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History of Motor Racing 1950s

The 1950’s was a magnificent era in which motor racing truly ‘came of age’.

It was during this golden decade that some of the world’s most influential manufacturers and drivers made their mark, leaving us with an extensive archive of dazzling technical innovation and exciting characters.

Join motoring historian Neville Hay as he recalls the major stepping stones of this memorable period with a wealth of facts, anecdotes, interviews and glorious racing footage. Featuring Ascari, Fangio, Moss, Hawthorn, Collins and Musso with Ferrari, Mercedes, Lancia and Maserati.

Tags: 1950 , Fangio , Moss , Hawthorn , Collins , Musso

On Bike Nurburgring Experience

The complete Nurburgring experience!

The Nurburgring 'old' Nordscheife is a mecca for motorcyclists, and this film shows why thousands of bikers challenge the 'Ring themselves every year. Join us with a group of superbike riders on an Advanced Riding Course to learn how to ride the 'Ring at speed. Then enjoy some great archive footage as we take a look at some of the great Nurburgring races of the past. Geoff Duke's victory on the Gilera in 1955, Giacomo Agostini giving the fabulous MV Agusta its last ever GP win in 1976 and Kenny Roberts clinching world titles in 1978 and 1980. Finally, we take you on an unforgettable ride with Helmut Dahne on one of the fastest laps of the 'Ring' ever recorded by on-bike camera.

Honda Racing Power: F1 car Superbike and Powerboat Challenge

Honda's unique status as the power behind race successes on four wheels, two wheels and on water was perfectly showcased at an unusual high-octane demonstration in London. Three of Britain's top motor sport stars - Formula 1 driver Jenson Button, multiple World Powerboat Champion Steve Curtis and British Superbike 2004 title contender Michael Rutter, met at London City Airport to put their respective Honda-powered machines through their paces. The top trio contested five 1/4 mile sprint races in the B.A.R Honda 005, the Honda Formula 4-Stroke 225hp powerboat and the HM Plant Honda Racing CBR1000RR Fireblade. Unique action and interviews.

Tags: Honda , F1 , Superbike , Powerboat

Harley Magic

Millions of words have been written and miles of film made about the Harley Davidson motorcycle but this is the first serious attempt to try and define that Harley Magic. We go on the road with Harley riders in the USA, cruisin' the back roads of California and the surfline of Daytona Beach, Florida. There's awesome 170 mph action on the dragstrips, the Daytona Speedbowl and close-quarter bullrings of oval track racing where Harleys have been a mainstay of the sport for over 70 years.

We also take a look at some of the Harley classics all using the famous twin engine that has always been the heartbeat of the Harley Magic, and meet top custom men Arlen Ness, Rick Doss and John Reed and see their outrageous customised machines. And in an exclusive interview with Willie G Davidson, grandson of one of the company founders and chief stylist, we find out how Harley survived some lean years to become the motorcycling phenomenon of the 90s.

Still Too Fast to Race

Even more from the full story behind the awesome Group B Rally cars, featuring mind-blowing contemporary and archive racing footage of these fire-breathing rocket ships at blistering speeds!

Declared “too fast to race” at the end of the 1986 season, the Group B cars changed the face of rallying! The Lancia Delta S4 could accelerate from 0-100km/h in 2-3 seconds on a gravel road, and Nigel Mansell is reputed to have said that the Peugeot 205 T16 could out-accelerate his F1 car!

All were built to reach at least 400bhp, so we pushed these super-charged beasts to their absolute limit to see what else they could do, with legendary ex-World Rally champion Stig Blomqvist behind the wheel!

This sequel to the highly successful Too Fast to Race showcases even more of these turbo-charged machines, including:

-Audi Quattro Series 3-winged monster

- Lancia Delta S4

- Ford RS200

- Peugeot 205 T16

- Lancia O37

- MG Metro 6R4

You may never witness them on the World Rally stage again, but the entertainment provided by these supercharged monsters remains, to delight fans old and new.

Here is another priceless opportunity to see them restored to their former breath-taking glory! A must for all rally and fast car enthusiasts!

Worlds Fastest Bikes 2

The top riders. The toughest tests. The world’s fastest bikes. One unforgettable ride.

Get ready to gawp as road racing, rally and superbike stars John McGuinness, Dave Moore, Mark Higgins, Scott Smart and Jim Moodie thrash the latest high-performance road bikes to their limits! These guys put the bikes through their paces on track, at Ty-Croes race circuit in Anglesey, and road, around the world famous 37.76 mile TT course.

Featuring this feast of mean machines:

- Suzuki GSXR600
- Suzuki GSXR1000
- Kawasaki ZX6R
- KawasakiZX10R
- Honda CBR 600RR
- Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade
- Triumph 600
- Yamaha R1
- Yamaha R6
- Aprilia RSV

Our exclusive footage also includes close-up engine and chassis details, plus rider interviews.

Experience this mind-blowing display of speed and style from a rider’s eye-view, as on-bike cameras take you on the ride of your dreams from the comfort of your own settee!

Best of British BSA

This in-depth video tells the full story of the BSA, from its beginnings in the armaments trade of the eighteenth century, through the glory years of their domination of the world motorcycle market, to the final sorry climax.

