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Post by René on Sept 27, 2020 10:46:36 GMT
Further to my above post I have attached a short Pathé News film of the 1967 British Motocross GP from Farleigh Castle near Trowbridge in Wiltshire UK. A great traditional track and a wonderful race meeting that I attended with my parents. The meeting was one by the great East German (as it was known back then) Paul Friedrichs on his factory CZ. Something very strange happened when I first watched this clip two or three years ago. Just before the winner is presented with the trophy there is a shot of the crowd applauding and even though it was simply a rapid panned shot I was certain that i saw my mother in the crowd. I replayed the film and eventually froze the shot and no doubt it was my mum and not only that but my dad and I as well. Such good quality is the movie that I was able to print out a screen capture of the frozen frame and have some unbelievable shots that I never ever knew existed. That's a great find and a wonderful memory! Now who is you?  |
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Post by charleselan on Sept 27, 2020 15:35:06 GMT
I enjoyed that one Mikael, a very good film indeed. So many things come to mind as I watched this, so I doubt that I will remember to comment on everything that I would wish to. The mud in the paddock was very familiar to me from many a motocross/scrambles meeting in the 1960's. In fact often it would be so bad in the spectator car parks (which were just grassy fields) the local farmers had to be called into action to tow cars out. Strangely my dad never ever got stuck or needed a tow as not only was he an excellent driver, although never fast, and we always had a pretty old rudimentary car that performed better in such conditions than the more modern vehicles. John Charles,
The comfortable and sophisticated Riley 1.5 you once mentioned most likely was not exposed to heavy mud conditions. What a cool sedan and beautiful interior, corresponding to my English dream car of the mid-60s when American cars were too large and clumsy.
Carl, At the time of the 1967 Motocross GP I mentioned my father owned an Austin A40 Somerset which he had bought from my grandmothers cousin. I learnt to drive in that car and actually drove it to my first ever car race meeting the 1969 British GP at Silverstone. It was actually a lovely car with leather seats and a column gear change, also the headlight dip switch was on the floor and operated by the foot; what memories. The brilliant Riley 1.5 followed, two great cars and I would love to have fully restored versions in my garage today. Here is a picture of an Austin A40 Somerset in the same grey colour as my dad's.  JC |
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Post by charleselan on Sept 27, 2020 15:45:10 GMT
Carl & René,
It was an incredible find and I still cannot believe that I noticed in that fleeting clip of the spectators that I noticed my mother in the crowd, and incredible that afterwards My dad and I were also fully in the picture. I had no idea that the film existed, and did not know at the time we were actually being filmed, such a shame that my parents never knew about its existence but they passed away long before the internet became what it is today.
I think you may have spotted me Carl; if memory serves me correctly it was a black shirt flecked with bronze the I was wearing, and a big favourite of mine as it was quite trendy at the time. At the time I was sixteen and still in awe of Scott Walker, hence the hairdo which was fashioned by my cousin Christine (Scott's great aunt).
My mother is the lady in spectacles to the right of me looking at the picture with my father alongside her wearing his ubiquitous cloth cap.
John Charles
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Post by Carl on Sept 27, 2020 16:39:17 GMT
John Charles,
What a beautiful memory to have and good fortune to have found it.
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Post by mikael on Sept 27, 2020 18:50:20 GMT
Something very strange happened when I first watched this clip two or three years ago. Just before the winner is presented with the trophy there is a shot of the crowd applauding and even though it was simply a rapid panned shot I was certain that i saw my mother in the crowd. I replayed the film and eventually froze the shot and no doubt it was my mum and not only that but my dad and I as well. Such good quality is the movie that I was able to print out a screen capture of the frozen frame and have some unbelievable shots that I never ever knew existed. JC, what a stroke of good luck! It must be a good memory for you to have.
It's impressive to see how many spectators those races could attract. You mentioned that you saw the 1984 GP at the same place. I wonder if the motocross GP's could attract similar crowds in the UK up thought the 70's and 80's, of if the general interest had started to go down?
As mentioned in another of the motocross threads, motocross in Scandinavia also attracted large crowds in the 50's and 60's (I have been told, and I have read), but when I went to Sweden in '82 to see the 250cc Worlds Championship title decider race, there weren't that many people. (But it might have been because of the location, deep in the forests of the Kalmar district.)
