was at the end of the school holidays, so maybe August. John Webb very kindly offered us the race as Carol's brother, Geoff Hazell had worked at Brands. Its official title was the Evening News Shell Super Sunbeam Race and it was won by Mike Smith.... what happened was.... Frank Williams bought Alan Jones as his pit crew and unfortunately Alan was not as good at counting laps, so held out the pit board with one too many laps on it and all the  field prepared for a last lap dice while Mike jumped them all and went on to win! It got us a huge amount of publicity on Capital Radio.....No I didn't fix it! 

Second was John Surtees, Frank Williams was third, Peter Gethin was 4th, Howden Ganley was 5th and Patrick Head was 6th.... also ran was Lady Sarah Aspinall, widow of Piers Courage. The race raised over £5,000 for the fund which bought a laser for the Royal Marsden Hospital, so not just celebrities having fun.

Oh the good old days.

Loti