59 replies to this topic

[LittleChris]

Hello Doug !!

 

An Evening with Doug Nye

 

Wonderful and nice to know BRM Vol 4 is coming

Edited by LittleChris, 16 November 2024 - 00:28.

[tsrwright]

Maybe this should be in another thread but Doug's illustrated talk at Brooklands last week is now on YouTube and was such a star event that it deserves top-billing. Allow at least 1.5 hours so make an evening of it as we did last night.

 

 

Edited by tsrwright, 17 November 2024 - 04:08.

[tsrwright]

Best watched in comfort on your tv along with suitable refreshment and maybe easiest just to search for An Evening With Doug Nye but here is the link https://www.youtube....ikwzV7ESU&t=46s

[FastReader]

Great news about BRM 4!

[ensign14]

I may be the only one who thinks BRM volume 4 is the most important of the lot...after all, there are plenty of sources for BRM before 1974, with autobiogs by Graham Hill, Tony Rudd, even Raymond Mays, as well as Sir JYS and Sir SCM and others for whom BRM was not the greater part of their racing career.  But afterwards even the comics turned their backs on the embarrassment.  Bob Evans' autobiog helps to fill the gap, but there were still people working and trying and fettling and hoping in 1977 that they could still do SOMEthing with the marque.  Were they embittered veterans from the glory days or acne'd teens from Bourne who could push a broom for a few bob per week?

[Vitesse2]

Mays' autobiography is a masterpiece of omission and obfuscation ...

[ensign14]

Most of them are.  Mays is very Dunkirk as a triumph.

[BRG]

I was alarmed to discover there is a YouTube channel entitled "Doug Nye" featuring a bearded gentleman playing a guitar.  This is NOT the genuine Doug Nye - accept no substitute!!

[jonpollak]

He'a actually played at my pub about 10 years ago. (the imposter)

I was all set for a evening of great stories and mirthfulness but NOOOO...

Twangy old guitar and a nasally voice..I left after I finished my half.

 

Jp

[VWV]

Doug, who will be publishing Vol 4?

 

Notice I did not ask about the planned release date

[Doug Nye]

VWV - That is very thoughtful, thank you - the intention is for publication under the Motor Racing Publications imprint (matching Volumes 1-2-3) but by Porterpress...to the best of my understanding.

 

DCN

[PCC]

Most of them are.  Mays is very Dunkirk as a triumph.

I think it was someone from the Vichy regime - maybe Pétain? - who, when asked if he planned to write an autobiography, replied, "Why should I? I have nothing to hide!"

[a_tifoosi]

Sofa, beer and youtube. Thanks Doug for such an enjoyable talk 

 

Besides BRM vol. 4 (great!), I understand that the biography of Enzo Ferrari currently in the pipeline is the one to be published by Evro.

[Sterzo]

Thank you for the links, folks, and if it were not for Elle Fanning, Doug would now be my favourite filmstar.

[Vitesse2]

Sofa, beer and youtube. Thanks Doug for such an enjoyable talk 

Indeed. I have to say that went very well with a couple of postprandial bottles of Old Crafty Hen. Brightened up a cold damp Monday evening.

 

(On a point of pedantry, though - shouldn't that really be 'Irascible of Little Sandhurst' rather than 'Irascible of Camberley'? I have a couple of Geoff's prints of George Monkhouse's photos which give an address in Little Sandhurst on the back. In those days the postal address was 'Little Sandhurst, Camberley, Surrey', even though both Sandhurst and Little Sandhurst were - and indeed still are - in Berkshire. And depending on where you lived in those twin villages, you might have a Crowthorne, Camberley or Yateley phone number. But Yateley is in Hampshire ... )

[Doug Nye]

Perhaps give pedantry a rest, Richard - one might possibly allow for the proximations of the press - then, and now? 

 

'Irascible of...' Ascot/Sandhurst/Camberley (choose as contemporarily appropriate) were all interchangeable nicknames for dear old Geoff over the years and I merely used the one I happened to recall.  

 

In fact I made other immensely more worrying screw-ups during that rather self-conscious evening, not least Jim Hall being on my original Goodwood target list of 'ten' to be lured to the inaugural Festival of Speed - the list was in fact two-fold; 100 cars, plus 100 surviving drivers...I muddled 'ten' with it subsequently having taken us ten years to achieve those aims.  

