51 replies to this topic

[Gary C]

I hope Twinny won't mind, but I just wanted to start this thread so that as the video nears completion I can put up the latest news on here.
As I said in the 73 JPS Lotus film thread, last week we interviewed Herbie Blash, having already filmed John Miles, Emerson Fittipaldi, Peter Warr and a couple of other Team Lotus guys. We have a busy summer ahead with maybe three more interviews to come, one possibly in America.
Feel free to bookmark ; www.lotus72dvd.com

[Gary C]

......and this is where it all started. We filmed an interview with RTH back in 2006 (!) about his restoration of Lotus 72 chassis 6 in the mid-80's. I was just going to use it in one of my 'Yesterday's Racers' DVD's but Richard said why don't I do a stand alone DVD of the 72 story.....................and here we are today!

[Gary C]

Herbie Blash from last week.

[RTH]

......and this is where it all started. We filmed an interview with RTH back in 2006 (!) about his restoration of Lotus 72 chassis 6 in the mid-80's. I was just going to use it in one of my 'Yesterday's Racers' DVD's but Richard said why don't I do a stand alone DVD of the 72 story.....................and here we are today!

Indeed, it seems like only about half that long ago. As you can see Gary and John have a very professional set up with lighting, filters and professional grade cameras, it does all produce very good results. The DVD will be worth the Peter Warr interview alone by Steve Holter fascinating stuff and that is but a small part of the whole production. Hope Gary can get it out before it grows in to a box set !

[Gary C]

...................and if any of you have missed it, here's what I've done (with full permission) with the Team Lotus single of 1973 :

[Gary C]

this last item will be an 'extra' on the dvd. We also have some neat onboard footage from Monaco 2006, it was 1973 all over again. Lots of other nice little things to be included.

[f1steveuk]

[quote name=
Indeed, it seems like only about half that long ago. As you can see Gary and John have a very professional set up with lighting, filters and professional grade cameras, it does all produce very good results. The DVD will be worth the Peter Warr interview alone by Steve Holter fascinating stuff and that is but a small part of the whole production. Hope Gary can get it out before it grows in to a box set !
[/quote]


Peter was great to interview, all you need to do with people like that is give them a prod in the right direction and off they go, they were after all, there, and "did it"!!!

Herbie was the same. He kept saying, "I can't think I'll be of any use", I really believe that when your involved so closely, it is after all, just what happenes around you, and it's easy to believe, of no interest to others. I think the subjects interviewed in the 72 DVD are perfect examples of this. As long as you arm yourself with a few "catalytic" questions, and stand back!!

Edited by f1steveuk, 07 March 2012 - 11:20.

[Macca]

...................and if any of you have missed it, here's what I've done (with full permission) with the Team Lotus single of 1973 :

Excellent work..........but I don't think that single would have troubled Top of the Pops, or even Eurovision!

And did I recognise a little bit of of background engine noise from 'Grand Prix' at Monza?



Paul M

[Gary C]

'And did I recognise a little bit of of background engine noise from 'Grand Prix' at Monza?'
er............I've no idea, it was on the record!

[Gary C]

here we are filming Ronnie's chassis 6 :

Edited by Gary C, 10 March 2012 - 10:51.

[rallen]

looking forward to this! will their be any actual racing footage?

[Gary C]

rallen, will answer you in a bit.
In the meantime, here's a short video I filmed on my stills camera of Bob Dance fettling chassis R5 at the FoS the other year.

[Gary C]

OK, a word about the racing clips to be used in the video. As I am financing the production of the DVD myself, I'm afraid I can't afford to plunder the BBC archive (or wherever else) as they charge such huge amounts of money for their clips. How does £1,000 per minute for a sell-through video grab you? Of course, if someone would like to give me £20,000 then I'll willingly start chatting with a few broadcasters that hold footage! However, as you may have seen in the music video, I have sourced quite a bit of un-seen movie film (which, to my mind, makes it even more interesting) and photos to use.
And before you ask, no, I couldn't get any production companies to co-produce the video with me, which is why I'm doing it on my own! (too 'niche'!)
However, the latest news is that I may well be off to Colorado in the summer to film another interview with one of the old Team Lotus boys.

[Gary C]

oh, for those that are interested, we also have a Facebook group too : http://www.facebook....17330194961654/

[PCC]

...................and if any of you have missed it, here's what I've done (with full permission) with the Team Lotus single of 1973 :

Great stuff! I hadn't heard that song before; it's... well... unique!

