204 replies to this topic

[mgtd]

Hello folks,
this is my very first,maiden,nay virgin post.



[IMG]http273.photobucket.com/albums/jj237/mgtd/dfe3ab67.jpg[/IMG]

[mgtd]

As I said,it was the first,I hope of many,but like many others I have some difficulty with the image thing;
so bear with and I'll try again

[Lotus23]

Welcome to TNF, mgtd! You'll have to post on the Introduce Yourself! thread and tell us how you acquired your nickname!

imho, the "autograph hound" business came into full flower sometime after the early/mid 1960's. I met any number of the Big Names of the day, both in Europe and here in the States prior to that time, but asking for an autograph never really crossed my mind then. It would've been judged "uncool" to do so, and I therefore -- on pure impulse -- collected just one: Ricardo Rodriguez a few days prior to his death.

[FRWL]

Welcome to TNF! Nice pictures of James Hunt and 'Le Patron', especially Hunt's one! Where did you take them?

[fines]

It's still "uncool" today...

[sterling49]

Nice photo of "Mr Cool", the transporter behind, Keith Hollands?

[picblanc]

Originally posted by sterling49
Nice photo of "Mr Cool", the transporter behind, Keith Hollands?

Could be!!!;)

Photo copyrighted to Graham Etheridge, racebikepics.

[sterling49]

Originally posted by picblanc


Could be!!!;)

Photo copyrighted to Graham Etheridge, racebikepics.

You are one cool dude Graham

[picblanc]

Originally posted by sterling49


You are one cool dude Graham

If only that was true!!
I just have a good memory, for what in the end is really useless information!!
Keeps me off the streets though!!

[mgtd]

Thanks for your kind welcome Lotus23 and FRWL.
I will " introduce myself" in the fullness of time,but for now, my pseudonym is simple- I have a 1951 MG TD,owned for the past 15 years or so,which is sadly underused at the moment,the lure of scanning in many zillions of somewhat poor quality negs of seventies motor racing and sharing them with all you nice people is simply more alluring (given the current weather in Norfolk,UK)
The pictures were taken at Brands Hatch,April 1974 (I think) at the very sadly missed Race of Champions.Not only did we get three chances of seeing F1 in England,we had fantastic photo-opportunities,even for such a long-haired scruff as my goodself.
Autographs - I suppose I was more interested in taking a few pics of my heroes than being so "un-cool" as to ask for a signature,although I broke my cardinal rule at the London Motor Show in 1974/5 or so - I spotted Mr Lauda on a stand,presumably Ferrari,and just had to ask him.All I had to hand was a packet of fags,so he signed that pack (Red Marlboro of course).I still have the packet,sadly empty,and should look them out and post a pic just as proof!
Just a few more images from that day then,just to show they really were signing,and no queuing!!

[mgtd]

Sorry for such a disjointed post,but just found one particular bloke ,he looks somewhat tired and emotional to me,who was most certainly NOT signing autographs that day!

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by mgtd

This pic said Silverstone to me! Whatever, your pics must presumably have been taken on the Saturday...

Welcome aboard!

[mgtd]

Sorry Mr Twin, I'm sure your'e right.I'll just go and find the programme,see if I can confirm it.
Joking apart,it probably was the good old International Trophy,kindly sponsored my the Daily Express that gave us the extra chance of a bit of F1 in sunny April.Yes again it probably was the Saturday,and what year did it snow for the race.Bloody cold in the old Woodcote Stand!?


MGTD

[sterling49]

Originally posted by mgtd
Sorry for such a disjointed post,but just found one particular bloke ,he looks somewhat tired and emotional to me,who was most certainly NOT signing autographs that day!

Gee...you can tell what year it was just by the collars on the shirts Sir Franks has obviously just poked him in the eye

[FRWL]

Originally posted by Twin Window
This pic said Silverstone to me!

It was my guess too. International Trophy, April 1974:

[zakeriath]

Very civilised and fan friendly at Indy, on the Saturday before the race you have access to all the drivers, and you don’t have to take your own ciggy packet.

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by mgtd

...what year did it snow for the race?

That was '73.

I think that style of autograph page in the programme was a Silverstone thing, so maybe more than the one I mentioned are from the International Trophy. When I said about them probably having being taken on the Saturday, I was referring to the abysmal weather at Brands on race day in 1974...

[FRWL]

BTW, I wonder who is the guy beside Hunt in both Hunt's pictures posted here? Chief mechanic David Simms?

[Twin Window]

Now here's an image to make the modern-day F1 fan weep. This is World Superbike Champion elect Neil Hodgson at Brands Hatch in July 2003. He's just taken part in two WSB rounds on the GP circuit, but failed in his quest to wrap up the title in front of his home crowd.