 

Then there was my allusion to Vanwall becoming the first all-British World Championship-qualifying GP winner, at Aintree in 1957.  Not strictly true - it was not an all-British effort, of course, with its American-derived disc brakes, Italian wheels, tyres and tank-rivetting, German fuel injection etc - but it was a British team, its car design and construction followed suit, as did the mechanic and engineer force, management, funding...and drivers...and it was green, all of which were important to literally thousands of we young fans.  This detail faux pas just bugs the hell out of me. (Of course, had it truly been all-British - a BRM mayhap - it would perhaps not have survived the distance at such pace)

 

And then, without realising it at all, I evidently told the same spinning the Napier-Railton story twice!  

 

OMG - senility is already here! Am I hearing the first cries of "Nurse, nurse! He's out of bed again...!"?    

 

DCN

 

PS - Sincere thanks to everyone who has expressed enjoyment of the event...much appreciated. 

Edited by Doug Nye, 19 November 2024 - 07:28.

[Nick Planas]

 

OMG - senility is already here! Am I hearing the first cries of "Nurse, nurse! He's out of bed again...!"?    

 

DCN

 

PS - Sincere thanks to everyone who has expressed enjoyment of the event...much appreciated. 

Can't be going senile - you used a very teenage expression there - OMG!!

 

Very enjoyable talk and some fantastic reminiscences, and a truly massive teaser for Vol.4...

[tsrwright]

Best Saturday night TV (via YouTube) for a long time.

[BRG]

Then there was my allusion to Vanwall becoming the first all-British World Championship-qualifying GP winner, at Aintree in 1957.  Not strictly true - it was not an all-British effort, of course, with its American-derived disc brakes, Italian wheels, tyres and tank-rivetting, German fuel injection etc - but it was a British team, its car design and construction followed suit, as did the mechanic and engineer force, management, funding...and drivers...and it was green, all of which were important to literally thousands of we young fans.  This detail faux pas just bugs the hell out of me. (Of course, had it truly been all-British - a BRM mayhap - it would perhaps not have survived the distance at such pace)

 

You shouldn't beat yourself up over that.  I would be astonished if BRMs didn't have some alien parts on them even in the earliest days. Nor are/were Ferrari all-Italian down to the last nut and bolt.  It would have taken a huge investigative effort to ensue that EVERYTHING was sourced solely from British manufacturers and that no pesky foreign bits hadn't snuck in!

[Richard Jenkins]

I very much enjoyed it, watched in yesterday in full.
Told me a lot I didn't know, and was good to learn more about Cyril P, John Blunsden etc.

Having given a talk of the same length to much of the same people, its easy to get muddled with even the most basic info. I haven't actually watched my Brooklands talk back, because I know in my head, it was only 90% right, because I got two drivers muddled up on the night. (Cheever and Sullivan) and other small things.

Edited by Richard Jenkins, 19 November 2024 - 10:36.

[jcbc3]

You shouldn't beat yourself up over that.  I would be astonished if BRMs didn't have some alien parts on them even in the earliest days. Nor are/were Ferrari all-Italian down to the last nut and bolt.  It would have taken a huge investigative effort to ensue that EVERYTHING was sourced solely from British manufacturers and that no pesky foreign bits hadn't snuck in!

 

 

Wasn't there a story about some English person complaining over Ferrari's Borrani wheels collapsing and Enzo retorting that the Borrani wheels were made to an english Rudge Whitworth design?

[Adrian Beese]

An afternoon lying on floor with an attack of sciatica was made bearable by a wonderful program, all I need to do now is find my favourite Cooper book, thanks Doug

[GTMRacer]

I am very much looking forward to Vol 4, though I need to find a copy of Vol 3 at a price that doesn't involve the selling of an organ first...

Any chance of another print run Mr Nye?

[Alan Baker]

The good thing about the long wait for Volume 4 is that I've been saving up for it for so long that I might be able to afford it.

[Gary Davies]

Volumes 1,2 and 3 are in the bookshelf. In good nick. I have counselled my CO and my daughter that in the event that the Grim Reaper gets to me first, for heaven's sake don't let the local charity shops get their hands on my books. Any of 'em!

