HP Firenza race Thruxton 1974 vid
Discussion
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4CXVDTrfrc
You gotta love those old down to earth racing vids. I massively do.
Completely agree with the last few words spoken BTW.
And there's Gerry! RIP.
This is what W'pedia says about him:
"Gerry Marshall (b. November 16, 1941 d. April 21, 2005) was a British saloon car racing driver, was considered by many to be one of the best drivers of all time according to a 2002 magazine poll. His professional driving career spans four decades, in 2000 chalking up his 600th win in a race at Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, Norfolk in an Aston Martin DB4. His first win was in 1964, driving a Mini.
Over the years Gerry raced many and numerous cars, ranging from 1950s Formula One cars (Aston DBR4, V16 BRM) to Le Mans cars (Ferrari 250 GTOs, AC Cobras, Lola T70, Porsche 962), to the extraordinary (Alvis Grey Lady, TVR Tuscan, Morris Marina, Ford P100).
However, he is probably best remembered for his flamboyant and crowd-pleasing style during the 1970s driving for Dealer Team Vauxhall in the racing Firenzas "Old Nail" and "Baby Bertha", and also the V8 Holden-Repco Ventora, "Big Bertha". He also won the 1971 Escort Mexico championship, beating future Formula 1 World Champion Jody Scheckter and finished 2nd in the 1974 Avon Tour of Britain driving for the same team as the equally respected rally driver Roger Clark.
Marshall's style has been described as "sideways, on-the-edge cornering that was to distinguish his driving in any car, large or small, front or rear drive.” This outward appearance belied an extraordinary cool-headed ability and intelligence behind the wheel. His biography, published in 1978, is titled Only Here For The Beer and a tribute edition was re-issued shortly after his untimely death.
He died of a heart related illness whilst testing the ex-Richard Petty's IROC Chevrolet Camaro at Silverstone."
You gotta love those old down to earth racing vids. I massively do.
Completely agree with the last few words spoken BTW.
And there's Gerry! RIP.
This is what W'pedia says about him:
"Gerry Marshall (b. November 16, 1941 d. April 21, 2005) was a British saloon car racing driver, was considered by many to be one of the best drivers of all time according to a 2002 magazine poll. His professional driving career spans four decades, in 2000 chalking up his 600th win in a race at Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, Norfolk in an Aston Martin DB4. His first win was in 1964, driving a Mini.
Over the years Gerry raced many and numerous cars, ranging from 1950s Formula One cars (Aston DBR4, V16 BRM) to Le Mans cars (Ferrari 250 GTOs, AC Cobras, Lola T70, Porsche 962), to the extraordinary (Alvis Grey Lady, TVR Tuscan, Morris Marina, Ford P100).
However, he is probably best remembered for his flamboyant and crowd-pleasing style during the 1970s driving for Dealer Team Vauxhall in the racing Firenzas "Old Nail" and "Baby Bertha", and also the V8 Holden-Repco Ventora, "Big Bertha". He also won the 1971 Escort Mexico championship, beating future Formula 1 World Champion Jody Scheckter and finished 2nd in the 1974 Avon Tour of Britain driving for the same team as the equally respected rally driver Roger Clark.
Marshall's style has been described as "sideways, on-the-edge cornering that was to distinguish his driving in any car, large or small, front or rear drive.” This outward appearance belied an extraordinary cool-headed ability and intelligence behind the wheel. His biography, published in 1978, is titled Only Here For The Beer and a tribute edition was re-issued shortly after his untimely death.
He died of a heart related illness whilst testing the ex-Richard Petty's IROC Chevrolet Camaro at Silverstone."
Cheers Dink, a very evocative video, thank you.Bit of info on that one off Firenza race.
"In 1974 a totally bizarre and unique race was held at Thruxton. Called a selling plate it was modelled on horse races of that name where the runners were sold by auction in the paddock after the race. A sort of try and buy by proxy approach. Twenty DTV Sportpart dealers prepared twenty Firenza HP road cars and drivers from the feature saloon car and Formula 5000 races that day were invited to drive the cars. Predictably, mayhem ensued and a fair amount of damage was incurred. How many of the cars were sold on the spot and how many had to be returned to the sponsoring dealer for repair is not recorded."
"In 1974 a totally bizarre and unique race was held at Thruxton. Called a selling plate it was modelled on horse races of that name where the runners were sold by auction in the paddock after the race. A sort of try and buy by proxy approach. Twenty DTV Sportpart dealers prepared twenty Firenza HP road cars and drivers from the feature saloon car and Formula 5000 races that day were invited to drive the cars. Predictably, mayhem ensued and a fair amount of damage was incurred. How many of the cars were sold on the spot and how many had to be returned to the sponsoring dealer for repair is not recorded."
Edited by FourWheelDrift on Saturday 23 September 14:28
FourWheelDrift said:
Bit of info on that one off Firenza race.
"In 1974 a totally bizarre and unique race was held at Thruxton. Called a selling plate it was modelled on horse races of that name where the runners were sold by auction in the paddock after the race. A sort of try and buy by proxy approach. Twenty DTV Sportpart dealers prepared twenty Firenza HP road cars and drivers from the feature saloon car and Formula 5000 races that day were invited to drive the cars. Predictably, mayhem ensued and a fair amount of damage was incurred. How many of the cars were sold on the spot and how many had to be returned to the sponsoring dealer for repair is not recorded."