He's tired, sweaty, hot and rather pissed off. So what does he do? He sits on a paddock scooter for three and a half hours, signing autographs and having his photo taken with all and sundry.



And with a smile on his face the entire time, only refreshed by one baguette and a solitary bottle of beer. As you can hopefully see, the queue was litterally out of sight for most of that period.

I tell you; if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it...

[sterling49]

.....And in Superbikes, they actually pass each other

....on the track

[picblanc]

Originally posted by Twin Window
Now here's an image to make the modern-day F1 fan weep. This is World Superbike Champion elect Neil Hodgson at Brands Hatch in July 2003. He's just taken part in two WSB rounds on the GP circuit, but failed in his quest to wrap up the title in front of his home crowd.

He's tired, sweaty, hot and rather pissed off. So what does he do? He sits on a paddock scooter for three and a half hours, signing autographs and having his photo taken with all and sundry.



And with a smile on his face the entire time, only refreshed by one baguette and a solitary bottle of beer. As you can hopefully see, the queue was litterally out of sight for most of that period.

I tell you; if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it...

It might be because... and this is just my theory, four wheel racers come from in the main privileged back grounds, where as bike racers are in general more "working" class, and in touch with the people who pay there wages.

[Twin Window]

JYS signing my programme at the 1973 International Trophy. Who'd have believed the weather would turn out the way it did...



Like others who've posted here, my interest in acquiring signatures was a short-lived thing; I started in late '71 and by the beginning of '73 I was already more interested in snapping [Kodak Instamatic] piccies of the blokes in question.

[TooTall]

I once asked Niki Lauda for an autograph. The icy stare I received could have frozen the sun. But, he did sign, or should I say scribbled aimlessly. I would like to think it was my politeness and charm that did it, but being 6'-4" may have had something to do with it.

Cheers,
Kurt O.

[Thundersports]

I haven't asked for autographs for about 20 odd years when I was a lad, however at a Champ car meeting at Brands I decided to get the whole programme signed........it didn't start very well when I spotted Paul Tracey in the paddock and my request was rather rudely refused and that was that!

[Pedro 917]

Indeed, a Silverstone thing. My programme from the 1973 British GP :

[Mark A]

Thought this thread was appropriate for an email I recieved today from The Motorsport Collector store.

They have a Jim Clark autograph up for sale on ebay with an interesting story as it was sent out after Clark was killed in Hockenheim. The picture had obviously been signed before Jim headed to Germany and was found in his effects after the accident and then sent to the person who requested it.

ebay Auction

[ChrisJson]

Many great names there Carlos.

I recognize the obvious from the top Graham Hill, Roger Williamson, Chris Amon(?), John Watson,
Peter Revson, George Follmer, Jacky Ickx, Mike Hailwood, James Hunt, Mike Beuttler and Jackie Stewart.

Who are the others?

Personally I was to shy to ask for autographs or even speak to my heroes
which I regret today. I was in the paddock on friday on all the Swedish
Grand Prix from ´73 to ´78. In those days you really had a chance to see
both the cars and the drivers at close quarters and to speak with them.

And I didn´t take it!!

[john winfield]

Many great names there Carlos.

I recognize the obvious from the top Graham Hill, Roger Williamson, Chris Amon(?), John Watson,
Peter Revson, George Follmer, Jacky Ickx, Mike Hailwood, James Hunt, Mike Beuttler and Jackie Stewart.

Who are the others?

Personally I was to shy to ask for autographs or even speak to my heroes
which I regret today. I was in the paddock on friday on all the Swedish
Grand Prix from ´73 to ´78. In those days you really had a chance to see
both the cars and the drivers at close quarters and to speak with them.

And I didn´t take it!!

Nice collection Carlos! Chris, I think I can also see Denny Hulme, Francois Cevert, Wilson and Emerson Fittipaldi, Peter Warr?, Jody Scheckter, Carlos Reutemann? Not sure of the others.

[Gabrci]

A rare full signature of Niki Lauda in Jacky Ickx's J of course

[Paul Rochdale]

Some years ago I endeavoured to collect as many autographs from World F1 champions as I possibly could and at the last count I have reached 16 or 17 in number. Part of the enjoyment of collecting was to locate addresses of the champions. I also bought a number of postcards depicting the drivers and these I bought from a shop at the rear of the main grandstand at Brands Hatch.