I noticed a couple of stills (the first at 1:12, the second at 1:26) that show a version of the car that I've seen once before in a photo but don't know anything about. It seems wingless, and has a narrower nose. Was it a Monza special? Did it ever race in that configuration?

[Gary C]

I think you're looking at the Lotus 73 Formula 3 cars in the photos as driven by Tony Trimmer and (I think) Emilo de Vilota (?).

[Tim Murray]

Bernard Vermilio

[PCC]

I think you're looking at the Lotus 73 Formula 3 cars in the photos as driven by Tony Trimmer and (I think) Emilo de Vilota (?).

So that's it - thank you!

[Gary C]

Thanks Tim!

[Gary C]

...just added a few links to the website.

[Gary C]

............of course, if anyone has any un-published photos or home movie film of the 72, I would be very interested in hearing from them. I'm always on the look out for library material to use in the video.

Edited by Gary C, 20 March 2012 - 04:25.

[Gary C]

we've added another couple of links today plus a youtube clip from the Classic Team Lotus Festival at Snetterton the other year : www.lotus72dvd.com

[Gary C]

Looks like we'll be filming our next interview for the DVD next month with Team Lotus veteran mechanic Dave 'Beaky' Sims.

[Gary C]

Have just had it confirmed that we will be filming Team Lotus mechanic David 'Beaky' Sims on Saturday. Another Team Lotus legend, Mr.Robert Dance, will be joining us after lunch to film some interviews for another project. Will be fun!

[Gary C]

..........it was fun!



Me, Bob Dance and Dave Sims, aka me, The Vicar and Beaky. Dave gave us nearly an hour on tape this morning telling what it was like to work on the Lotus 72, with Jochen Rindt, John Miles, Colin Chapman and Reine Wisell.
Bob then joined us after lunch for work on another project. Imagine the stories and chat when those 2 got together. Bob gave Dave his first job at Team Lotus back in 1966 on the Cortinas!
Stuff of legend here.

[RTH]

You will have so much material Gary this is never going to fit on one disc, rather than a box set, it will have to come as a stack on a spindle ! That really does sound like great and unique material from those two who were the heart of Team Lotus.

[Gary C]

Just a brief update, I have just uploaded a 90 second teaser for the forthcoming DVD. It's Peter Warr and Emerson talking about the new John Player Special livery on the car.

 Take a quick peek here;  

[Gary C]

.....just when you think it's all over, it draws you back in......over the weekend Mike Oliver and I have arranged to shoot a new interview with Lotus designer Martin Wade after Christmas on one of his in-frequent visits to the UK. Martin designed the Lotus 70 plus quite a few other things in a ten-year Team career. Looking forward to it already.

[Gary C]

I've just uploaded an extract from our interview with Team Lotus mechanic Jim Pickles. Michael Oliver of this parish conducts the interview. Some of this will be included in the DVD. Take a look;

[Alan Cox]

Just a brief update, I have just uploaded a 90 second teaser for the forthcoming DVD. It's Peter Warr and Emerson talking about the new John Player Special livery on the car.

Interesting interviews, Gary. Am I mistaken in thinking that the Stanbury-Foley Design Partnership, along with George Hadfield, had a hand in the design for the JPS livery on the cars?

Edited by Alan Cox, 04 February 2015 - 18:15.

[Gary C]

hi Alan,  I'm afraid we didn't discuss that!

[Gary C]

lads, just for fun, this afternoon I've uploaded a brief excerpt from an interview I filmed the other week with Gold Leaf Team Lotus mechanic Doug Garner. Here he tells us what it was like to drive the Lotus bus over the Alps in the summer of 1970 :

[Gary C]

for some reason it's not letting me post direct to the clip, but click on the blue Vimeo box and it'll play.

[RTH]

Nice story.

[Gary C]

Embbed now corrected.

[Gary C]

Lads, just wanted to let you all know that Motors TV (channel 447 on the Sky platform) will be transmitting my short (24 minute) version of the documentary on Tuesday evening this coming week at 8 o'clock. Available all over Europe, don't miss it! It'll also be repeated a few times over the few days after that.

[maplestone71]

Great stuff Gary, can't wait for the full DVD

Really interesting to hear Peter Warr talk about Wisell's missed opportunity at Zandvoort 1971, usually everyone talks about Walker in the turbine car

Jon

[Stephen W]

Lads, just wanted to let you all know that Motors TV (channel 447 on the Sky platform) will be transmitting my short (24 minute) version of the documentary on Tuesday evening this coming week at 8 o'clock. Available all over Europe, don't miss it! It'll also be repeated a few times over the few days after that.

