Motor racing creates a glamorous aura and attracts some dubious characters. Some that spring to mind include Sidney Miller – one of several aliases – of Southern Organs fame who sponsored anything that moved in national motor racing during the mid-1970’s including a singleton Surtees F1 entry at Silverstone. Then there was charismatic David Thieme of Essex Petroleum, with trademark goatee beard, … [Read more...]
Superbears – The Story of Hesketh Racing
Hesketh Racing famously burst on the scene at exactly the right time during the 1970s, just when the average Britain needed an antidote to depressing daily news telling of Industrial unrest, multifarious EEC collaboration, high prices caused by oil-producers restricting supplies and a potential coal miners’ strike, writes Ken Davies. Formula One too was undergoing change with increasing … [Read more...]
Welsh author’s F1 classic view
Proving every picture tells a story, Welsh motorsport author Richard Jones has self-published a fascinating book from an idea provided by an evocative painting that captures just a brief snapshot from a hot and sunny May afternoon in the tiny Mediterranean principality of Monaco. In fact, the original Nicholas Watts painting (below) proudly hangs on the author’s study wall in Penarth as both his … [Read more...]
Book review: Through the lanes and into the forests
You didn’t really need expensive equipment to produce good images, just common sense, and enthusiasm, combined with a discerning sense of pictorial composition. This adage is proved by Richard Jones who as a teenager captured many pivotal rallying images on his Ilford Super Sporty camera, a Christmas present from an aunt 1963. This modest £5 camera – not including leather case – loaded with … [Read more...]
Successful return of Silverstone Classic
Despite an enforced 2020 lockdown sabbatical, the 2021 Silverstone Classic bounced back with renewed style and vigor, encouraging record crowds, capacity grids and quintessential British weather, which failed to dampen participant’s enthusiasm. Challenging racing conditions, umbrellas and mud underfoot were the order of the weekend on Silverstone’s track and expansive infield zones. Central … [Read more...]
Looking back at historic Welsh racer
Unlike best-selling blockbuster novels, specialized books on niche subjects tend to trickle off bookshop shelves over a far longer period of time, so it was perhaps not unusual to receive a fresh new copy of Cyril Kieft’s definitive racing biography some sixteen years after it was first launched in 2005. Despite the delay, this authorized biography, proved a thoroughly absorbing read which … [Read more...]
Racing lines and the life of Terry Sanger
The heady days of 60s & 70s British motor sport and one of its stars are recalled in a new book by a Welsh writer. ‘And you’ll love this one …!’ is the biography of international racing driver Terry Sanger and written by Swansea's Ken Davies about his talented friend and inspirational privateer of the 1960s & 70s. Although an extrovert, West Walian Terry never possessed an … [Read more...]