46 replies to this topic

[Gary C]

if you have ever watched the BBC series from about 15 years ago 'Supercharged', you will know the footage I'm about to describe.
It's from the 1968 French GP at Rouen, when Jackie Oliver demolished a Lotus 49 (another one!!). There is film of the Lotus boys in the pits wondering where Jackie has got to, also film of him after he'd arrived back looking VERY wobbly. There then follows some fantastic footage of Chapman (mic'ed up too, so we get good sound) going up to Bruce McLaren in his car & telling him that they've had a bell-housing failure and that he is going to pull Graham in in case it's happening on his car too. He urges Bruce to check his cars as well just in case. At that point Chapman was just second guessing as he'd yet to see the wreck, which he does a bit later, and truth be told, there's not much left of the car! My question is.......................does anyone know what programme it was filmed for? Perhaps a 'Wheelbase' special on Formula 1 or Lotus? Any ideas greatly appreciated.

[Twin Window]

I remember that; it was brilliant footage - and, as you say, it showed 'Chunky' at his ruthless *best*! He clearly used the news of Oliver's shunt to Team's advantage by trying to put-off his rivals!

[Gary C]

remember the then new interview with Oliver too, where he says he thought he'd died & gone to heaven, as in the aftermath, all he could see was dust floating down and a French chateau through its' wrought cast iron gates, which was by the side of the track???

[RTH]

Without having another look at it, I seem to remember Chapman was wearing a red and gold GLTL shirt but most if not all of the other Lotus blokes were still in green uniform.

Doubless someone can tell us exactly when the Gold leaf car livery appeared in relation to the Rouen race date. It was high quality colour film , it seemed to be following the Lotus team, I wonder if it was specially commissioned by Players as promotional film as they did again later in the JPS days 4 or 5 years later ?

[Gary C]

RTH, they were all dressed in GL livery. Bob Dance is certainly in the footage (I've asked him & he can't remember what it wasa filmed for) plus a few other people, inlcuding Hazel Chapman.

[Andrew Kitson]

It wasn't 'Supercharged', it was called 'The Power & The Glory'.
Supercharged was a BBC programme on pre-war GP cars shown in the late 80s.
Still have it on VHS.

'The Power & The Glory' came out in '93 or '94 I believe, can't remember which. It was broadcast on BBC2 I think and afterwards available as a double video set with 12 half hour programmes. I still have my copy. I'm pretty certain Bob Dance and the other mechanics are in red overalls in the film. I'll check it out tomorrow.

Bob told me at Mallory in June (at the Moss statue unveiling) that the BBC followed them around for most of that season, therefore there must have been loads of footage. Question is where is it?

[Twin Window]

Pics taken after the accident; although I'm afraid I haven't the first idea as to their origin...

Oliver, looking as if he were pretending *nothing* had happened!

[Gary C]

thanks for the piccies, Twinny. Question : who is that with Jackie Oliver in the first photo? Looks like Bob D & Eddie Dennis in the second, and the same guy as in 1 in 3.

[Gary C]

Thanks for that Andrew, I'll get my tame researcher at the BBC on to it then!!

[MCS]

Originally posted by Twin Window
Oliver, looking as if he were pretending *nothing* had happened!

Dazed and confused comes to mind.

He was lucky, but he certainly recovered. Remember the opening laps of the next race, the British GP at Brands?

I remember seeing the footage (on BBC2, presumably). I was never sure what Bruce McLaren really thought of Chapman's sudden appearance - it was either "oh, really, wow you've just worried me" (but I'm trying not to show it!), or "why don't you just bugger off and stop trying to be clever in front of the cameras - I am not an idiot" We'll never know, sadly.

But, as Andrew says, where the devil is the rest of the footage?

[kevthedrummer]

This is spooky. Just the other day I hunted out my copy of 'The Power and the Glory' to watch for the first time in years. It was a very entertaining series. I thought they did as good a job as could be expected of covering the history of the sport. I seem to remember another BBC series around the same time which dealt with the history of aviation. 'Reach for the Skies' springs to mind but I may be mistaken.

[PeterElleray]

Gary - i believe the original footage was shot for a BBC series called 'millionaire' which ran in the late '60's... Chapman was one of those featured in an episode that includes all of the footage you refer to. The film was shown at the Lotus open day at Kett Hall in 1995, and , ehem, copies eeem to have escaped shortly therefafter... The interviewer is Fyfe Robinson (does this carbon date me...?) i believe. Other footage shows the Chapman family at home , the workshops, Hethel, Chapman taking off from the runway there etc. Its worth tracking down.....

Peter

[bigears]

I got a video clip of the aftermath and the scenes in the pits.

