The glory days of British motor racing are to be celebrated in a new BBC Four series which buffs up some of the BBC’s most memorable coverage from the sport’s earliest days.
‘Motor Racing at the BBC: That Petrol Emotion’ is a five-part series which tells the compelling story of the early days of Formula 1 – from the 1950s through to the 1970s – courtesy of images from the BBC archives.
From track to paddock to a changing Britain beyond, and driven by a powerful period soundtrack, this new series is motor racing’s version of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Years’.
The opening programme concentrates on the 1950s, when British drivers Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn took on the dominance of the great Argentinian driver, Juan Manuel Fangio.
All of this was presided over by the chummy commentating presence of Raymond Baxter, fresh from a fight of his own as a Spitfire pilot in World War II.
The archive series continues in episode two by charting how the oily rag pioneers of British motor racing emerged from the garages of rural England to take on the slick, Italian marques.
A mixture of inspiration and perspiration led teams like Vanwall, Cooper and Lotus to dominate the sport for over a decade from the late 1950s onwards.
Former mechanics Jack Brabham and Graham Hill became world champion drivers, John Cooper revolutionised the sport by moving the engine from front to back, and Colin Chapman, the genius of Lotus, created the aerodynamic racing shape we know today.
The third episode reaches the undoubted golden age for British drivers that was the 1960s.
This was when a quiet Scot, Jim Clark, and a debonair Englishman, Graham Hill, could be regularly relied on to lord it over the world championship.
As they swinged their way through the rankings, Britain beyond the paddock was swinging its way through the Sixties.
The BBC was on hand to link the glitz and the glamour of grand prix racing to the aspirations of a growing audience of ‘petrolheads’ with the magazine show Wheelbase – a blokeish forerunner of Top Gear.
Episode four enters the 1970s. This was the era of three-time world champion Jackie Stewart, but also of the topless Pirelli calendar – much ogled over by the BBC’s ‘motoring correspondents’ in archive sequences from another world.
The mood darkens, though, when Graham Hill, the gentleman giant of British grand prix racing, is killed in a freak plane crash and another British driver, Roger Williamson, is filmed dying trackside in his mangled, blazing car.
The final part of Formula One’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Years’ archive series focuses on an era when motor racing lit up the world… with cigarette advertising.
The sport was now largely bankrolled by sponsors who emblazoned their names all over the cars and the drivers.
Those branded overalls needed big personalities to fill them and attract audiences to their brands, and none came bigger than Britain’s James Hunt.
BBC cameras followed this rake’s progress from his time with the amateur Hesketh Racing, run by aristocrat Lord Hesketh, through to his later incarnation as Marlboro Man at McLaren.
‘Hunt the Shunt’ had charisma and charm to burn, but by the end of the decade he had burnt himself out.
Each episode premieres on BBC Four every Monday evening with several repeat showings throughout the week.
Due to rights issues the series will not be made available on the BBC iPlayer.
For more information and preview clips visit the official BBC series website.
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