Nigel Mansell was my first. I sent the photo or postcard along with a stamped addressed envelope and a covering letter and it was returned (signed) within a week. That got my enthusiasm going and within a few months I had written to and recieved back autographed postcards from Fangio, Brabham, Surtees, Stewart, Lauda, Andretti, Piquet , Prost and Hakinnen. There were disappointments along the way. Damon Hill returned my postcard after a year with a note saying he was too busy to sign things. I've sent postcards to Emerson Fittipaldi but they failed to reach him.

I met at Goodwood Phil Hill and Jody Schekter and they signed for me.

It's interesting how modern stars sign with a scribble whereas Fangio and Stewart went to great pains to sign stylishly. Just watch footballers or tennis players. They often barely even look at what they are scribbling on.

Any regrets? Yes, the exorbitant prices some autographs now reach.

Edited by Paul Rochdale, 26 September 2009 - 14:51.

[Gabrci]

On the top, left to Graham Hill is Denny Hulme. Left bottom, below Amon what looks like Peter Warr is Jochen Mass. Bottom middle below JYS and upside down is Carlos Pace. Middle left, below Revson is David Purley. There are I think 4 which are still unidentified.

Edited by Gabrci, 26 September 2009 - 15:23.

[burt estep]

as a motorsports artist/f1/ i have many singed paintings. but the best autograph that i have is gilles villeneuve. the day he died i tattoed his helmet on my left arm.then i road a bicycle to his home town to be at his homecoming.i live in connecticut.400+ miles. the autograph was obtained from a pit marshel's son.the marshel had a self made book that he got drivers to sign in the pits at zolder. gilles signed his card at 12:02 i belive- on may 7th. just before he got into-----. this makes it the very last autograph. at the glen he crashed at the top of "graham hill" i was sitting on the roof of the pad-club.art show below. i was eating chicken+ as gilles walked below i called out gilles poulet? he turned his helmet upside down to catch a couple of legs. i then ran down to talk to him/NO PAPER PEN/ to my later regret. it's a nice thing to have driver's auto's they for the most part are cool about it. burt estep american f1 artist.

[Pedro 917]

I'm Luc, Carlos is my brother and over the years, we got ourselves a wonderful autograph collection (check out my brother's website - see below).

Autographs are :

Graham Hill, Roger Williamson, Denis Hulme, John Watson, Peter Revson, David Purley (twice), Niki Lauda, Mike Hailwood, Carlos Reutemann, Chris Amon, Jochen Mass, Mike Beuttler, Carlos Pace, Jackie Stewart, Wilson Fittipaldi, Emerson Fittipaldi, Howden Ganley, George Follmer, Clay Regazzoni, François Cevert, James Hunt, John Surtees, Jacky Ickx, Jody Scheckter and Derek Bell.

Some pictures from Zolder 1973 :


Denis Hulme signing my deerstalker.


as does Emerson Fittipaldi.


and Reutemann.


Sir Jackie Stewart signing my autograph book.

Still have the deerstalker but the autographs were washed away when my wife put the deerstalker in the washing machine....

[ChrisJson]

Thank you very much Luc!!

Sorry about the mistaken identity.

[RA Historian]

Still have the deerstalker but the autographs were washed away when my wife put the deerstalker in the washing machine....

Are you still married?
Tom

[Giraffe]

Never mind the autographs, who ever heard of a machine washable deerstalker?!?! My ex-wife put my panama in the washing machine. It came out resembling a wet tennis ball....

[Pedro 917]

Are you still married?
Tom

Yes Tom and I really couldn't blame her as it was dirty after wearing it for so many years, my wife said she could have baked French fries with the grease that came of of it
It shrunk the titfer though and it doesn't fit anymore but boy, it brings back fond memories and the deerstalker was once a subject in Motor Sport (June 2004) :

[RA Historian]

I remember that article and marveled about the ability to get all those stars to wear it. Well done!
Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 28 September 2009 - 16:45.

[Ray Bell]

When I meet up with Allan Tomlinson next week I'll be getting him to autograph my copy of The Official 50-Race History of the Australian Grand Prix... on the lead page for the 1939 race of course, next to his picture...

I'll photograph him with the book too, even though it's considerably more knocked around than it was when it was photographed in Arthur Waite's hands... and Warwick Pratley's... and John Crouch's...

It's also been autographed by S C Moss (1956 winner), Phil Hill (the star of the 1965 race), Frank Matich (twice) and Jack Brabham (three times).

Tomlinson must surely be the sole surviving winner of any pre-war National Grand Prix, mustn't he?

Edited by Ray Bell, 29 September 2009 - 07:38.