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Post by chrisb on Sept 28, 2020 8:31:56 GMT
that is incredible John Charles, a photo would be wonderful to see
Mikael, Scrambling in the UK in the 60's drew good crowds and great enthusiasm and healthy TV audiences on a wet cold Saturday afternoon we used to watch it at my Grandfathers great fun
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Post by charleselan on Sept 28, 2020 11:27:24 GMT
I have located the still image that I managed to capture from the Pathé News film. To obtain the still image I ran the film frame by frame until I found the shot, pulled it up to full screen size on my iMac and then did a screen capture. The screen cap' was then placed in Photoshop CS6 and I fiddled around with it a little to sharpen and a few other things to obtain the image.  Mikael your comment about the size of crowds at motocross events pre 1980's is true. The British GP events that I went to from the late 1950's up until the mid 1980's had huge crowds, the scene from my photo above was more than typical. The same was also true of the big National meetings in the UK, even local centre events attracted good crowds. The first big National meeting I went to with my parents was in 1958 for the Cotswold Scramble and the crowd was huge which was a big shock for me as a little lad who had only attended the local scrambles run on the track just down the lane from my home. The Cotswold Scramble attracted every top rider in the UK each year and was originally held on a long track that traversed about five different fields, across streams and through hedge rows and some wood land. It actually held the first ever British Motocross GP in the early 1950's but sadly it moved on to Hawkstone Park in Shropshire before coming to Farleigh Castle in the 1960's. For the 250cc Grand Prix that too moved around the UK, the first i went to was in 1959 at Beenham Park near Newbury, it then moved about the country before establishing at the superb Dodington House near(ish) Bath and not too far from my home. I believe that crowds for most motor sport events, especially the big meetings was always huge in the UK. The nonsense written about record breaking crowds at modern events is just not factually correct in my opinion, the crowds back in the 1950/60/70's were phenomenal. |
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Post by chrisb on Sept 28, 2020 18:46:21 GMT
fabulous John Charles just fab -
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Post by Carl on Sept 29, 2020 3:25:29 GMT
fabulous John Charles just fab - Chris, Do you mean the great achievement by John Charles to first notice and then transform a frame of vintage film into a sharply focused still photograph... ...or his Scott Walker haircut? 
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Post by chrisb on Oct 1, 2020 18:20:41 GMT
a bit of both in truth Carl,
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Post by Carl on Oct 1, 2020 18:35:41 GMT
a bit of both in truth Carl, I remember the Walker Brothers and Scott Walker's great voice. Fabulous, indeed. |
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Post by charleselan on Oct 2, 2020 12:48:44 GMT
fabulous John Charles just fab - Chris, Do you mean the great achievement by John Charles to first notice and then transform a frame of vintage film into a sharply focused still photograph... ...or his Scott Walker haircut?
Great film Carl, but much later and then in the mid 1970's after the Walker Bros had briefly reformed. This is more period and captures the times so very well . As you say later Scott Walker had a great voice, in my opinion the greatest balladeer I have ever heard but fame and stage appearances did not sit well with him at all. His early solo career was also outstanding after the Walker Bros split up, he even had a weekly show on the BBC at one time such was his following. |
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Post by mikael on Nov 29, 2020 8:41:08 GMT
The 1980 United States 500cc motocross Grand Prix, at Carlsbad, California (near San Diego), with Jeff Smith as co-commentator and technology analyst. This is one of the early examples of how the speed of the local young American riders shocked the World elite.
Youtube link: |
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Post by chrisb on Nov 29, 2020 10:46:36 GMT
sorry it's struggling to play for me, will check it out later
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Post by charleselan on Dec 2, 2020 19:46:16 GMT
A good film Mikael which I saw a while back. The first American Motocross star I saw was Jim Pomeroy in around 1976 at the 250cc British GP at the Fox & Hounds track near Newbury. Jim rode a factory Bultaco on that occasion and I am sure he won the event but my memory is a bit sketchy without looking it up.
The old Fox & Hounds circuit was a great track and seems to focus on the hugely popular at the time Sidecar racing, for the 1976(?) GP they had changed the track significantly being very like what we see nowadays and not to my taste at all.
Interestingly I have just found this short film of the 1959 250cc British Motocross GP held at Beenham Park near Newbury, my parents and I attended that event and it was my second ever MX GP. It was a very hot day and the dust was unbelievable, the event won by Rolf Tibblin on a 2 stroke Husqvarna. I have mentioned this before but the top British rider Brian Stonebridge rode on of the bravest races I have ever seem as he was suffering from severe burns on his left arm following a camping fire accident.
The poor man rode one handed most of the way with his arm held behind his back to protect the burns from the wind and dust blast. Tragically Brian was killed a short while later in a road vehicle accident. As you can see the great Jeff Smith was second on a 250cc BSA Star 4 Stroke.
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