Although I haven't got a clue what all the people are saying but the footage is excellent.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by kevthedrummer
'Reach for the Skies' springs to mind but I may be mistaken.

Almost right - it was "Reaching for the Skies".

[Andrew Kitson]

Infact, just remembered that 'Supercharged' was shown as part of the BBC 'Horizon' series.

[Gary C]

in fact, Andrew, 'Supercharged' PART ONE was a Horizon programme, but part 2 went out on Channel 4. I only got rid of the pre-recorded VHS copies on Ebay last year. In fact, for one of them, which still had the price on it (from Motor Books), I actually got £1 more than I paid for it in 1989!!

[Andrew Kitson]

Just checked out the 'Power and the Glory' video. It is actually dated BBC Enterprises Ltd 1992.
13 programmes - 380mins approx, narrated by Philip Tibenham. Number on the box is BBCV 4802

Directed by John Bird & Michael Schooley, Executive producer Ivan Rendell. Produced by John Gau Productions.

The individual 30min programmes are:

'The Fastest men on Earth'
The land speed record.

'The Road Racers'
Mille Miglia,Targa etc..

'The Right Stuff'
Racing schools, interviews with the greats, the dangers, what it takes to become a champion.

'The Pioneers'
The earliest days.

'The Aristocrats'
Brooklands, Bentley, Bugatti etc.

'Years of Thunder'
NASCAR, Drag Racing.

'Racing for the Reich'

'Forests deep, Mountains high'
Rallying.

'Those Red Cars'
1950s Grand Prix racing.

'The Revolutionaries'
The rear engine revolution & the 1960s.
Cooper, Chapman, Duckworth etc.
The Rouen footage in this programme.

'Making a Marque'
Sports Cars, Le Mans to IMSA.

'The Richest Prize'
Sprint car racing to the Indy 500.

'State of the Art'
Modern racing technology as was in '92.

If you can find one on ebay buy it! Well worth watching for the Rouen footage alone.
Here is mine, as you can see it is a double video.


Jack Oliver said that he thought the high rear wing had fallen over backwards, picking the rear wheels off the ground and throwing him into the wall at the side of the iron gates. He was pleased to not hit the gates or he would have been 'cheese through a grater'. He also thought he was in heaven as the dust was clearing as he saw this beautiful chateau, drive leading up to it with cows grazing either side then realised he was alive as Colin was tugging at his shoulder asking what had happened!

The mechanics are in red overalls, Colin wearing a GLTL lightweight jacket in some of the footage and a blazer with green shirt in the other.

Now then Mr.BBC, how about releasing this on DVD?
The history channels on Freeview could do with this too to fill the void inbetween the endless WW2 and Fred Dibnah programmes!

[Gary C]

yep, I still have that, too, plus the book that went with it.

[RTH]

Originally posted by PeterElleray
Gary - i believe the original footage was shot for a BBC series called 'millionaire' which ran in the late '60's... Chapman was one of those featured in an episode that includes all of the footage you refer to. The film was shown at the Lotus open day at Kett Hall in 1995, and , ehem, copies eeem to have escaped shortly therefafter... The interviewer is Fyfe Robinson (does this carbon date me...?) i believe. Other footage shows the Chapman family at home , the workshops, Hethel, Chapman taking off from the runway there etc. Its worth tracking down.....

Peter

Now wouldn't it be interesting to see that again now !

[kevthedrummer]

I'm going to hunt out my book 'The Power and the Glory'. I'm sure the author was the executive producer of the series, Ivan Rendall.

[bigears]

Some screenshots from the video clip I got:















Is it that the video you chaps are referring to?

[Andrew Kitson]

Yep, that's it.

[soubriquet]

Originally posted by bigears
Some screenshots from the video clip I got:




Is it that the video you chaps are referring to?

Is that Bette Hill in the background?

[MCS]

Yes it is. But who is Chapman talking to?

[Andrew Kitson]

Bob Dance.

[Macca]

Bob Dance.

Paul M


(edit: Damn! Beaten to the draw!)

[Gary C]

Have just found out that this programme first tx'd on the 29th August 1968.

[Alan Cox]

With regard to the first time the GLTL livery appeared at a race (RTH - post 4), it first appeared in the '68 Tasman series at the beginning of the year, did it not?

[JamesPage]

I think so, Alan. Graham Gauld's book on Clark has a picture of a bronzed Jim sitting in a GL-coloured car.

This month's Motor Sport has some pics taken by a reader of the Lotus team competing in the Tasman Series early in 1968, with the cars in GL colours but without the branding.

[RTH]

'The Power and the Glory' went out on BBC2 on successive weeks late 1991/ early 1992 (made in '91) It was all really excellent.