 

[a_tifoosi]

I now realise that I have volumes 1, 2 and 3 in three different locations: 1 in my parents' flat in Barcelona, 2 in my previous (shared) apartment in Madrid and 3 in my current home in Brussels  .

[LittleChris]

Volumes 1,2 and 3 are in the bookshelf. In good nick. I have counselled my CO and my daughter that in the event that the Grim Reaper gets to me first, for heaven's sake don't let the local charity shops get their hands on my books. Any of 'em!

 

 

So what's the significance of the single issue of Motor Sport at the end Gary ?

[Vitesse2]

So what's the significance of the single issue of Motor Sport at the end Gary ?

Mille Miglia 1955 report by Jenks?

[E1pix]

Thanks to LittleChris for posting this, I finally watched and really enjoyed it!

It occurred to me throughout the program how lucky we all are to count Doug amongst our regular friends on TNF. The past still lives in the present, thanks to Doug and a few others who still grace us with reminders of some utterly joyous times.

Myself starting at 14 as a “journo” — as Doug likes to say — has me reading his words through similar eyes, and sometimes wondering if my focus should have stuck with it. No regrets, I’ve had a wonderful career for its diversity, but do relate to Doug’s life and its early parallels to my own.

I deeply appreciate that, and even my wife is a vicarious fan of yours. Thanks for your decades of commitment to an Art that presumably hasn’t paid back common rewards in most people’s (perhaps errant) definition of what those actually are.

Thanks for all you’ve done, and continue to.

[Doug Nye]

You are too kind, sir...   

 

The pleasure has been mine.

 

(And - getting back to the point - I've also hugely enjoyed my motor sport involvement     )

 

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 21 November 2024 - 17:28.

[E1pix]

You’re welcome.

And exactly on point, we never made much money but the love of my work made it worthwhile… especially when all our passions eventually became businesses.

[chr1s]

Thank you Doug for a very interesting and enjoyable interview, with some excellent photographs too. I have one question though, whilst you were talking about the picture of you collecting the 1970 Ferrari formula one car, you mentioned that "this was the back of old Ferrari assistenza in central Modena". What exactly was that building, what purpose did it serve?

 

Thanks Chris.

[Dennis Hockenbury]

That was a very enjoyable and well spent 90 minutes. Great stuff indeed. 

[Dennis Hockenbury]

"the intention is for publication under the Motor Racing Publications imprint (matching Volumes 1-2-3) but by Porterpress"

 

DCN

A very thoughtful tribute to John. Well done.

Edited by Dennis Hockenbury, 22 November 2024 - 02:03.

[Doug Nye]

The Ferrari Assistenza Clienti in Modena's Viale Trento e Trieste stood adjacent to the then still-surviving pre-war Scuderia Ferrari HQ, which had, into the 1960s/70s, become an independent Sinclair brand (from memory) filling and service station.  

 

The Assistenza was - as the name states - the company's central-Modena customer centre, where one could negotiate a purchase, service, modification, construction...whatever a customer client might want.  One could drive into a yard at the back, in which the photo I used at Brooklands showed the Donington Collection transporter.  Against the street was a long, low administrative building which featured a series of steel-partioned waiting rooms, or conference rooms.  It was within those that Mr Ferrari famously kept royalty, aristocracy (major and minor, of numerous nations), zillionaires, and captains of industry - plus countless commercial reps - awaiting his pleasure, and a time when he felt they "might be ripe" for the picking.

 

The Assistenza's location so close to the city centre was very convenient, close to the city's hotels, and for many was preferred, short of travelling out to the factory at Maranello, which of course also had its charms and attraction.  

 

For several years Mr Ferrari and his wife Laura had lived in a first-floor apartment above the workshop area in the old Scuderia building.  Living above the shop worked well for this acutely sharp-focused major player.  There, and postwar within the Assistenza, he would keep the great, the good, the no-so-good but the universally eager waiting hours to receive his imperial favour of a few minutes face to face... Moreso, it was where his sales and technical staff met and dealt with would-be clients, the expectant, and sometimes the grossly disappointed...and the ferociously angry. 

 

 

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 22 November 2024 - 08:54.