"In 1974 a totally bizarre and unique race was held at Thruxton. Called a selling plate it was modelled on horse races of that name where the runners were sold by auction in the paddock after the race. A sort of try and buy by proxy approach. Twenty DTV Sportpart dealers prepared twenty Firenza HP road cars and drivers from the feature saloon car and Formula 5000 races that day were invited to drive the cars. Predictably, mayhem ensued and a fair amount of damage was incurred. How many of the cars were sold on the spot and how many had to be returned to the sponsoring dealer for repair is not recorded."
Edited by FourWheelDrift on Saturday 23 September 14:28
That's excellent, they should do something similar again!
It was the F5000 drivers that weekend in May and the Saloon championship drivers (Marshall etc..) racing the Firenzas. I can't find a list of the Saloon drivers yet but these are the F5000 drivers around that weekend. Not all of them I think would have raced because there were only 20 Firenza's available.
Some soon to be very big names racing
(This is also the F5000 race qualifying order)
Derek Bell
Ian Ashley
Peter Gethin
Teddy Pilette
Tom Belsø
Mike Wilds
Bob Evans
Vern Schuppan
Keith Holland
Damien Magee
Chris Craft
Guy Edwards
Tony Dean
Brian McGuire
Rene Arnoux
Lella Lombardi
Clive Santo
Patrick Sumner
Brian Robinson
Nick Wattiez
Trevor Twaites
Colin Andrews
Allan Kayes
Some soon to be very big names racing
(This is also the F5000 race qualifying order) Derek Bell
Ian Ashley
Peter Gethin
Teddy Pilette
Tom Belsø
Mike Wilds
Bob Evans
Vern Schuppan
Keith Holland
Damien Magee
Chris Craft
Guy Edwards
Tony Dean
Brian McGuire
Rene Arnoux
Lella Lombardi
Clive Santo
Patrick Sumner
Brian Robinson
Nick Wattiez
Trevor Twaites
Colin Andrews
Allan Kayes
Edited by FourWheelDrift on Saturday 23 September 16:54
Thanks for the clip, it bought back lots of memories for me and thanks for the kind words about Dad. As I'm sure you can imagine he's greatly missed still.
In 1973 Vauxhall did the same thing at Thruxton for the then new Firenza Sport SL. That race was one by Frank Gardener, with Dad coming 4th.
For the '74 Droop Snoot race the driver's were as follows:-
Tony Lanfranchi
Chris Craft
Bernard Unett
Keith Holland
Derek Bell
Teddy Pilette
Brian Cutting
Roger Bell
Tim Stock
Jenny Birrell
Mick Hill
John Elliot
Barrie Williams
Tom Belso
Ian Ashley
Gerry Marshall
Bill Dryden
Richard Lloyd
Stuart Graham
Vern Schuppen
Some of these cars till exist but some do seem to have been lost, one of them being Dad's car and as I'm sure you can imagine out of the 204 Droop Snoots built these are the most valuable and desired ones.
It's still a work in progress but take a look at www.gerrymarshall.com there's a few good bits on there and when I manage to get my sister to upload the latest lot of photos I've scanned it will be awesome (in my opinion!!).
In 1973 Vauxhall did the same thing at Thruxton for the then new Firenza Sport SL. That race was one by Frank Gardener, with Dad coming 4th.
For the '74 Droop Snoot race the driver's were as follows:-
Tony Lanfranchi
Chris Craft
Bernard Unett
Keith Holland
Derek Bell
Teddy Pilette
Brian Cutting
Roger Bell
Tim Stock
Jenny Birrell
Mick Hill
John Elliot
Barrie Williams
Tom Belso
Ian Ashley
Gerry Marshall
Bill Dryden
Richard Lloyd
Stuart Graham
Vern Schuppen
Some of these cars till exist but some do seem to have been lost, one of them being Dad's car and as I'm sure you can imagine out of the 204 Droop Snoots built these are the most valuable and desired ones.
It's still a work in progress but take a look at www.gerrymarshall.com there's a few good bits on there and when I manage to get my sister to upload the latest lot of photos I've scanned it will be awesome (in my opinion!!).
Edited by Gregor Marshall on Monday 25th September 23:09
One of my favourite cars of all time the droop snoot. Still remmeber when they launched it - rarer than hen's teeth but living in Ellesmere Port, you did get to see them. There was a rivalry between these and the 3.0 Capris. Once saw a 3.0 Capri on the motorway pass the school coach. From behind erupted a silver flash and the droop snoot swept out and hauled in the Capri.
Unless you're an old fart like me, you can't imagine how exotic these cars were in 1974 when most cars were bluff-fronted boxes. It happily sat in my Top 3 of Countach, Citroen SM and Firenza HP.
Unless you're an old fart like me, you can't imagine how exotic these cars were in 1974 when most cars were bluff-fronted boxes. It happily sat in my Top 3 of Countach, Citroen SM and Firenza HP.
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