At the National Motorcycle Museum we review the greatest bikes to bear the unique ‘Piled Arms’ trademark, from the ‘Roundtank’ and ‘Sloper’ models of the 20s and 30s to the incomparable ‘Gold Stars’, ‘Road Rockets’ and ‘Rocket 3’ machines that were the top British bikes of the 60s and 70s. We also visit the Sammy Miller Museum to check out a unique road racer, which could have brought BSA a world championship in the mid-Fifties. The bike never did race, but six-times World Champion Geoff Duke O.B.E. tested it and tells us why he is convinced that it could have been a Grand Prix winner.

This DVD features interviews with American riders Bobby Hill, who scored BSA’s first Daytona 200 win in 1954 and Dick Mann who repeated this in 1971 alongside team mate Don Emde who took a Daytona 3rd in the same year. Double World Motocross Champion Jeff Smith reminisces about his title wins along with his teammate and BSA competition manager Brian Martin. Brian also talks about winning the Maudes Trophy for BSA as part of a three-man team, covering 5,000 miles around Europe on standard production Star Twin models in 1952. Norman Vanhouse, Gold Star specialist Eddie Dow and Chris Vincent also remember their BSA achievements and experiences.

Action footage, interviews and authoritative commentary reveal just why the BSA motorcycle will always be regarded as one of the very ‘Best of British’.

Best of British Norton

Norton is one of the most evocative names in the history of British motorcycling.

It has a magical effect on motorcyclists even now, around a quarter of a century after the marque’s heyday. This DVD tells the whole Norton story.

At the Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum we examine the oldest Norton of them all, a 1905 model with a Peugeot engine. And Sammy describes two of the rarest racers in existence – the horizontal-engined Model F and the revolutionary ‘kneeler’ streamliner.

At the National Motorcycle Museum we look at every significant Norton over the past ninety years – from the 1907 winner of the TT twin-cylinder class right up to the unique rotary-engined racer that won Norton’s last TT in 1992.

Leading motorcycle journalist Alan Cathcart track tests the Formula 750 Nortons of the Seventies including the actual 1973 TT winner with its unique monococque chassis.

Plus we talk to famous Norton Racers – the legendary Geoff Duke and the winner of that 1992 TT, Steve Hislop, along with engineers, designers and executives who played key roles in the Norton story.

With classic rallies and races on the Isle of Man, Assen in Holland and Daytona, USA and the Norton Owners Club on a pilgrimage from the National Motorcycle Museum to the old Norton factory in Birmingham, this is a production that pays full homage to Norton’s glorious past and which looks with hope into the future for a name that was once synonymous with ‘The Best of British’.

F1 Review 1974 Down to the last lap

1974 was the year of change in Formula One. Defending champion Jackie Stewart had retired from racing, creating a power vacuum that sucked a host of racers, old and new, into the battle for the Championship.

And what a season! Predicting the outcome of each race was impossible as the drivers battled to come to terms with closer racing brought about by faster cars with better tyres. It was reliability as much as driving skill that kept the leaderboard in a state of constant flux. By the final race of the season Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren), Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) and Jody Scheckter (Tyrrell) were locked in a fascinating three-way battle for the title. It went right down to the wire.

This film doesn’t just show the action from the season – it tells the story. Pit-lane cameras eavesdrop on intimate conversations between the engineers and drivers as they discuss set-up and tyres, revealing a world markedly different from contemporary Formula One.

Brunswick Films were pioneers in the embryonic days of Formula One production, when sponsors controlled the demand for footage, and before the era of global TV coverage began. They have skilfully combined film from their famous archive - including some previously unseen material - to create a review that captures the essence of a very special era in Grand Prix racing.

Tags: Grand Prix , F1 , Formula 1 , 1974

F1 1979 - Maranello Mastery

1979 saw Carlos Reutemann move to partner Mario Andretti at Lotus as Jody Scheckter took his seat at Ferrari. Wolf filled the gap left by Scheckter with James Hunt, and McLaren gave John Watson a drive in place of Hunt.

The type 79 ‘wing car’ had offered Lotus a great advantage in aerodynamic grip during the previous season. But for this year, many of the teams had incorporated the technology into their designs. Over the first two races Ligier appeared to have made up the most ground with Jacques Laffite taking the victories. In round 3, Ferrari laid down the team’s intentions, giving the new 312T4 model its successful debut.

As the season progressed Williams’ reliability improved and Alan Jones demonstrated the team’s pace, winning four out of the last six races. For Williams and Jones it was too little too late. The consistent performances from the Ferrari team had paid off, and despite only having three victories throughout the season, Scheckter took the title.

1979 also saw Formula One say its goodbyes to two of the decade’s greatest characters: James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Hunt quit racing after the Monaco Grand Prix claiming to be fed up with Formula One, and Lauda retired at the penultimate Grand Prix in Montreal.

Brunswick films were pioneers in the embryonic days of Formula One production, when sponsors controlled the demand for footage, and before the era of global TV coverage began. They have skilfully combined film from their famous archive to create a review that captures the essence of a very special era in Grand Prix racing.

Tags: Grand Prix , F1 , Formula 1 , 1979