Chapman appears to be centre of the sound recordists attention there are shots inside the Norfolk factory, an Elan +2 coming out of the paint oven , Chapman with his plane and much else, clearly these were extracts from a programme devoted to the life and times of Colin Chapman in that '68 time , when both road car production and racing were going so well.

[Eric McLoughlin]

I still have my TV recorded editions of "Power and the Glory". I'll buy the DVD if it ever released.

Scalextric even re-released some of their historic model cars in special "Power and the Glory" boxings.

In that footage, it is worthwhile watching Bette Hill's reactions to the news of the accident. I am pretty sure that she thinks at first that it might be Graham.

[PeterElleray]

Originally posted by RTH


clearly these were extracts from a programme devoted to the life and times of Colin Chapman in that '68 time , when both road car production and racing were going so well.

see my post above and Gary's for transmission date - this is the programme -'millionaire'- that the BBC were following Lotus around for that summer.

[Andrew Kitson]

While we are discussing old film, I dug out a video tape this week of stuff recorded from the TV and came across an Anglia TV programme on 50 years of racing at Silverstone, broadcast in 1998.

Some great old footage and again the question is, where is the original footage now and how can we make it generally available?

Very short clips of a few seconds of the International trophy (looks like 1970, F1 v F5000 in black & white, shot from the old pit balcony including Dave Prophet's Mclaren M10B), Special saloons in colour - Mick Hill's Capri versus Escorts, Minis and Imps in '71 and FF from 1976 featuring Daly, Warwick, John Bright & Trevor Van Rooyen). Also Sports car racing such as the BASF BMW M1 and 2-litre Chevrons etc and early '80s F3 on the club circuit. I am assuming they would have dug into their archives to make the Silverstone programme? As I say, all very short clips.

As a youngster I would always watch the local Anglia TV sport report on the Monday early evening news as something from Snetterton or Silverstone would often appear. If not then something to do with Lotus and their racing exploits. Nothing at all these days!

Would Anglia still have these films or even the BRDC? Gary, over to you...

[Gary C]

hmmm, the ITV Archive is really difficult to get your head around these days. Because ITV was made up of individual companies, it was spread around the country. Looking for stuff from ITV 35 or more years later only makes it worse. I do know that Granada in Manchester now owns 4 or 5 of the old ITV companies, and likewise their archives. So you have the old TVS archive being owned and housed in a place in Manchetser. So who owns the old Anglia archive is just about anyone's guess! I will get on to it though.....

[Gary C]

Just found out that the Anglia TV archive is indeed owned by Granada and resides in the old Yorkshire TV complex in Leeds.

[Jerry Entin]

The mechanic with Jackie Oliver after the crash is Dale Porteous. This is according to Howden Ganley.

[Gary C]

Excellent, thanks indeed Jerry.

[David Lawson]

Originally posted by JamesPage
I think so, Alan. Graham Gauld's book on Clark has a picture of a bronzed Jim sitting in a GL-coloured car.

This month's Motor Sport has some pics taken by a reader of the Lotus team competing in the Tasman Series early in 1968, with the cars in GL colours but without the branding.

Didn't the mechanics actually spray the cars while at the Tasman races?

David

[Gary C]

yes indeedy.

[David M. Kane]

In that 1st photo next to the carcass, JO looks mentally naked...what a horrible feeling! I can only imagine Chucky's mind games after that one...

[rallen]

Interesting thread, does anyone know if this footage is ever likely to be released, I heard a lot about this series but assumed it was to do with the William Court book.

[Doug Nye]

Interesting thread, does anyone know if this footage is ever likely to be released, I heard a lot about this series but assumed it was to do with the William Court book.

The TV series was nothing whatsoever to do with The Court book. It merely stole the title which to the unlikeable Rendall and his project was the perfect cliche...

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 24 April 2011 - 17:33.

[Gary C]

Yes, it's been out on DVD for around 2 years or so. Available exclusively from Classic Team Lotus : www.classicteamlotus.co.uk/content/shop.aspx
About halfway down the page.

[Gary C]

Sorry, I'm talking about Colin Chapman 'Millionaire' programme rather than the 'Supercharged' series, which was released in a BBC vhs boxset about 15 years ago, not available on DVD though.

[kayemod]

Sorry, I'm talking about Colin Chapman 'Millionaire' programme rather than the 'Supercharged' series, which was released in a BBC vhs boxset about 15 years ago, not available on DVD though.

That 'Millionaire' DVD seems to have all of the the Rouen stuff on it.

[rallen]

Thanks guys, really appreciate your response's.

[Gary C]

'That 'Millionaire' DVD seems to have all of the the Rouen stuff on it.'
Yes, that's where the 'Supercharged' programme got it all.