[Giraffe]

The longest gap between me collecting the same autograph twice (something I rarely do) is exactly 40 years. Jackie Oliver signed for me at the 1969 Oulton Park Gold Cup, and then again on my 1970 British GP programme at the Festival of Speed this year. I was 15 the first time and 55 the second. Jackie really has changed very little over the years; unfortunately I have.
Brian Redman signed for me at Oulton on 17th October 1970 at the meeting where he celebrated his impending "retirement" by trying to break the lap record on an empty track in the works Chevron B16. He signed the same programme again, much to his amusement at the Gold Cup Chevron 40th Anniversary celebration in 2005.


By giraffe138[/URL



By [url="http://profile.imageshack.us/user/giraffe138"]giraffe138

Brian signs at Oulton Park in 2005; it would appear he had been playing darts at his local the night before!!!

Edited by Giraffe, 29 September 2009 - 08:47.

[hipperson]

I asked Chris Rea to sign my Goodwood FOS programme in 2007..he told me to '**** off'

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

However guilt must have kicked in ....he returned and motioned to me from behind a hoarding and he signed.

[René de Boer]

I asked Chris Rea to sign my Goodwood FOS programme in 2007..he told me to '**** off'

Seems to be a habit for him. A few weeks ago, he raced at Zandvoort and a colleague of mine got exactly the same reaction when he wanted to take a photograph of Chris Rea sitting in his car...

[Giraffe]

I asked Chris Rea to sign my Goodwood FOS programme in 2007..he told me to '**** off'

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

However guilt must have kicked in ....he returned and motioned to me from behind a hoarding and he signed.

By giraffe138 at 2009-09-29

In all fairness to Chris Rea, the poor guy never gets a moment's peace at race meetings, with a constant stream of punters like me (seen here at the Silverstone Classic) approaching him with anything and everything to sign. However, he's signed several CDs and photo's willingly for me, and my partner and myself caught him alone at the HSCC Donington early this season and chatted to him for about 20 minutes. He's a genuinely nice chap and good guy. As we were leaving the circuit later in the day walking towards the carpark, we heard a horn and turned around to see him waving to us as he drove out!

[Kvadrat]

Sir Jackie Stewart signing my autograph book.

Sir Jackie Stewart signing 2009 Goodwood Revival programme.

[Pedro 917]

In my book, Stewart still has the most beautiful autograph of them all, with Johnny Rutherford a close second.

[MCS]

Seems to be a habit for him. A few weeks ago, he raced at Zandvoort and a colleague of mine got exactly the same reaction when he wanted to take a photograph of Chris Rea sitting in his car...

Surely not. Bored senseless on a flight earlier today, I was surreptitiously checking the Daily Mail a woman next to me was reading as she flicked through its pages and it said: "If cancer hadn't nearly killed me, I’d be just another selfish celebrity egomaniac, says Chris Rea" (title just checked with dailymail.com or whatever it is...)

[René de Boer]

Surely not. Bored senseless on a flight earlier today, I was surreptitiously checking the Daily Mail a woman next to me was reading as she flicked through its pages and it said: "If cancer hadn't nearly killed me, I’d be just another selfish celebrity egomaniac, says Chris Rea" (title just checked with dailymail.com or whatever it is...)

OK, so my colleague must have caught him on a bad day, then. Fair enough, seems to happen to all of us.

About the most beautiful autograph (re Pedro 917), the nicest one I have is probably by Richard Petty, which is almost a work of art - very elaborate. I have about 60 autographed (auto-)biographies of motor racing people (and another 20 or so autographed by ski racers, also one of my subjects of interest) and numerous other autographed books, but Petty really stands out. See the proof below.

Edited by René de Boer, 30 September 2009 - 07:55.

[Giraffe]

Signing at this year's Festival of Speed....


By giraffe138 at 2009-09-30
Dan Gurney


By giraffe138 at 2009-09-30
Jackie Ickx


By giraffe138 at 2009-09-30
Brian Redman


By giraffe138 at 2009-09-30
John Surtees


By giraffe138 at 2009-09-30
Jochen Mass

[Paul Rochdale]

For stylish autographs Jackie Stewart's is very good but 'my' Fangio is the best. Neatly written with a fountain pen (remember those?) the signature is neat and classy, much like him. Stewart used to practise his signature claiming that it was the one reminder a fan would have of him so why not make a good job of it. Hakkinnen's autograph is an unintelligable scribble, much like most modern day 'celebs' autographs.

[Giraffe]

By giraffe138 at 2009-09-30

This year's Festival of Speed Entries cover signed by Johnny Rutherford, Jochen Mass,Alan Jones,David Brabham,Al Unser,
and last but not least, Lord March.