[FastReader]

You’re welcome.

And exactly on point, we never made much money but the love of my work made it worthwhile… especially when all our passions eventually became businesses.

"Never for money, always for love"

 

David Byrne / Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)

[rl1856]

I now have something to look forward to watching this weekend !    I am also looking forward to eventually settling down with V-4...which could have been V-4 and 5 given the breadth of material to be covered.  We are the beneficiaries of DCN's perseverance. Thank YOU sir !

[P.Dron]

That was highly entertaining, Doug. But when I saw the images of Denis Jenkinson's ramshackle cottage, I was expecting you to tell the amusing tale of Breakfast at Jenks', involving a knife, a fork and a plate...

[Doug Nye]

Sorry Peter - several thousand such daft stories passed untold, but time flies - threatening even the most tolerant listener's boredom limit. 

 

DCN

[P.Dron]

Sorry Peter - several thousand such daft stories passed untold, but time flies - threatening even the most tolerant listener's boredom limit. 

 

DCN

 

There is not much likelihood of you boring an audience, Doug.

[Doug Nye]

Most kind (the agreed ten shilling note is in the mail, but don't tell anyone - OK?   )

 

DCN

[P.Dron]

Most kind (the agreed ten shilling note is in the mail, but don't tell anyone - OK?   )

 

DCN

 

Now you are obliged to tell the story...

[BarryJohnson]

Both fascinating and very enjoyable watch but I am not sure how qualified a lad from Guildford is to translate a Wigston builder's mangling of the English language

[Doug Nye]

You make a good point, but I'm apparently a good listener and since I usually knew some of the background to what Tom was saying - despite omitting vital verbs and nouns - translation just came nat'rally.  One knew if Tom approved because he'd cry "You 'a' got it!" - and/or "Ooh yer beau-tah".  But while on the surface he was nearly always laffin' an' jokin' an' playin' about - it was very evident indeed to those who knew him that under this genial facade lay a shrewd, hard-as-nails, truly battle-toughened warrior, with all the killer instincts of a lifelong street fighter...  I learned from him that troubled deals should be made a game of two halves - once foiled or beaten, there'd usually come a return match.

 

And then ya kill 'em.

 

DCN

[BarryJohnson]

Well said me duck!

[2F-001]

I was born and raised in Leicester, but sometimes Tom's oratory required concentration even for me to follow.

 

And ever since I Flew South there were some expressions I rarely heard again; such as, and recalled here by Barry: 'Eh up me duck!'. (Which, for the uninitiated, is not a rude euphemism but more-or-less a term of endearment.)

 

Anyone not familiar with Jenks's cottage should seek out 'Motorfilms Quarterly, vol 9' for a delightful guide tour...

Edited by 2F-001, 22 November 2024 - 21:01.

[Charlieman]

Buy that man an oakey!

[chr1s]

Thank you Doug for your very detailed reply to my question, every days a school day on here and it never gets boring!

[P.Dron]

Doug seems reluctant to tell the tale of Breakfast at Jenks', so I shall tell it from what I recall...

 

One morning long ago, Doug was driving a car that broke down near the tumbledown cottage. This was long before the era of mobile telephonic apparatuses. He walked to the cottage and asked Jenks if he could use his telephone to summon the AA or RAC. Jenks asked Doug if he would like to have breakfast while waiting. Doug accepted gladly and was provided with a version of the full English. He started on it and then said, "But aren't you going to have breakfast?" Jenks replied, "Yes, but after you have finished. You have my knife and fork and my plate."  

[LittleChris]

You make a good point, but I'm apparently a good listener and since I usually knew some of the background to what Tom was saying - despite omitting vital verbs and nouns - translation just came nat'rally.  One knew if Tom approved because he'd cry "You 'a' got it!" - and/or "Ooh yer beau-tah".  But while on the surface he was nearly always laffin' an' jokin' an' playin' about - it was very evident indeed to those who knew him that under this genial facade lay a shrewd, hard-as-nails, truly battle-toughened warrior, with all the killer instincts of a lifelong street fighter...  I learned from him that troubled deals should be made a game of two halves - once foiled or beaten, there'd usually come a return match.

 

And then ya kill 'em.

 

DCN

 

As made clear in Tom's book