 

Recorded this morning's transmission for viewing later. Looking forward to the viewing.

[MCS]

Great stuff Gary, can't wait for the full DVD

Really interesting to hear Peter Warr talk about Wisell's missed opportunity at Zandvoort 1971, usually everyone talks about Walker in the turbine car

Jon

 

Really curious about Wisell's "missed opportunity" - what was that, exactly?

[Gary C]

It was Peter's opinion that Wisell had a really good chance to win that year with the Firestone wets on the 72. But he out-psyched himself into thinking the tyres/car weren't up to it then managed to reverse up the pitlane after 6 laps and was thus disqualified.

[MCS]

Thanks Gary.  Incredible story.  I was always hugely disappointed with Wisell in Formula One (especially when he had shown how very capable he was in F3, F2 and F5000) and have often wondered how he might have fared had he stayed with Lotus for the 1972 season.  Fittipaldi was hardly a success in that last year of Gold Leaf colours but was a revelation in 1972, as we all know.

 

Anyway, ten out of ten to Motors TV for showing your excellent work.  

[Gary C]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[Stephen W]

Anyway, ten out of ten to Motors TV for showing your excellent work.

 

Excellent programme, anymore in the Motors TV pipeline?

[Gary C]

hi Stephen. For this round of repeats Motors aren't paying me, they pleaded poverty (again). When I agreed to these new repeats I suggested to them that I produce a series along the same lines as the 72 programme (cars, circuits, drivers, team owners etc etc) but I was again told that they have no money at all. So that's the end of that!

[Gary C]

Oh, and I'm glad you enjoyed the programme!

[Stephen W]

hi Stephen. For this round of repeats Motors aren't paying me, they pleaded poverty (again). When I agreed to these new repeats I suggested to them that I produce a series along the same lines as the 72 programme (cars, circuits, drivers, team owners etc etc) but I was again told that they have no money at all. So that's the end of that!

 

Motors TV are loath to pay for anything. When a friend of mine covered the British Hillclimb Championship he had to get five or six interested companies to pool resources to 'sponsor' his efforts. He was allowed to have on-screen adverts prominantly featured but he calculated that he lost somewhere in the region of £100.00 per episode. The whole thing took its toll and he has 'retired' from covering the hillclimb championship which is a great shame as the DVDs he produced were first class but one can understand why.

[Gary C]

I really don't know how they can keep pleading poverty, to be honest. For starters, this year they have gone free-to-air across Europe and apparently they are also looking into going in to North America as well. I would have thought they could have afforded to give me have just £5,000 for a half hour doco. Especially when you think that the first time they put it out (Nov-Dec.2012) they transmitted it 27 times (I kept count)! And this week alone it's going out 8 times.

[Gary C]

Wow, an update after 3 and a half years. Just wanted to mention that we are actually nearing the end of producing this feature length documentary. It's going to be a 2-disc set, the first, which will contain the main documentary runs for 1 hour and 55 minutes.  It features newly shot interviews with Emerson Fittipaldi, John Miles, Peter Warr and a plethora of Team Lotus guys, from the Team Buyer to Mechanics. The second disc will contain the 'extras' as I'm calling them. These are items that I couldn't quite fit into the main programme but are too good not to be shown the light of day. Things like John Miles explaining anti-dive and anti-squat, Beaky Sims and Herbie Blash on the aftermath of the 1970 British Grand Prix, a 're-creation' of the 1972 British Grand Prix using a rare BBC radio commentary and home movie film, Richard Hinton of this parish telling us how he restored chassis 6 in 1985, some personal snaps from Vic McCarthy who was the team truckie and sometime mechanic plus saloon car legend Dave Brodie giving us some memories of Ronnie Peterson, one of his best friends. There are 25 of these, the disc runs for just over two hours and 25 minutes..

Today we have been designing the chapter menus for this second disc, here's a rough mobile phone pic

 

 Click on the pic for a larger image.

 

The sleeve for the dvd box is being designed as we speak.

 I'm hoping to have the set ready for sale in as quickly as a couple of months time.

Oh, we have a Facebook page if anyone is interested, just search 'Lotus 72 DVD' and you'll find us. The website is here; www.lotus72dvd.com

 

 all the best.

Edited by Gary C, 01 May 2019 - 16:32.

[Dick Dastardly]

I'll certainly be buying the 2-disc set.

[Jeff Weinbren]

Gary, Hopefully the DVD will be for all "zones"?

Jeff.